Who was St Patrick anyway?

Every year I love making St. Patrick's Day themed jewellery, but I don't know what it is exactly that I love about it.

Maybe it's the brash green & gold colours, the genetically modified clovers, or maybe it's the excessive merriment that's now become associated with this Irish patron Saint.

Many people that celebrate St. Patrick's Day don't even know why he's so famous throughout the world. I wanted to find out for myself, so I did a bit of research.

I'm by no means an expert historian, and to be honest, who can really know for sure? Here is my fun version (you'll notice the facts are less than informative):

 He was born in Britain, like ages ago.

• He was taken to Ireland as a prisoner - sad times
• He escaped - better times
• Heard the voice of God telling him to leave Ireland and become a Priest
• Left Ireland
• Became a Priest
• Went back to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity
• Did some stuff with bonfires
• Scared some snakes away
• Added a sun symbol to what is now known as the celtic cross
• Invented Guinness (alright I made that bit up)
• Apparently died on March 17th 460 A.D (ish)

That's my version anyway, if you want some better informed information I suggest you google it for yourself! This is a good place to start:

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/who-was-saint-patrick

Now you've had your history lesson for today, check out my very green & gold, four leaf clover specials!

   

All for sale in my Etsy Store and my website!

Is there anyone out there?

Hello! Hello! Hello...? Echo, echo, echo...

Is there anyone out there?

They say that blogging is the 21st century version of keeping a diary, but I'm wondering, will anyone even read it?

Only one way to find out... let's give it a go...

I've been making jewellery casually for the last 2 years with mixed results. It all started with a pair of button earrings I spotted in a shop and I thought to myself "I could make those myself!" So I did! 

Since then I started a Facebook page and then and Etsy shop, trying different styles with different medium, all mixed together with one constant - bold and bright colours! 

Last Christmas (2013) I sold more jewellery than I ever had before, and it was quite a surprise at the time! I had multiple orders for the same items, where previously I had made one-off pieces that took a long time to sell.

I wanted to make my little sister a necklace for Christmas, and when browsing my wholesaler I came across some awesome charms that I knew would suit us both! Thus the 'Sisters' Jewellery range was born!

The present for my little sis!

These sister necklaces have been a huge hit! I also have 'Big' sister and 'Middle' sister, and my set of 3 necklace sets have definitely been the most popular product so far this year. It's been amazing to see that other people like my funky sister designs as much as I did when I was browsing for a gift for my own sister!

This made me think about changing my product offering. I wanted to design jewellery that was simple, funky and colourful, but I also wanted to incorporate an element of personalisation.

From there I designed a few more charm necklaces, just to get me started. It was quite scary changing everything I had done before, it felt like a big risk. I'm still only a few months into my new range, and things seem to be going well, but there's always room for improvement!

The Sister Necklaces featured here are available to buy on Etsy: www.funkypinks.etsy.com