Helping Charity and Winning Pretties!

There is a fabulous arts and crafts directory out there called Crafts 4 Charity run by Mick of Shpangle jewellery in which every crafter listed (Lou Lou's Luxuries amongst them!) has given a donation to charity for the privilege of being listed!

A little while ago the Crafts 4 Charity blog ran a competition. The way of entering was to come up with a new idea to make the directory even better and to make more money for charity too. This proved pretty difficult as the fabulous Mick had already made it pretty perfect!

There were four entries to the competition in the end, all with the chance of winning a fabulous piece of jewellery from Shpangles! And guess what? They all won! And I was one of them!

I came home from work last week to a lovely little package:



And here's the close up!




I highly recommend having a browse of the Crafts For Charity Directory to find unique gift ideas and know that you're buying from crafters with a heart!

I'd also recommend Shpangle jewellery! Such a gorgeous necklace cannot go unnoticed! I'm still trying to decide whether to give it as a gift or keep it for myself!

Thank you so much Mick!

October Folksfest!

There is another daily listings club taking over Folksy!

This month it's the October Folkfest!

I wish I could take part in this and list every day but unfortunately this weekend has been less than fruitful on the making front. This is because of a supplies order that still has not arrived after 36 days! Now, I know this order was coming from a land afar but this is ridiculous! Hopefully it will be sorted soon and some replacement orders have been placed so fingers crossed for lots of new pretties soon!

So I thought I would take this opportunity to show off some off the fabulous items already available as part of the October Folksfest!






I've been a little cheeky and included two of my own up above there! I wonder if you can tell which ones they are??

Don't forget...Those shown above are jut a small sample of all the beautiful items currently available as part of the October Folkfest! They'll be more added everyday!

You can follow a lot of the October Folkfest taker-part-erers (good word I think you'll agree!) by searching for #octoberfolkfest on Twitter!

I've been a Star!

Well I thought it was about time I showed the blog world what I have been listing recently! Seen as it's been an item a day there has been quite a bit! Although saying that...I've also had three sales (yay!) so not everything is still around for me to show off!

Now, a couple of these items are re-listing so don't go thinking you've gone crazy if you think you've seen something before...you might have done! But here are Lou Lou's September Stars items!






So there they are! I hope that you like them! Hopefully (fingers crossed) there will be a rather large package of supplies waiting for me at home tonight so I can get started on making some items for.....

The October Folkfest!!

If you're on Twitter don't forget to do a search for #Septemberstars for lots of amazing products my scores of amazing Folksters!

Folksy Friday: Shooting Stars!

It's that time of week again!

It's Folksy Friday time!

Now the title of this post might be slightly misleading, this will not be a night-time adventure into the glorious stars above but rather a showcase of some of the fabulous items from the September Stars of Folksy!

These aren't all items from today but they are items from the fabulous folksiers that are taking part - some of my favourite items that I think you will love too! :)











So many pretty things but not enough blog space! Keep an eye on Folksy and an eye on these fabulous September Stars Folksiers!

September Stars!

There is a phenomenon sweeping the Folksy world at the moment. That phenomenon is the daily listing club! Since April (I think) a group of fabulous Folksiers have entered into a challenge to list at least one item every single day of the month and this month (well halfway through this month) Lou Lou's Luxuries is going to join in!

For the rest of this month, Lou Lou is trying to become part of....

The September Stars!


To begin with, let me show you a few of the fabulous things that have been listed today!

Bear in mind...this is a tiny selection!







So many pretties out there! I'll be adding a fair few to my favourites!

And so...with out further ado...Here is Lou Lou's first Listing as part of the September Stars!




This beautiful necklace is a total of 48" in length, it has no clasp as it doesn't need one! Made with beautiful ivory coloured glass pearls in 6mm and 4mm sizes and combined with sections of gold plated trace chain, this is a loopable necklace with a difference!

You can follow the September Stars on Twitter with #SeptemberStars :)

Hope you enjoy this as much as I expect to!

Wedding Bells, Fascinators, Gorgeous Dresses and Jewellery!

Well it's been a while again hasn't it? I really must get back into the blogging driving seat, I will get there!

You may remember that Friday last week was the date of the wedding I was so honoured to be asked to make some jewellery for. No? Well OK...Last Friday was the date of the wedding that I was honoured to be asked to make some jewellery for!

As girlfriend of the best man I also got to go along to what was most definitely the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen :) Not only that...I was even asked to do a reading at the ceremony!

Last week you got to see the bride's maids jewellery before it was sent. Now you can see it on the fabulous bride's maids!



Not too long before the wedding I was asked 'what hat are you wearing?' Hat? I have to wear a hat?! No one told me!! After a little bit of chittah chattah with the fabulous folksiers I decided that a fascinator would be more than suitable as hat for the wedding and off I popped to Imogen's Imagination for a little browse :) Having never bought anything like this I was a little overwhelmed to say the least! I decided the best thing to do would be to ask the fabulous Sophie (founder of Imogen's imagination)for her advice!

I cannot thank Sophie enough for all the help she provided! There were colour suggestions, style suggestions and offers of completely custom made designs; all based on the dress I was going to wear! Absolutely fabulous customer service and I will not be forgetting it!

So after much deliberation I (we) settled on a very pretty lilac fascinator with some veiling and gorgeous paper flowers on. But no...there is no need to imagine this...of course you can see the pictures!




I absolutely loved my fascinator! And loved wearing it too. I think I need to find a good reason for wearing one every day:)

I think as well you could use some more pictures of the wedding...I don't really have a reason, I just think that the day was just too beautiful to not be shared!

Here we have me and the boyfriend, who was also one of the best men (there were two). I think you'll agree he looks very handsome!



That is the bride's bouquet that I'm holding..no I didn't catch it - she just didn't need it at the time and we thought it was pretty! hehe :)

Here is the gorgeous bride Nicola surrounded by her fabulous bride's maids and three absolutely adorable flower girls!



And...finally...to show of the magnificent dress...here are the gorgeous bride and groom.



Congratulations Nick and Nicola!

Wedding bells!

A rather special wedding is coming up soon (no not mine!) and I was honoured to be asked to make the jewellery for the bride's maids :)

After some very secret discussions about the colour and style of the dresses, the bride and I agreed on some simple, delicate and rather sophisticated pieces of jewellery...if I do say so myself.

Now...as the wedding isn't until Friday I'm still not allowed to tell any of you the colour of the dresses but I am allowed to show you the jewellery! There will be pictures of the wedding soon (since I'm in it too!) but for now you will have to be happy with the jewellery!

Here is the first ever bridal jewellery set created by Lou Lou's Luxuries:



As you can see, we decided on using my signature material - ivory glass pearls in a graduated necklace with some very pretty tear drop pearls for the earrings. The necklace is 16" long with an extension chain to make it comfortable for the individual bride's maid.

The bride (I'm happy to say) was very, very pleased to see the finished items! They were exactly what she was looking for and will match the dresses perfectly, so she tells me as I haven't actually seen them yet!

The wedding is this Friday and there will be pictures! After all...I want to show off my fascinator!