Moments

Got a review today that made me think...

"Needed this to attend a funeral. Suits the moment. Thank you"

Let's go back a bit. When I was brainstorming for a shop name, I wanted something that sounded happy and carefree. I settled on 'One Sunny Afternoon' because, who doesn't like warm sunny afternoons right? I did wonder if it was too long but anyhow, there we are.

Writing the shop story for my profile, I said that it means a lot to me because of how it pulled me out of an unhappy place after leaving my old job, and that every piece I make is special to me, that I want it to go on and become special to someone else and be part of their story. At the time in my mind I was thinking of happy moments.

And there have been. I've helped make things for weddings and birthdays and special anniversaries. But life comes with the sad moments too.

This will be the second time I've been told that something I made was worn to a funeral. It makes me sad but also happy at the same time. No. Happy is the wrong word. Honoured? Heartened. Heartened to know that something I made did something for someone else at an important moment. At lease I hope it did. I hope it helped them.

So it should be me saying "Thank you." Thank you for sharing that with me.

❤

Earrings inspired by Chinese period dramas...

Well, I had to do it at some point. Between watching all those Chinese historical dramas, wanting to own their fabulous hairpins and earrings, and pinning beautiful photos of hanfu and qipao, kimbok and kimono, I don't know what took me so long to actually make some jewellery inspired by traditional clothing.

Here's the brainstorming... always the fun bit.

And here are the four earrings! I wanted to make them wearable everyday, not too grandiose.

Getting the listings ready to go in my Etsy shop. Watch out for the update =D

Edit: Live now in store!

Etsy Mini

Ooh I like the new Etsy widget. Neat and concise. Very nice. This is my Etsy shop's Etsy Mini =D

A necklace 18 years in the making

Back in the summer, I worked on probably one of my favourite custom projects so far...

My clients wanted a necklace for their god-daughter's 18th birthday gift. The brief was that they wanted it to have some connection to her name, India, and for it to make use of a piece of amber that they had actually acquired on a trip to India 36 years ago.

Early ideas revolved around using her name or initial, and then changed into incorporating something to reflect India the country. We decided to use the lotus, India's national flower.

During brainstorming for how to work the amber and a silver lotus charm together, my client suggested having the amber linked above the lotus charm, so that it would look like a flame.

When I received the amber, it came wrapped in its original, 36 year old paper packaging. The amber had a lovely shade of caramel and was beautifully faceted, but in some way I thought the packaging was even more precious.

I was so excited after setting it and joining all the pieces together.

It was wonderful to have helped realise such a special gift which had been in the planning since a little girl was born 18 years ago, and which obviously held so much sentimental value.

And that is what I loved the most about it all: the story behind the necklace and the stories it will hopefully go on to be a part of. I feel it is such privilege for me to have been able to play my part in that.

Coloured Raindrops

New necklaces! I love these tiny faceted glass raindrop beads. They are so pretty in the light. I put them on really delicate sterling silver chains. Meet Honey Drop, Lavender Kiss, Ocean Jewel and Sea Dew.

All in my Etsy shop ~*~

One Sunny Love

Two years ago I was feeling pretty rubbish because of my job. After deciding to leave something I'd known and worked towards for 8 years, to say I was terrified would be putting it mildly.

I didn't know what would happen when I listed those first items in my shops. It was something I'd always wanted to try and I needed to do something to keep me motivated.

It's been a slow, steep learning curve and I'm not anywhere near a success story yet but I made my 100th sale on Etsy last month and lovely shop owners in Canada and now London have taken a chance on me to stock what I make. It's really a wonderful feeling.

I've been keeping a pin of where I've sent orders and consignments since I started, just for my own record. I love this image of things that I've made travelling to all these places.

I am truly grateful to every single one of those hearts, and to everyone who encouraged and believed in me (or just didn't say out loud how insane you thought I was!). Whatever happens next, I will feel glad that I gave it a go.

Night Sky and a Crescent Moon

I love looking up at the sky on clear nights to see the stars and the moon. I could sit and stare for ages and just let my mind wander...

Inspired by that wonderful night sky, I have 2 new necklace designs to add to my tiny charm series:

Love Song to the Moon

and Wishing on the same Night Sky

Available in both my Etsy and Luulla shops ~*~

Bunny and a Golden Moon

One of my favourite Chinese folk tales is the one about the Jade Rabbit of the moon. As a kid I was fascinated by the idea of a rabbit living on the moon. How did he get there? I remember trying to see him on the full moon at Mid Autumn Festivals...

Another necklace inspired by that wonderful story ~*~

Available in both my Etsy and Luulla shops

Midsummer Magic

I got these carnelian carved butterflies quite a while ago and could just never make them into a design I was happy with. So it was really good when I tried again with a variety of beads and settings I'd acquired since then and worked this out.

The colours that have come together this time remind me so much of a summer meadow.

Available in my Etsy shop ~*~

Summer rain to wear

I love how this new design turned out. The tiny glass beads look like little rain drops; and as we are (supposedly) in summer, I fancied Summer Rain was a fitting name. Like the refreshing rain shower that can come after a sweltering hot summer's day.

Available in both my Etsy and Luulla shops ~*~

One Sunny Afternoon at In with the Old

I'm so excited to be sharing this great news - my handmade jewellery can now be found at In with the Old, a beautiful new boutique near Angel in London, set up and run by the wonderful Alice!

A real treasure trove of independent designers and makers, there's jewellery, accessories, homeware, art prints...

It is to be a hub for all things handmade too as Alice has workshops and clubs in the works.

Pop by and have a look! You'll find it at 57 Amwell Street, London EC1R 1UR

~♥~

Something for the bridesmaids

Last year I received a custom order for a batch of Raindrop pendant necklaces from a bride who was getting married this April. She wanted to give her bridesmaids something bright and yellow to go with their light blue dresses.

It was so fun to work with her! We picked out exactly the swatches she wanted from a selection I chose based on her brief...

I selected which bits of the fabric pattern to cut out and she picked the ones she liked the most...

and I got to turn them into a very special set of necklaces.

What can I say? I love custom orders! ~*~

At the Tea Party

Here it is! A new set of keyrings inspired by my favourite Alice in Wonderland, this time we're joining the Mad Hatter's tea party.

All sold ~*~

When spring is here

Our local supermarket is selling 'Grow Your Own' baskets and tubs of strawberries and tomatoes already. Can't wait for spring to arrive and for the days to get longer again.

In the meantime, I turned these little guys...

...into cute owl phone charms. Lots of little touches of gold in this one, 'When spring is here'. I really like it!

In my Etsy and Luulla shop ~*~

Tiny Hearts and Stars

I've wanted to make this type of necklace for ages: a simple, small metal charm threaded onto a sterling silver chain. I finally found the right style of star and heart charms that fit onto the sterling silver chains and I really like this new batch of cute necklaces.

A single heart in 'With a little heart'

2 little hearts in 'You & Me'

Shhh! And I kept one of 'Make a Wish' for myself...

All in my Etsy and Luulla shops now! ~*~

Wonderland Afternoon

I acquired this set of 3 legged blue and white mini porcelain tea set a while ago and had been waiting to use them in something.

Of course, it had to be something inspired by Alice in Wonderland, so when I found the resin pendants with Tenniel's illustrations in colour, I knew what I had to do...

Each keyring gets its own piece of the porcelain tea set and a pendant with a different image so none are exactly the same.

All sold ~*~

On Luulla

I've been waiting to share this for ages. New handmade community and marketplace Luulla has been in the works for months and I'm so excited that One Sunny Afternoon has a place there.

The good news is, it's now live! It is still in its infancy and going through changes but the first batch of sellers are up and running. Do check out Luulla's blog and facebook page too for lots of handmade inspiration.

I had these business cards made especially ages ago and am so happy I get to use them now!

Tea time and a clash of colours

People sometimes ask me where I get ideas for designs to make into my handmade jewellery from. It varies! At times I'll have an image of what I want to create and will look for specific parts until I find exactly the components that are right, other times I'll have a brainstorming session with all the beads and charms I have and suddenly designs will just create themselves.

These earrings came from such a session one night (idea storms often seem to come into my head just as I am about to go to sleep...). I'd recently acquired these coloured resin roses and was playing arond with ideas of how to incorporate them into earrings. I have lots of unusual beads and colours I don't normally use which I keep 'in case', and it's always exciting when they work themselves into a design. I love the colour clash in 'Frida's Garden' and 'Sea Rose', and the soft pastels in 'Love Letter'.

These 'Time for Tea' necklaces on the other hand were in gestation for a long time. I had the image of what I wanted them to look like and spent ages waiting for the right set of miniature porcelain teacups and plates to appear.

All available in my Etsy shop ~*~

Tiny Garden

When I was a kid I used to love collecting stickers - shiny hearts, fluffy animals, pretty flowers and the like. My old album has long gone now, but I kept some of the floral sticker sheets under the 'it'll be useful one day' idea.

Well! Here they are, upcycled into the images I've used in my Tiny Garden glass pendant necklaces. These are so small it gets a bit fiddly but they're great fun to make.

I feel rather attached to these pretties but I'm getting a great response so I'm really happy they're going to new owners who love them as much as I do

Find them in my Etsy shop! ~*~

One Sunny Afternoon goes to Canada

I've been waiting to post about this super exciting news for weeks! Any Canadian readers near Hamilton out there? You can now find One Sunny Afternoon's handmade raindrop pendant necklaces in the White Elephant store in Hamilton, Ontario!

These little babies winged their way to Canada last week to the lovely Jane and Hollie who run this handmade and vintage shop.

I also found a rather novel way to use my business cards and indulged in a corner rounding paper punch in the process. ^^