Edinburgh jeweller

Joy Funnell's resplendent robin pendant This year I have been following with admiration the Bird a week challenge and the Ring a week challenge , both on flickr. These were started to challenge artists and makers to commit to a project and to do so weekly. I only saw the bird a week challenge later in the year so didn't join in (that's my excuse anyway!). But Joy Funnell has started the Bird a month challenge for 2012 which I think is much more doable! Earrings available to buy on Lora Hart's website I have also signed up for the  Four a month  challenge started by Lora Hart. This is what Lora says about the challenge  'Welcome to the 2012 jewelry making challenge! Four A Month (FAM) is a personal challenge with no limitations on design, materials, or intent. Explore the idea of multiples by creating either a four of a kind series using the same theme or supplies, or a collection of matching pieces or 'parure'. Any style of adornment is wel...

I hope you get some creativity time in amongst the family time!

This year I attended a cupcake decorating workshop at the The Make Lounge (I blogged about it here , and there are some yummy cake pics to look at!). I don't tend to make cupcakes much, it's quite a lot of effort if there's just two of you, but I do enjoy baking. So I decided to make some cakes for my colleagues in three offices at work instead of sending christmas cards. I made them on Sunday so they would be as fresh as possible for Monday. It turned out to be a bit of a mission! I had wanted to make some chocolate cakes and some vanilla cakes but unfortunately, when I had just finished baking the chocolate cakes the oven door fell off! It wasn't a big shock because it's been on it's last legs for a while but it did mean I couldn't make the vanilla cakes (although Gary has now fixed the oven door so that it does still function for a bit longer!). Luckily my recipe made 37 cakes which is still quite a lot! (But I had two myself, just to quality check th...

From designforlife blog

Kathy Panton on Etsy

I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the London Jewellery School christmas party this year! I have attended five classes (and counting!) at the Jewellery School and I really like the atmosphere, resources and level of teaching. The party was great fun. They had excellent goody bags (pictured to the left) and we played a few party games including pass the parcel! It's been a good few years since I last played pass the parcel! There were some great prizes among the layers including bead boxes and ring sizers.  I also enjoyed the student jewellery prize. Everyone was given three gold stars. We were asked to stick our stars on the people with the most impressive handmade jewellery. I loved that idea. It's like human pinterest! It was lovely to chat to some of my teachers and fellow students. It's great to talk to people with a shared passion but with diverse interests. At the end of the evening was the raffle. And I won the final prize! I won the wooden butterfly ea...

My Dad  For once I'm not writing about jewellery or crafting! Today I want to tell you about a magnificent show that my Dad (over there on the left) started up ten years ago in his village community. It is called Jingle Tingle and has been performed every year in the local village hall for the last ten years (except last year as the snow meant that the show wasn't insured in case of injury).   The conga!  Jingle Tingle is a bit like a variety show with different people from the surrounding area doing songs, sketches and performances. It was started up originally to help bring the community together but has raised over £9000 for charity (that doesn't include the contribution from this year as I haven't heard that yet). About half of that money has gone towards the upkeep of the hall.It's a lot of work for my Dad but it is very popular with the cast and audience alike. The Saturday performance this year was sold out at the beginning of November (1...