Back to Blogging

Just got back from a well earned week in the sunshine in the south of France and now I'm all ready to take on the Christmas rush. Our Christmas packaging arrives later this week! I've also resolved to get into the habit of blogging regulary hopefully with lots of information, tips and special offers.

Special Offer

Special offer August 19th to August 27th 10% off all orders over
£25.00 use this code when checking out GU1010

Stockcheck

July 31st is the end of the Firefrost Financial year, something I both love and dread.
I dread counting all the 1000's of Murano glass beads and tiny little silver beads but I love making the studio really neat and tidy afterwards. Year end is where I look at all the pieces of jewellery that lie around while I think 'will I or won't I' introduce this to our range? I force myself to be ruthless. It either goes in one of our boxes ready for sale or it gets taken apart.
We finished all the counting on Thursday and then went out for a well earned meal. Now I'm on to the bit I enjoy, re organising and unpacking all the lovely new winter stock that has just arrived. I had intended not to send any trade orders out for a week or so while I got everything sorted and organised but while my back was turned three trade orders have arrived so it looks like we are going to be busier than I thought next week!

The sun has come back

At last, the sun has come out again in Cumbria and its gorgeous! I’ve just managed to take half an hour off from working on our autumn/ winter designs for a quick walk up Castlehead with Scoobs. I enjoyed it because it was sunny and the view from the top is well worth the 10 minute walk. In my opinion it is the best value short walk in Cumbria. I always feel very lucky that from our front door to the top is only 10mins. I remember now why I like living here so much. Scoobs enjoyed it because after the recent rain ‘his’ puddle on the top is full again, so, after he has raced around after his ball he can jump straight into the puddle to cool down. Everything is so much nicer when the sun is out and the reservoirs should be full now too.

New Charm Pendants

Watch out for Firefrost new charm pendants coming very soon. I've been wearing the prototype all week while working at Love the Lakes Keswick. I've changed the coloured charm each day according to my outfit which is simple to do. I've just ordered various bits and pieces and hope to have them available to buy towards the end of next week. I think that they will be really popular.

Each pendant will come with one small silver charm and one Firefrost Murano glass heart charm. Customers can add their own from our range of Murano glass hearts or from other jewellery ranges too

Christmas already!

Hard to belive it but I have just had an email from our suppliers in Italy. Our Christmas order is ready to despatch. We have to order early because of the August shut down in Italy, there is no chance of getting any stock during this time. If I leave it until September to order it is too late for me to get designs made up in time for the first round of Christmas events.

Getting our Christmas order is always exciting. I can't quite remember exactly what I ordered a month ago so opening it really does feel Christmas come early.

Can't wait for the parcel to arrive next week tho it all seems a bit odd in the height of one of the warmest summers that I can remember.

Love the Lake Keswick

I'm looking forward to getting out and about meeting customers in my new part time job at Love the Lakes opening soon in Keswick. Read all about it on their blog http://lovethelakes.blogspot.com/. Working from home is great most of the time but sometimes you just need to get out and about and talk to something that doesn't have a fur coat and four legs. Roll on opening day.

How not to work when you shouldn't

When like me you work from home there is always the temptation to do just 'one more' small task, maybe check your emails in the advert breaks or just before you go to bed and then end up working half the night. I've found a solution that works for me. Fit an internal lock on the workroom or studio door. Not a bolt, but a proper Mortice Lock.
Decide what time you are going to finish that day. At the appointed time shut that door, TURN THE KEY IN THE LOCK, don't go in until the next day. It works for me. It stops me 'frittering' time during the day and I have more free time again- hurrah.

Poppy the Dog

It has been a sad week for us at Firefrost. Working from home as I do my constant companions are our dogs Poppy and Scooby. Although not allowed in the workroom they sit faithfully outside in the hall waiting for coffee time and the chance of a biscuit and looking hopefully every time I go out in case it is time for a walk.

Sadly last week we lost Poppy, who had reached the grand old age of 15 which is pretty old for a Labrador. I have had her since she was 5 weeks old and miss her in oh so many ways. However she did have a great life, since we work from home she had company all day long. Until she became too old she had lots of long walks on the fells and swims in the lake which was what she loved best. And then at the end of the day a real fire to lie in front of after supper and a radiator by her bed at night. Give me a dog's life any day.

Fabulous new flat Murano Glass Hearts

We have just taken delivery of some absolutely gorgeous large flat Murano glass hearts I can't wait to get them out on sale they are sure to be a winner. I want one of them for myself.

Working for yourself is great but when you find yourself actually chatting to the dog you know it is time to get out more! That's why for one day a week I have decided to take a job in town. I'm looking forward to starting work at Love the Lakes Keswick which is due to open very soon. Love the Lakes already has a branch in Bowness, its a great shop full of lovely gifts all made in the UK. If you are in Keswick or Bowness do call in an have a look round and buy lots of lovely goodies to take home.

New Galleries for Firefrost

Can't believe that I haven't written our blog since April and I was determined to add to it at least three times a week. Time flies when you are busy.

Things are quite exciting at the moment; we have a number of new galleries about to stock Firefrost jewellery. We sent an order out earlier this week to the
Pryamid Gallery in York, we are really pleased to have some of our jewellery on sale there.

We have also got new stock and new designs on the way I 'm hoping to find time to take some photos and put them on the blog very soon.

In the meantime I'm just hoping that whatever happens with the economy that the new Govt doesn't put VAT up that would be a blow for most small business trying, like we are to grow.

Holiday at Home

I've not 'blogged' for a little while as we have had a few days off. We almost opted for a late week skiing, so glad we didn't as I guess most of it would have been spent at the Airport.

Instead we stayed at home in Cumbria and have enjoyed a great week of lovely sunny warm days. The only tricky thing is switching off from work when you work from home. So when my computer crashed sorting it out did eat in to our 'time off' and we lost the first two days of our holiday. After that, things got better we did lovely walks, Wansfell, Causey Pike, Buttermere. When the weather is good there can't be a better place to holiday.

Back to work now and with orders going to Love the Lakes again.

We have also got our first show of the season at Cockermouth this Saturday as part of the Georgian Fair, hope the weather stays fine.

Watch out for our May offers coming up next week.

Free Earrings for April

Here in Cumbria we did not have the warmest of Easters. Last year I remember that Easter was hot and sunny with people sunbathing by the lake. This year it snowed.
Now that bank holiday weekend is over it is beautiful, warm and sunny with blue skies.
I've just managed to take a few hours off for a lovely walk with the dogs down by the Lake.

Now it is back to work and we are making a batch of our best selling Murano Glass Hearts. We can't seem to make enough of these just now.

We also have a very special offer on this month. Spend £40 or more with us and you can choose a free pair of our Gemma Murano Glass Cube earrings.. Gemma earrings come in the following colours:

Amethyst
Pink
Marino
Dark Blue
Crystal

These little earrings normally costing £11.00 were the inspiration that led to the start of Firefrost. They are still my favourite for adding a little colour to an outfit.

Pouring Concrete in the rain!

One of the joys of working from home is being able to take advantage of the weather. When it is sunny I can take a break during the day take the dogs for a walk then work into the evening to catch up. Unfortunatly, working from home also means I'm around when the ready mix concrete arrives for the base of the shed. So yesterday, instead of sitting in my nice warm studio making lovely jewellery I could be found in the back garden, wet and muddy shovelling ready mix concrete out of wheelbarrows.

Back to normal today and just finishing an order to go to Love the Lakes in Bowness, Cumbria this afternoon ready for a busy Easter weekend. Love the Lakes is one of the nicest shops I know in Cumbria. Full of lovely gifts,jewellery all made in the UK and all beautifully merchandised. If you are in the Bowness area you must visit.

Friday 26th March

I spent yesterday at a SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) workshop so the challenge now is to get to work on www.firefrostdesigns.co.uk to see if I can improve our ratings with Google. But what keywords can I use that our customers might use to find us that are not already in use on 1000's of other websites? After that I need to get to work on adding more links, if anyone reading this blog would like to link to us or swap links then please let me know.

As well as working on the website I need to make some more jewellery. These little 9mm striped Zebrato Heart earrings are unusual and very popular just now so first a quick cup of coffee and then time to get making.

Wednesday 24th March

Its raining today in Keswick so I'm not tempted to pop off for a quick walk up the fells with the dogs, even tho' there are three of them today as Tam has come to visit.

The Dogs are not allowed in the Firefrost Studio so the three of them lie in the hallway looking bored and making me feel guilty - their only pleasure this morning is to make as much noise as possible when the postman arrives.

In the meantime here in the Firefrost studio I've been making some more Bella heart pendants. Bella Pendants are made from Murano glass hearts that we buy from Murano. They are one of our most popular lines. The pendants I am making today are
destined for one of our outlets in Scotland - Gifted in Clarkston just outside Glasgow. Gifted is a fabulous shop with lots of lovely goodies for all occasions so if you are in the area to visit them or their website. I'm looking forward to popping up to see them myself next month to treat myself to something lovely.

Bella Pendants




Back now to some work next on the list to make some Zebrato Heart earrings

Our first Blog

Well this is our very first blog so we are learning as we go along. So what better than to introduce ourselves. Firefrost is a fairly new business based in Cumbria. We specialise in designing and making jewellery using beautiful Murano glass from Venice, Swarovski Crystals and Sterling Silver. We have a ready made range which we supply to selected shops and galleries but we also love making bespoke jewellery for special occasions.

The Firefrost team consists of me (Karen), Ellie who comes in twice a week,my long suffering partner and business partner and my grown up kids who are drumned in to help when things get really hectic. And of course there is Poppy the Dog and Scooby our new recuit - he's a dog too.