I just love textiles and embroidery the work here is wonderful.

How can people not be inspired by the wonderful textiles out there, if you want to know the names of these talented people pop along to my Pinterest link at the top of the page.

Thursday Blog ancestry a real mixed bag.

 Where do I begin, my mother had told me her mother had a French surname on her birth certificate and that it was a Huguenot name, we had a family crest as well, so as a teenager I used to swan around being snobby thinking I was better than everyone else because I had aristocratic blue blood running through my veins, as time went on I found out a lot more, some of it quite shocking although not surprising.
My mother informed me when I was around 30 that my father was not my biological father, I already knew he was gay and didn't have a problem with it, so the information that she gave me about my biological farther was, that he was a lovely dancer, in the army, and his name was Geoffrey Frank so the question for me was, was he Jewish, my mother said she didn't know, my reply was there are ways of telling, anyway I digested this information. I was sad that my gran whom I loved so much was not related to me, also my father as he was a kind man and he had a much bigger influence on me than one could ever imagine, all in a good way as you the reader will come to know in my further blogs.
So the information that I have gathered so far is my Huguenot ancestors left France and went to Ireland, there is a famous Huguenot church in Cork and there are others, at least 2 generations were silversmiths/watchmakers and interestingly before this information came to me I was already making jewellery. At some point there was some mixing with the Irish as there are Irish surnames on the birth certificates and as for being aristocratic well they were probably well off enough to have a family crest, but I don't think they were Dukes or anything so grand, but there is still a lot more to find out.
As for my natural father that is a whole other area of investigation, I reckon though that he was not Jewish, the name Frank derives from Franks which is a Germanic tribe thing, anyway that's one idea anyway.

FLASH SALE ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE

Yep I'm having a little clearout on my facebook page the link is at the top of the page.
Also my Folksy shop, the link is top right, is stacked with lovely things also Etsy link at the top.

My last posting day will be Thurs 19th

Thursday Blog A right little madam.

Well here I am (top photo) with my brothers pulling a right face and looking like a right little madam, this is outside Victoria Hall Saltaire early 60s, my Gran used to buy me and my brothers outfits that my parents couldn't afford.
My Gran was in the Salvation Army she is sat second row from the front far right, when I was young I was made to go to Sunday School, I did untill I was 12/13 when they tried to "Save" me I didn't go again. I have to make an observation about the photo the man in the middle looks quite pleased with himself sitting amongst all the virtuous young women, and by my reckoning me thinks the woman in the front on the left has an equally pleased look on her face, I will leave what could have happened between them to your imagination.

I am featured on Folksy's Favorite Finds

A couple of months ago I opened my Folksy shop and had one of my decorations featured after only being on there for 2 weeks and as of yesterday a lovely pair of earrings are now featured I have not had any sales yet, it is a massive market place and its very hard to get noticed but I'm not giving up yet, its early days.

Saltaire Vintage Home and Fashion Fair I will be there selling lots of new designs.

Thursday blog and graveyard kindness.

Most people have a best friend and mine was Alison she lived a street away George St, we met when we were 5 and we are still friends today, it was not always plain sailing though.
We must have been around 8 years old Alison had an aunt who knitted her dolls and teddies clothes and I was jealous of them, so one day I stole her teddies coat with the penguin buttons Alison knew and made me give it back and to compensate her I had to give her my Enid Blyton book along with a shoe cleaning kit that someone had given me, goodness knows why I had that, and we still laugh about how she made me pay, thing is I can't stand people stealing and would never do it myself, so a good lesson was taught, another thing we used to delight in, was going to the local graveyard, we would read the gravestones especially those of children and if there were no flowers we would steal a few off the other graves (I did say I would never steal but this was different) and place them on the ones without, we loved the graveyard.
There are many stories but this one is by far the best, Alison took care of her toys and possessions at the time she was an only child as I had brothers so I did not, so one Easter she had a chocolate rabbit the kind with a coloured foil wrapping and it sat on her dressing table, Easter came and went I had eaten mine and destroyed the foil long ago Alisons rabbit sat on her dressing table for weeks I kept asking her when she was going to eat it, and she just kept saying soon, it got the the point where the foil was peeling off and it really annoyed me, in the end Alisons mum was also sick of seeing it and put it in the dustbin much to Alisons dismay.

New thimble necklace for those who like sewing.

Ok these are not the best photos but we get the idea don't we, love vintage thimbles and sewing items even though I do not sew.x

Thursday blog creative life happens and painting by numbers.

Well here again folks, yes after my brother was born I was not the center of attention and why would I be, my parents must have realised that art was in my DNA and bought me painting by numbers, spirograph, various colouring books and an etcha a sketch, along with the normal girl toys, I loved my Barbie with the wind up hair, she married Ken and they had a baby, also loved playing with my brothers cars and making traffic jams, I was not an evil child but remember I got hold of my mothers stiletto heel shoe and hit my brother on the head with the end of the heal, I had made an actual dent, fortunately no harm was done, we had another brother by the time I was 6 so I was outnumbered and my dolls paid with their heads, by this time I was aware of some of my parents social circle, Uncle Basil who was a friend of my fathers, he worked for Sadler's Wells and was always encourage me to take ballet lessons, there were a lot of very theatrical people coming and going in our household.
My grandmother (fathers mother) had a very big influence on my life, I loved her to bits and I was her favorite because I was the girl she had always wanted, she would spoil me and buy me outfits that my mother could not afford, she used to take me to Betty's Cafe in Bradford and also Busby's (a department store), Betty's had a rotating cake display in the window, I always had toasted teacakes with butter, the same in Busby's, I loved these outings with my Gran, a photo of my grandmother and grandfather in Saltaire.

Composing a blog about your creativity.

I have come across some wonderful blogs in my 6 years ish of using the internet, mostly creative souls like myself, thing is I am crap at writing about my creative process as it has evolved in many ways for different reasons, so I have decided to blog about my life because the reader will see how my life is intertwined with being creative and is rather bonkers, so here comes the first instalment and you grammar police will just have to grin and bear it.
I was born in 1957 in Shipley in the north of England and my parents and I lived in a terrace house in Saltaire, my mother had met and married my father in Scarborough and had come to live in Shipley, by the time I had arrived they had moved  to Saltaire, my father worked at the Metal Box Company an engineering Co, I remember the christmas parties they laid on for the children of the workers, great food and films, one year we even went to Leeds to see a pantomime, my mum stayed at home as she had little old me to look after, when I was 2 years old I killed the family cat, well not really but probably helped the poor thing on its way, shamefully here is a list of what I did, threw the cat out of the bedroom window, put it in the twin tub washing machine, threw it at the coal fire, and apparently delighted in holding its tail and swinging it around, this pedigree siamese cat died of a cold virus and my mum told me the cat had gone to jesus, a year later my brother was born.
More next Thurs.

More new stuff and too many other things to do.

I have made some new cards and I should be making more jewellery, lots to finish off so later in the week should be listing on Etsy, so far have had no sales on Folksy, its very hard to get noticed out there, you can tweet and blog till the cows come home, I did have one of my heart decorations make the handpicked items on the front page of Folksy, not too bad when I have only been there for 2 to 3 weeks.

Well my Folksy Shop is up and running.

Well at last its done, a few more items to list on my new Folksy Shop, have to say I like the new look as well, so now I'm selling on Etsy and Folksy and its very hard to get noticed even if you were selling gold bars it would be hard to make a sale as its such a big market place, I will be listing a few more creations in the next few days to make them even and lets see what happens.

Now on Folksy

Now have a Folksy Shop and more new creations soon.

Stone The Crows new necklace and earrings.

Freshly made for the vintage fair at Saltaire Festival tomorrow.

Nostalgic look back.

This is a brooch I made around 12 years ago, when I did a silversmithing course it was hard work to make that brooch, its made with titanium which has to be riveted to the silver and the titanium is very hard to saw, so I have the utmost respect for those people who create this type of  jewellery, I may have carried on with the silversmithing but I went to live in France then came back and started to do other things, like using vintage and antique elements and mixed media jewellery which is still evolving not quite there yet, soon there will be more of the mixed media involved in my creations, old books will be involved,

New Designs.

Its that time of year again, Saltaire Festival.

I will be there on the 21st selling some lovely new stuff made from unloved forgotten treasures also some vintage goodies.

Art is timeless

There is so much art to see nowadays what amazes me is the talent is infinite, some of the paintings in this selection were painted over a 100 years ago, I know which is which, some of them are obviously contemporary do you know which are the old ones my friend.

I don't like Mondays.

Bugger this for a game of soldiers I am really trying to get my life sorted out, all I want to do is be creative and be less stressed, so whilst trying to get rid of a stinking cold I create stuff, but now other things like my sons, the cat, the getting my house sorted so I can sell it, moth infestation, creepy crawlies, have all taken my time today.

The Cat
Bless her all she is guilty of really is throwing up every other day, making a mess with her food and sometimes missing the cat litter (she is an indoor cat) and peeing on the kitchen floor, and that thing that most cats do is howl/cry in the middle of the night like a banshee for no apparent reason, well that as well.

My youngest son
Well 19 and unemployed, lazy and untidy, his elder brother was chatting to him in his bedroom and noticed a centipede type insect, so my son started to clean his room, I thought I have missed a trick here why on earth didn't I think of that before, as I know he does not like insects, well he didn't finish the job, that was over a week ago,  I would love to go and hunt for juicy creepy crawlies and place them in his room, thing is I don't want them wandering into my bedroom which is near to his, so I will be looking for fake stuff to get the ball rolling again, as I am trying to make my house marketable.

Reason I am annoyed today is whilst eating my cheese and ham sandwich the Branston pickle decided to fall out onto my top, so went a changed into a favorite top and found several big holes in the sleeve, moths, they are evil, have tried lavender and cedar wood and the moths are still here, I was sort of pretending they were dying off and killing a few of them everyday, have just ordered a spray with chemicals not harmful to the cat, this is war, will have to clean the house from top to bottom and make sure clothes are put away, not an easy task with  19 and 23 year old sons.
So Tue you have to be better.

I love Anthropomorphic Art.

I am creating some jewellery with this in mind once I have finished with listing my sons Warhammer stuff on ebay, honestly it takes much longer than you think, I should not complain though all monies made from the sales will be mine mwahahahah!

Another creation with seaglass.