Wedding season has sprung!

It's that time of year again when wedding bells are ringing all across the world!
There's nothing I love more than making jewellery and accessories for monumentous occasions such as weddings and christenings. 
It's so exciting to know that my creations will be worn on the day and the memories, photos etc cherished forever. To be a part of that in a small way is really special. 
From time to time I am lucky enough to be sent images of my accessories from customers that want to share their day with me and show how my creations were styled for the occasion.

As I take so much pleasure in designing special occasion pieces and ranges, Lilly Belle Accessories has naturally been steering more towards creating pieces for weddings and christenings.

I have recently been sent a beautiful montage photo of a bride wearing a Lilly Belle bridal headband and I just love the whole atmosphere and styling of the shoot. Here it is for you to see...

 I have so many different ranges in mind for my Lilly Belle bridal collection I feel like my brain is constantly ticking away on the brink of overload with all the different concepts I want to explore. 
Right now I am working on two new ranges which are vintage rustic style wedding banners and also ring bearer pillows which can co-ordinate in with wedding colour schemes.

Here are some preview shots in the design process for you to see ....

 

 

On top of this I have also finished a new collection of wedding pendants which I am so pleased with. 

I decided to go for some standard designs of the usual things you would expect to see in association with weddings such as.... mr, mrs, bridesmaid along with some cute wedding/bridal sayings like "I do".

The bridesmaid pendants would make great gifts and keepsakes to remember the day.

Aside from these designs I am also working on some pendants which are a bit more special and personal. The pendants will have personalised details on them such as wedding date and couples initials.

Here are some examples i have been working on would love to know what you think? Which one is your favourite?

New Hair Day - Colour Change! Love It!!

For a while now i've been in a bit of a hair rut and been wanting to ditch the light blonde and go darker, back to my more natural colour!

Total hair colour change isn't really something that's new to me... i've been all colours including jet black, although that's not one i'm likely to revisit again in a hurry! :) I've had my hair light blonde for about a year now and I was ready for a change.

I have the most amazing hair dresser being the lovely Beth at Lisa Shepherd Salon in Kidderminster and it makes such a huge difference going to a salon that know what they're doing.
I took a picture in as a guide and they matched it up so perfectly I am thrilled with my new colour and cut. With baby No2 due in July I also wanted to go shorter but still keep it long enough to put a bit of curl in.

My hair looks so much thicker with the rich tones through it and the highlights were blended in so nicely a real masterpiece! Here are the before and after pics.

Thank you Beth & Lisa Shepherd .x.

Before



Blonde Hair By Beth At Lisa Shepherd Salon

After

Colour Change To Darker Hair By Beth At Lisa Shepherd Salon

 





Lilly Belle Bridal Collection - Something a bit special!

It is finally underway.....  Lilly Belle Bridal Collection!

This is a huge project I am currently living, breathing, even sleeping.... i wake up and i've been making and designing for it in my sleep - obsessed!
I have so many ideas I want to put together for this collection but I have to take great care and attention when designing pieces to make sure they are perfect!

First step for my Lilly Belle Bridal Collection was having it's very own logo totally seperate from my standard Lilly Belle Accessories logo. It uses the same colours associated with my Lilly Belle brand the classic grey and pale pink but in a slight Downton Abbey manner

I fell in love with this logo and love the Cinderella/fairy tale feel it has going on. Take me to the ball fairy godmother because I want to be in that coach!

Here she is....

 

 

Next step in the design process was very important to me..... packaging! As always when designing pieces I always take a lot of time to think about how I would like to feel when getting a package, it's not just the product it's the whole experience! I spent a lot of time on this and love the end effect, let me know what you think?!

 

 



 

 

 



Lilly Belle Accessories - Chiffon Scarves

I have been busy working on lots of new collections for 2013, these include some beautiful light, subtle chiffon scarves.

These are paticular favourites of mine I love ALL the prints and being circle scarves they are so easy to style and wear.... just wrap around and go!

Here are some pictures of my latest scarf designs available to buy from my shop.
Click here to view full collection in my shop

 

 



Cadbury's World Birmingham - Chocolate Lovers Heaven!

We recently visited Cadbury's World, being in Birmingham it's not that far from us and always been one of those on my list of attractions to visit that you never quite get around to.

Having a little business myself i found it really interesting seeing where it all started from and how it grew to what it is today!

It mainly centers around the historical side of things but is definitely worth a visit especially if you can go on a week day when they often do 2for1 tickets.
The one thing I felt was missing was more interacttive activities for kids. There's a lot of little historical presentations, people dressed in costume from the era and a few computer/technology games at the end but I did think there would be more involvment where you got to see and have a go at chocolate being made. 

Overall we had a great day out though and free chocolate bars were a bonus, the Cadbury's shop is great and I stocked up on hot chocolate. You can get things cheaper than the shops too like the giant 1KG bars that come in the boxes so good for gifts.

 

 





Laser Cut Acrylic Flower Necklaces

I once had a customer ask me if a custom order could be designed of sunflower necklaces for her bridesmaids, as her wedding flowers were sunflowers. I set to and designed some sunflower necklaces that were laser cut from acrylic.
The contrast of the yellow and black acrylic was beautiful and being made from acrylic they were a real modern alternative for accessories and following that a keepsake from the day itself.

I plan on making a lot more laser cut acrylic flower necklaces such as roses, perhaps some tulips... a huge benefit of having a laser cutting machine means you can really get creative and experiment with different things. 



Easter Festivities!

A very belated Happy Easter to everyone hope you all hd a choc-tastic day, we had a lovely easter this year! Made stressful ....I mean special by attempting to make our own easter eggs :) which we then took around to the in laws where we were invited for a delicious Lamb roast dinner and all helped my 4 year old daughter Lilly with an easter egg hunt!

I got the egg molds from a company on ebay, (will provide link below) and they also sold really cute novel little basket molds too that you can make up out of chocolate and fill with mini eggs or little creme eggs!!! Amazing!

These eggs make great presents for family because the best thing is you can really personalise them by decorating the outside with melted chocolate and piping names etc. Another good factor of making your own eggs is that you can fill them with anything you want smarties, m&ms sky's the limit!

In order to make your own chocolate eggs you need to temper the chocolate, which means melting the chocolate and cooling it down using marble.
Proper kitchen Marble work tops or chopping boards can be really expensive anything around £30 so what we did instead was went to B&Q and in their tile section you can buy a sample Marble tile for £7 and this is perfect for little projects like this.

It's a great project for the whole family to get involved with and kids love it!!

 Click here for easter egg mould company

 



 

Blog updating day today starting with some good news!

It's been a while since i've blogged but as always, if i've missed blog posts I won't just carry on from where I am in life I will update my page from the time I last wrote and everything i've been upto lately so nothing is missed out :)

Where to start is an understatement but I always think the best place to start is with good news!
I am currently expecting bubba No 2 and this is why I have been a bit absent on the blog scene recentely with chronic morning sickness in the early stages.
 
We have since found out we're having another girl! yaaaah we make girls apparently...we are thrilled! Feeling great now with 3 months left I am due around the same time as Duchess of Cambridge herself and have been enjoying having a bump off with her whenever she's on the news!

My other little girly Lilly is so excited to be a big sister and I am really looking forward to later on and for her to have a little companion to rock around with too.

 

Here she is beng a mini maker, having hijacked my work station!!