I also have a piece in the window of our local independent dress shop, Rhian in Warsash, and a collection exclusive to Rhian will be coming very soon!

You can read my article by clicking here.

In February, Anna’s Jewellery Designs attended a wedding fair at the Botleigh Grange Hotel – a lovely venue (with resident Highland cattle!) and a super day, which was very well attended. The organisers always do a good job, and I made some very useful contacts with other wedding suppliers. It was also nice to see one of “my” summer brides in attendance, as it gave me an opportunity to show her the things I had made for her – which she loved, just in case you were wondering!(NB – note the new pop-up banner!)

Anna's Jewellery Designs at the Botleigh Grange wedding fair, February 2012

Then in March, Anna’s Jewellery Designs attended a wedding fair at Southampton University, which was just the BEST one so far! 150-odd exhibitors and 1700 people through the door, despite ridiculous weather with big fat snowflakes the size of saucers! I loved it, and will be attending the next one at the same venue in the autumn… more on this to follow when I get confirmation of the date!

Anna's Jewellery Designs at the Southampton University Wedding Fair

I also attended a charity event in March for Naomi House, a local children’s hospice. Bark in the Park was a dog-centred event held at the Royal Victoria Country Park. We were unbelievably lucky with the weather, it was warm and sunny, so Anna’s Jewellery Designs’ first outdoor event of the year was definitely enjoyable (especially as I had a prime location for watching the dog agility trials!)

Then on Easter Monday I attended a wedding fair at the new Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy as I had been asked to supply bridal jewellery for the catwalk! this was an immense honour and a fair old challenge, as I had to create 13 different sets of jewellery (necklace, bracelet and earrings) in white and/or ivory, and also bring along enough suitable pieces to match medieval dresses in black, brown, blue and green… just in case. The weather could have been kinder to us (gale-force winds and horizontal rain tend to keep people at home!), but for the first show at a new venue it was relatively well supported, especially considering its out-of-town location. It was an absolute joy to see all the girls in their lovely wedding dresses set off with my sparkles – I felt very proud! and I look forward to working with the lovely organiser, Valerie Honeywill from Wedding Whirled, again in the future.

Anna's Jewellery Designs at the WPNSA wedding fair

http://www.londonjewelleryschool.co.uk/members-directory/

The London Jewellery School is a fantastic resource that offers an incredibly wide range of different jewellery making courses – ranging from evening taster courses through business courses to a full one-year diploma in jewellery making. If you are interested in learning about a specific jewellery-making technique, it is a great place to go – and their biscuits are yummy!

As always, these things are a learning curve… so on my list to buy before the next wedding fair at the end of February is a pop-up banner to help people understand who I am and what I do!

Anna's Jewellery Designs at Winchester Guildhall

These pieces are made from unusual aqua and lime green lampwork beads, accented with aqua and lime green Swarovski crystals and silver plated bead caps, and finished with a sweet heart-shaped sterling silver clasp and sterling silver ear wires.

WowThankYou is a website that is devoted to generating exposure and sales for small UK non-mass produced artisans and offers a wide and rapidly expanding range of unique, ‘different’ gifts online in one place.

Why not take part in the competition by clicking on the link below? Good luck!

http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/blog/competitions-and-winners/competition-win-an-aqua-and-lime-green-lampwork-bracelet-and-earring-set-from-anna%E2%80%99s-jewellery-designs/

The article can be found at the following link:

http://www.beadsdirect.co.uk/blog/2011/10/07/jewellery-business-success-stories-annas-jewellery-designs/

Facebook is where we publish a lot of our day-to-day photos of events and custom jewellery creations, so if you are looking for alternatives to the pieces on the website, please drop by our Facebook page for inspiration:

www.facebook.com/AnnasJewelleryDesigns

We also tweet, so if that is your preferred means of communication you can follow us at @AnnasJewellery.

Ultimately, it’s also a fun night out, trying on pretty jewellery while consuming wine and chocolates! What’s not to love about that?

Just one of many bespoke pieces made at one of my "rummage parties"