Raffles Bizarre

The winner is...

2012-02-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway! I had nearly 140 entries which is amazing. The winner as selected by random.org iiiiiiis.... HOLLY RIVERS!

Holly - I will email you now for you address and pop your prize in the post this week.

My next giveaway will be when we hit 2000 followers on twitter - www.twitter.com/rafflesbizarre so be sure to head over there and follow my account for more info when the time comes.

GOODYBAG GIVEAWAY via Facebook

2012-02-07T04:27:00.000-08:00

Afternoon!! If you follow me on Facebook you will probably have heard about this giveaway already, I've now hit 1000 fans so am giving away this goody bag of Raffles Bizarre jewellery!

As this is actually a FB giveaway you MUST have liked my page to enter. Here is what you can win.

You'll get everything you see in the photo, 4 necklaces, 2 bracelets, a feather earring, a pair of hair bows and 2 handmade cards. Plus the other little treats.

TO ENTER:
- As I said you must be a liker on my Facebook page (this will be checked)
- Comment on this blog post, you do not need to have an account, you can comment as Anon/Guest just make sure to leave the name you have on FB (if I can't find you on my FB page by the name you stated I won't be able to count your entry)
- Please also leave your email address in the comment so I can contact the winner!

Simple as that.

The giveaway is open worldwide and closes this Sunday 12th at 10pm. The winner will then be selected at random.

Hidden Treasure collection (image heavy)

2012-02-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a closer look at my new collection, below are a selection of my favourite pieces but there are a few more on the website, and I'm considering creating a few extra trinkets to compliment these over the next week or so.

Ocean treasure cameo brooch - £20
Treasure cameo necklace - £20

Treasure cuff - £30

Stone stripes ring - £17.50
Ornate oval ring - £15

Bejeweled bow necklace - £15
Fear of flying necklace - £15
Trinket chain - £15

Treasure earrings - £10
Hanging washers earrings - £5
Chandelier earrings 2 - £6

This collection is a little pricier than what I usually make which is down to the sheer time and work put into every item. I have still tried to make them as affordable as I possibly can without cheating myself.

I would absolutely love any feedback you can give me on these pieces, what do you think? Which are your favourites? Do you think the prices are reasonable considering they are all handmade by me? Is there anything you'd like to see more of?

You can check out the other pieces and order items HERE.

Recent blog post favs.

2012-02-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I shared some of the blogs I love, so here are my favourite blog posts from this week.

Oh, Mishka - Sloth Video

I spotted this post by Michelle last night, and by now a lot of you will have seen this clip of Kristen Bell getting everso emotional on the Ellen show over a sloth. Well this was the first time I got to watch it and will never be more grateful to Michelle for bringing this into my life! I could imagine I would be bawling from excitement too if I got to meet my favourite animal - a shark!!

Friday Is Forever - My walk in wardrobe, dressing room, make up storage & shoe room - All in one!

Talk about wardrobe envy! I love any sort of storage/organisation blog posts, even moreso when they are for you clothes, shoes and makeup. This post was full of wonderful pictures with great ideas for storage and generally just something I could drool over. One day I'll have enough space to do something like this myself...I hope.

Heart Handmade UK - Crafty Delights | A List of Ideas for Notebook Uses

As you could gather from the name of this blog, Heart Handmade UK is always full of fantastic craft inspiration. The photos are always gorgeous and I'm loving this latest post which is teeming with creative notebook ideas. I've always been a big fan of keeping sketchbooks and notebooks and filling them to the brim, but I don't get a lot of time to make them look as nice as these anymore, this post has really made me want to change that.

What have been your favourite posts by other bloggers this week, and did you spot any of these? What did you think of them?

January @ Raffles Bizarre HQ

2012-01-31T08:19:00.001-08:00

Waddup!? It's nearly the end of January, and it's gone far too quickly for my liking. I've been working hard but still feel like I've got nothing done.

Most of this month has been spent planning and making my latest collection, which goes live on the website tomorrow! It is called 'Hidden Treasure' and here's a little sneak peek of some of my favourite pieces.

I really felt like I was a little kid raiding my grandmother's jewellery box when creating these pieces, there is lots of recycled vintage parts, found objects, stones and metal. I spent ages carefully planning what materials to use for each piece to get them exactly how I pictured them in my head, and I'm really happy with the outcome. I'm so in love with this collection.

I've also been giving my brand a bit of a new look, which started with my blog at the end of last year but has since expanded to my Twitter page and Website as you can see below.

I've enjoyed encorporating this pattern which I drew for a piece of artwork last year.

I have also used the same pattern on my new stickers, I felt it was time to freshen things up a bit and I really like these. They look fab on my new striped bags too.
As it's the last day of January this also means our huge 40% offer ends tonight at midnight! If you want to take advantage of it just pop over to the website and make sure you use the code 40OFFPLS to claim your discount.

Once this offer has ended the new collection will be up so be sure to check that out tomorrow! All of the pieces are one offs, so when they're gone, they're gone.

HUGE SALE

2012-01-26T06:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to give you the discount code for my current offer. I've never offered such a large discount before but I want to make a bit of room on the website for the new collection so here you go!

This offer will last until the end of January so you have about 5 days to get your orders in. It applies to all purchases no matter how big or small and is also available with international orders.

Baking: Rainbow cake

2012-01-25T03:57:00.000-08:00

I've been wittering on at people about the cake I made last weekend so I decided I'd post the recipe on here. It was a joint birthday cake for two good friends, iced like a zombie but with rainbow sponge on the inside. Probably the best looking cake I've made so far?

What you'll need:
8oz self raising flour
8oz caster sugar
8oz butter (softened)
4 eggs
vanilla essence
4 different colour food dyes

Jam
8oz icing sugar
4oz butter (softened)
vanilla essence
your choice of food dye
writing icing

I started off by making a standard sponge mix by combining the flour, sugar, butter and eggs and whipping it up into a smooth mixture, don't forget to add a drop of vanilla essence. My cake tins are quite large so the layers came out thinner than usual, but this probably worked better or the cake would have been crazy tall.

I split the mixture into four bowls and added a different colour food dye to each one, these were then transferred to greased cake tins. Don't these photos remind you of the feast in the film Hook??

After 20minutes the cakes were ready to come out. I left mine over night before icing but you just need to make sure they are completely cool.

I used this delicious blueberry jam we were sent from Canada at Christmas on three of the sponges which will be the inside layers.

I made a buttercream icing using the icing sugar, remaining butter and a drop of vanilla essence. I left this colourless and spread it over the jam, make sure not to make this too thick as with the icing on the outside of the cake as well it will turn out to be a bit sickly. The sponges were then stacked and ready for icing.

I carved the cake slightly to make it look more face shaped, then added some purple food dye to the remaining icing. Using a flat knife, I spread this all over the top and the sides of the cake in an even layer. Once this was done I used the writing icing to draw the details on. I didn't realise at the time I'd bought gel icing, but this actually worked quite well, especially for the blood!

Voila! This is how it turned out. I didn't tell my friend's about the rainbow sponge inside so when they cut the cake a few hours after first seeing it, it was a nice suprise!!

Unfortunately I'm not actually a fan of sponge cake myself, but I was told it was delicious.

I have a list of other things I want to learn to bake but as I'm trying to eat healthy at the moment I'm having to wait for more birthdays to pop up!

Healthy eating: Carbonara recipe

2012-01-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

The thing I love about Weight Watchers is you don't have to really cut anything out. You can allocate your points however you like which means I can still make some of my favourite dishes.

I've always made Carbonara this way, it makes it a lot healthier than loading it with cheese and cream but it still tastes great!

What you will need:
Tagliatelle pasta
Bacon
Sweetcorn
1 egg
Parmesan cheese
Light fromage frais

I start off by putting the tagliatelle in a pan of boiling water with 1/2 a mug of frozen corn. I usually eat 3 balls of tagliatelle which is plenty.

I also put 2 slices of bacon in my George Foreman grill. I always avoid frying if I can as with a grill you don't need to use any form of oil. If I do ever have to fry something like onions I use a couple of squirts of Spray Lite.

When the bacon is cooked and the pasta drained I chop the bacon and add it to the pan.

These are the three ingredients you need to make the sauce. You put the pan back on the hob but on the lowest heat and first crack your egg into it. Stir this through the pasta until it's all covered and cooked, should only take a minute. Then add a table spoon of parmesan and stir that in too.

For the fromage frais you need to take the pan off the hob, the heat of the pasta will warm it through but you don't want to curdle it. You only need bout a table spoon of this as well and then mix it in.

The quantities of parmesan and fromage frais are based on my own taste but you can try it this way and then add more of anything you need.

All done! I like to add some ground pepper and eat it with a salad - delish!

This is such a quick dish to make, the longest stage is waiting for the pasta to cook and then you're away.

Does anyone else make their carbonara in a similar way? Or do you think you'll be trying this out? For any of you on WW I think I worked out that this was about 15 points so it's really a special treat as I only get 26 a day. I'll make a big dish like this if I'm going out and won't get to eat another meal or if I'm just having fruit and veg the rest of the day.

I have one other recipe to write up for you, but it's definately not healthy so keep an eye out later if you like to bake!

Etsy Spotlight: My quirky valentine

2012-01-20T04:47:00.000-08:00

I decided not to make a Valentines collection this year. I'm not a fan of V-day myself so I find it hard to be passionate about making jewellery for the occasion and putting the same love into my V-day pieces. Not to mention I have a huge workload at the moment so something had to be dropped. (convenient!)

Anyway, I know a lot of you guys might be into Valentine's day and looking for gifts for loved ones or things you want to leave your partners hints to. These are some of my favourite, quirky pieces I've found on Etsy, and all are lovingly crafted in the UK.

Robots In Love Silkscreen - Mengsel Design - £36.50

Love Story Heels - C75 Designs - £76.32

Burlap Love Lumbar Pillow - The Nest UK - £18.58

Valentine Greeting Card - Storeyshop - £6.00

Sugar Skull Earrings - The Monster Of My Heart - £35.17

Valentines Cat Plush - Jane Foster Designs - £13.27

Valentines Day Garland - The Doll City Rocker - £19.91

They almost make me want to do something for Valentines day this year...almost.

Spending Christmas Pennies

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

I know, a bit late right? I've been meaning to get this post up for about 3 weeks now but have only just got the last bits photographed. (I keep wearing them)

Working for myself keeps me on a super strict budget, I can't even remember the last time I was able to buy myself new clothes so I decided to treat myself with my Christmas money this year, instead of using it to buy supplies or wasting it on going out.

These are actually men's vests, you'll notice I'm a big fan of over-sized clothing, I don't do clingy clothes, but also I love that kind of casual/comfortable style. I ordered both these off Asos for £7-£9, I don't think they were even in the Sale?

This coral top I actually got before Christmas as I found it in Topshop reduced to £7 and couldn't physically leave it on the rail. The blue shirt is goooorgeous on, it's very loose-fitting, it's a Medium and still pretty huge. It was reduced to £15 in Republic, I think it's probably my favourite purchase out of the bunch.

Not a very good picture of this dress, it's a lot prettier in person. I got this to wear on NYE from Zara, reduced to £22.99. It's quite a flattering style and a lovely grey lace, the only issues are the sleeves which are a little tight (so I wear it with a cardigan) and the length, it is super, super short so I've been wearing a black bodycon skirt underneath in case it rides up at all. One thing I KNEW I wanted to get with Christmas money was a big, slouchy, knitted cardigan...well I got kind of side tracked and fell in love with this one from New Look which is sweatshirt material. It's nice and warm so I've been wearing it without a coat, but it doesn't do up which is a tad annoying. I don't think this was in sale, I paid around £20.

Lastly, I bought these lil booties yesterday in Dorothy Perkins. I was actually looking for some shoes for my mod costume but soon realised I wasn't going to find anything appropriate that I would also wear afterwards. I did fall in love with these however, which aren't mod, but I'll probably wear anyway. They were reduced to a ridiculous £15!!

I think this is the first year I've actually ever bought anything in the January sales!? I'm usually really rubbish with finding bargains (unless it's TK Maxx - TK Maxx guru over here!) and just end up finding full price items I like and generally getting annoyed with all the people swarming around me

Did any of you snag any good bargains this year? Which were your favourite? I'm definately getting some good wear out of my purchases already, feels good to have new clothes to wear!!

The greatest wealth is health.

2012-01-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. I first began to put on weight when I started secondary school and could suddenly eat whatever I wanted. Naturally I piled it on and by the time I finished college I knew I had to make a change.

From working in a pub during the summer, which meant I was always on my feet and eating a lot less, I quickly lost 3 stone and was the smallest I've ever been. Unfortunately I didn't learn from my mistakes and whilst at uni (and since) I put it all back on and more.

As my weight gain was so gradual I didn't stop to think about it and now I have A LOT to lose. Last October I began eating healthy using Weight Watchers, (I haven't joined, I've just been using their points system) by Christmas I had lost just over a stone, which I'm very happy with.

After a break for a few weeks I'm now back on it as of today and am going to be very strict with myself. I want to show you some of my favourites meals, which may be handy for anyone else trying to lose weight at the moment.

Weight Watchers is great because as long as you stick to your points you can eat most things (in moderation) so I find I'm less likely to crave the bad stuff.

LUNCHES

1. Loaded salads - I love big salads but the veg alone doesn't fill me up so I like to add quorn chicken and bacon or light halloumi/feta.
2. Roasted veg - sometimes I'll just have a bowl of roasted veg, sweet potato, peppers and onion marinated in sesame oil, garlic and pepper.
3. Jacket potatoes - with tuna crunch (added red onion, cucumber and red pepper) and half an avocado. I always use extra light sunflower spreads and dressings.
4. Goujons and salad - be careful not to over eat breaded food but three with salad and extra light mayo keep me within my allocated points.

DINNER

1. Pork chop and veg - I love to make honey pork chops as a special treat using sesame oil, garlic salt, pepper and a little honey. When I'm having this I will just eat fruit and veg the rest of the day.
2. Jacket potatoes - with hot toppings such as this quorn mince mixture.
3. Bubble and squeak - I love this all year round and don't actually use leftovers. Cabbage, leeks, onions, carrots, broccoli, chicken and bacon seasoned with garlic salt and pepper.
4. Goujons and veg - hot veg like cabbage, leeks and broccoli. I like to make sauce using fromage frais and green pesto which is delicious.
5. Pasta bake - you've got to be careful not to cook up too much pasta, I make mine with bacon and onion, sometimes quorn chicken. The sauce is made from red pesto, fromage frais and a tiny bit of light soft cheese and parmesan. I love to have half an avocado and some fresh basil with my pasta.
6. Quorn chicken and veg - with or without sweet potato slices and chicken gravy.

For snacks I eat fruit or sometimes yoghurt and am making sure I drink 2litres of water a day. I'm a massive sucker for diet fizz so I'm only allowing myself that at the weekends and am also going to try and cut out the weekend beer drinking, sticking to white spirits.

Just writing this post has made me wonder what to have for dinner. In fact when the Mothership arrives home from work we are heading to Tesco for a big healthy food shop.

I hope this was helpful whether you are eating healthy or not, it may just give you some different meal ideas you might not have thought of. I'll be sure to keep you updated on my weight loss journey, and share any tips I pick up along the way.

If any of you guys are embarking on something similar I would really love to read about it? I find it very inspiring to see other people's progress and am always eager to learn new, healthy recipes. Just pop a link to your blogs in a comment if you have something for me to check out.

Stuck on Repeat: Competition entry

2012-01-12T06:41:00.000-08:00

This is a very quick update to show you my entry for the latest competition over at Ohh Deer. The competition is called Stuck on Repeat and the 5 winners will have their design made into cute little notebooks.

Here is my submission..

It would be amazing if you could go HERE and use the Facebook and Twitter buttons to share it with your friends. :)

High street fancy dress: Mod

2012-01-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last few days scouring the internet for costume inspiration, the weekend after next I'm attending a joint birthday where everyone will be in fancy dress in the style of: mods, rockers, grunge or hip hop. I've decided to do mod then instantly realised I had nothing appropriate to wear.

I've been using the site (and app) Shop Style which is super handy for finding specific items of clothing. It allowed me to narrow down the search using key words such as - mod, 60s and shift dresses etc.

I was actually really suprised at the amount of results I got that fitted in with my chosen style so I thought you guys might be interested to see what I found.

Dresses
Shift dresses and mini dresses were the main things I thought of, preferably patterned or featuring colour blocking.

1. Yumi - £15.00
2. Asos - £18.50
3. Lipsy - £25.00
4. Asos - £14.00

Shoes
My first thoughts were knee-high boots, which I do not own and did not want to buy just to use on one night. I started to search for more photos from the mod era and found they also wore loafers and brogues which is perfect as they are obviously are right on trend at the moment.

1. Debenhams - £25.00
2. Asos - £45.50

3. New Look - £15.99

Accessories
Without knee high boots the perfect alternative was to wear knee high socks, other mod accessories included skinny belts, caps, silk scarves and oversized sunglasses.

1. Topshop - £7.00
2. Matalan - £3.00

Makeup and Hair

I'm hoping the hair and makeup will really make my costume come together, makeup tended to consist of pale skin and lips, brown/natural eyeshadow and black eye liner with big lashes. Hair was often short and slicked back with side partings and heavy fringes, both aspects were bordering on androgynous with the fun and femininity brought out in their clothes.

Hopefully I'll be able to carry this look off, I'm a little worried that shift dresses don't have the most flattering of shapes so I may need a back up plan, fingers crossed!! If you have any other ideas or tips please let me know, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get!

2012 - what I want

2012-01-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

I wasn't going to write one of these posts, but after reading all of yours they got me thinking about my own goals for 2012 and I was feeling inspired.

I've never made new years resolutions in the past, at least I can't remember doing so. I've never really found there was anything I wanted to do or change that was important enough to make a resolution as such. As for all the silly little things, they'd just be there to catch me out I'm sure, waiting to be broken and making me mad at myself...if I even noticed at all.

So after a lot of though, here are some of my goals for this new year.

Clarity
- This first point makes the others a little harder to decide on for starters. One of my biggest problems this last year has been deciding exactly what I want to do with my life. Although I love running Raffles Bizarre, I know it's not really financially viable to keep doing full time. My struggle is deciding what I want to do next.

Raffles Bizarre
- Despite the possibilty of no longer doing RB full time, I can't picture not having it in my life at all. I want to continue to design and make new pieces and teach myself new methods and techniques that will help me with that. I'd love to find a way to make RB bigger and better whether it be more stockists, or press or just by growing my fan base.

Make-up work
- I am also a freelance make-up artist but have been putting it on the back burner while I concentrated on RB last year. I definately want to get back into shooting for creative purposes but also so the income from these jobs can be used to put back into my jewellery. Right now this is probably the ideal situation as it allows me to be flexible in both lines of work while I continue to work out what else I want to be doing with myself.

Personal
- The last couple of months of 2011 I had been trying much harder at eating healthy and losing weight. It was going well but of course Christmas has totally messed that up. By the end of this week I want to have gotten back on a strict diet and hardest of all, try and start exercising more. I currently do no exercise other than walking to and from places a few times a week, so that will be a struggle, but obviously very good for me.

Other goals
- Watch as many new films as possible, and possibly start reviewing them on this blog
- Read a lot more books (less playing games on my phone before bed)
- Get back into photography and try and take a new photo every week
- Improve my illustration skills/style
- Book plenty of craft fairs
- Spend more time with the friends I don't get to see very often

That's all I could think of right now, apart from a few very personal points that's I'll spare you all from. I wrote all these down in a note pad as well as on here so I can keep reminding myself of them through out the year, and we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck, and good luck to all of you who have made resolutions of your own!

Belated Christmas round up!

2012-01-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wooo, it's finally 2012!! Did everyone have a good night last night? How did you see in the new year? I was at my local pub, which actually I was dreading, but it turned out to be a fantastic night. I've done well with NYE the past two years, because I usually find them a massive let down.

Anyway! This is my last Christmas post (I promise) I just wanted to show you a few snaps of my Christmas day, and some of my favourite presents this year. You're probably all fed up of gift photos now right? Not me, I'm nosy.

Usually we spend Christmas day with some other family members at their house, but we stayed home this year so I took the opportunity to cook my first ever Christmas dinner. Scary!!! Well fortunately it turned out fine, ooh how I love Christmas dinner!

That massive plate of food was mine. Every year I tell myself I'm going to eat a stupidly huge amount..and then don't even make it half way through my first plate. This year was no different. Delicious though.

The rest of Christmas and Boxing day was spent drinking, watching tv, (there were some fantastic programmes on this year eh?) and playing board games.

NHL Monopoly // Teaching the cat Backgammon // Scrabble (ovo)

Here's my rushed attempts at festive nails over the last week. Wintery nails using a frosty blue by Hard Candy and Covergirl pink glitter. Then my much more festive red and gold using Ciate and BarryM.

Now on to the goodies...

1. Daisy Eau So Fresh // Handbag tubes of Daisy and Lola // MAC make it perfect brush kit (mineralize)
2. Alexander McQueen scarf

1. Dvds - Dirty Dancing // The Devil Wears Prada // Paul / Horrible Bosses // Shark documentaries
2. Karl Pilkington books // "Unbelievably loud" mini speaker // Zombie dice game

1. Snuggly knitted scarf/snood
2. Feather print tee // Jewellery drawers

I had lots of lovely gifts this year but these are my favourites, I've also been spending all my Christmas money..mainly on clothes, I'll be doing a separate post to show you what I've bought.

What were your favourite Christmas gifts? (I told you I'm nosy) Feel free to link me to any Christmas posts of your own, I'd love to have a peek.

MERRY CHRISTMASTIME!

2011-12-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

YAAAAAAAY! It's finally Christmas! I am extra happy because I've just watched the first part of the Abs Fab Christmas special! Who else watched it?? I was super excited by the Sarah Lund cameo as The Killing is one of my favourite shows! I may also have indulged in a few sloe gins. ;)

Anyway, this is just a quick one to wish you all an amazing festive period however long yours lasts. I know I'll be keeping my Christmas going as long as possible.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
XXX

Christmas is coming to my house, MY house!

2011-12-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

Not long til Christmas now!! I've been crazy busy with from Raffles Bizarre, but I managed to spend a few hours yesterday putting up our Christmas tree and decorating a little bit. I've been taking lots of pics with Instagram, it's filters are perfect for festive photos.

1. I was left scratched and sore after putting up this bad boy! We always get real trees, they smell good but leave needles hidden around the house for months. You can't see the top of the tree, which is probably a good thing as it's an awkward improvised topper made from a mini Santa hand puppet on a big sparkly, gold star.

2. More decorations, we've grown out of having stockings but we still hang them, there are about four dotted around the room. I also have Santa hats in the washing machine as I type!

3. A pretty lame attempt at decorating the light fixture, I usually add baubles on ribbon hanging at different lengths, but we didn't seem to have any spare this year. This probably means they were used as cat toys and got lost.

4. I always insist on having candy canes on the tree, noone actually eats them so I think these are the same ones we've used for the past few years. One year I'm going to get my act together in time to make a popcorn garland for the tree!

5. + 6. A couple of my favourite Christmas decorations on the tree, I love plush decorations.

7. A couple of the gifts I've wrapped so far, don't you love that paper?? It's from Primark of all places. I got wrapping paper from there last year too which was also pretty awesome, very impressed Primark!

8. Gradually stocking up on Christmas day essentials...aka booze. A Champagne breakfast is a must and last year everywhere was out of Sloe Gin when we did the Christmas food shop so I made sure we got it early. Phew.

Last but not least, CHRISTMAS CAT!

Isn't he funny! It took about 6 photos to get one in which he didn't look totally unimpressed. I'm tempted to see if I can attach that little hat to my head with hair grips and wear it to the pub on Christmas Eve.

I'm much more excited now the tree is up, we are having Christmas at home for the first time in about ten years so I stupidly offered to do the Christmas dinner, wish me luck!!

Have all of you got your decorations up now? If you've blogged about your Christmassy homes I would love to take a peek, link me in the comments!

Things I'm loving this week!

2011-12-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

Just a few things I'm particularly loving this week. I've been a little ill this past week so when I've not being doing orders I've pretty much been in bed on the internet and catching up on shows.

Fantasy Shopper

I only just found out about this site through Abby a few days ago but am completely hooked! I've been to poor to go clothes shopping in a long long time so with this site I can spend ridiculous amounts on all the clothes I love. Of course it is a little sad when I remember I don't actually own these things!, though it has given me a few ideas of what to spend Christmas money on.

Dexter

Good old Dexter. I'd been neglecting him and realised I'd only watched the first five episodes in the new series. I've spent yesterday and today watching all the rest, SOOOOO good!! Who's up to date?? I need to discuss this beaut!

Cake Artist Sarah Jones

You can see all Sarah's incredible cakes on her Facebook page. I've always loved looking at unusual cakes but these are some of the best I've ever seen. So amazing!!

James Dean

So obviously I've always loved James Dean, who hasn't!? Though I seem to have found myself just browsing pictures of him on Tumblr a lot this week. Am going to watch the film James Dean later with James Franco. Can't imagine it being anything less than brilliant!

That's the main things, though I feel I need to mention This is England '88!! I was out the last two nights so haven't watched them yet, am about to RIGHT NOW and I couldn't be more excited. I'm a huge Shane Meadows fan anyway having devoured all his films and of course loving This is England and This is England '86 (the year I was born don't ya know) so have been eagerly awaiting this, and the '90s series next year. Who's been watching it? What do you think so far??

Etsy Spotlight: Christmas Crafts

2011-12-12T01:30:00.000-08:00

Yay more Christmas posts!! Who's getting excited? I can't believe it's only two weeks away now, I am totally looking forward to it but kind of worried with shopping still left to do, although I've got more done than usual I still feel totally unprepared!

This is another post to show you guys more of my favourite Christmas things on Etsy. It was hard to narrow it down, there's so much great festive stuff for sale on there. Somehow handmade feels much more appropriate for Christmas doesn't it? Or is that just me??

Felt Gingerbread Tree Ornaments - crookedsister

Jolly Buffalo Christmas Card - ArtyDidact

Eggnog Baby Christmas Tree Ornaments - PinkyToast

Fruitcake Soap - Aubrey Elizabeth Apothecary

Mountain Dew Stars Christmas Ornaments - LizardSkins

Staching Through The Snow Print - Ex Libris Journals

Two Bomb-omb Christmas Ornaments - MandylopandyArt

Which is your favourite? I absolutely adore the gingerbread ornaments (duh) and that soap is pretty impressive!

These are the more quirky things I've found on Etsy, which is of course why they're my favourite, but if you want to check out the other bits I liked you can see them in this treasury.

Have any of you guys bought anything handmade for Christmas presents this year? Or made anything yourself?

Makeup tutorial: Ice Queen

2011-12-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is a bit of a deceiving post because the Ice Queen tutorial I did is actually a guest post over at..

Messy Carla

..just click the link up there to see what I came up with, hope you enjoy!!

Stocking fillers!

2011-12-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho! No I'm not being rude, unless you're particularly adverse to Santa Claus impressions.
I'm just getting super excited about Christmas now! I've been really rubbish with blogging recently, I've found myself super busy (socially) and have wound up more skint than I knew possible. With a couple of presents still to buy it's a little worrying.

Below are some of my favourite pieces from my Little Miss B range in which every item is £5 or under. A lot of these are one off pieces and all are hand made by me, so have a little peek if you can and grab a bargain. These pieces (and there's lots more) make perfect stocking fillers!

Little Miss B - £5 and under

Also I am giving away a free product with every order £10 or over until Christmas day!! Each free gift will be worth £5 or more, so if you're still doing some Christmas shopping keep this offer in mind. Only applies to orders directly from my website.

Whilst making up orders today I decided to use some of my new artwork to make another necklace, it's particularly wintery and inspired by my extensive watching of Frozen Planet, so perfect for this time of year!

Arctic Wolf Necklace - £6

Lastly I want to thank the Fairy Hobmother for being kind enough to send me an Amazon giftcard. It allowed me replenish one of my favourite perfumes, Ultraviolet by Paco Rabanne, and buy one of the Christmas presents for the Mothership.

Etsy Spotlight: Christmas Critters

2011-11-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

It's been chilly and grey all day and I've been sat inside in snug clothes with the heating up. It's made me feel very Christmassy so I thought it was about time for a festive post. I always see great pet crafts on Etsy, and I especially love the handmade clothes and costumes available. I've gone through and picked out my favourite to show you.

This post took me a lot longer to put together than usual, I was sat in my room giggling at all the pictures for ages before picking my favourites. Animals in clothes just make me so happy!

Christmas Caroler Costume - MattiOnline

Under the Mistletoe Christmas Hat - Scooter Knits

Slouchy Hooded Cowl - Charlie Hearts Diesel

Red Velvet and Fur Christmas Dress - RockinDogs

Custom Christmas Long Johns - The Playful Pup

Santa Paws, Custom Christmas Sweater - My Savannah Cottage

Tiny Elf Hat - hatz4brats

Don't all these little guys look great!! I particularly like the striped long johns, so cute. I can't believe there was a hat for a guinea pig too and not just things for cats and dogs. I HAD to put that one up for the lovely Ayden.

I will be sure to post a picture of my own catface in his Christmas coat soon.

New look!

2011-11-23T17:04:00.000-08:00

A couple of quick announcements.. firstly, what do you think of the blog's new look? I've added a new header , link buttons and a splash of colour down the sides. I'm rather fond of them myself!

On Friday we will be having a midnight to midnight flash sale where everything on the website will be 30% off! You will just need to enter the code BLACKFRIDAY when you check out, so it's the perfect time to grab some Christmas pressies!

Now here are some random photos from the last week to fill out the rest of this post. ;)

The crazy mist in Twickenham on Sunday. After having only watched the film 'The Mist' the week before it was most exciting!!

My big moon face before going out last weekend, that lipstick is actually coral.

Super, bright nails. The pink is by Bloom and the blue is an old H&M beaut. I used a matte coat over them as well. I never normaly go this colourful so it brought out the little kid in me slightly.

The bizarre scene we woke up to Sunday morning, this is outside my friends' front door. Apparently another of our friends thought this was a great idea in their drunken state. The girls will be eating Special K for months!

That's all for now, night night!!

Event: Central St Martins new building launch

2011-11-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

When I planned to write this post I thought I had a lot more photos of the event than I actually did, so you'll have to use a bit of imagination when you read this.

Central St Martins moved to a new building in Kings Cross so on Friday they had a big launch night with bands and loads of great sponsers.

As we approached the building we started to get really excited, the red light and words projected on the front looked amazing, but we were soon hauled back to reality when we got to the front doors and found the huge queue awaiting us.

They had already reached their 2000 person capacity and were operating a one in one out system, fortunately it didn't take as long as we had feared and we had great fun spotting ridiculous outfits and crazy hair cuts amongst the sea of art kids.

When we got in the music was LOUD, there were neon lights and people everywhere. We found a bar, had a wander round and then later found the FREE BAR! After sneakily acquiring about 16 drinks between the 4 of us we had a look round the Island records exhibition, and listened to a talk by the creators of This is Jinsy. (A show I cannot even begin to explain, you'll have to see it for yourself!)

The highlight of the night, and what we'd be eagerly awaiting wasn't until 11pm, but finally we were let in to see Tom Vek. He was awesome, playing both old and new material. The crowd was a strange mix of people either not dancing at all or tearing up the dance floor causing poor, unsuspecting victims to fly out of the way like rag dolls.

Of course we got in to character as the risk of offending all the people there seriously wearing glasses as a fashion statement.

After this the night was over and we had an interesting journey home.

The whole event was really fun all round, with general trends including dip dyes, versace/h&m, fake glasses, undercuts and just general outlandish attire on show - we did find a girl wearing a paper plane on her head.

Tom Vek was amazing and I'm super looking forward to seeing him again in December, though the Kingston University crowd aren't quite as interesting a bunch.

New things

2011-11-17T06:41:00.001-08:00

Another very quick update to show you a couple of new things I've been working on.

Firstly this gorgeous ring made from real amethyst chips piled up on a decorative plastic base. I'm a massive fan of big rings and am very tempted to keep this piece for myself. For now it is available for purchase HERE and there is only one.
As I mentioned in my last post I set up a society6 account, well I have just added a couple more pieces of artwork to the shop. Both pieces are available as prints amongst other things.

As well as jewellery commissions I am always open to doing custom artwork so if you are looking for a custom portrait, blog header...anything really, feel free to drop me a line - jess@rafflesbizarre.co.uk for more details.

Artwork!

2011-11-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

You may have heard of the wonderful website society6 before, where artists from around the world can sell their work as prints, canvases, t-shirts and much more.

I recently joined and today I uploaded my first pieces - HERE.

Right now I only have a couple of small prints up and the iphone cover below, (also available as an ipod cover) but I am working on some new artwork and excited to get it online.

Have any of you ever bought anything from society6? I am also trying to pick out the perfect phone cover for myself, but now I'm tempted to design my own and buy that!!

Christmas collection

2011-11-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

So I've been slaving away the past two days to get my Christmas collection finished. There was still a bunch of pieces left over from last year, which I have left on the site, but now the new bits are all up as well.

This year's festive jewellery is definately very different to the last lot, it is much more sophisticated, and with a few different styles there should be something for everyone. Especially with last year's collection available too.

Anyway, here it is...

All of the jewellery is in THIS gallery on the website. So if you want any more info or prices (all of which range between £5 - £12) head over there.

Also I'd love to know what you think of the new collection and if you have any favourites!?

Recent Blog Post Favs

2011-11-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

A couple more recent blog posts that have had me captivated this week...

Dreaming Spires - dressing up when you're dressing down

Dreaming Spires is a fantastic blog I discovered only recently full of fantastic style and diy posts and teeming with great photos.

I really loved MJ's post on how to make an effort when you're dressing down. There are several really great tips and her style of writing is incredibly relatable. This was the kind of blog post I was completely absorbed by and didn't want to end in the same way as when reading Nina Garcia's book, The Little Black Book of Style.

Style Bubble - Winging It Dazed Style

When I started this series of posts I was going to try not to "re-use" bloggers, and definately not in consecutive weeks. However, I was so happy when I spotted this post by Susie of Style Bubble reviewing the current Dazed and Confused magazine exhibition that I just had to share it.

I'm sure most of you follow Style Bubble, and know what a wonderful writer Susie is, this post is no different, her enthusiasm made me ten times more excited about an event I would have been bouncing in my seat about had I found out about it elsewhere. It's created an absolute NEED to go visit the exhibition before it ends late January.

In my own world of blogging I've started writing for the Rebelicious Magazine Blog, which is bursting full of anything and everything alternative. I'll be sticking to what I know and mainly blogging about jewellery/accessories, fashion and art. Though there is much much more on the blog so definately worth a peak! My first two blog posts are MAGGIE ANGUS and NUMPH.

If you get a chance to read them I'd love to know what you think!

Kaboom!

2011-11-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

I bet you can guess from the heading what this post is about, yes, Guy Fawkes night. (or weekend in my case)

A bunch of friends and I headed up to Primrose Hill in London for Saturday evening. There was no actual organised display there, but we figured it would be a great place to be as it looks out over the whole of London, and that way we'd see plenty.

So, we packed flasks of mulled cider, lots of sparklers and glow sticks and headed up to Chalk Farm for 4ish so we could watch the sunset. We ended up there watching sporadic fireworks for about 4 hours until it was just too cold, too busy, and our backs ached from standing on a bench. The rest of the night was spent out in Camden which of course is always a good time.

On Sunday we felt like we hadn't quite had our Firework fill so after a lazy day we drove over to Richmond where they were holding a big display to the music of Queen. What's not to love? We weren't about to pay the tenner for entry so instead watched them from a motorway bridge right next to the field, which was fantastic. Obviously these were a lot closer and there was the music element as well so I'm glad we went out.

Now for the obligatory snapshots...

What did everyone else do for Guy Fawkes this year? Hope everyone stayed safe and have a wonderful time!!

VOTE FOR MY WORK

2011-11-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

I feel a bit stupid asking for votes but I would love it if you took a spare minute to go HERE and like the picture below. It is my entry to Sweet Delirium's cameo competition, the winners have their design made up and sold as necklaces through SD.

There's a few amazing pieces of artwork, so I don't really stand a chance but it would still be lovely to get a few more votes!

Thanks so much anyone who takes the time to vote. :)

Makeup tutorial: Ventriloquist dummy

2011-11-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

If you saw my Halloween post on Monday you will have already seen the end result of my ventriloquist dummy makeup, but the photos were such bad quality I decided to do a little tutorial.

1. Shading and highlights

You can begin with no makeup, or just a natural foundation base. Ventriloquist dummies have human skin tones so are not completely white, but with shading and highlighting you can kind of achieve their shiny and more 3d qualities.

I used a couple of brown eye shadows for shading the depth around my eyes, nose, cheekbones and mouth, I found for this part eye shadow worked a little better than face paints. It's important to remember under the mouth and around the chin to make it look like a separate piece.

Then I highlighted my cheeks, chin and brows with a white, full coverage cream makeup. Basically any face paints or white foundation will work, this is just a form of grease paint. I used a white pressed powder to seal it.

2. Eyes and lips

The key features here are the creepy eyebrows, over the top lashes, the bright red lips and the lines around the chin.

First I used grey and black eyeshadows in the eye sockets and some black grease paint to line the top and bottom of the eyes. I applied the lashes over this which meant there were no visable gaps of skin. Then I used a white eye liner on the inside of the lower lid. I find it makes my eyes stand out and look bit bigger, which is important for a ventriloquist dummy as the way their eyes stare are one of the freakiest things about them.

The eyebrows and lines coming from the mouth are both drawn on with a black grease paint also. Then I used a standard red lipstick but Gosh, this was actually the first time I had used the lipstick and I was really impressed as it stayed on all night, I didn't need to re-apply it once.

3. The finished look

Ta da! I used a bright pink blusher and then I was done. I wore one of my own mini top hats and for my costume (not pictured) I wore a black bubble dress over a white shirt, ripped tights and a black bow tie. It was the best I could put together in time but looked quite appropriate.

I've been thinking I should do makeup tutorials on my blog for a long time, obviously I work as a freelance makeup artist when I'm not doing my jewellery so it makes sense. Are there any specific makeup looks, beauty, fantasy or sfx you'd be interested in seeing?

Dia de los Muertos

2011-11-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

One of my big fascinations is the Day of the Dead festival of Mexico, or in Spanish Dia de los Muertos. It runs over November 1st and 2nd so I thought it would be nice to share some of the photos I've found.

You may have seen my own Day of the dead inspired necklace which features my original artwork in plastic. Like the rest of my illustrated pieces this necklace is only £6!!

[Dia de los Muertos necklace]

The following photos are ones I have found on Tumblr or Etsy and really give you a sense of what the festival is all about in terms of imagery. The days themselves are spent celebrating the lives of their deceased relatives. They believe it is a time where the souls of their lost ones return to visit the living.

Everything is really over the top, and overly decorated with bright colours and flowers, traditionally marigolds. I love the distinctive skeletons, which unlike Halloween are not meant to represent the macabre but rather the idea of the dead humorously impersonating the living.

[Tumblr]

[Etsy]

[Tumblr]

What are your thoughts on this festival? I could look at Day of the Dead photos for hours and never get bored.

Studio envy

2011-11-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite blogs on Tumblr is SMALLROOMS. It is a collection of gorgeous photos of interiors, which I could spend hours drooling over and daydreaming I will one day own something half as amazing. One of my favourite categories is home studios. I love to see how other people decorate and store things in their creative spaces. If a person has a studio in the first place they're more than likely going to be artistic enough to make it wonderful. Here are six of my favourites.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

Each of these spaces is quite different and obviously suited to the artist's specific needs. I love the rustic look of the first studio, it's almost too perfect and makes me think of Martha Stewart.

I would love a huge big room, white walls, white, wooden floor boards and lots of shelves and desks. A balcony or french doors onto a patio would also be nice, but I'd settle for the room alone. My current space however most resembles photo 6, dark walls with inspiration pictures pinned to everything, and books, magazines and art equipment cluttering up every surface.

I have intended to do a post showing you my own studio spaces, but they have yet to become tidy enough to take photos of. That is my mission this week!

Wishlist: Republic

2011-11-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Republic is one of those stores I always completely forget about until I walk past it. Although I can never just walk past it, I have to go in and have a nosy.

It is so resonably priced and although there are a lot of items that just aren't my thing, I always spot some absolute gems. I love the style of the women's wear in Republic, a combination of casual and surf yet still chic.

[Miso Bird Bandeau Dress - £29.99]

I'm not one for girly prints, but I'm very fond of this dress. It's quite a good cut for me and I love the base colour combined with the bright colours in the birds and flowers. Although it looks pretty summery the colours make it a perfect dress for all year round.

[Crafted Canvas Biker Boots - £39.99]

I love boots, I wear them all year round, and the chunkier the better. I've been contemplating getting some brown ones, and I really like the canvas and strap on these beauts. These would be great for the wet weather that I'm sure is on it's way.

[Miso Pocket Blouse - £22.99]

Loving sheer shirts right now, in fact I bought a gorgeous blue one the other day. I love the colour of this and the length, though I find this cut makes me look really broad so I'd have to wear it with a cardigan.

[Crafted Stud Clutch Bag - £19.99]

Of course I love studs anyway, but this clutch is so unusual, with the pattern the studs make and the fact they are underneath the leather. I also like that it would go with any outfit and just take it that little bit more edgy.

[Crafted Panel Skinny Jeans - £34.99]

Coloured jeans, something I used to wear to death but seem to have grown out of. I really like the colour of these jeans and how they are slightly faded. Might be time to embrace a little more colour.

I'm thinking after Christmas I might need a little trip to Westfields and check out the sales in the big Republic there. Has anyone bought anything from Republic lately? Or tried any of the above pieces on?

SALE

2011-10-31T17:16:00.001-07:00

WE ARE OFFERING 30% OFF ALL ITEMS AT RAFFLES BIZARRE UNTIL THE END OF NOVEMBER 7TH!

JUST USE CODE: NOV11 WHEN YOU CHECKOUT.

APPLIES TO EVERYTHING ON THE WEBSITE INCLUDING CLEARANCE ITEMS!

This is Halloween...

2011-10-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! My favourite day of the year! In fact, I feel quite a phoney sitting here in normal attire..I might have to paint my face for the rest of the day, or at the very least wear a comedy hat!

I hope everyone is having a terrifying day and those out tonight (students I'm looking at you) have got some amazing costumes planned! My friends and I went out on Saturday to celebrate Halloween. We started getting ready from 2pm and listened to my Halloween playlist on Spotify for hours. It was so much fun and everyone looked fab so I'm going to show you a few pictures of our spooky selves.

This is me, I went as a ventriloquist dummy. Inspired by the film Dead Silence and an episode of Buffy, this is a costume I'd been wanting to do for quite a while. Unfortunately these photos don't do the makeup justice at all, but I'm thinking of doing a makeup tutorial for this if anyone is interested?

These are a couple of the other makeups I did on friends, the zip-face was a definate crowd pleaser, she looked incredibly creepy wandering about in the night.

And here are just a few more nice photos of the night...

the cupcakes were the most amazing ones I've ever eaten. - spiced pumpkin with cream cheese icing. I'm not a fan of cake, but I AM a big fan of anything pumpkin flavoured, especially if there is cinnamon, nutmeg and a halloween nature thrown into the mix.

So that's all I have to show you, the photos aren't great but you get the idea. I've been enjoying reading everyone elses Halloween posts today and seeing all your costumes. Feel free to leave your blog link in a comment if you have a scarey update I haven't yet checked out!

Recent blog post favs.

2011-10-26T17:20:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd start a new series of posts to show you some of my favourite updates from other bloggers. I love to discover new blogs off of you guys so maybe you'll find some gems you didn't know about.

Style bubble - Potty for Q-Pot

A wonderful company review with stunning photos.

Cowbiscuits - New Tattoo!

I am so in love with SJ's new tattoo, which she revealed in this blog post.

Pretty Zoo - Covet list: BLACK

Stunning new blog discovery, I love this wish list post, perfect for Halloween!

A Beautiful Mess Blog - D.I.Y Oversized Fabric Garland Chandelier

As a crafty person myself I love seeing tutorials from other like minded creatives and this one is so gorgeous and helpful!

I hope you'll take a minute to check out each of these posts, I really enjoyed all four!

Outfitted 4

2011-10-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

I find it so hard doing outfit posts. (Hence this is only the fourth) I rarely wear anything other than slouchy clothes in the week, and when I go out I'm usually in such a rush I never remember to take a few snaps.

Anyway, here are some very poor quality photos taken on my phone in bad lighting. (Really worth it eh?)
I love this top, it was from H&M a couple of years ago maybe, I had only ever worn it a couple times and recently found it at the back of my wardrobe and I've been wearing it to death ever since.

These boots are what my friends call my "Puss in boots" they're from Tesco and I love the scuffed, grey leather and eventually I plan to add some studs to the parts that fold over. I'm a big fan of Tescos clothing, over the last year or so it has definately got a lot cooler. In fact I bought a gorgeous shirt and skirt from there the other day which I must blog about soon.

My ring is silver and from the little jewellery shop I used to work in and the necklace is my own design and available for purchase here. You can see my skull scarf in the background, love this bad boy.

Lastly, my old faithful black skinnies, that's a big ol' rip in the knee, but I still love them.

I mentioned before I had a Christening to attend and needed to find a present for the bubba. Well I had great trouble finding anything so I decided to paint a frame for her, seemed a little more personal. Here it is, and the gorgeous girly.
I only went to the party afterwards but it was a lovely afternoon and great to see how big Kemara had gotten. I hadn't seen her since she was born in May.

So it's nearly Halloween!! Who's excited?? I'm no longer going for my comedy costume so will be zombying up in some way. My friends and I are going out Saturday night seeing as Halloween is on an awkward day. What are all you guys up to?

Don't forget to check out my CLEARANCE items, some of them only have one day left.

Vintage and new

2011-10-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally got a chance to make some new jewellery. It's been ages since I made anything, other than illustrated or sculpted pieces so it was amazing to get back into the other style I love working in, which combines recycled jewellery and charms, vintage and modern to create gorgeous new, and often heavily loaded pieces.

Religion necklace

Summer loving bracelet

Summer loving necklace

Rose cameo charm bracelet

Paris and pearls

These are my five favourites but I also made Blue and gold and Silver bangle with charms you can check out.

I'd absolutely love some feedback or constructive criticism on these pieces, they range between £10 and £20 in price because of the materials used and time taken to put them together, which I hope would be the kind of price people expect to pay for a handmade piece of this nature? What do you think?

Etsy Spotlight: New finds.

2011-10-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

This Friday I thought I would show you some of my favourite new artists I've found on Etsy of late. Whenever I go on Etsy to check my own account, I always get completely distracted by all the other amazing work that's there. It's probably a good job I never have any money or my house would be bursting at the seams with all the bits and bobs I'd be buying.

Edgar Hernandez

[Unfortunately Soul]

Edgar Hernandez is a painter, sculptor and mixed media artist, mediums I have always worked in myself. His work is of a very specific style which I find incredibly charming and unique.

This particular piece is called 'Unfortunately soul' and is from his series "Lost Kingdom" which features sad and lonely characters which have been sculpted and painted by hand. Edgar describes them perfectly - "They are so pathetic and miserable than people make fun of them, but we all have something from them into our feelings. They Distorted Reality to Convey a feeling lost."

I think the pieces really convey the emotions intended, from the brilliant sculpts themselves to the use of colour. This is the kind of work I would have on my wall, it is so interesting I would never get bored of it and imagine I would find myself stopping and staring at it every time I walked past.

Julie Zarate

[Illuminated II archival giclee print]

Julie Zarate makes a range of items, but I fell in love with her paintings in particular. Julie's use of mixed media as a canvas for her paintings makes each piece really interesting and rich.

Again I love her choice of colours and her graphic style. Often her pieces have a slightly alternative or macabre nature to them, which you know I am very fond of. This piece is particularly haunting, the staring eyes and the stitched up lips are my favourite parts, but I also like the delicate patterned details.

All of Julie's pieces are available as prints in a variety of different sizes.

Cart Before the Horse

[Halloween Skeleton Day of the Dead Ornament]

How fantastic is this little fella!? Cart Before the Horse is run by dynamic duo, Dylan and Jo who say they make the kind of art they like themselves. They make a lot of dolls, though this piece is actually a small Day of the Dead ornament called Sebastian Bones.

Sebastian and their other pieces are made of muslin which has been stuffed and hand painted, then sanded down to give it a rich, leather feel. The arms are jointed which I think is a really nice detail and adds to his whimsical quality.

This piece stood out to me as I love everything about Day of the Dead, but if I hadn't spotted him I would have found it very hard to choose my favourite. Everything is so beautifully made with fantastic attention to detail, you can really see the love that has gone into every piece.

Sass & Peril

[Raccoon pillow]

Did you know I'm a bit of an animal nerd? No? Well I am. You may have noticed I'm a mad, shark fanatic at least. Well my other animal obsession is with raccoons. That is not the only reason I love this cushion however. I adore this screen printed design, it's so quirky and the style is nice and simple in an almost aztec nature. Handily enough it is also in my favourite colour scheme.

Shannon Kennedy the owner and artist behind Sass & Peril has an array of products available from cards and prints, to tshirts and cushions like this one, so if you like Shannon's style there is definately something for everyone.

My Lola Fashion

[Little black dress with handmade flower sash]

My Lola Fashion is run by Tali Saraf, a fashion designer from Israel. I only spotted this dress maybe two days ago but I am completely in love with it. It's very feminine and not the kind of style I would usual favour, but that rouched neck, and gorgeous waist band has me won over.

Tali has a wide range of stunning garments and not just dresses, there are skirts and cardigans and much more. Each piece looks incredibly well made, with lovely fabrics and those charming little details that I love so much.

Well I hope you like this little selection, I could have gone on and on but I'll save that for another post. What do all of you think of these pieces? Have you ever bought anything from Etsy or would you?

A little trip

2011-10-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I feel so bad, it's been a week since I last blogged! :o

I've been pretty busy with Raffles Bizarre and sorting various other things out, which I won't bore you with.

The last three days were spent away at my friends' flat in Rushden for Kelly's birthday. We drank a lot, sang and danced a lot and of course ate a lot...as usual we were pretty ridiculous, we regress to 10 years of age whenever we're together. Here's some photos of my little trip.

The painted box I made for Kelly, which I filled with sweets and jewellery.
Delicious cocktails, anything blue is instantly a winner in my books.
Party hats on the animals, they were feeling left out.
A plate of rats...just because.
Homemade McDonalds breakfast.
A still from our filming of Jaws 5. Don't ask!

I've spent this afternoon catching up on your blog posts from the past few days and working on some new jewellery designs. I'm also going to get a post scheduled for tomorrow, though it won't be a Follow Friday one this week.

This Sunday I have a Christening to attend, or the after party anyway and I still haven't gotten a gift sorted, so the next two days will be a mad panic. So far I'm thinking a photo frame. If you have any clever suggestions that'd be a great help!

I should also mention I just re-stocked my clearance items on Ebay so have a lil look and grab a bargain.

FOLLOW FRIDAY

2011-10-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

1. Susanna of Style Bubble - Recently I have stumbled across some of the most interesting blog posts through Style Bubble. Isobel blogs about fashion and creativity and her posts often leave me inspired or just in awe.
2. Kaelah of Little Chief Honeybee - I'm a big fan of Kaelah's blog, I have major envy of this girl's life! Her blog is not only gorgeous, but is always interesting, and full to the brim with fantastic pictures. Little Chief Honeybee is a fabulous read, especially for the crafters and thrifters out there.
3. Caroline of Sparkly Vodka - Caroline writes a fantastic fashion and beauty blog, full of outfit posts, product reviews and plenty more. She has a great sense of style and each post is accompanied by gorgeous photos
4. Natasha of The Secret Tea Party - The Secret Tea Party is such a sweet blog, each post is usually full of stunning photos and charming writing that is so enjoyable to read. It is girly and fun. Natasha is also a talented illustrator, and her creativity shines through in her blog posts.

1. Kitty Gallannaugh - Kitty is a friend of mine who I have worked with on countless occasions. I followed her work a little while before meeting her so I was very excited to work with her. She is one of the photographers I most enjoy working with, because despite being one of the nicest, cutest people you could meet, you are guarenteed to get some stunning photos. She has a very particular style which is quite ethereal and dreamlike turning her models into goddesses.
2. Danielle Tunstall - I only discovered Danielle's work in the last six months, but I fell in love straight away. Her work very much centers around the gorey and macabre, so it is right up my street. Her photos are fantastic combining traditional photography with graphic design, and even if horror isn't really your thing you can appreciate the creativity.
3. Felice Fawn - Felice is a photographer I have followed for years after finding her on DeviantArt. Her photos are gorgeous and her retouching skills lend themself to making each photograph impeccable and breathtaking. She has a great range of work from colourful, artistic pieces to more edgy and gothic work. I love it all, this girl can do no wrong.

1. Sweet Delirium - Sweet Delirium specialises in alternative and gorgeously ornate jewellery featuring real animal skulls, medical paraphenalia and antique components. Each piece has a fantastic attention to detail and is so beautiful and unique.
2. Beat Black - Definately some of my favourite sculpted jewellery I've come across so far. All of Beat Black's pieces are quirky, and original. Themes include horror, anatomy and sea life..admittedly three of my favourite things.

Aztec frames

2011-10-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday already!? How did that happen? This week so far has been a cold-induced haze in which every day has blurred into one big snotty mess. (Sorry for the over-share!) Saying that I've been very good at keeping on top of work, and here is my latest commission, two painted frames for a good friend.

I used to sell painted and sculpted photo frames a couple of years ago but I think these are probably my favourite ones I've ever produced, and they're fun to make...which made me think I might start selling them again.

They are 5 x 7 frames, and completely handpainted. If anyone is interested in having any of these made they can be produced in the colour scheme of your choice and would be £10.

(Obviously the backs/glass to the frames are provided too, but these photographed better without.)

I also have a couple giveaways on the go at the moment through two wonderful bloggers. You may have spotted them already but if not check out Beauty's Bad Habit Blog and Lauren Rhiannon to see what you can win.

Also the lovely Kirsty has featured my Halloween jewellery in this post HERE.

Tumblr spotlight: Halloween

2011-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm always looking at Halloween photos on Tumblr all year round, but especially at the moment as there are obviously an abundance of wonderful things floating around throughout October. Here are a few of my favourites.

[via runawayrampage]

[via halloweenmonster]

[via aestheticpoison]

[via thecakebar]

[via thesleepersky]

I'm very tempted to try and make the big pumpkin cake. I have an airbrush that I use in my artwork and I've always wanted to try and use it in baking. Also isn't that kid amazing!! I don't personally plan to have children, but if I did I'd be finding any excuse to dress them up all the time.

I've credited the photos as who I have re-blogged them from, if you want more information you can hopefully retrace their steps and find the original source.

A nice suprise and a bloody weekend.

2011-10-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got a lovely email from Isobel over at Attempted Illustration. As you will gather she is a very talented illustrator, I've followed her work for a little while and when I saw she was having a giveaway on her blog I entered straight away. ANYWAY, this lovely email was to tell me I had won that giveaway and the tote I chose featuring Isobel's original artwork would be on it's way to me.

It arrived this morning, and I was overwhelmed to find she had added a bunch of other things to my prize. This is what she sent me, all packaged up a lovely, gold jiffy bag, which I geeked out over for a good couple of minutes before opening.

Isn't it all gorgeous?! I love the bag of course, but everything else is stunning as well, I particularly like the pug card and pidgeon print, which I am going to frame for my wall. I get excited about anything animal related.

So thankyou sooooo much Isobel! This was such a lovely suprise, and after a couple of awful days, cheered me right up!!

I hope all of you will pop by Isobel's blog and check out her website too.

In other news I wanted to share a few photos from my weekend. As I mentioned in a previous post I was attending the Zombie walk in London...

Myself and good friend Zoe all zombied up ready to go get the train.

This guy was my favourite zombie there, his makeup was brilliant and I had to get a photo with him!

Shaun of the Dead!! What a legend.

It was brilliant, hilarious to see the public's reaction to us, which on the whole was good. It was also for charity, so a great excuse to get all bloodied up and have some fun.

Lastly, I have mentioned on Twitter and Facebook that I now have an Ebay Shop. I have a lot of things on there, but I've also added a clearance section where some of my older stock is available at reduced prices. So have a peek HERE if you want to grab a bargain!

Wishlist: Zara

2011-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

Next stop is one of my favourite highstreet stores Zara. I say it is my favourite but I have probably only ever bought a handful of things from there. I tend to walk around, fall in love with everything, not be able to make decisions end up frustrated and have to leave. However the few items I have bought at Zara are some of my favourite and longest lasting pieces.

On to the things I am currently coveting...

[Dress with tacks - £29.99]

I can't describe how much I want this dress! Everyone needs a few LBDs in their wardrobe and this is exactly the kind of thing I like, a quirky alternative to the norm I can wear with some chunky boots and over accessorised wrists.

[Printed sweatshirt - £19.99]

Loving the print on this sweatshirt, I also have a fondness for short sleeved sweaters., not to mention this is a bargain!

[Suede city bag with metallic clasp - £69.99]

I've been wanting a nice, medium sized holdall for a while now and keep seeing ones I like all over the place, though this is one of the best ones I've found. I would never think to go for brown, I always stick to black or grey, but I'm a little bit in love with this.

[Feather print sweater - £25.99]

I just really love the print on this sweater. I know the Navajo trend is being rammed down your throat from every angle but I like the different choice of colours in this jumper. The shiny gold print and wide neckline make this quite a feminine little sweater, a quality that is important to me as I always find I end up looking quite blocky in them.

[Oversize Blazer - £49.99]

Last but not least, blazers are something I've never gotten into wearing before, but I like that this one is very casual in its material and finer details such as the turned up cuffs. Grey clothing always wins me over. (I don't know where my love of monochromatic clothing came from, I used to be all about the bright colours.)

So there you have it, have any of you lovely ladies spotted or bought any of the items above? If you've bought them maybe you shouldn't tell me as I'd be crazy jealous.

Halloween makeup

2011-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

You will be able to tell by now I am a massive fan of Halloween, horror and anything gorey in the slightest. Halloween is by far my favourite day of the year, I love getting dressed up with full blown makeup (the scarier the better) and going out to see what everyone else has come up with. Here are my previous halloween looks.

Zombie cat - 2010

Circus freak - 2008

An alternative take on Alice in Wonderland - 2007

Creepy siamese twins - 2006

This year I am doing a joint costume with a friend, but it's a non-scarey one.!? We are going for comedy over horror, I don't know how I feel about that, hoping it will be worth it. Fortunately I am attending the Zombie Walk in London on Saturday so that's my excuse to bloody myself up. Is anyone else going?

Being a makeup artist I am constantly browsing the internet for ideas and looking at makeup and sfx. So below are some of my recent favourites keeping on the theme of Halloween. Hopefully the links will work even if you don't have a DeviantArt account!

Dolly Dearest - Lyzius

Happy Halloween - thisisevolution

Halloween Make Up Part 2 - LeafOfSteel

Werewolf Costume Close Up - whyamitheconvict

Hopefully this post will help inspire any of you who are still stuck for a costume this year, I'd love to hear about your Halloween plans and what you're all going as?

Etsy Spotlight: Halloween

2011-10-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Pretty similar subject to my last Etsy Spotlight I know, so I'm keeping this one very Halloweeny, rather than just horror based. Here are four of my favourite, recent Halloween Etsy finds.

Halloween Owl Garland - aprilfoss

Trick or Treat Bags, Happy Halloween, Set of 12 - DaintyButton

Halloween soap 2 pumpkins and 1 ghost - KatyStarSmoothies

Halloween Fascinator - Beaded Pumpking Jack O' Lantern - p39designs

What do you think? If you want to see some more spooky goodies check out my Halloween treasury.

HALLOWEEN COLLECTION PART 2

2011-10-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show you the rest of my halloween designs. There are other variations of each of these on the site also.

[Bloody tooth necklace]

[Skull ring]

[Eye of newt brooch]

HALLOWEEN COLLECTION

2011-10-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

After an eventful weekend of old friends, a trip to the police station, new houses and barbeques I finally got my Halloween collection finished (though I may make a few more bits) and up on my website HERE.

There's a lot more on the site than the pieces below so these are just a taster for you.

[Tombstone necklace]

[Ghost brooch]

[Brain ring]

[Mummy brooch]

[Jack O' Lantern necklace]

Who's looking forward to Halloween then? I am always super excited to dress up and go out scaring people, though this year I am going for a comedy costume rather than a gorey one! :o
I'm going to have a few halloween features this month so make sure you check back soon.

Wishlist: Urban Outfitters

2011-09-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Right now I am super SUPER skint, so why do I seem to spend more time trawling my favourite websites and drooling over clothes than ever before?

I thought I'd begin sharing some of my favourite items with you guys, starting with one of the stores I love the most - Urban Outfitters.

[Ecote Silk Boho Dress]

I love the print on this dress and the darker colours, they would be great for winter, but the dress itself is silk so could be worn in the summer too.

[Sparkle & Fade Cold Shoulder Tee]

I'm not a fan of this cut-out shoulders trend but I LOVE this tee so much.

[Silence + Noise Zip-Through Navajo Skirt]

I'm not sure I would actually wear these colours, a little girly for me, but I do love the print and I'm a big fan of exposed zips!

[Ash Flat Stud High Top Trainers]

So I probably NEED these in my life no??

[La Cav Du Bon Eddie & Ethel Rabbit Bag]

LOOK AT THE RABBITS ON THE BUCKLES!! Right now this is the perfect bag.

Just a few picks, I could go on but we'd be here all night!! I'll be back to show you some of my favourite things from other shops soon!

FOLLOW FRIDAY

2011-09-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

For this Follow Friday post I just wanted to show you one of my favourite illustrators, who I discovered through Gem a while back.

Sally Cotterill is an amazingly talented artist, as you will be able to tell from the examples of her work below. She has a very distinctive style which I fell in love with as soon as I set eyes on her work.

All her pieces are incredibly quirky have such an impact, from the striking colours to the little details like spiders and stars which dangle off the imagery in an almost dark, fairytale style which makes me think of Tim Burton.

Everything about Sally's illustrations make me so happy and as someone who dabbles in drawing myseld she's a big inspiration to me.

Sally has a range of artwork available for purchase on her website and also scarves coming soon, which she showed a sneek peek of on her blog a while back, and look amazing. If you have some spare cash (which sadly I don't) I'd get on over there and support this fantastic artist. I have a feeling she'll be big one day!

You can also find her on Twitter or Facebook.

Fascinators + my face.

2011-09-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Some more new creations for you to feast your eyes on. Yesterday afternoon was spent making these four fascinators and planning a bunch of others to begin next week.
I am going to try and get some Halloween (yes I'm on about Halloween again) fascinators and mini top hats up too. Running out of time I know.

If you click the links below the photos you can see other pictures of each fascinator and prices/measurements. My favourite is definately the heart one!

[Skulls stripe fascinator] [Hearts on heart fascinator] [Polkadot stripe fascinator] [Checkered fascinator]

Today I realised one of the benefits of the cold weather coming in, I can wear my knitted Henry Holland jumper again! I hardly got a chance to wear it last year so this time I'm getting it out early! You can just about see it in the photo below.

Oh and I re-bleached my hair last week, my roots were atrocious, and now it's all lovely and white.

Zombie lover?

2011-09-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

I'm doing well with the blogging this week! I wonder how long I can keep it up? (Totally jinxed myself now.)

I wanted to tell all you zombie/horror lovers out there about this awesome thing 2.8 Hours Later, which is finally coming to London in October. It is basically an organised zombie apocalypse game, you are in teams, have to find your way to certain locations without being infected then it ends with a zombie disco. For all the information follow the link above, I think it sounds absolutely amazing.

I've applied as a volunteer, which I'm really hoping to get, but if not I will have to try and scrape together the £28 for a ticket as this will be unmissable!

I also thought I'd show you some recent photos...

[Funky nails, these took absolutely forever to dry.]

[The birthday card I made my brother last week.]

[Saturday afternoon was such beautiful weather we sat with our feet in the newt pond.]

[The Twickenham regatta was on all weekend so we watched some live music by the river.]

[Getting all excited about Halloween and getting some spooky packaging out for orders.]

So had anyone else heard of 2.8 Hours Later and are planning to take part in the London one? I've been hearing about a lot of different things like this recently, Blair Witch experiences, murder mysteries on trains, all things I would absolutely LOVE to go to...time to get some extra income!

No more fish in the sea

2011-09-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Some of you will know I also work as a makeup artist when I'm not doing my jewellery. I had a separate blog for my makeup work but as I hardly get round to these kind of posts I thought I would just combine them from now on.

I wanted to show you a few shots from one of my recent jobs for a new publication called Hegemon Magazine. It is an online magazine run by student Roger Bryant, and is described as -

"Hegemon is a new and innovative magazine, based in the university town of St Andrews, in Scotland. Run and written by students, Hegemon aims to document the unique culture of St Andrews whilst placing special importance on environmental and ethical issues."

The concept of the shoot revolved around the environmental issues regarding over fishing and poor fishing practices.

So on a little beach in Ruislip, with grey skies and rain we worked our magic...

Photographer - Kitty Gallannaugh
Model - Charlotte Griffiths
T-shirt - Katharine Hamnett
Makeup - Myself

You can read the magazine online HERE! I'd love to hear what you think about these shots, the makeup or even the issues behind the shoot.

New mini top hats

2011-09-19T11:01:00.001-07:00

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you may have seen I've been working on some new mini top hats. These are slightly larger than my usual hats they're a much better size and look really great with big, bouffant hair styles.

Here are some snapshots of the three new hats I have just finished. If you click the links under the photos you can see full photos and find out all other necessary information.

[Under the sea mini top hat]

[Music notes mini top hat]

[Pastel polkadots mini top hat]

What do you lovely ladies think? I have a few different designs on the go but have put them to one side while I work on some Halloween jewellery.

WINNER

2011-09-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to reveal the winner of my giveaway, as chosen by random.org.

Drumroll please...

Lorna from Funny Little Frog

Well done miss! I will email you shortly to grab your address and your prizes will be on their way to you next week!!

Thanks everyone for entering, be sure to keep an eye out for the next one!

Etsy spotlight: Horror

2011-09-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

If you're a big horror fanatic like me, Etsy is like an Aladdin's cave for spooky and gorey, the weird and wonderful. Here are some of my favourite horror themed items that I've discovered so far. Click the links below the images to be taken to the items.

Spooky Houses Halloween Necklace - smafactory

Zombie Gnomes: Bye Bye Birdie - ChrisandJanesPlace

Shaun, Ed and Zombies - Shaun of the Dead - cathairandteeth

Big Teeth ZombieHead Pendant - ZombieHead

Brain Soap Gift Set - HowardsHome

Sorcerer's Candle. Light it, repel darkness. - TheOneLifeRider

Bloody Red Murderer Eyewear / Glasses - TIMBEELO

With halloween not long away now I am getting all excited and instead of planning my costume I should be making some creepy jewellery of my own!

Earrings

2011-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've made any new jewellery (other than illustrated pieces) so this afternoon I had a little play with a few bits and pieces I'd collected and been wanting to incorporate into new designs. Here are the four pairs of earrings I came up with.

Golden snowdrops // Bling chains // Turquoise and chains // Shield and heart

My favourite are the Golden snowdrops, I love the way they move almost like a snake or a spine. Which do you like best? If you are interested in purchasing any of these just click on the links to be taken to the website, don't forget to use the 15% off code SEPTEMBER.

I also wanted to show you some photos I've found on Pinterest, I'm loving these over-accessorised looks!

If anyone happens to know who's photos these are I would love to credit back to them!!

GIVEAWAY AND DISCOUNT CODE

2011-08-30T05:50:00.001-07:00

Time for another Raffles Bizarre giveaway!!

Up for grabs is this one off Feather necklace with turquoise chips worth £10, and one of my new Navajo eagle brooches worth £6. The giveaway is going to run for the next two weeks in conjuction with my latest customer discount and the winner will be drawn on September 15th.

Before I tell you how you can enter, my current discount allows ALL customers 15% off all orders from RB. You just need to enter the code SEPTEMBER when you checkout and this also ends on September 15th.

SO... To be in with a chance of winning this giveaway just leave me a comment below with your email address. You MUST be following this blog to enter, I will check.

For extra entries:
Follow me on Twitter
Follow my Facebook page
(You must tell me in the original comment if you have done either of these and leave the names you are following with so I can check, each of these things gives you one extra entry so you can have 3 in total.)

Good luck everyone!!

Lazy bank holiday catch up

2011-08-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

That's exactly what it's been, an extremely lazy day for me. After the last two nights out I got up and dressed ready to go hang out with some friends and in the end I just couldn't face it, took my makeup back off and put pjs back on.

I might have mentioned before I did a little illustration for The Clothes Maiden magazine recently, well I got my copy in the post this week and here it is. I'm very happy with it, it's a great feeling to see something you've worked on in print.

I have another publication out at the moment too, which features my makeup. I will make sure to post about it when I get my copy through!

I have a lot of work to get done at the moment, including some new jewellery and mini top hat designs. Looking forward to working on those this week, I've also started thinking about getting another job, poverty is becoming boring at last.

I also have a bunch of things up on EBAY at the moment, they finish tomorrow so take a peek. There's some tops, a pair of shoes, a vintage bracelet etc.

Lastly I couldn't resist showing off these delicious pancakes with bacon and maple syrup I made for breakfast the other day. So naughty, but so delicious!

Hope everyone else has had a wonderful bank holiday weekend, what did you get up to??

Octo girl

2011-08-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

Finished a new illustration today, been working on it on and off whenever I get a chance over the last week. I don't know why this girl is naked, or why she has tentacles slung over her shoulder...but it popped into my head and here it is.

Despite my best attempts to get a Follow Friday post together I was super busy today and just didn't have time, so I'm just going to add some of my favourite blogs of late here.

Anchor of Roses // Milkteef // Little Chief Honeybee // Effies Make Up Box

Etsy spotlight: Geek chic

2011-08-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

A few of my recent favourite geek products on Etsy.

[Vampire Mug - I Like 'em Tall, Blond & Dead - True Blood]

[There's an APP for that hand stamped sterling silver necklace]

[Complete Star Trek Pillow Set]

[International Language - I Heart U - Sterling Ring Adjustable]

[Shaun, Ed and Zombies - Shaun of the Dead set 19cm]

[Dexter Macbook Decal]

[iPhone 4 Case / iPhone 4 Cover / iPod Case / iPhone Case -- Game Boy]

[Cassette Tape Jewelry Case / Organizer]

Which do you like best?? If I had unlimited money my whole house would be filled with goodies from Etsy!

Tonight I am out at a circus themes MTV party at an exclusive, members only club on Park Lane. As you can imagine I am beyond excited!! Now to go find something to wear!! Wish me luck.

Illustrated brooches

2011-08-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hey bloggy beauts!
It's been so long since I've posted...again. It's been pretty hectic with jewellery work, makeup jobs and seeing friends. I also managed to acquire a part time job...and then lose it before my first day when they realised they didn't need the extra help after all, bit of a bummer!!

I had my fair at the Boogaloo last weekend, which was a little quiet but a nice day, I got to meet some wonderful people. I made a few new illustrated brooches for the fair, and they are now available on my site too.

[Navajo arrowhead] [Navajo eagle] [Goldfish] [Patterned cat] [Patterned wolf] [A time for tea] [Anatomical heart]

Here's a picture of my wee stall, a bit easier to look through than usual eh?

This is the pub cat, I think she was trying to help?

I'll try and be a bit more regular with the updates now, I'm currently working on a fun new piece of artwork, which I'm excited to show everyone when it's finished! How has everyone else been? I'm slowly catching up reading all your blogs.

Outfitted 3

2011-08-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day, are you impressed??

This is what I wore out to my friend's gig in Camden last night.

This top has always been one of my favs, I love the design on it, but it was always huge, with tight long sleeves creating a kind of awkward batwing situation. I had a brainwave yesterday afternoon and cut off the sleeves and rolled them up, then pinned in the sides. It now fits a lot better.

The top is by Illustrated people, and I'm wearing it with a stretchy, denim skirt from Tesco, leggings from Primark and slouchy, Blowfish boots. It was so nice and warm all evening yesterday, even when I was walking home at 1am it was perfect. What do you guys think of the weather we've been having?

Skele-cat

2011-08-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

Afternoon ladies! My blogging has become a bit more erratic than it was already due to how busy I've been, but I have a few posts lined up. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to resume my Follow Friday posts as well.

Here's my latest new product, a Skele-cat brooch. If you click the picture you'll be taken to the website where you can buy it.

The last week has been spent making up a bunch of Reversible cat necklaces, these new Skele-cat brooches and my plush Zombie necklaces. These are the most time consuming to make, but I'm finished now and can get on with my illustrated jewellery which is a lot quicker.

Here's a snap of some of the works in progress from the beginning of the week.

All these pieces I'm making up are for my next fair on the 13th in London, which I have mentioned in a previous post. I'm quite excited, hopefully there will be more people at this one!

What's in MY bag??

2011-07-28T05:28:00.001-07:00

First just a lil note to let you know I am giving away a free gift with all orders from the website until midnight Sunday. Hop to it jewellery lovers. :)

I'm a big fan of 'what's in my bag?" posts, probably because I'm too nosy, but it's nice to have a little peek into the lives of my fellow bloggers.

So, here is a pic of what is usually in my bag when I go out. (When I'm just out an about in the day you'd find me with a much bigger bag and a lot more junk)

1. One of my favourite bags, I prefer bags with a shoulder strap when I go out because then they're permanently attached to my body..no putting it down and losing it for me! I loved the print on this and it's sweater material, which is pretty unusual so I had to snap this up from Pull and bear.
2. My Blackberry, which of course comes with me everywhere, I actually hate it and am trapped in a 2 year contract. Bring on October so I can ditch it and grab an iphone!
3. The most amazing purse I've ever owned, I love this beaut by Luella. I don't think I'll ever have the heart to replace this.
4. Oyster card, pretty essential when you live near London, I don't drive so this badboy gets me everywhere I wanna be.
5. Door keys, and my awesome shark key ring from Blue planet aquarium. Yes, I'm a bit shark obsessed.
6. Big sunglasses, sunnies don't suit me so the bigger the better!
7. I always have gum on me, I get so paranoid about things like bad breath and body odour. (In fact I always carry deoderant and perfume too, which I've neglected to photograph.)
8. Pressed powder, I really like this one by myface cosmetics. I have very light skin so it's hard to find good foundation and powder so this is my go to brand at the moment.
9. Covergirl lip stain, I always carry this and 11.
10. Covergirl concealer, pretty standard.
11. MAC lipstick in Fleshpot, I like to take a nude lipstick and then a lipstain like 9 with me when I go out, two basic shades I know work for me.
12. Eyeliner and eyebrow pencils, I use gel eyeliner and a powder eyebrow cake before I go out, which usually stay on all night, but I like to be prepared. ;)

I get very stuck in my ways and I only have about 2/3 bags I alternate when I go out depending on what I'm wearing. I suppose it's a good thing really, less choice is always handy where I'm concerned.

I went over to my friends' flat last night to hang out and watch films, we only managed one in the end, Submarine, but what a film, it was absolutely amazing and hilarious! This is what I wore...

Checkered shirt - New Look, Small black hoody - H&M, Necklace- Raffles Bizarre

I was even organised enough to re-paint my nails as mine had gotten so chipped and covered in varnish from work.

Now I have to get back to making up necklaces for my next fair...so they will probably be ruined again by tonight!

Recipe - Banana and peanut butter muffins

2011-07-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a different post from me today. It was a good friend's birthday at the weekend so I decided to bake her some cakes. I'm a huuuge fan of peanut butter and banana so that's what I made. Peanut butter and banana muffins with chocolate icing. They were so delicious I thought I'd share the recipe!

This recipe is to make 12 muffins, but I only had small cupcake cases so it made 24.

200s self raising flour
25g oats
75g light brown muscovado sugar
3 medium ripe bananas
100g crunchy peanut butter
2 medium eggs
25g melted butter
125ml semi skimmed milk

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 and lined a tray with cupcake cases.

2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the oats and sugar.

3. Mash the banana and mix in the peanut butter, eggs, milk and butter in another bowl and then stir into the flour mix.

4. Spoon the mixture into the muffin/cupcake cases, and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack then cover with a simple butter cream icing, add a couple spoons of cocoa powder and a couple of drops of vanilla essence.

If you have a chance you should seriously make some, they're so good!! Has anyone tried baking anything similar before?

In other news, check out my new Raffles Bizarre stickers that arrived the other day! I love them!

Outfitted 2

2011-07-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Slowly getting used to taking outfit photos..I know they're still rubbish, but a lot better than my first attempt no? Another boring outfit though I'm afraid, this is just comfy, every day clothes that I work in when I don't have to leave the house.

My top is from Tesco, I fell in love with it last year and demanded it for my birthday or Christmas. This is my favourite hoody, I bought it in New York from American Eagle and I wear it to death!! I'm also wearing black jeggings, cheap and cheerful one's from Primark. I've gone through a couple of pairs of these bad boys now because they're just so much more comfortable than regular jeans, I should probably invest in some different colours.

I've had a reaaally long day baking for a friend's birthday, finishing orders and replying to emails so now I've finally finished I decided to take a bit of me time and have been painting my nails while watching a British horror film - Salvage. I got the idea for doing the single patterned nail on each hand from another blogger recently, but I've got to admit I cannot for the life of me remember who. If you think it was your post please let me know so I can add a credit!

The reason I have been so busy today is because I spent the last 5 days at a friend's flat near Northampton. I had a much needed break, we watched lots of films, and generally messed around the whole time. Here's a couple of snaps from my time there...

Amazing cocktails (totally won over by the packaging) // Horror law - nuf said // Making a cape for a cricket...like you do // My first ever game of Scrabble trickster // Dressing up as emergency fish vets // Lance the tortoise stuck on a ledge.

You're probably used to my ridiculous photos from my time with LJ, you wouldn't guess we're both 25.

Tomorrow I am off to an all day party for a friend's 25th so on Sunday I can finally reveal the cakes I made her! They're seriously the best thing I've ever baked!!

FOLLOW FRIDAY

2011-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Another short Follow Friday today, I am absolutely SWAMPED today, with orders to finish, other deadlines to meet and emails to send, and I've undertaken a huge baking project for a friend's birthday present tomorrow. I am also working on a new outfit post, so that might be up later today.

1. Paula of Pink Bow - Paula has a gorgeous blog full of stunning photos, outfit posts, reviews and even recipes. This blog is so diverse, it's always exciting to see what the next post will be about.
2. Vicki of The Magpie Girl - I love Vicki's gorgeous blog, it's bursting at the seams with outfit posts, and the photos are always stunning. This is definately one of my favourite style blogs, with every outfit being quirky and unique. Vicki does wonderful things with accessorising and combining colours.
3. Robyn of The Robyn Diaries - This fellow SW girlie always posts wonderfully written updates with a splash or humour and lots of great photos. Robyn shares detailed, and chic outfit posts, style and product reviews and has great taste in music!

Take a minute to check out each of the blogs and let me know what you think.

FOLLOW FRIDAY

2011-07-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

Wow how is it Friday again already? I had so many posts planned this week but just didn't have the time for most of them.

I'm absolutely swamped today so this is going to be a much shorter post, I just wanted to recommend a few more of my favourite bloggers for you to follow.

Before I start I just want to let you know I am away from tomorrow until next Wednesday meaning all RB orders will go out at the end of next week. To apologise for the delay you can all get 10% off from Raffles Bizarre between midnight tonight and midnight next Friday. You just need to use the code BACKSOON when you check out. Any of you who are newsletter subscribers should have recieved an email with a different code giving you 15% off. I won't get a chance to blog again until Wednesday either, but I'll be sure to update Twitter when I can.

1. Jennie of Sailboat - Jennie is one of the sweetest bloggers I've found, she shares gorgeous photos of herself and her life and gives fantastic reviews on makeup and other beauty products. She always looks amazing and as a self-proclaimed dreamer her posts are just that. Her cheery updates never cease to put a smile on my face.
2. Abby of Abbzzw - I have been honoured to have had my jewellery featured on this fantastic blog a number of times now. Honoured because I was already in love with Abby's blog for her great style photos, product reviews and from talking to her, her positive outlook and fab sense of humour!
3. SJ of Cowbiscuits - Cowbiscuits was one of the early blogs I found and fell in love with. SJ has killer style, her outfit posts are some of my favourite I've seen. We seem to have a lot in common whether it be our love for American tv or tastes in accessories so her blog is always a fun read and one I always look forward to.
4. Gem of From Gem With Love - A beautiful girl with a gorgeous blog, not to mention her posts are intelligent and funny, what's not to like?..need more? Gem is a photographer, so her blog is bursting at the seams with stunning pictures of herself and everything around her. She blogs for herself, is honest and isn't scared to discuss topics others may avoid, which makes 'From Gem With Love' a great read over and over.

Take a few minutes to check out each of these lovely ladies, and hopefully you'll enjoy their blogs just as much as me!

New illustrated necklaces

2011-07-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've been talking about my newest pieces a little bit and I've finally had time to finish drawing the artwork and then making the necklaces themselves...and here they are.

[Carousel horse necklace]

[Patterned cat necklace] [Patterned wolf necklace]

What do you think? I'm pretty happy with all of them, I think my favourite is the wolf.

I also have a new fair coming up in August, all the information is on the flyer below. I'm not sure if I mentioned or not but I'm going to be changing things up a little from my usual stalls and mainly just be selling my illustrated and plush jewellery.

So if any of you Londoners are about on August 13th, you should definately pop down and say Hi, you can have a look at the Facebook event page too, sounds like it'll be a great day all round.

Winners and discounts

2011-07-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

What a horrible grey day it is today! The weather isn't helping my concentration, though my sleep deprivation is mainly to blame for that. It's my own fault for staying up chatting til 4am. Ah well, supping on a delicious, ice cold, sugar free Relentless now. :D

First things first, some of you may have entered my latest giveaway over on my Facebook page, which was in the form of a poll. I closed the poll today and there was a clear winner for which illustrated necklace you liked most, and that was my 'A Time for tea necklace'. There were 29 voters, which I put into random.org and the winner chosen was KATIE FIRMIN. Well done Katie if you read this, but I have sent you a tweet anyway! Katie happened to have voted for the winning necklace so one of these will be on it's way to her asap.
Oh yes, I did mention discounts in the title didn't I! Well I am away from Saturday until Wednesday visiting a friend, which means I won't be able to get orders out during that time. So because of this I'm going to give you all a 10% off code to use from Saturday until the following Friday, so keep an eye out on here and twitter. However, if you subscribe to my newsletter you'll recieve 15% off instead!! I'm going to send the newsletter out on Thursday so there's still time to sign up if you want a discount code, just make an account on my website.

Here's a few other things from the last couple of weeks...

Amazing Pretzel + Coconut M&Ms // The delicious goats cheese tart I made for lunch one weekend // Jiffy pop butter popcorn, never before have I had such perfectly popped popcorn // LJ geeking out at Bafta // Marks now do chocolate pretzels <3 // A MASSIVE eagle at the village fair last Saturday.

So I realise most of that was food :/ and probably not very exciting at all, but I've neglected to take many photos of the fun things over the past few weeks. Most of them involved nights out, and no-one needs photographic reminders of them!

Last Thursday LJ and myself went to a friend's film screening at Bafta, which was super cool. The place is really nice, we particularly enjoyed taking photos in the huuuuuge full length mirrors in the toilets. It was great catching up with some old friends/colleagues from previous films we've worked on, and also got to be complete fan girls when we noticed Perry Benson (This is England, Mum and Dad etc) was there too. Both of us happen to love him, but we too star struck to say Hi - losers.

Saturday I went to an all day birthday which involved a lot of spiked Pimms before we headed over to the pub I used to work at and things became a little more hazy after drinking games and dancing. It's was a great night though, everyone there is like my second family and I've been missing them a lot recently.

Lastly, (as if I haven't talked enough already!) I spent yesterday watching some brilliant films - SHARKWATER and FIDO. I would highly recommend both, but especially Sharkwater. I'm well and truly obsessed with anything to do with sharks, and I'm a big animal documentary fan in general, it was pretty sad as it focused on a lot of the shark finning and hunting, but the whole film was beautifully filmed and really interesting. I'm currently trying to find the documentary The Cove, has anyone seen that?? I also watched the latest True Blood, which I hadn't been too keen on so far, but this third episode was slightly better I thought. What are you all making of it so far??

FOLLOW FRIDAY

2011-07-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Fridaaaaay!! Finally the weekend, though mine kind of started on Wednesday when I had a friend come to stay. (more about that in the next post)

All you Twitter users will know of Follow Fridays where people recommend their favourite Tweeps for their friends to follow. I love finding new people through other bloggers and I always do a mass FF so I thought I'd expand it over to the blog and show you a few of my favourite people every week.

1. Ayden of Little Blog of Horrors - one of my all time favourite bloggers, Ayden blogs about her life, work, beauty and style and pretty much anything else you can think of. Her posts are uplifting, full of fabulous photographs and are always a great read.
2. Stef of The Clothes Maiden - Stef not only has this fantastic fashion blog, but also runs a magazine which features all sorts of interesting and creative articles and can be bought HERE. She has been a fantastic support of RB, by featuring me on her blog and the others she writes for. I'm always super excited when I see a post by Stef on my timeline and eager to find out what trend or designer she has showcased.
3. Sarah of Burn the Blonde - Another gorgeous girl with a stunning blog, this lovely lady has an awesome style and legs to die for. I adore her outfit posts, gorgeous photos and witty style of writing.

1. Sacre Coeur run by Tea - Tea create's impeccably crafted jewellery with gothic, steampunk and antique influences to name a few. Her work is high quality and unusual, and guarenteed to make you feel special. She's also one of the funniest, most interesting people I follow online.
2. Sugar and Vice run by Sarah - The best and most reasonably priced lasercut jewellery I've ever discovered, Sarah has a huge product range and also creates custom pieces. I have purchased a few gifts from her and they always arrive quickly, perfectly packaged and with wonderful communication. There is definately something for everyone over at Sugar and Vice.
3. Little miss delicious run by Maxine - Adorable and fun sculpted jewellery that is lovingly crafted by Maxine. I've had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful lady briefly and seeing her jewellery in the flesh and it's all as colourful and appealing as it is on her website.

1. horrorhannah - I think I stumbled upon Hannah randomly, but soon discovered she is a fellow horror film lover (I know it's in the name) and now she'll never get rid of me. Like me, Hannah is also a makeup artist and you can see her work on Model Mayhem.
2. iamassault - Tim is an awesome designer/illustrator I found through Ayden's blog a little while back, I love his work and chatting to him on Twitter about beards, work, animals and beards some more. Check out his website HERE.
3. acorporealfaith - A lot of you probably already follow Alyse as she's the gorgeous blogger behind Integrating Alyse. Not only is her blog fab, but I have great fun talking to her on Twitter, often in late night, (and no doubt very annoying for our mutual followers) group tweets with Tim.

That's it for this first Friday, make sure you check all of these guys out, they're all real gems! Don't forget to let me know what you think of this post, the people I feature will change every week.

Outfitted 1

2011-07-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Afternoon my sun-blushed beauties!!

I've had a wonderful day out in Wimbledon on a photoshoot today. It was the perfect weather for it, and I've caught the sun slightly. Here's hoping it'll go brown!

This is what I was wearing today, it might look warm but this top is super thin and breezy, I'm a fan of quite neutral colours, greys and beige so this is perfect. I wore it with black skinnies as I knew I'd be scrabbling through the woods to do makeup, though I was soooo hot in them and wish I'd worn something cooler.

I'm wearing my Zombie necklace, another of my go to pieces, I really need to mix things up a bit.

Below is a screen shot of some of the artwork I've been working on recently. These will soon be made into necklaces and maybe brooches, but I wanted to show you a sneak peek and get some opinions. Which do you like best? The wolf or the cat?

There's a few other new drawings I've been working on, I'll reveal them soon.

There's not much other RB news, other than that my poll is still open where by voting you will have the chance to win one of my illustrated necklaces.

I've also signed up for a stall in August at The Dandy Lion Market which is in London on the 13th. I'm going to be changing things up a little and bringing a limited selection of jewellery, mainly my illustrated pieces.

ETSY SPOTLIGHT: Artists

2011-07-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is something I've been planning to do for a while but just haven't had a chance to get round to it. I have a free evening so I thought it would be the perfect time to get my first post done.

I have been on Etsy for a month or so now and keep stumbling on amazing work I would LOVE to buy if I had any spare cash. There are so many amazing creatives on there that people don't know about so I thought I'd do an Etsy Spotlight post every now and again featuring some of my favourite pieces.

This first post features some of my favourite artwork.

1. See You In My Dreams A4 Fine Art Print - by saintbarbie

I love this piece from Jo's arctic series. It's of such a unique and unusual style, I've not seen anything quite like it before and I find myself just staring at it every now and then. The colours are so magical, I can't get over the sky!

2. New Mexico 10 x 10 print - by charmaineolivia

I'm sure a lot of you will have discovered Charmaine Olivia before, her work is just incredible. I picked this piece as Navajo is so popular right now, so I'm sure a lot of you will love it. Her shop is definately worth a look through, I haven't seen a piece I didn't like.

3. Cosmic Spirograph Wolf Note Card Set - by LeafandInk

I have a bit of a thing for wolves at the moment so I couldn't resist including this set of 5 cards, they're blank and a very reasonable £8.94. I really love the style and the combination of colours.

4. circus original painting - by jenniferdavis

How adorable is this piece?? I adore everything about it, Jennifer's painting style is so quirky and unique. The colours are great and the little details like the way she has painted the cheeks are so cute! This is an "original acrylic/graphite/charcoal painting on hardboard".

5. Im Afraid I Cant Help It art print - by jkldesign

Artist Leigh Viner also has a very individual style. This is a print from one of her acrylic, pen & watercolor paintings and has actually already been sold, but I wanted to include it anyway. There are loads of other gorgeous pieces in her shop for you to feast your eyes on.

6. The Cat original etching - by Grazvyda Art

Another super quirky piece. I'm a sucker for anything animal based and this little cat is so sweet. This is actually an etching, which makes it slightly unusual, I really like the choice of cobalt blue for this sad kitty.

7. Maybe print - by yellena

Last but most definately not least is this stunning print by Yellena. It is a print of one of her pen, ink and marker drawings. I really love the colours and patterns in the hair, a theme which is continued throughout her other gorgeous work.

SO that's quite enough from me, I hope you enjoyed seeing these pieces and checking out the rest of each artist's work.

I'd love to know if you like these kind of posts? I have plenty of others lined up from other jewellery designers to milliners to horror artists.

Win one of our illustrated necklaces!

2011-06-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

Another very quick update, this time to let you know about my latest giveaway.
I have started a poll on Facebook to find out which design is your favourite out of the following five illustrated necklaces.

I'm going to run it until I have a definate winner or when votes stop coming in. All you have to do is go HERE, choose one necklace which is your favourite. When I close the poll all voters will be assigned a number and one will be picked at random. The winner will recieve whichever necklace they voted for, whether it was the winning necklace or not.

Couldn't be easier really.

I also want to thank the gorgeous Stef for THIS feature on StyleHop. I also love Stef's personal blog, which you can get to through her button in my sidebar!!

I'm only 16 followers off 200 now which is quite exciting, thanks to everyone who reads my blog so far!

20% OFF TODAY ONLY!!

2011-06-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ooooh it's so hot and sunny and this makes me extremely happy. So much so I've decided to offer you all 20% off ALL products until midnight tonight!!

Just use the code: SUNNY when you checkout.

Click the picture to head over to my website.

Outfit posts???

2011-06-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ey oop!

After yesterday's post and things people have been saying I figured I might give style posts a wee go. This afternoon I dug out my tripod to see how easy it would be to do in my cave of a room...it proved not very.

My room is entirely that deep blue colour, including the ceiling. The window isn't very big either, so the lack of light meant my camera wouldn't really focus for full length shots. I got fed up trying eventually so this has turned into more of an accessories post.

So above is pretty much my every day attire (though I'll change it up for outfit posts) as I work from home and have noone to impress. I favour oversized tops and jeggings that are very unflattering but very comfortable, or anything lounge-worthy, hareem pants, tracksuit bottoms etc.

I don't normally wear jewellery or makeup on days where I don't have to leave the house, but when I do go out during the day this is generally what I throw on. I always try and wear at least one of my own pieces, which today is the day of the dead illustrated pendant. The rest are things I've picked up all over the place. The rings are from Topman, the metal cuff and the vintage pendant are from the shop I used to work in, the leather, studded band is from a little store in Covent garden and the pirate bracelet was a gift.

It sounds stupid, but even though I am a jewellery designer I'm very lazy/unadventurous and always wear the same pieces. I tend to just alternate my own necklaces between about 5 of my favourite designs.

As for makeup I tend to go for natural browns/coppers during the day and if I'm going out in the evening it tends to be a smokey eye of some description. Lips are always nude or light pink as that's what suits me best, and my absolute must is black eyeliner, I feel naked without it and if I'm in a rush that's the one thing I make sure I put on. (After my clothes of course)

I'm going out to a gig tomorrow evening so that will be the perfect chance to try and do my first outfit post. I'll just have to find a lighter part of the house to do it in. Wish me luck!!

Aztec cards

2011-06-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Evening!

I've spent today making these cards and uploding them and 17 other cards to the website. You can see them all HERE. I'm selling these aztec ones for £2.50 and all the others range between £1.50 and £2.50.

What do you think? I'm really happy with them.

I've been getting a few emails recently about other things people want to see on the blog, the main one's being outfit posts. I keep meaning to broaden my blog from just being about the jewellery and more about me and my life in general. (Even though Raffles Bizarre is almost my whole life) SO I'd love to hear from more of you, what kind of posts would you like to see?? I'm not going to be changing the blog too much though, it'll still be very me and mainly jewellery/business based.

Old loves

2011-06-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It's been ages since I last blogged. I've been trying to avoid making any new pieces recently as there is so much stock on the website already, so I've found it hard to get any blogging inspiration.

Yesterday I had a day free from orders and commissions and other work so I took the afternoon to do some drawing and painting. I used to draw all the time but never have a chance any more and have been really wanting to get back into it. I figured I'd draw and paint the same picture twice as I often regret it when I start adding colour...this is how far they got before I started to go off them and call it a night.

I do this all the time, I don't know if it's because I spend too long staring at the same thing that I end up hating it...we'll see, I might go back to them later in the week.

Last weekend I had a friend staying so we could catch up on some new horror films and going out with another friend in London on Saturday night. We went to a gay bar in Clapham which was so much fun, always more enjoyable when you don't have to think about men!!

This is us clowning around on Photo booth before leaving the house.

Today I've been reaaaally, unusually exhausted so am spending the day catching up on emails and other online things. I may even get my accounts up to date...but that might be pushing it.

How's everyone else doing? I've been reading everyone's blogs from the weekend but have been to tired to comment on most of them.

I'm also only 20 followers off 200 on here now :D so cool! I never thought anyone would actually be interested in my confusing ramblings.

I would love it if any of you want to give me a shout out to your followers on here or Twitter etc.

Lastly, don't forget you can find me in the following places...

RAFFLES BIZARRE

ETSY

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

TUMBLR

Oh Sunday what did you do to me..

2011-06-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Firstly just an update, the rest of the photos from my Navajo/Festival shoot are now up on my website in the Galleries section. Click on the screen shot below to go straight there.

Today I have been curled up in my bed feeling sorry for myself. Yesterday some friends and I went to a small day festival on Twickenham green which had stalls, animals and live music. Apart from a Buffalo burger at lunch I neglected to eat all day and drank far too much so now I'm feeling a little worse for wear.

It rained nearly all day, but that didn't put us off dancing like mad men to True beat, so much so they got us up on stage with them for the last song oops. Here's some photos I stole from a friend's facebook.

I'm the fool dancing around with my hood up.

In the evening, after visits to a couple of pubs, we settled down for some really aweful karaoke. Fortunately for everyone there I didn't sing ;)

Anyway, this post was really just to make me feel like I've done something productive today. What did you all get up to on your rainy Sundays??

Festival in the forest.

2011-06-08T09:24:00.001-07:00

Wooooooo the photos from my latest jewellery shoot are back and I can finally show you!! Here are four of my favourites, the rest of the photos will be on the site soon, I'll be sure to link you when they're up!

The photographer was the gorgeous Kitty Gallannaugh, the stunning model is Aimée Nazroo from Profile modelling agency and I did the makeup as well as the jewellery.(obviously)

I absolutely adore all the images, and am so happy to get some great shots of my Festival and Navajo collections. What do you think? Which is your favourite?

I'm busy busy today working on the website, unfortunately the day I choose is the day the internet decides to play up, I think the torrential rain earlier today is to blame. Anyway I'm plodding along and soon the website will not only have the rest of these photos up but also a fully updated customer gallery and a new commissions gallery where you can see examples of the custom work I have done for customers. Commissions are some of my favourite pieces to do, so if you ever have an idea for a piece, or some old jewellery you want encorporated into a new design just drop me a line to jess@rafflesbizarre.co.uk I'm always happy to help!

Friendship bracelets and more

2011-06-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Afternoon guys!
I've been trying to stop myself making any new pieces as there is SO much on the site already, but I couldn't resist making these lost and found friendship bracelets. I had intended to a while back and completely forgot until I was looking through a notebook of ideas yesterday, and I decided to make some right away so I wouldn't forget again!

[Friendship bracelets]

I also made these two other pieces, I loooove the necklace, that crystal style triangle is such a gorgeous purple colour that looks amazing in the sun.

[Mystic triangle necklace]

[Amethyst and coins bracelet]

I'm selling the friendship bracelets for a mere £2.50, which I though was pretty reasonable? What do you guys think? I'm hoping they sell so I have the excuse to make more. Haha.

Raffles Bizarre

The winner is...

Holly - I will email you now for you address and pop your prize in the post this week.My next giveaway will be when we hit 2000 followers on twitter - www.twitter.com/rafflesbizarre so be sure to head over there and follow my account for more info when the time comes.

GOODYBAG GIVEAWAY via Facebook

Hidden Treasure collection (image heavy)

Recent blog post favs.

January @ Raffles Bizarre HQ

HUGE SALE

Baking: Rainbow cake

Healthy eating: Carbonara recipe

Etsy Spotlight: My quirky valentine

Spending Christmas Pennies

The greatest wealth is health.

Stuck on Repeat: Competition entry

High street fancy dress: Mod

2012 - what I want

Belated Christmas round up!

MERRY CHRISTMASTIME!

Christmas is coming to my house, MY house!

Things I'm loving this week!

Etsy Spotlight: Christmas Crafts

Makeup tutorial: Ice Queen

Stocking fillers!

Etsy Spotlight: Christmas Critters

New look!

Event: Central St Martins new building launch

New things

Artwork!

***Christmas collection***

Recent Blog Post Favs

Kaboom!

VOTE FOR MY WORK

Makeup tutorial: Ventriloquist dummy

Dia de los Muertos

Studio envy

Wishlist: Republic

SALE

This is Halloween...

Recent blog post favs.

Outfitted 4

Vintage and new

Etsy Spotlight: New finds.

A little trip

FOLLOW FRIDAY

Aztec frames

Tumblr spotlight: Halloween

A nice suprise and a bloody weekend.

Wishlist: Zara

Halloween makeup

Etsy Spotlight: Halloween

***HALLOWEEN COLLECTION PART 2***

***HALLOWEEN COLLECTION***

Wishlist: Urban Outfitters

FOLLOW FRIDAY

Fascinators + my face.

Zombie lover?

No more fish in the sea

New mini top hats

**WINNER**

Etsy spotlight: Horror

Earrings

GIVEAWAY AND DISCOUNT CODE

Lazy bank holiday catch up

Octo girl

Etsy spotlight: Geek chic

Illustrated brooches

Outfitted 3

Skele-cat

What's in MY bag??

Recipe - Banana and peanut butter muffins

Outfitted 2

FOLLOW FRIDAY

FOLLOW FRIDAY

New illustrated necklaces

Winners and discounts

FOLLOW FRIDAY

Outfitted 1

ETSY SPOTLIGHT: Artists

Win one of our illustrated necklaces!

20% OFF TODAY ONLY!!

Holly - I will email you now for you address and pop your prize in the post this week.

My next giveaway will be when we hit 2000 followers on twitter - www.twitter.com/rafflesbizarre so be sure to head over there and follow my account for more info when the time comes.

Christmas collection

HALLOWEEN COLLECTION PART 2

HALLOWEEN COLLECTION

WINNER