Cheap Frills: 2015

Monday, 28 December 2015

The Whirlwind Year

2015, you will be missed.

What an incredible journey this year has been. Planning our wedding, and buying our first home has been amazing and I feel so incredibly lucky. It's been a crazy juggling act though, running the business whilst organising these two huge life events.
Here's a little look back at just a few of my favourite things from 2015...

I was lucky enough to secure a space working alongside an established jeweller to develop my (basic) silversmithing skills. She taught me so much over the few weeks that I was there, and although I was unable to attend her Autumn sessions (wedding etc) I am keen to join her again in the future.

A Moonstone ring I made in the Spring.

The retro Magic 8 Ball necklaces FLEW out within hours of going online. I loved these nostalgic necklaces and i'm so glad you liked them too.

My friend (and Graphic Designer) Robin Crosby drew up my idea for the new Cheap Frills logo. I wanted it to capture the brand whilst keeping the 'CF' wax stamp a key feature. I chose a hand because it's got a timeless feel, and I also felt it kept things versatile. I am able to alter the design slightly for specific events or times of the year. What do you think of it?

The most incredible event of 2015 was (of course!) our magical wedding day on the 2nd of October.

We were so incredibly lucky with the weather; the sun shone all day and it was super warm too!

That's the trick- Plan for a cold Autumn wedding and you'll get summer sunshine.

The lovely ladies from Doris Loves provided temporary tattoos to our guests.

The incredibly talented Alison Russell hand cut cameo silhouette momentos. She's amazing!

We also enjoyed music (banjos!) from Dan Stewart and close-up magic from Spencer Wood.

Our Cake was made by choccywoccydoodah. I decided on all white to give it more of a 'wedding cake' feel, and orange roses to compliment our theme.

After our big day, we headed to the New Forest for some much needed relaxation.

It was then back to business! I worked through all the Halloween orders and caught up on emails etc. I adore October and it's always one of the busiest times of the year for my jewels. Robin drew up a Halloween zombie version of the new logo too.

And finally, just when we thought things couldn't get any more crazy.....

We are having a baby in June!

To say that I'm excited for 2016 is an understatement.

I just cannot wait for the next chapter and what life has to offer next!

Thank you for supporting what I do and for enjoying my jewellery creations. I love being part of this positive growing online community. You guys rule! Wishing you all an amazing 2016.

Georgia x

The Etsy Wedding Fair Preview Evening....

Last Thursday, my pal Gemma and I headed up to the Oui 2 Rooms in London for the The Etsy Wedding Fair Preview Evening. It's open to the public this weekend (May 16th and 17th) so be sure to swing by if you're local.

We were both given a cute goodie tote bag on arrival, containing beautiful treats from a few of the sellers at the event. The venue and stalls looked fantastic! It was a great opportunity to speak to the makers themselves and brainstorm ideas for my wedding in October. Gin cocktails were continually flowing from the Travelling Gin Company and the flower workshop was super busy! I fell head-over-heels with the jewellery by the lovely Ivy Nixon (coolest name ever!) particularly the King Edward VII coronation cameo necklace.

After the event, we headed to Mildreds Restaurant to soak up the booze. Awesome atmosphere and food! You can't book a table though, so we waited for an hour, fitting in a couple more cocktails before our meal.

Thank you to Kat, Rock n Roll Bride for the tickets. We had a fabulous evening... admittedly feeling a little fuzzy the next day.

Georgia x

Life Lately...

*Disclaimer*
I accidentally deleted the last blog post 'making silver jewellery' (duhhhhh!!!!) So thought i'd do a little life update post including more info on the silver jewels.

In march, Gemma and I went to Hastings to Two Snakes Tattoo. I'd wanted to get tattooed by Cassandra Frances for a while, so I was pleased to hear that she'd moved to a studio closer by.

The studio is new this year (owned by the lovely Alexis Camburn). It's a pristine, bright airy space with punchy art work on the walls. Not a stuffed animal in sight which makes a nice change.

Gemma had a beautiful compass tattoo on her lower arm, is't it beaut?!

I got this shell pendant design on my leg. Love how the chain creeps round onto my shin.

Despite the fact that Hastings is under an hours drive away from Brighton, we decided to make a little trip out of it, have a few drinks and stay at the Bannatyne hotel.

It's a beautiful country estate hotel and I so wanted to steal the eye bar stools!

A couple of weeks later, we headed back to Five Magics Tattoo in Sheffield with our friend Matty for another little tattoo trip.

Kelly Smith did my foot tattoo back in October. We had such a laugh, were really pleased with our tattoos, so decided to pay another visit.

I got this Horseshoe on the back of my lower leg/ankle.

In the evening we headed to the Harley for drinks and burgers.

It was perfect because we managed to get meat, Veggie and Vegan meals for the three of us!

The food tasted sooooo good- The 'children of the korn' on the cob blew my head off! I do like spicy foods but that was insanely hot.... That'll teach me for scoffing down five huge bites, only to feel my mouth catch fire moments later.

After The Harley, we went back to Revolution De Cuba for cocktails.

The rest is a blur.

One of my aims this year is to work on making more silver jewellery and further my skills in this area. The process can be quite involved, so finding the time to do it (alongside running Cheap Frills) has been pretty tricky. I'm constantly getting ideas and inspiration though for things i'd like to make, frantically jotting them down in my notebook.

I'm totally obsessed with the warm citrine and amber gemstones.

I recently discovered Sunstone (swooooon!) and made some rings using silver wire and bezel cup settings.

I've fallen pretty hard for grey and peach moonstone too!

Recently, it's been a harder task to find the time to make jewellery, than actually doing it. If I don't specifically make time to do things these days, they can easily get pushed aside.

But, i've come up with a plan! I'm going to be working alongside an established jeweller near where I live in Sussex in her amazing studio. We have scheduled in a few hours a week, so i'll be making some of my designs. I can't wait to get started!

These sterling silver Labradorite & Peach Moonstone rings I made, are available to buy online now.

I had a sudden realisation that our wedding in October is going to come around very quickly!

In April, Ant and I went to our wedding venue to meet up with our photographer Emma Moore. I used to work with Emma a few years ago when we were both studio Photographers. She's the loveliest lady and I'm so honoured that she's going to be capturing our day.

There's still so much to get done. I've made a huge to do list and my task for May is to get cracking.

It's been a great past few months. Life feels a little crazy right now, running Cheap Frills, planning our wedding and we are in the process of buying our first home!

But it's all super exciting. If anyones got any tips for time management and diary planning, let me know (I need all the organisation skills I can get right now).

Georgia x

Brighton Style Magazine: Women In Business

An email arrived in my inbox last week from the fabulous Brighton Style Magazine, asking if I'd like to be featured as their 'Woman in Business' for March (ummmmm yes please!). I wouldn't usually blog about being featured on a website as such, but if you're interested in finding out more about me and my jewellery creations, be sure to check out the interview...

There's loads of great posts on there if you live in Brighton or are planning a day trip.

Click HERE to read more.

Georgia x

Relax and Reflect

Where did the last two months go? It's been such a crazy start to 2015, I feel as though I blinked and missed it. I've got LOTS to sort out this year. Ant and I are moving house soon and we're getting married this October (squeeeeeeee!) all really exciting things, but trying to arrange everything on top of my day to day commitments has been pretty manic. On Saturday I headed to Ashdown Park for a relaxing spa weekend and a little pampering.

The hotel and grounds are gorgeous. I had a facial, went swimming and even used the gym.... which was just as well given the afternoon tea! The evening dinner was fantastic too. There were a few veggie options on offer, not masses of choice if you're fussy (luckily I'll eat most veggie things). I loved the ambience too, candle light and a pianist. Perfect. It felt really decadent..... 'I should have worn pearls' kind of decadent.

I did some exploring and took a million photos of the amazing stained glass windows. I absolutely adore it! There's something so beautiful about all the illuminated colours against the harsh lead lines. I've wanted to create some jewellery based on stained glass for ages, and now I have plenty of images to work from.

I've come back feeling a whole lot more relaxed and spoilt rotten! Sometimes you just have to make time for yourself, even if it's a long walk or a glass of vino and a bath. When my calendar is super busy, i find it better to actually book me time in my diary. That might sound a little regimented but in my experience, if I don't then it probably wont happen.

Have you been to Ashdown Park before? Can you recommend any other spas?

Georgia x

What a year...

2014 you were awesome.

I'm going to be blogging more regularly this year (I promise!) but I guess we've got some catching up to do first. Here's a little round up of the past year and some of my highlights...

In October, Jan (Gemma Rock'a'frilly) and I took a little road trip to Sheffield and visited Five magics tattoo. I had wanted to get my foot tattooed for the longest time! Kelly Smith designed a heart locket with a rose for me. I got a key on the inside of my ankle too and I'm so happy with them! It was well worth the pain and the swollen kankle. Jan had a beautiful lighthouse design on her arm. We finished the day with a visit to an awesome rum bar.

The Halloween Lucky Dip bags went down a storm! I adore Halloween and I love that you guys get so excited about it too.

On the 7th of September Ant took me to Pevensey Castle for our Anniversary and THIS happened!!!

It was the perfect day and the perfect surprise. I can't wait to marry my best friend in October this year! Squeeeeeeeeeee!

I volunteered at Raystede the animal rescue centre again in the summer. They're an amazing independently run charity and are committed to rescuing and rehoming lots of animals.

I wanted to take an entire litter of Westies home! Some very kind people gave me Ice lollys while I volunteered out in the sunshine.

Jan and I headed to Falmouth in August to visit my good friend Joe. We stopped off in Dorset, visited Monkey World and stayed in an awesome B&B called the old mill. We found a little village pub and befriended the locals & their dogs.

We stopped in Turo to visit Lucy and the fabulous BMM shop, where we picked up more of her treasures.

Falmouth is so beautiful! We stayed here for a couple of nights before heading home. It was awesome spending time with Joe and Jan exploring the town. On the way home we stopped off for a Sunday roast in the Witchy town Burley in the New Forrest.

In July Cheap Frills sponsored the Blogcademy London Mixer event!

I designed these 'dream big' necklaces for the event goodie bags.

I hit 5000 followers on instagram.

Jan and I decided we were sad enough to get friendship tattoos, so In June we got these little pretties by EJ at Angelic Hell Brighton...

Love letter tattoos! Mine is on my ribs and Gemmas is on her wrist.

I was delighted to see the lovely Louise enjoying her Cheap Frills Mood Ring in a sprinkle of chatter vlog!

In April I went to see Bayside AND Alkaline Trio (the same show!!!) in Portsmouth. It was SO good.

I met a lovely woman called Paula who I worked with at her studio in Sussex making silver earrings and charms. In July I made my very own ring designs in pure silver! The castle is my favourite.