Shop of the Week no. 18 JOYfilled Designs

This week, Denise from Hanover Merry Makers has chosen this treasury as her favourite.

I ambled in to Jennifer's shop and felt like a kid in a sweetshop again. The beautiful colours, and appealing designs are simply gorgeous. It made me want to get hold of every item and hang or pin it up somewhere in the house...I'd have them everywhere.

So let's find out more about Jennifer and her shop JOYfilled Designs.

1. 

   Tell us a little about yourself and your work

I can never remember a time when creating was NOT part of who I am. I grew up in a creative family with both my father and grandmother being artists in their own rights, and happy to keep me supported with any and every medium available. From yarn and thread to charcoals and watercolours, I took to all of them with equal enthusiasm. I work full time as a licensed artist and in my spare time, I enjoy crocheting, embroidery and crafting with felt, which is what prompted me to open JOYfilled Designs. Whether in my art of in my crafting, I am most drawn to creating whimsical pieces in bright, cheerful colours. Aside from art, I am desperately in love with my ‘mountain man’ husband, 2 grown sons, and the Lord.

2.    What inspires your work?

Inspiration comes to me in a multitude of ways. Sometimes it’s from a passage in whatever book I am currently reading, sometimes it’s colours and patterns I’ve seen throughout the day, sometimes inspiration comes from the funny stories my 6 year old niece likes to tell. I then like to put my spin on it and try to come up with something that will make others smile!

3.  

  What are your favourite colours? 

Right now I am obsessed with the combination of orange and pink together, but mainly I love all colours.

4.    What is your favourite medium/material?

Wool blend felt is my new favourite medium in my crafting. I just love the way it feels in my hand and how beautifully it stitches up!

What is your favourite holiday destination?

I love the beach and I love the woods – wherever I can sneak away to for a few days with my husband is my favourite place to be.

6.    What other artists work to you admire and aspire to?

I love the work of Mary Engelbreit, Debbie Mumm, Pat Yuille, and here on Etsy, I greatly admire Gingermelon Designs and her whimsical characters.
I only aspire to learn what I can from those around me and be the most authentic ME I can be.

7.  

  What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my children and the wonderful young men they’ve become. I am proud to be the wife of Eric and thankful for his continued love and support of my creativity. And I feel blessed to be able to work at what I love – creating things to brighten the days of others.

Thank you Jennifer, for taking part. To visit Jennifer's shop and see for yourself, click HERE.

Beading and Storms

It’s been so long and I’ve been so busy posting about our etsy All Handmade by Me Team shop of the week, that I’ve neglected to tell you what’s been going on here too.

So here’s a short (hopefully) catch-up for you.

I’ve been busy with tutorials, as I want to eventually get them together in a single book, hopefully self-

publishing either through Amazon or Lulu. First I need to have enough projects to put into said book.

So, first of all I had a look through some of the beading books I already have, written by others, and took some inspiration for a new design of pendant, based on an existing design by Diane Fitzgerald in her ‘Shaped Beadwork’ book. I fully adapted that design and shape to use Super Duo beads and pearls, and this is the result, the Regal pendant.

Then I sat for a while staring at these pendants, wondering if I could make a bangle using the same design, as it is stiff enough to hold up without a clasp, yet flexible enough to be able to get over the hand. (Have you ladies with larger hands ever nearly dislocated a thumb trying to

squeeze solid bangles over it?) I began work right away, knowing it would have to be done in sections to provide the right angles. So I made small sections to experiment with the angle between each section. Then I wondered about the size. Well my partner has a resin bangle mold…perfect! So I played around with the size of each section, and lady luck smiled on me, I got it right first time.  So now we have the Regal Bangle to go with the pendant.

I began chatting to a customer in my jewellery shop, she wanted some custom orders, and had ordered a pair of the leaf earrings in her own colours, (bronze and cream). She asked if I made any shell

shapes. So again my designer brain started ticking over, and a sleepless night later, I jotted down a possibility, and fell asleep. In the next afternoon, I looked again at my rough sketch and worked out if it could be done, and set to work. In just over an hour I had a new bracelet. The Cascara Bracelet. According to google translate, cascara means shell in Spanish. I thought it sounded rather nice.

Then my lovely customer, who bought one, asked about a pair of earrings, no longer than the leaf earrings she had, but nice and dainty that would go with the bracelet. I came up with these…the Cascara Earrings. These are so quick and easy to make up, and they really are very pretty.

A few days ago a lovely lady who bought two of my tutorials, the Cascara Bracelet and the Star Flower Pendant, combined the two to make this beautiful necklace, which she sent a photo of, and kindly let me us it. Isn’t it exquisite? I love what she has done with the two patterns, and the alternating pearls. I just love it, and feel so honoured that my designs gave her inspiration. What a compliment!

If you would like one of my tutorials, you can find them here

I have to mention at this point the number of people experiencing flooding from this current conveyor belt of storms we’ve been experiencing here in the UK since December. The rivers are full to bursting, some already have, great swathes of prime agricultural land is under water in Somerset, hundreds of homes flooded near the Thames, today the river Itchen in Hampshire has burst it’s banks, and the river Test, which is where my maternal family come from, is about to do so, the armed forces are out in

Photo courtesy of ITV News

numbers helping with sandbagging, evacuation, shopping and generally helping wherever they can, and we are about to feel the full force of yet another storm any moment. Currently as I write it’s pouring with rain, and with the run-off from the surrounding land, and overflow from already full underground aquifers, there are going to be many more areas suffering in the next week or so, even if we get some respite from these storms. Out shopping this morning I chatted to a lot of people and we all feel so very lucky here in Norwich that we haven’t suffered the same fate, being a known wetland and low-lying farming county. As my butcher said, that’s the useful think about living in the middle of the North Sea at times like this, unless our weather is coming from Siberia, then we’re the first to get it.

My heart goes out to all the people affected by these floods, in any way, I cannot imagine what it’s like to have your home filling up with dirty sewage filled water, and I hope and pray that we get a long enough dry spell in the weather to allow water levels to go back to normal.

Shop of the Week No. 17, HanoverMerryMakers

This week’s Shop of the Week was chosen by Elizabeth from FairyFlowerDesigns who was shop of the week for the second time last week. (Apologies for not writing a second post fo you Elizabeth.) Here is the winning treasury.

I love to browse through Denise’s shop. Her jewellery is very different to mine so we are in no way in competition with one another. It’s just as well as she lives in the same city as me. I love the way Denise uses gems, her style, the colours, and the beautiful photography in her shop. It’s just nice to step away and browse in her shop, and there is always something new to see.

So let’s find out a little more about HanoverMerryMakers.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work.

I have crafted all my life starting at school. I’m a pensioner as of last week. I began making jewellery a couple of years ago and was teaching and sharing with a group of ladies in the area. It’s the same answer as a lot of people, you have to have an outlet for all this jewellery.

I started with beautiful glass beads, but then discovered semi-precious gems and it was love at first sight. I start with the gems I have chosen and play with them on my bead board until I’m happy with the design.

What are your favourite colours?

I adore teal, followed hot on it’s heels by purple.

What is your favourite medium/material?

I’m a silver gal, and love creating with silver.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Being a Yorkshire girl I love going back to Yorkshre. I love North Wales and the mountains. I mustn’t forget Scotland’s highlands too.

What other artists work do you admire and aspire to?

I don’t have any one jewellery maker I admire, I admire lots of them and just enjoy looking at their work. I must say those that make beautiful beadwork cuffs are a favourite, I just wouldn’t have the patience to bead like that.

What are you most proud of?

My family and being so close to my grandsons.

Thank you Denise for taking part. If you would like to see more of Denise’s beautiful jewellery, just click here.