Name change!

Hello all,


I've been hard at work on my website, after finally deciding on my new shop name!  I've already changed it on Etsy, and designed myself a new banner.  My shop will now go by "Willowbrook Artistry"!  :)

I hope that it can incorporate jewellery, crafts and my photography eventually!


I'm planning to get my website up and running, and new business cards done before my next craft fair, on the 29th April in Leicester, I'll post some more details of that nearer the time - please do come along if you're local!


In the mean time, here's a competition for any of you based in Dorset.  There's a fab mobile beauty salon in the Blackmore Vale area run by Cassie Feist, and she's offering the chance to win a free spa facial for you and a friend, just by liking the Facebook group, and sharing the competition photo!  You can find the competition here, and you can like JAF beauty here on Facebook.  The winner will be chosen at random and announced on May 1st!

Product feature! Gorgeous Mug Cosy from Kozmic Dreams

I promised a product feature, and here it is!

This is my amazing mug cosy, courtesy of Laura Whitford at Kozmic Dreams.

Laura is a UK seller with heaps of experience in knitting and crocheting.  Her Etsy shop is fairly new, it has been open since September and features some gorgeous knitted animals, crocheted bags and a variety of tea cosy designs.  Here are two of my other favs, this lovely little pirate owl, and a musical notes cosy!

So, about my tea cosy.  I came across Laura's shop through the Etsy teams.  Her work is lovely, so I sent her a message about making a mug cosy with a treble clef, and she replied very quickly, saying she'd have a go.  I was very surprised by just how fast she got back to me - within 2 days she'd sent me a link to the completed listing!  Loved it, obviously, so I bought it and it arrived very quickly.  She offered to make it in a different colour if I preferred, but I think the black and white looks great :)


As someone who is always being told off for leaving my cups of tea to go cold (usually getting distracted by Etsy...), this is a brilliant buy.  It really does the trick.  The wool is lovely and soft and it's machine washable too.  Highly recommended for any hot drinks lover, as you can see in the top photo it even fits my music themed 'bucket-o-tea' mug!


Kozmic Dreams - Brilliant little shop, do go over and have a look!

I'm back!

Apologies for going a bit MIA!  I've been involved in a music project in Leeds for the last few weeks, so I haven't been blogging or doing much making.  Irony being what it is, I've had more orders in the last 2 and a bit weeks than any other time, but thanks to some help from home sending beads and tools up to me, I got them all done!


Also, some fun news!  To celebrate me reaching 200 likes on Facebook, I'm offering 15% off anything in my Etsy shop with the code 'Facebook15'.  Thanks to everyone who has liked my page :D


Currently I'm in Dorset again, more music making.  However, I have just listed one of my favourite new items on Etsy, this beautiful pink charm bracelet.  I know I'm a bit biased, but I just love it.  So much so that I immediately ordered a bunch more crystals to make one to keep, and I plan to make them in other colours too.  Let me know what you think!  I just think Swarovski crystals are stunning, they sparkle so much, but it's impossible to do them justice in photos.

The display on the right is a mini bust, I misread the eBay listing, but actually this size has come in handy for displaying bracelets, and will be useful for the craft fair I'm doing in a few weeks.

As I've just been paid, and had some more sales myself (yay), I also treated myself to some of the items I've favourited on Etsy, so as they arrive I'll be featuring some of them here.  The first one will be a gorgeous mug cosy that was designed and made for me by the lovely Laura Whitford of Kozmic Dreams, and I got the added bonus of being her first buyer!  Look out for that one in the next few days, and check her out on Etsy :)  I've also got some great books I'll be reviewing, 2 on polymer clay and one on jewellery stamping.

Run up to Mothers Day

Hope you're all prepared!  I've been working on a new project, but not the one I originally planned to do!  Funny how often that happens...


I started out trying to make a 'Bee Happy' necklace, but it ended up too big and I was worried the letters wouldn't be strong enough for a pendant if I made them smaller.  Instead I ended up with these!

They're fridge magnets, and I got the chance to try out my glitter varnish.  The silver one is really great, it leaves a totally smooth gloss finish with a bit of sparkle (you can just spray it again for more), I haven't really tested the iridescent one yet.  I covered everything except the wings, rainbows and gold coins with masking tape and sprayed with glitter varnish, then painted the rest with 2 coats of gloss varnish.  Painting the gloss on can be a bit streaky, the spray stuff seems like a better option so I may investigate some plain spray on varnish once I've used up what I've got.  I'm pleased with the results, and I'll definitely be making more!  Probably with names on, and I have sketched ideas for 'Hope', 'Dreams' and 'Peace'.  I'm heading up to Yorkshire on monday though for 3 weeks for a music project, so not sure how much I'll be able to do.  I'm hoping to do another tutorial, but we'll have to see what happens!  If I can't do a tutorial, I'll hopefully manage to do a book review.  I bought 3 books off amazon, two on making polymer clay models and one on metal jewellery stamping.  Really looking forward to reading them but I'm saving them til I get to Leeds!

A Few New Creations

Hello all,


I've managed to get this bug that's been going round.  Yesterday I felt like my tonsils were the size of golf balls.  Eugh.  :(  It wrote the day off a bit.  I got my super strong wire delivered, but I didn't feel very creative!  I can however whole heartedly recommend the healing power of lemon, ginger and echinacea tea with a spoonful of honey and, most importantly, a soft baked chocolate cookie.  Nom.


Instead yesterday I set up my photo cube and photographed my new designs ready to put in my shop.  I've also discovered www.fotofuze.com, an amazingly simple way of removing 'almost-white' backgrounds from product photos and making them really pop.  I think it looks much better than my other pics, but I'm still not sure I prefer it to some of the product photos in my favourite Etsy shops.  It looks very clean, but a bit harsh IMO.  I've seen some lovely photographs done on wood, or pale patterns.  Anyway, here are my latest items!

This is my one of my new charm necklaces :) The tibetan silver coin is reversible, and both parts of the necklace are on separate jump rings so you can wear both, or one or the other.  You can also combine them with my other charm necklaces, like this 'Love Paris' necklace.

This one is reversible too, and again all the charms are on different rings so you can change the order or combination.  I'm thinking about stocking the individual charms too.  I also have another charm necklace, designed for an 18th or 21st, with a pearl, a key and a birthstone.

The other thing I said I'd post about, was my new stamping blanks!  I bought them from  StampingBlanks on Etsy.  They're stainless steel, which is just as beautiful as silver, but doesn't tarnish or rust, and is totally hypo-allergenic.  It's also really durable and cheaper than sterling silver, so I thought I'd give it a go.

First thing I noticed is how shiny these discs are, they really are just like polished silver.  They arrive with the mirrored surface protected by a sticker so they stay in perfect condition, and the reflectiveness makes it easier to line up the letters on the stamps.  I haven't filled in the letter yet, so it's still a work in progress, but I'm very pleased with the initial results and I'm looking forward to my bigger discs arriving.  Well worth considering as a silver alternative!

Finally, I'm offering 10% off everything in my shop 'cause it's nearly Mother's Day, just use the code 'MUM10' at checkout.  :)

Made it home, time for a cuppa!

Hello all!


I've had a busy week and a bit, staying in beautiful Dorset focussing on my music stuff, so I've slacked on posting...Sorry!  Being in the lovely countryside has given me some more ideas for some home items though, and it's a great place to relax!


I arrived home to lots of post, including stainless steel stamping blanks, which I am very excited about.  They look just like silver, but won't tarnish in the same way and are cheaper.  Looking forward to trying them out.  I also got some keyring blanks which I'm planning to use with some of my photography work, and these...

Glitter varnish!  These are for my new project, but I'm waiting for a couple more bits to arrive before I can start on it.  I'll be using them on polymer clay shapes.  Watch this space!  I've got some more bits to photograph and post on Etsy that I made over my trip away, but I'll have to do that in the daylight.

Finally, I will be holding a stall at a craft fair in April in Leicester (more details to come), which will hopefully coincide with the launch of my new name and website.  I will be leaving JewelleryByKat in favour of something more permanent, and more interesting!  Hopefully something that will encompass my jewellery, photography, and maybe a few other bits and pieces too.

Beautiful Sunny Day in Dorset!

Okay, so I've slacked a little on the posting and tutorial-ing, just been keeping to my target of posting at least one new item a day in my shop and keeping on top of admin in the 'Critique Me' Etsy team.  I'm in Dorset at the moment, which is beautiful, and I've been busy crafting, but am without my usual photo set up so can't put any of my new creations in the shop until next week.

I went for a walk round Shaftesbury yesterday, and I went to see Gold Hill, or the Hovis hill, if you prefer! :P

I also popped into the fab bead shop at the top of the hill, as I always do, and bought some pretty things.  Not quite sure what I'll do with them but they just caught my eye!  Amongst other things I bought some shell beads and some gorgeous tanzanite coloured glass beads...I really love the unusual shape of them, they really sparkle!  If you ever pass by, check out The Beadster, or check it out online.

Also, today my boyfriend did some charity shop perusing in my absence and bought me a little present...

Cheeky or what?  :P  It's actually not as fluffy as the cover suggests, but that isn't why he bought it!