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!! 

Does it just CLICK?!?!?!

This is the question I can't help ask myself constantly whenever I see the relationship/single status flash up on facieB and wanted to know your views on it?

I am talking about settling down......eeeeek, arrghhh, noooooo............party!!!!
This was me when I was at uni and then suddenly something just clicked it's the only way I can describe it, I was 20 when I got my click which in today's society is early!
Since then i've fallen in love had a little one and for the first time felt like my life was on track and had a course to follow.

I used to think perhaps meeting the right person makes you click and want to settle down but the more I think about it and past couples i've known I don't think it's as simple as that. Sometimes people are with the right people but at the wrong time.

A lot of my friends that are the same age as me are still living the life I led whilst at uni seven years ago.

How many girls do you know that won't even consider settling down for anything other than perfection or fireworks and I mean the works.. money, car, body yada yada yada... oh and they want to be spoilt!

"I don't fancy my boyfriend anymore because he stopped working out"
"I'm only attracted to the bad boys, nice guys are too boring for me" 
"I won't settle for second best when i can have the best"

*Newsflash* Nobody needs material things to be happy, you don't need guys to buy you things day in day out to make you feel special if you need that then your not with the right person because they should be enough to make you happy! If you do need that then a serious case of self reflection is in order.

I CRINGE so badly watching the cattle market tv show Take Me Out because this is a prime example of this, a guy will come on good looking nicely dressed and then once the girls find out he's a farmer or anything in the slightest bit uncool wow do those lights go off!

When i was 16 I had strong visions of myself never settling down being 30, living in London working in journalism or advertising, living in a swanky flat with a vintage bicycle I would pedal furiously to work on bustling in and out of the busy traffic trying to hit my deadlines..... *back in the real world* what happened with that did I get my click?!

There's nothing wrong with waiting and wanting perfection but when girls want to be treated like princesses and then moan about there being no decent guys out there, you can't help but think.... lower your standards! 
 Buy your boyfriend something nice once in a while, surprise him. Give the nice guy a chance, or the guy that doesn't have designer clothing, let yourself like someone for who they are and not what they've got.

Facebook Goal Photo Pendant Giveaway!!!

Hi to all new Lilly Belle fans and likers *waves*

Firstly, thank you all so much for taking the time to stop by my page and click like to show your support it means so much.

Secondly to the bit you've all been waiting for....it's giveaway time again.....

To celebrate my new facebook page reaching it's first goal of 100 likes I will be giving away a beautiful unique handmade custom photo pendant necklace just like the one below (worth £9.99)... but with your photo as the picutre.
 

  
Here are some examples of photo pendants to get you thinking of what you'd like your pendant to look like if you're the lucky winner. 

A loved one, you and a loved one (daughter, mum, son, nan etc) your beloved pet anything you want.
The higher quality image the better your pendant charm will be....

All you have to do to enter is the following steps ......

1) Share this giveaway via your blog, facebook or twitter. Comment with a link to your shout out and you will be entered.

2) Sit back relax and rub a buddah's belly for good luck.  The winning entry will be picked at random on 27/10/2012

New facebook page 100 likes goal giveaway

I am so close to my first goal of 100 likes for my facebook page and will be doing a giveaway once I hit 100 likes.
On my facebook page I post lots of fashion tips, sneak previews of new designs in the making plus regular discount codes and giveaways.
Please like and share to support british handmade beautiful accessories jewellery and girls headbands/clippies ♥





http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lilly-Belle-Accessories/119347118135604?ref=hl

All New Designs

Ok peeps, so where to start I have been beavering away lately on new designs and have been working flat out!
I am so pleased and proud of my new ranges as they are things that have been on my to do list for such a long time.
I wish I had some kind of in built motivation switch I could press from time to time to give myself a swift sharp and much needed kick up the butt! 
Nevertheless I couldn't wait to share them with my lovely blog followers to get some insight into what you think.....

Where to start!?!?!?!?

For those of you that don't know I have a little online boutique on ebay and a website where I design and make my own unique fashion accessories and jewellery. 

I am so pleased with my ebay shop and how it is going I have been awarded power seller and top rated seller for my customer service and love seeing all the lovely feedbacks I get from my customers. Knowing that my pretties I have designed and made are bringing people happiness is really all the motivation I need. I have worked very hard to build up a shop that I hope appeals to everyone's eclectic tatses here's some examples...


Art Pendant Necklaces

 

Plethora of beautiful pendant necklaces made from high quality images sealed with a premium clear resin dome.

Pendant size is 1" & chain is 24" long ♥

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_nkw=pendant&_sacat=0&_odkw=&item=190655621410&pt=UK_Hair_Accessories&_osacat=0&hash=item2c63f5e922&_ssn=lillybelleaccessories

 Customised personal photo/initial pendants (great for gifts)

100% Wool Felt Clippies

Lilly Belle posh tot felt hair clips are made completely by myself using highest quality 100% wool felt. Using the best quality felt means the felt is soft and the colours are vibrant. 

Lilly Belle felt clippies come on a 1 3/4" alligator which is then lined with grosgrain ribbon for a non-slip grip for even the finest hair.