Madeit Seller Feature - Kate from 'My Pretty Ivy'

What girl doesn't like adding a bold, beautiful necklace to their outfit? Kate from the Madeit store 'My Pretty Ivy' sure likes to create beautiful necklaces that are washable - perfect for Mums that have bubs that love to put items in their mouths.

I had the opportunity to ask Kate about her creations and her store and is my feature Madeit seller for this month. So sit back, grab a cup of tea and enjoy reading about 'My Pretty Ivy' ...

**Note: If you like an item, click on the photo and it will take you to the My Pretty Ivy shop and will give you more detail about the items**

Tell us a bit about 'My Pretty Ivy'...

Hi my name is Kate and I'm a first time mum to my very pretty Ivy (I am no doubt like all mothers biased!). Like most women I love pretty little things and realise that having a baby and wearing jewellery don't often go hand in hand!

After struggling to find well priced and good quality jewellery made from silicone I decided to create some. Initially I began creating necklaces for friends who have also recently had babies! A couple of friends who received these necklaces as gifts made the suggestion of me creating an online store and given I am on leave from my role as a registered nurse I had the opportunity to explore my creative side! so My pretty Ivy was created! These pretty and affordable necklaces are made from 100% non-toxic food grade silicone beads that are free from BPA, lead and any other nasties!

Each necklace is unique and one of a kind (I wear plain coloured clothes and like to add colour through accessories...I know I am not the only woman who does this!)

I love that these necklaces can be washed with warm soapy water (as little fingers are cute but usually grubby!) and come with a safety clasp(little hands are strong!)

They are great for wearing when feeding to keep little fingers distracted!

What do you like most about being a handmade designer/creator?

I love designing necklaces with customers as it allows both of us to create a piece they will love and wear! I know that there are times when you feel like you lose your sense of self as a new mum. Making these necklaces and exploring my creative side allows me to feel connected to me. It is very therapeutic working with different shaped and coloured beads! 

I feel that there is something special about handmade items in this day of seasonal and mass produced items....you can feel the love and energy in them!

What is your favourite item (that you have created)?

It would be unfair to label one of my necklaces a favourite! I like them all especially when I receive a thankyou note from a happy recipient!

What is next? Do you have any new ideas/products/designs planned?

At this stage My pretty Ivy is still very new....so who knows where it will travel!

Thank you very much Kate for sharing your ideas! I, too, echo the love of handmade items - the joy and relaxing in creating them and also the care that these items exude in a mass produced world.

If you would like to visit My Pretty Ivy, please click here. Why not drop Kate a message and leave some feedback about her creations (email address is located on the My Pretty Ivy store page)!

To see other Madeit stores, please click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Jen.

P.S - If you have enjoyed reading about the story behind Tupsy Turvy Designs' products, why not become a 'Golden Ticket Member'? It is FREE and membership entitles you to regular updates, exclusive sales, discounts and opportunities. Simply click here and enter your email address. Easy! I look forward to sharing more ideas with you soon ...

Introducing Fellow Madeit Seller - Lauren - from 'Ayana Jewellery'

As I love encouraging others, particularly those that handcraft items, I thought I would dedicate a blogpost once a month, sharing some information about other handcrafters that I have met.

This month I have great pleasure to introduce to you, Lauren from 'Ayana Jewellery'.

 Lauren is a very skilled jewellery maker that handcrafts rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I met Lauren through the handmade market site, Madeit. I asked Lauren a few questions about her craft. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy reading about her journey ...

Tell us a bit about 'Ayana Jewellery'.

Behind Ayana Jewellery is myself and my partner Vincent. While I develop, design and handmake each item, Vincent supports me with the business side of things from marketing to bouncing ideas.

After studying as a silversmith in New Zealand, I moved to London where I met Vincent. Together
the journey of Ayana Jewellery began. I spend long evenings in my bedroom apartment making and designing jewellery. Vincent helping where he could.
We re-located to Sydney in early 2015 and re-launched Ayana Jewellery. We now design and make contemporary fashion accessories from our creative home studio in Neutral Bay (Sydney).
The artistic inspiration for our products comes from our travels. The ones ‘desire’ to see, feel, taste and yearn.

Resonating from cultural motifs to architectural shapes and forms.

Each jewellery item in our range is handcrafted with love from start to finish, with each piece not quite the same as the one before. We design and make with the fun loving women in mind and the idea that jewellery is to be worn and enjoyed every day. 

What do you like most about being a handmade designer/creator?

I predominately work with sterling silver (925) so popping on my apron and taking to the bench with saws, hammers and solder to bend, curve and form shapes making the jewellery come to life has to be my favourite part of being a creator. On the other side, I just love when I sell something and get awesome feedback from the customer - you never stop getting that little buzz!

Why did you choose to create jewellery?

I never really know how to answer this question - I just love jewellery and it fascinated me that I could create my own from a few lengths of wire, some sheets of silver and a soldering torch. After doing a night course I was hooked and went on to do a full-time course.

What is next? Do you have any new products/designs/ideas planned?

We have just started doing markets in Sydney which are awesome and a great way to interact with customers, so we'll be doing more of those in the next few months. We also have a new range of Drop Designs which we have tested at the markets, they will be going up online in the next few weeks.

Our plan for the next few months is to get our jewellery into a few more shops and get more locally handmade items out there whilst educating the customers so they can understand and appreciate "handmade". We are already stocked with Bonty in Canberra, Boxable Gift Boxes and will soon be in Manly Gallery.

Thank you Lauren for sharing about your handcrafting journey and your beautiful products. I love the simplistic, modern design of your jewellery and I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

If you would like to view more Ayana Jewellery products, simply click here to view what is in store.

Thank you for viewing!

~ Jen

P.S - If you have enjoyed reading about other handcrafters and want to know more about Tupsy Turvy Designs, why not become a 'Golden Ticket Member'? It is FREE and membership entitles you to regular updates, exclusive sales, discounts and opportunities. Simply click here and enter your email address. Easy! I look forward to sharing more ideas with you soon ...

Monday in the Making

Finally, the top coat has cured on my button jewellery and my chains have arrived... time to put both together...

 

This set of pendants are made with a purple, plum base with patches of grey mixed media art. This art work is then adhered onto the buttons and a glass like top coat is then applied. A twisted, wire loop is then created for each pendant and a silver plated (lead and nickel free) chain is looped through.

I hope to add some of these pendants to the store soon. To check out what is currently in stock, click here.

Thanks for viewing!

Wonderful Wednesday - What caught my eye...

This week, I decided to search for some blue coloured items on madeit.com.au and this gorgeous item appeared...

Blue snowflake teardrop pendant by 'Glass Rainbows'

This item is stunning! I love the teardrop shape and I love the tiny snowflakes that are captured in the blue resin. A gorgeous, wintery accessory...

Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the making

I am loving up-cycling. I think it is because I love checking out various sources to find goodies to up-cycle. It is now getting to a stage (much to Mr T's delight) that I am visiting my sources every weekend to find out if there is something new. I also love that each item I find is unique... I go often, because there is a chance that it won't be there for long. I rejoice when I have little 'finds'. I then love the creative process - working out the character of the piece and developing it into a new item...

It has definitely been the case with these items. I found the scarf quite a while ago and used pieces of it to make fabric flowers. I then found the blue/green flower brooch. Immediately, I thought of an idea to merge the scarf and the brooch together. This is the result... a knotty, short necklace. Both of these items lent themselves to a thicker, short necklace, maybe to jazz up a plain outfit (eg. a little, black dress). I wanted the feature brooch to be slightly to one side. I also wanted to create a stranded, distressed, shabby chic look with the scarf, to add texture. This item is ready to be listed in my store... a little nervous as this is something entirely different from the items that I have made...

Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the making

It has been quite a productive week... Firstly, I finished making two items for a charity auction that I participated in...

I made a cherry red, up-cycled t-shirt necklace with five weeping roses. I used a mixture of embellishments to decorate the roses - beads, crystals and buttons.

I also tried a new item...

I made up a canvas using up-cycled t-shirt material and reclaimed fabric. All decorative elements were stitched on.

I also added a set of gift tags to the store (to view, click here). This set uses pages out of a book and depicts a variety of animals.

I still have plenty of crochet and paper mache to finish during the week. I hope to show you more items next week.

Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the making

It has been a long weekend here in my little space of the world. This weekend has meant a chance to go for a bike ride, in the fresh air and glimpses of sunshine. It has also given us a spontaneous chance to catch up with family and experience a country festival. Finally, it has also given me the opportunity to sink my teeth into some craft. Here are a few photos of the results...

I finally finished off this bag that I started making last weekend. It is made out of a t-shirt that had a groovy domino pattern. I had just the right coloured buttons to decorate the top with. It has an insert that has been made out of a red t-shirt, the inner part has a pocket and the bag is closed with a zip. This bag was lots of fun to make and I have other groovy t-shirts that are just waiting to be made into bags...

I have had this idea for a while and I managed to find some time to create this 'flower' clip, made out of up-cycled denim that has been frayed and distressed. It is embellished with a yo yo made out of an up-cycled scarf, a blue button and a diamonte. This flower has been stitched onto a clip.

These two pendants have been experiments of mine. I want to also experiment with cork and the antique pendant plates. I also want to make up some more cork necklaces, similar to the design that I have previously shown. These two pendants have been made up-cycled book pages.

On the list:

• Continue my gifts that I have been creating.
• Hair ties
• Cork necklaces
• Start another bag?

 Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the Making

Last week I had a lot of fun creating with paper...this week, I had lots of fun making necklaces!

I had so much fun creating this style of necklace again. This time, I created this multi-strand up-cycled t-shirt necklace using a pastel lemon shade of material. I couldn't help but name this colour 'Lemon Sherbet'. At first I was a little unsure how this colour would work as a necklace, but I simply love it!

I have had a stash of corks that I have been wanting to use to make a new creation. I was inspired to use a chunk of cork as the base of a pendant. Once again, I used a piece of text from an old novel and I decided to add an initial. A sparkly diamante adds a little bling. I can't wait to make some more...

On the list:

• Bags
• Cards
• Bibs
• A special gift (just need to source the materials that I need first)
• Continue my crochet project

Thanks for looking!

Monday in the making

Over the weekend I did some experimenting...

I had in mind to make a brooch, but in the end I made this bow design into a headband. I am enjoying working with up-cycled materials, hence I used up-cycled t-shirts for most of this creation.

I know that I have been showing a number of these necklaces lately, but I made a number of these over the weekend and I love the colour, the flower and the photos of this necklace. The colour is a smokey grey and the flower has a diamante in the middle.

On the list:

• Continue to work on headbands.
• Cushions.
• My crochet project

Thanks for looking!

Monday in the making

I can now breathe a sigh of relief...

...over the past few weeks I have been busily making up necklaces, rings and key rings for the 'Bubs2Teens' market which was held on Saturday. There is always a rush in building up stock and admittedly, the market has been my focus rather than re-stocking my store or creating new designs. So now, I can change my focus.

I love creating new colours for my necklace range. A very different colour and texture is 'Sea Sage'...

I made both 'Climbing Rose' necklaces (as above) and 'Little Tee' necklaces out of this colour. It is a blue/green, sea-like colour that has a greyish white pattern added to it. The strands are more ribbon-like in nature compared to other necklaces that I have made and that has been due to the original t-shirt. This 'Sea Sage' necklace is available in my Madeit store.

Other colours that I have created are 'Fairy Floss Pink', 'Lemon Sherbet', 'Cherry Red'... I think it is funny that most of my colours revolve around food!

On the list:

• A new project
• Fabric flower headbands

Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the making

My studio has been a hive of production over the past week. Not only have I been busy making up items in readiness for a market that I am attending on the weekend, but I have made two little gifts for birthdays (yes...I am keeping to my handmade gift goal that I set at the beginning of the year). I crocheted a chevron, purple, pale pink and lime doll blanket for my niece. I found a retro crochet pattern, did the Maths (with Mr T's help) to make it smaller and had a go (usually crochet patterns and myself don't mix). The result was a cute and colourful little rug. I have ordered some pure wool and can't wait to try out some crochet ideas.

The trickiest gift to create was one for my husband's birthday -  not in the making, but rather thinking of an idea about what to make. I went with an up-cycled denim wallet/pouch to put coins, cards or electronic bits and pieces in.

I have also designed another up-cycled tee necklace...

This design I have named 'Little Tee'. It is similar to my original 'Climbing Rose' necklace, however, this new design has three strands, rather than five and it has a tied section on the left hand side (as worn). Stitched to the tied section is a singular rose with a bead stitched in the middle. I was motivated to create something for girls to wear or something more smaller and simplistic for women. Therefore this smaller design is more proportional for girls to be able to wear or would be an understated neck piece for a ladies stylish outfit.

On the list:

Lots to do!

Thanks for viewing :)

Monday in the making

I have been busy making up orders. Here is another one...

I haven't tired of making these necklaces and I plan to make more. This is the last week of taking orders until I close up shop for a little break over Christmas. It will give me a chance to refresh and re-energise so that I can get designing and creating in the New Year. Already I have lots of ideas, I can't wait to spend some time working on them.

In the meantime, I am in production mode, making lots of handmade goodies for family and friends. I hope to share photos of these items soon.

Thanks for viewing :)

Monday in the making

Necklaces have been my focus in the studio of late...

...I have already made some out of 'Sunset Red' and 'Dark Grey'. The latest colour is 'Royal Blue'...

This colour has a silvery grey pattern added to it. Like the other necklaces, this one has five, randomly placed, weeping roses stitched to the strands. These roses have one royal blue bead stitched in the middle. Another colour to add to the collection, however, 'Sunset Red' is currently sold out as I only have limited amounts of each colour.

On the list:

• Making a tutu (finally sourced some material).
• More necklaces.
• A variety of handmade Christmas presents.

Thanks for viewing!

Monday in the making

I have been in an 'accessories' mood...

...I have enjoyed up cycling t-shirts to create accessories. I thought that I would make a few more necklaces.

I made another 'Climbing Rose' necklace using a number of strands and various lengths, embellished with five roses. These roses have tiny gold beads stitched in the middle.

I have also been experimenting with different designs. This necklace is also made up of various strands, however, this one is plaited and knotted at different intervals (sorry that I don't have a close up of this one...).

I have also been experimenting with some rings, also made out of up cycled t-shirts, with embroidery and beading. I absolutely LOVE the design and I trialled one today (that is mine for keeps!!) and it is so comfy to wear. It is a bit wider or 'chunkier' that some of the rings that I wear, but the design and detail is lovely. The only downside is that it is not waterproof (ie. you can't wear it to wash dishes, wash your hands, etc) but the upside is that it is hand washable if it becomes dirty or yuck. As this design is a new creation, I haven't got any photos as yet. Hope to share some with you soon.

On the list:

• Finish the scarf (it's been on the list for a while).
• Trial my 'Christmas idea'.
• Tutus
• Another bear or two or three

Thanks for viewing :)

Monday in the making

Things have been a little slower than normal in the workshop...

However, after catching up on a few work items, I have had a bit more time to experiment with a few new ideas. This is one of them...

Created out of upcycled t-shirt material, this neck adornment consists of strands of material and embellished with roses made out of the same material, with a bead stitched in the middle. The strands are different lengths to add a fuller look the necklace. This necklace has a rustic and shabby style to it...

These upcycled creations are definitely 'one of a kind', however, it just happens that this necklace matches up with the shrug I made earlier.

On the list:

• Cards!!! I have lots to give away to friends and family, so I need to get going...
• Finish off one of the scarves I have been knitting: I have finished knitting a scarf and have blocked it...now to add something special to it...

 Thanks for viewing :)