Swell bloggings

I'm so so happy to have joined Independent Fashion Bloggers!

To use their own words, IFB is a web community to help bloggers make informed choices about monetisation, advertising networks and general blog improvement. It's a wonderfully friendly and helpful place, and many truly brilliant bloggers are involved. I found out about it through the site's founder, the lovely and stylish Jennine Tamm. She is possibly one of the hardest working fashion bloggers around! Her other site, The Coveted, is a cracking read.

So fingers crossed that my blogging skills will soon improve! I'm hoping that 2009 is going to be a big one for me, so it's very reassuring to know that the IFB is there.

In other news, I went on a vintage shopping binge today (whoops - it was a total accident). Photos soon to come!

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas break, and that going back to work tomorrow isn't going to be too painful!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell corsages

The second blog post in two days?! You can tell I have some extra time on my hands!

Happy Boxing day, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying some well deserved time off. I myself decided to be a bit more active than I was yesterday following my turkey-induced coma, and had a go at branching out into something a bit different. Well, for me and Swell Vintage at least!

I cut the sleeves off a dress I bought recently (it looked better this way), and ever since I'd been wanting to do something with them.


So today I sat down with my sewing box, and had a go at turning them into corsages. I used a vintage rhinestone broach on one, and on the other a vintage do-dad I'd picked up somewhere along the way. Et voila! (Sorry, I've been watching a LOT of Poirot these past couple of days...):



Now I haven't actually put a back on either of these, but I'm thinking of putting a simple broach clip on the back of each - but what are your thoughts? Do you have any ideas what I could do with these? Most of the lovely people who read my blog are a lot more talented and creative than I am, so any suggestions are welcome!

Also, to show off, my sister got me a really handy stand for my jewellery for Christmas:


Looks much better than the way I was keeping them before - lying on my printer!

What lovely gifts have you received this year?

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell Christmas

Merry Christmas, lovely loves!

I hope you've all had a SWELL day (see what I did there?), filled with food, presents and other such delights.

I've had a brilliantly relaxing one this year, and have been spoiled with amazing presents! My Mum and sister, who are very supportive of my jewellery stuff, got me a new digital camera so that I can finally take some decent photos of my pieces - hooray! I've taken new photos of my silver flower necklace that I couldn't get right with my old camera, so here you go!:



I'm really looking forward to 2009 - if everything goes according to plan, I think it's going to be a gooden. Fingers crossed anyway!

What lovely gifts have you received this year??

I'll hopefully be making some new pieces over the next few days, so keep your eyes lovely and peeled.

Much festive love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell menagerie

Hello hello hello!

So it's the Sunday before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
...except for the animal-themed necklaces I made this weekend!

Wow, that was really bad, wasn't it?

Anyway, I made two necklaces this weekend: one was for a commission, and the other will be on sale at my etsy shop in the new year. Wanna see? Ok!

My dear friend Ruth asked me to make a necklace for her Mum. Ruth has been extremely supportive of all my jewellery-related work, and the only real instruction she gave me for this was, "Make it big enough so she can get it over her head without having to faff around with clasps!" Creatively she's trusted me to do whatever I like, but I did check that she wouldn't mind a spider....so here it is:




It's made from a vintage spider broach, linked on vintage brass chain with pearl. I'm really nervous and hope she likes it! What do you think of it? Honest opinions will be welcomed, please!

This necklace is made from a vintage bird broach that I got in Edinburgh (oh, how I miss that city), linked on vintage silver plated chain. Oh, and what's he got there? A vintage faux pearl in his claw!




I'm quite please with how this one has turned out, but I'd love to hear what you think. Should I make more animal-themed jewellery?

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas already! I can't wait to eat lots of amazing food, watch lots of ridiculous television and have many, many lie-ins. All I want for Christmas is the Poirot DVD box set (yes, I am massively geeky). What have you asked Santa for this year?

Merry Christmas, lovely lovelies!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell plans

So I've finally decided to set a date for when I'll be selling my jewellery online through the Swell Vintage etsy shop: Saturday 3rd January 2009!

I figured there wasn't any point doing it before Christmas, and this way I have time to build up my stock levels. But don't forget, I'm still selling some lovely vintage items there at the moment, so why not have a browse? http://swellvintage.etsy.com!

Speaking of building up stock levels, I made a few items today. Please see the pictures below. I'd love to know what you think!




This necklace is made from a brilliant vintage broach I found whilst in Edinburgh, linked onto two different vintage chains and pearl. It's pretty bold, and I quite like that.




This bracelet is made with a vintage broach, decorated with faux turquoise, and a really nice thick link vintage chain. I added a chunky faux pearl because...I really like pearl!





I really liked this vintage 'shell', and thought I'd add a pearl (for a change) to keep in with the theme. It is hung on a vintage chain, and I think it's even quite pretty from the back!

So there we go! As I've said time and time again, I'd really like to hear what you think of these. I love getting comments, and every message/piece of feedback/idea is read and deeply absorbed!

In other news, I'm so looking forward to Christmas. Time off my day job = more time to do what I love! Hooray! Do you have any nice Christmas plans? Any nice Christmas jewellery/outfits?

Thanks for reading!

Much love,

Frankie
Swell Vintage

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Swell legends

Bettie Page

April 22, 1923 - December 11, 2008

I think anyone who loves their vintage LOVES Bettie Page, and I am definitely no exception. She made the "seedy" world of fetish glamourous and beautiful, she wore amazing underwear and she also had one of the best hairstyles of all time.

Rest in peace, you absolute legend.

Much love,

Frankie

Swell Vintage

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Swell bits

FINALLY I've had some time to blog! It's all been a bit crazy recently, but I had the day off today and was able to catch up on my jewellery stuff.

I think I've finally mastered the art of photographing my jewellery. Following a few suggestions from the lovely JuliaEmily, I've realised that daytime photography is the key. Here are a few of my latest pieces:

I love making this style of necklace, and I think this unusual vintage broach really works well with the vintage chain and faux pearl. It does remind me a little of a spider, but not enough to be scary (I hope)!

This necklace is made from part of an antique drawer pull. I've added a vintage faux pearl to lighten it up against the vintage brass chain. It's nice and heavy!

This necklace is made from a vintage do-dad, hung on vintage chain with faux pearls. It's a bit unusual, and but I quite like it!

I've turned this vintage green filigree broach into a sizable bracelet! Linked with vintage brass chain and a vintage clasp, I think it's quite striking.

This vintage brass chain is fixed with a faux pearl clasp. It's nice to keep it simple sometimes!

Also, I'm really excited to now have business cards! Hooray! That ever so talented friend of mine, Mr Mark Pavey, did an amazing job designing them and recommending a printer. I couldn't be happier with the results. Hopefully in the New Year he will be designing me a proper website too!

Front

Back

I'd really like to hear what you think of my photos (as well as what they're of), so if you have any suggestions/ideas/thoughts/stories, please leave me a comment.

Please come back soon! I promise to blog more.

Much love,

Frankie

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