To celebrate reaching 600 fans on facebook and to say thank you for all the *likes* and lovely comments, I’m giving away one of the new Loveheart Lockets!

All you have to do is make sure you are a fan and leave a comment on this blog entry letting me know you’d like entered into the draw.
I’ll chose an entry at random on Oct 31st 2010.

Anyway…So, I blogged before about preparations for the Aberdeen College Fashion show and now it’s all over!  The clothes were fab, the wine was plentiful and SpoiltPig Jewellery got a great showing off on the runway.

See more shots from the night on Flickr and in the Facebook Album.

SpoiltPig jewellery is all going to be re-priced by the end of April.

I wish I could say its now all FREE but erm…nah, that’s not how it works :(

I’m not sure how much anyone’s interested in the ‘details’ but I figure I should be as transparent here as possible.

Currently, I don’t pay myself for my design work or the time it takes to put that idea to paper(many long hours cursing and swearing at photoshop and tearing up sketchbooks) or the time it takes me to promote, list and write item descriptions, the cost and time for promotional materials like flyers and business cards, travelling to and working all day at markets in the freezing cold, the cost of market stalls in the first place…this list goes on forever.

From the very beginning, I’ve been paying myself minimum wage for the time it takes to ‘make’ each item and then y’know, adding materials costs and rounding it up or down to the nearest quid. It’s not even the current legal minimum wage…I’m lazy at maths so when I say minimum wage I mean a FIVER p/h.

I’ve managed to keep it going this far with LOTS of help from lovely, awesome friends who’ve donated time and tools to help me.  I don’t have to pay for professional jewellery shots or expensive programs, I didn’t have to pay a web developer and I currently don’t have to pay for web hosting, all down to their generosity.   These people deserve to be paid though, right?  and I’d like to start doing that at some point this year…and maybe start earning a proper wage for myself too.

Folksy, the UK based site that I use to sell my work through are coming out of beta mode on the 1st May 2010 and as such, will be introducing a teeny 5% commission on my and everyone else’s sales,  so I figured that’s as good a time as any to re-launch SpoiltPig with some more realistic prices.

I hope this doesn’t piss anyone off, I hope that all my lovely customers will stick with me and I’m more than willing to answer any questions anyone might have and explain commission and fees in more detail if needed/wanted.

This swap is open internationally(so also be prepared to post globally) and should include a minimum of one handmade themed item(for your swap partner or their cat!) and also something your swap partner can use in a crafty way(this does not have to be cat related).
All crafts and arts are welcome.  Jewellery, photography, paper crafts, illustration, upcycled, knitting, sewing, felting, woodwork, printing… everything goes!  and I’ll be attempting to pair people with different specialities so we can all see something new!

Here’s a little inspiration for your swap:

To take part, please email the following information to catswap@ilovespoiltpig.com

Your Name:
Postal Address:
Email:
Blog/website: (so your partner can learn more about you!)
Any favourites in the cat family and do you have a cat?:
A little about you: (favourite colours,  some interests, style, craft, allergies that your swap partner may need to know about)

Sign up before the 15th March and I’ll get everyone emailed with their swap partners details within the week.   Last date for posting to your partner will be the 19th of April, plenty of time to get creating!

.     .     .     .     .     .

*There’s no minimum or maximum spend on this swap but make sure to send something you would be happy to receive yourself and communicate with your partner throughout.

Any constructive criticism is welcome, I’d really love to hear what you think of them!
(also please excuse the dust, scratches and fingerprints obscuring some of the design and text, sanding and polishing is the next stage!)

. . . . . . .

Fashion
These three pieces are reserved for Sterling Silver fittings and necklaces once I’ve gotten round to making them all smooth and shiny. There’s something a little fun about taking messy, lavish collages and pairing with something as delicate and simple as silver :)

Ballet
Just some vintage images of ballet dancers that I came across. The first has been collaged and finished with a red bow embedded into the resin. I’ve used the other in a more abstract way and keeping with the monochromatic scheme have added a faux pearl and a little silver flower from some broken, vintage jewels donated by a friend.

…and finally! A new collaboration with graphic designer and maker I Love Lexy. Alex had some of her I Love Lexy signature graphics printed onto fabric just before Christmas and I’ve taken abstracts from them and embedded them in various resin shapes. As soon as I finish attaching bails they’ll be on sale in her own online shop :)

. . .

edit: just read my own post back to myself, possibly the longest one I’ve written EVER. If I’m so busy with all this work then why am I spending hours on the internet playing with photos and writing about it?!~

SpoiltPig has just seen her first Christmas as a jewellery maker, seller type person/thing.  I actually spent Christmassy time getting drunk in Glasgow and then fat in Bath but I think I’ve really learnt a lot about what to expect next year (vomitting).

Did a couple of Christmas markets in 2009 which was maybe a bit adventurous given my lack of enthusiasm for selling and my inexperience in jewellery retail land but anyway, put all of my energies into those (two were ace and two were a bust sales wise) and sort of completely forgot about the online shop :(  I hopefully will remember not to make the same mistake again next year.  Sales jumped the last week of November but then I didn’t add any new stock to Folksy and they sort of became non-existent after that, rubbishums.

Anyway! Winterval was great, family & friends wise.  We ate, drank, talked a lot and were mostly merry.  Half my friends aren’t half as happy as I’d like them to be but maybe things will look up soon, it’s a new year after all.

Thank you to all my lovely customers of 2009, my first year as a jewellery maker seller type person/thingum was fine and dandy and I shall keep on making things :)

and…to commemorate my epic christmas online/folksy fail I’m having a January sale!

Lots of little trinket necklaces from £5 and brand new stock that I forgot to add before the holidays, THREE whole pages!  I’ll be breathing new life into my Folksy shop over the next month with whole ranges of new jewellery and accessories so keep your eyes peeled!

. . .

I entered a giveaway on the ClaraBow’s blog a short while ago and won a custom styling of one of  her gorgeous cloche hats.
I know a lot of people on my twitter list were extremely jealous so now that the hat has arrived,  I can really rub your faces in it with some pictures show you all what you’re missing out on share the hat love :p

.

Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL? I’m very happy I won, no one in the world will love this hat more than me :)  It really makes a difference having one measured for my head properly too, sooo comfortable to wear.   You can see the true colour in the first photo up there and the feather and beaded brooch are full of lovely deep greens and blues.

ClaraBows hats are made to order so requesting one now won’t get you it in time for Christmas but if anyone’s looking to treat themselves then I’d highly recommend one, it’s now the best made hat I own…and I do have a lot of hats!

Oh, I found this in her shop too:

Cool eh?

. . .

So what’s the verdict, do I look cool in a hat?

]]> http://ilovespoiltpig.com/2009/12/clarabows-hat/feed/ 3 http://ilovespoiltpig.com/2009/11/me-me-me/ http://ilovespoiltpig.com/2009/11/me-me-me/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:20:30 +0000 SpoiltPig http://ilovespoiltpig.com/?p=333 Yes, this entire post is all about ME :)

The last few weeks have been quite challenging and I feel like I’ve struggled to hold things together completely – This is apparently no bad thing when it comes to arty farty stuff though! Designing and making things are both excellent ways to procrastinate and distract and I’ve just made myself some shiny new jewellery, all for me :)

I thought it’d be nice to have a constant reminder of things that make everything lovely and wonderful for me so I made this necklace, stuffed with representations of a few of those things that make me very happy.

and carrying on with the circus and performer theme, I made a couple of brooch pins with some costumed people
*heart*

Some randomness:

1. Joan Jett beats the Sex Pistols at ‘Pretty Vacant’
2. I love Edward Cullen and Bella Swan (and Stephenie Myer for making them up)
3. I’m allergic to Kiwi, never send me Kiwi
4. I can play the violin (or at least I used to, quite well)
5. I desperately want a cat/kitten and it shall be Sebastian, Edward or Vincent

. . . . .

Finally…a post all about me me me wouldn’t really be complete without a picture and I have the most PERFECT one ever…I stumbled across this one a few weeks ago, I’d forgotten all about it and I’m sure I don’t actually remember much about it being taken – there was a hanami celebration earlier in the day with some sake and then some civilised consumption of cider at another picnic in the park…and then this photo happened:

me n my best jim

Those are not my sunglasses and that is not my jacket…kinda wish they were though.