Friday 16 December 2011

Denise's Trip to the US


Hi everyone I'm really excited after my trip to the states. It was a 2 part trip one to take my PMC Rio Rewards Certification and nd part to visit as much as I could in New York in 3 days! I have done a bit of a write up in Making Jewellery magazine but have so much more to tell I will put up more info in the new year so readers of the article can find out much more detail and for those of you who do not read the mag. As for the trip to New York it was so exciting. As soon as I got there I went up the Empire State building to get a good view of Manhattan Island. next on the list was the Staten island ferry to se the statue of liberty. Next Central Park, The Frick Collection the museum of American Indians and the highlight of the tour Dancing on the BIG piano. Of Course there was shopping in Macys and walking the full length of 5th Ave with a peek in Tiffanys. Ice skating in Bryant Park and sliders in Times Square. I packed so much in I could talk forever. Anyway enjoy the photos.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Pudsey Wedding Fayre Success!

Last Saturday was the first wedding fayre held at Pudsey Parish Church and it was organised by mother and daughter team Beverley and Becca. They did a fantastic job and so did all the other helpers and exhibitors on the day and it meant the fayre was a success.
All the stalls were busy including our own Wedding Day Silver which also had the full range of Lily-May bridal accessories to purchase on the day. Things really picked up at 1pm when the bridal catwalk began though and everyone came to see the beautiful but affordable wedding dresses for sale through the Oxfam Bridal Range.

Statement pieces were a hit on the day

Denise fine tuning the Wedding Day Silver display
The beautiful venue

Some of the catwalk models
If you want any more information about any of the exhibitors at the event then visit the Pudsey Wedding Fayre website. Watch this space for news about the next event.

Saturday 10 September 2011

Pudsey Wedding Fayre

We are getting very excited for the first Pudsey Wedding Fayre on 17th Septemeber. Its only a small event but you have to support the little events otherwise they never turn into big events do they?! Denise from Wedding Day Silver will be a there with a display of Wedding day Silver pieces which have been made from real leaves and flowers, the full range of www.lily-may.co.uk bridal tiaras, hair combs and pins plus some brand new affordable and unusual wedding favours! You may also spot some of the other Wedding Day Silver designers who will be popping along to see how it is all going. Alyssa will be a model in the fashion show which starts at 1pm so make sure you don't miss that.

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Jean's First Wedding Fair

Well done to Jean who exhibited as a Wedding Day Silver deisgner at the Lough Rynn Castle Wedding Fairon Sunday. There were lots of brides who were keen to have their bouquets preserved in silver and will be in contact nearer the time. A lot brides who visit wedding fairs are planning for a year or sometimes two years in advance! To see Jean's work visit the Wedding Day Silver website and click on find you local designer, she is listed in Ireland!

Sunday 28 August 2011

Good Luck Jean!

Visit Jean will be at her first Wedding Fair at the Lough Rynn Castle Hotel, Mohill, Co. Leitrim, Ireland TODAY!

Sunday 28th August 2011 2-6pm
www.loughrynn.ie

Good luck Jean!




 

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Harrogate Wedding Fair

If you are planning a wedding make sure you don't miss the Harrogate Wedding Fair which will take place on Sunday 2nd October at the Cairn Hotel on Ripon Road (A61) in Harrogate from 12-4pm.

Visit the website for more details




You will get the opportunity to meet Janette, Wedding Day Silver designer for that area and she her wonderful portfolio of bespoke silver jewellery made from bridal bouquets. 

Here are some examples of her work: 


Orchid Flower with amethyst on collar

Large Eucalyptus Earrings

Ivy Leaf Pendant with Citrine


See more of her work and find out how to contact her by visiting her page on the Wedding Day Silver website here!

Saturday 13 August 2011

...and 2 more makes 8!

This week two more members joined the intensive 4 day Wedding Day Silver training course, Amy and Zoe. They made some wonderful pieces on the course and will be submitting their independent assessment pieces next month which we are looking forward to seeing!

Amy and Zoe working hard on day 3

Zoe and Amy wearing pieces they made
Once they have become fully fledged members Amy will be taking commissions from the North East Lincolnshire area and Zoe will be operating around Chelmsford, Essex. Watch this space!

Saturday 18 June 2011

Clarise Jewellery Visit to Benton Park School

Last Wednesday we were invited to run a full day's jewellery making workshop for a class of twelve year 9 girls at Benton Park School in Leeds. It was a very productive day will every student making a piece they could take home and wear.
Initially we had planned to use sterling silver ring blanks and add metal clay syringe paste and colourful glass beads and chips but the school had ordered sheet metal instead of rings so we had to adapt our design to make earrings and pendants instead.

Concentrating hard adding syringe work
Denice showing how to brush up the silver

Cleaning their pieces in pickling acid

Alyssa teaching how to cost up the materials

Some earrings made by Heather and Sammi

The girls were all very quiet and got on so well with their work and they all seemed pleased with what they made. They have asked us if we will go back in the next few weeks to make the rings we had originally planned so we are looking forward to that.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Wedding Day Silver's Latest Designers

Wedding Day Silver would like to introduce our newest team members, Janette and Jean who trained with us last week and are currently working on their assessment pieces which will be used in their portfolio.

Jean Whitfield from Ireland & Janette Mannell from Boston Spa
Proudly showing off their creations

Janette's work made on the training course


We think they will make great Wedding Day Silver designers and can't wait to see some more bespoke pieces made by them. Look our for their full galleries added to the wesbite.

If you think you would like to become a Wedding Day Silver designer in your area please contact us mail@weddingdaysilver.com or visit the website for more information:

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Wedding Day Silver Training

Its day 2 of the Wedding Day Silver traingin course and Jean Whitfield and Janette Mannell have been kept very busy by tutor Denise learning all the technical skills needed to become Wedding Day Silver designers in their local areas. After the first day of learning the art of preserving leaves and flowers from wedding bouquets they were both very tired, especially Jean who had been up since 3am as she had to catch a flight over from Ireland! They have already started making and we are looking forward to seeing how they come out as each piece is always completely unique. We will post the photos at the end of the week!

Here are some pieces made by the most recent members to join Wedding Day Silver Sue Ashby covering  Manchester & Cyprus and Helen Thomas from Wales.

Large stud earrings by Sue Ashby
Petal Charm Bracelet by Helen Thomas

If you think you would like to be part of the Wedding Day Silver team and become a self-employed jewellery designer you can join one of our 4 day training courses. Our course in August is already full but look out for the next one. However, if you are keen to become a jewellery designer but not within the Wedding sector why not come to our Clarise Jewellery Designer Certification Course instead, where you can progress through 3 levels and are encouraged to find your own style but will receive all the skills tuition you need.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Keepsake jewellery for business course



All the practical work is done now and Nicola and Sue have produced some great work. Above is an example of Sues little cat's paw print And Nicola's 4 year old son's drawing of Sue!

Monday 2 May 2011

Website Updates

We have been very busy these past few weeks and have been doing a bit of work to the main Clarise Jewellery website. The courses page had a tidy up and you can now see all the jewellery making courses we have to offer, all the descriptions, prices dates and even a picture all together, we hope this will make it easier for potential students. We have also done a few little tweeks to the rest of the site and you will also notice Art Clay Silver is back in stock in our online shop- hooray! Go check the website out and let us know what you think.


 **Please vote Please vote Please vote Please vote Please vote**
Whilst you are online why not check out the Metal Clay Today designer's competition. Denise has entered her piece 'Hard Wood N Silver' and it fits the brief perfectly of jewellery just for men as this dark wood inlay ring is very masculine. If you want to vote for it please follow the links on the website:

Hard Wood N Silver by Denise Lawn

Saturday 9 April 2011

Clarise Cosmetics has had a make-over!

We have made some quite drastic changes to the Clarise Cosmetics website (www.clarise-cosmetics.com) and the online shop is now fully up and running. New products are being added all the time so make sure you check back regularly! Here are some of our latest products that we think you will love:

Berry Bath Bombs

Hemp Body Scrub

Hemp Shower Bar

Mango and Banana Shower Bar

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Art Clay Festival In Prague


Last weekend was spent in Prague at the Art Clay Festival. These are 2 of the pieces I made whilst there. The piece on the left was made in the filigree masterclass. It took all day to make.

The piece on the right was made in the wood inlay class and took most of the day to make.

The rest of the day I spent playing in the mixing metals class but I didn't manage to produce a final piece I liked so I will be having a go at home.

It was a great weekend with delegates from all over Europe and some from the US. I met up with some of my facebook pals and met some new Art Clay enthusiasts. More pictures and stories from the festival are to follow!

Denise x

Thursday 24 March 2011

Clarise Keepsakes is up and running!

The new website for Clarise Keepsakes has been launched this week so why not pop over and take a look. Clarise offers and extensive range of keepsake jewellery using impressions from your babies, children or pets. Have your little one's hand print, foot print, drawings and writing truned into charms, pendants, cufflinks and keyrings. We can even use your beloved pet's paw print! We currently offer pieces made in silver, copper and bronze. Please contact us at mail@clarisejewellery for more information or to order your bespoke keepsake jewellery.

Keyring made from Ruby's writing

Cufflinks using a drawing of a house and a handprint

Baby Scan Image in Copper

Silver Handprint Charm

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Visit to the Methley Methodists!

Wednesday before last I was invited to the monthly meeting with the Methley Methodist's. About 25 eager ladies turned up to watch my demo of making easter flannel bunnies and have a go themselves. They all said how much they enjoyed themselves and said they would be making some for the Easter Treasure Hunt in a few weeks time! I also took a display of my Cotton Cakes and Cosmetics which were very well recived and my boxes came home almost empty. I organised a raffle to win one of my lovely handmade hampers and managed to raise £35 for charity which I have sent off to Kathryn Leverett the Regional manager for Arthritis Research who was pleasantly surprised!

Collecting the flannel bunny kits

Starting the demo
Watching intently

The finished bunnies!
We raised £35 from a raffle for Arthritis Research UK

Sunday 20 March 2011

Lily-May is Launched on Wedding Day Silver!

Clarise is pleased to be able to offer a beautiful new range of hand selected bridal accessories including tiaras and hair combs. This affordable range is available to buy on the Wedding Day Silver site as well as through the Lily-May Bridal Accessories website so go on and take a look!





Saturday 19 March 2011

The Blog Gets a Makeover!

Just to let you know that as of today this blog is now 'The Clarise Blog'. Orginally started as 'Clarise Cotton Cakes', it has evolved to cover all aspects of the Clarise brand including jewellery, keepsakes, handmade gifts and cosmetics. So please visit our website links on the right to see what we do. We would also love to have some regular readers so  please follow this blog to be kept up to date with latest news and events. It has undergone quite a dramatic make over and you will notice new tabs along the top so you can easily find what you are looking for!

Thanks for reading,
Denise & Alyssa xx

We decided not to go for pink in the end!

Thursday 27 January 2011

Is it too early for ice cream?

As I was deleting some old pictures I found this photo of one of the first things I made when I started up last summer, a facecloth icecream! I remember selling out of these straight away so I have no idea why I didn't make anymore. I hope to be adding these to my summer stock so look out for them!

Saturday 1 January 2011

New Year...New Post

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, hope you all had a great festive season and looking forward to 2011!

I just realised I hadnt updated my blog since early December as I was so busy in the run up to Christmas with not only internet sales but also lots of xmas fairs. Thank you to everyone that came along to support me there and I hope to see you again at the summer fairs and next Christmas too!

One of my most sucessful fairs was at Adel Primary School, there was a great turnout despite the horrid weather and there was lots going on and the kids realyl enjoyed themselves. Here was my stall at the start bursting with gifts, wish I had taken a photo at the end as my table was almost empty!

Best seller was ladies sock cupcakes!

I even took children's hand prints for making jewellery on the day and mum managed to make the pieces in time for xmas including a lovely little charm for Eve's mum. If you interested in having a charm, pendant, keyring or cufflinks made with an impression of your children or even pets then visit www.clarisejewellery.co.uk for more information and prices.

Pure Silver Handprint Charm

So here's to the new year where I will be looking through the craft books I got from Santa and getting inspiration for some new products including new towel/blanket gifts and bath treats. I already have ideas for a Valentines love potion (a gorgeous massage oil) which im hoping will be a great alternative to choccies and flowers this year! I will keep you posted.

Alyssa xx