Brooch Frame DIY

I first saw a frame used to display brooches at Peapod (vintage shop, Aberdeen). I have a small collection of brooches which sit in boxes and aren't often worn and thought this would be a great way of showing them off and making them into a pretty piece of art for the wall! I found a tutorial over at The Yellow Buttercup and started keeping an eye out for the perfect frame. A few months on and I came across this one, framing pressed flowers, for a bargain £5 in a nearby charity shop. This frame needed no painting, and the whole project took about 10 minutes!

I chose a blue and cream floral vintage fabric, and cut this with over an inch around the edge of the backing. I cut the padding to the same size as the backing and secured this by folding over the fabric edge and sticking with a glue gun. This makes your frame backing into a pillow effectively, perfect for pinning brooches to.

Pop this back in the frame (without the glass) and you're ready to pin your brooches in whatever way you think works best. I attempted a random sort of grid layout. I love how this has turned out, I think they'd look great in a group on the wall with different frames filled with various colour groups of jewellery. Much more fun than jewellery boxes and practical too!

Studio Chaos

So this is how the studio has looked this week with the freshly painted desk, new protective cloth and the organised chaos of two big Bottled Treasures orders (for Ginger Pickle and Green Heaven).  I have to admit this has been a bit more of a challenge than usual when teamed with a rebrand and website project, trying to declutter and catch up with admin! It's all finished now though, onto the next three batches of (slightly smaller) wholesale orders! So exciting that Bottled Treasures will be available from 5 stockists by February.

Frosty Morning

It's really frosty and a little bit snowy at the moment. I decided to try out some of the manual settings on my camera since it's nice and bright for a change. Nothing amazing yet but I did have fun trying out varying depth of field on the stained glass and angel charm! Can't wait to get an easier to read guide book, it's a bit tricky figuring out the settings from the 282 page instruction manual that came with the camera...

David Noble Music

I've been busy working on the website and brand of new local musician David Noble Music. The website is to showcase a portfolio of composition, tuition and performance. We decided on a vintage handmade watercolour and textured illustration theme with a limited colour palette and hand drawn typography. Here's a preview of the work in progress! I'll share more of the final images and website once they're finished and the website has been launched.

New Camera

Since reopening Bottled Treasures for 2013, I've been lucky enough to have received two big wholesale orders! This has allowed me to buy a DSLR camera which is really exciting. I feel a bit overwhelmed with it at the moment (lots of reading and experimenting to do) but for now here are some close up shots of the buttons I have been collecting for a fun crafty project I'm hoping to finish before semester 2 begins.

Desk Makeover

My desk makeover was extremely overdue. The layers of paint from over 15 years studio use (my Mum's before mine) were so thick and lumpy it was becoming impossible to lean on for drawing etc. There were even objects such as kirby grips stuck onto the surface from superglue spills! I fancied a change and wanted a lighter colour to give it a brighter fresh feel, so a pot of lilac paint, sandpapers and paint stripper were bought. Three days of paint stripping, sanding and painting later and it's finished! I love it and can't wait to start some new projects in this space.

New Start - New Blog

Today these four projects were finally handed in. It's nice to have a clear desk! Although the desk itself isn't so clean, which is why painting it is on my big list for January (along with materials clear out, scanning textures, button lamp, brooch frame and new brand). Time for some time off - and by time off I mean time to work on personal projects until semester 2 begins in three weeks. Bottled Treasures will reopen tomorrow, and I want to make a better effort to fit my business around my course this year so I'd better get organised!