To celebrate Christmas, I am giving away free postage and packaging to orders, with luscious gift wrapping, care cards and money off the next order when a purchase is reviewed on Free Index. And the Christmas orders are arriving thick and fast, so bag yourself some handmade jewellery now, before it is too late. 

I recently made some great memory wire bracelets, which I've put on Facebook, and in a bid to get more likes, when we hit 100 likers, I'm going to select one person at random and they will win a beautiful piece of handmade jewellery worth £15!! The more you spread the word, the higher the figures. When we hit 200, there will be two give aways and so on. Thanks to all the lovely people who have been sharing my link on facebook too and following me on Twitter. You're fab and great and totally on the Christmas card list!! 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Becky-Toughill-Handmade-Jewellery/231722233521230?ref=tn_tnmn

Thanks to everyone who has been showing their support and placing orders for Christmas - I have been dreaming of beads and threading and my eyes have gone googly with joy at the amount of commissions I've been making.

I have new designs that I am currently working on too - these will be going online very soon and I will put some links on here too.

Lastly, a big push on the facebook front! I'm working towards a target of 100 likers by the end of the week, and 200 by the end of next month, so PLEASE, share the Handmade Jewellery link, and get word out so we can run more prize draws and touch more people with the beady bug.

A lot of people at the gallery have been asking about my background and training, so I thought perhaps the same were true of my website visitors. Luckily this is easily rectified, so here is a little background in a nutshell and the objectives of why I make, sew, crimp, paint and go nuts for the handmade! 

Being creative is my passion. Since a young age I have always drawn, sketched and sculpted. After taking my A Levels, I trained in Graphic Design and later took my BA(Hons) in Textile Design. I discovered jewellery making somewhere between the two; taking a silver smithing course at a local college. From there I dabbled in bead work and learnt what I could from books and tutorials, as well as filling various sketch books with ideas and articles. I now stock nationwide to many boutiques and galleries, as well as make to order on wedding accessories and stationary.

After my degree, I embarked on a PGCE in Secondary Education and became a teacher of Food, Textiles and later Art and Photography. Teaching (in my opinion) is one of the best jobs in the world - second only to making jewellery (or being a food critic I think), so I am very lucky to be able to do both. 

I am inspired by so much - a lot of which I am not alone in; people, architecture, trends, colour and organic material. But what also fascinates me from a textile and fine art point of view, is texture, both touchable and visual. My jewellery is not about what the masses want to wear for a season, it is about a personal response to the materials I combine. Something that is classic and cannot be repeated. I mix and match textures, offset colours and juxtapose large and small beads to almost rebel against the 'safe' disposable jewellery seen in so many commercial outlets.

What the customer receives is a handmade and well designed piece, with its own unique name, charm and identity. 

So much has happened since my last blog entry! Doesn't life have a habit of making things very exciting so quickly that you're feet don't touch the ground, and when they do, it seems there are more things 'to do' than ever! 

Well, the handmade jewellery exhibition in Deli Italia is going down(!) a storm - thanks to everyone that has visited, text, messaged, visited the website and generally shown their support. Without sounding too soppy, you have no idea how much it is appreciated; it's one thing to it in a studio making pretty bits and pieces, but showing your things to the world is a daunting thing to do, so when people give the feedback they are doing, it makes it worth doing. And I sleep well at night more importantly!! 

So, every Tuesday-Saturday for the next two weeks I will be sat on the second floor of the Deli, making, designing and generally working hard to replenish the stocks and add to the website and the new emerging Etsy and Folksy shops I have on the go. The only drawback - the Deli makes such exquisite foods that I just want to eat cakes and drink coffee all day. My purchases so far: Cranberry balsamic vinegar and some mint flavoured teapigs - yes, I know how to live dangerously. Next week I may progress to cheese straws, which for the record look blimmin' good too. 

So below are a few pictures of the exhibition, taken last week. If you are fit enough to climb the stairs (our license for oxygen masks on the top floor is pending....) then I guarantee you will not be disappointed with the wares or the welcome. So what are you waiting for? Pretties, pictures and paintings after coffee and if you're good, a cheese straw... what could be better??! ;)

So this is really exciting.... ever since I started making jewellery in 2004 I've wanted to start a blog. Having never really got round to it, I thought seven years later it was time to stop procrastinating and accept that I could be a serial blogger, if only I gave myself the chance. After all, a blog isn't going to come to me, let alone read my mind and write itself (though it would be nice)... so here we go! 

In addition to the torrent of passion I have for jewellery, and the announcements of any news designs I have put together along with my thoughts, I can certainly reassure any readers that there will be a fair share of total nonsense too. As I see it, whatever the task or the topic, however easy or tough, without good humour and laughter in all things, creativity is maimed and restricted.