Taking the plunge

Well, as this is my first ever blog I suppose I had better include a bit about me, who I am, what I do etc. I am Nicola, a busy 31 year old mum to Archie (17 months) and Emily (8 weeks) and stepmum to Jacob (9 years). I'm currently on maternity leave from the NHS, where I work as an information analyst, collating and publishing national statistics on smoking, drinking, illegal drug use, obesity, physical activity and diet.

I have recently discovered a new passion that has been keeping me even busier. I have discovered the joy of jewllery making. I started off by making breastfeeding bracelets because I wanted one but didn't know where to get one from and so bought the materials to make myself one, but thought that if I could sell a few I could cover the cost of the materials and tools I'd had to buy. if you're now wondering what on earth a breastfeeding bracelet is I'll blog about those soon so keep your eyes peeled. I took the family to a local bead fair, worried that my poor partner would be bored out of his mind and struggle to entertain the children, but he loved it and got right into the swing of it, coming up with ideas to expand my jewellery making beyond breastfeeding bracelets, so a few hours and £40 later I had some materials to make some necklaces and it all started from there really.

So far I've made a handful of necklaces, some sets of matching necklace, bracelet and earrings and loads of breastfeeding bracelets. Last week I helped Jacob make a necklace and bracelet for his mum's birthday. My latest make is a charm bracelet for my mother-in-law for her birthday. She wanted something bright blue and fun so I've made this....

Which I've called "Under the sea". I've also been asked to make some jewellery for my friend to wear to a christening, something aqua coloured, I'll be doing that soon so look out for pictures.

I've sold two of my necklaces (well my partner sold them to colleagues at his work) which I was very pleased about, but also a bit sad as they were my favourite ones, I had to remind myself that I'm making them to sell, not for me to keep! This was my most favoured one and I can't find another pendant like this.

I didn't get chance to name this one, but I loved it, so simple and elegant.

well I think I'll sign off for now, I've got housework to do and need to post my mother-in-law's birthday present.