...Tip of the hat to St. Patrick!

View down the road from my house, Donegal by Jen Doyle

Can you believe it's March tomorrow? How time flies these days... Elections, Oscars... my daughter's birthday and St. Patrick's Day. He banished every last snake from Irish soil (in theory!) and left a legacy unprecedented by any other saint known to man! Every year, all over the world, on the 17th of March, from Dublin to Tokyo and everywhere in between, the Irish (and non Irish) celebrate everything Irish!

Inspired by the many shades of green in the Irish landscape, I have made this pretty set of green beaded flower hairclips. Wear them altogether or match each one to a different outfit!

Irish Heart- Set of 3 Beaded Flower Hairpins

Each flower measures approx 1 and a quarter inches in diameter and each one is a different shade of green. From left to right: olive green, dark emerald green, grass green.

This set costs €45 including postage. Put a bit o' the green in your hair for St. Patricks Day! If you would like to order a set please email me jen@jendoyledesigns.com

Atlantic Inspiration

As a designer I am always asked ''where do you get your inspiration from?''. The answer is that I when I am designing specifically for a certain person, I get a lot of my inspiration from that person themselves, because I like my pieces to reflect something of the person I am designing for.
But I am also hugely inspired by nature, all the colours and shapes and textures never fail to grab my attention, and I have to admit that I love the ocean and the sky in particular. The many moods, the constantly shifting colours of waters that never rest, the inexhaustable palette of colours in an evening sky. In fact 3 of my favourite colours are blue, green and white.

Donegal 2010 by Jen Doyle

My latest set of hairpins was inspired the fabulous shades sapphire blue and emerald green that show themselves from time to time in the Donegal landscape!

Set of 3 Beaded Flower hairpins in Emerald and Sapphire by Jen Doyle

This pretty set of beaded flowers all measure just under 1.5 inches in diameter and all the flower petals can be gently straightened or curled as desired. They will be available in my online shop and are made to order. If you like these but would prefer other colours please contact me jen@jendoyledesigns.com with your requirements. The set id €45 and shipping is free worldwide.

Spring is in the Air.

Spring is coming! By Jen Doyle

Spring is coming. Despite the gale force winds and heavy rain- and not to mention the recent snow, Spring is coming. There is a certain feel to the air, and you can see it tiptoe across the fields in small but dazzling patches of the that vibrant green which for me, has always heralded the coming of Spring. The above photo was taken today... I get an enormous amount of inspiration from nature, and some of my recent designs were  inspired by a favourite of mine- the Primrose flower. This simple but sturdy little flower comes in a huge varieties of colours, comes back year after year, and I have seen them in the most unlikely of places.

Primroses- from Google Images

Primrose Pendent

Spring represents all kinds of growth, out in nature and also new beginnings in our personal and business lives. It is one of my favourite seasons of the year. The new year will bring all kinds of challenges for everyone, but I think the best kind of challenges are those we set ourselves to do. Two challenges I set myself this year were to:

• Play with the whole idea of making videos. This is totally new to me but proving to be a very interesting challenge. I learn more about it each time I make one! I now have a YouTube Channel- called Jen Doyle Designs (what else LOL!) and you can have a look at my videos HERE  Please feel free to leave a comment on any of the videos.
• And the second thing is- although some of you may have guessed by now with the amount of ''Please vote for me!'' that I am doing lately :-)  Anyway, I have entered my work in a few different beadwork competitions...just to see how I get on. You never know! So at the end of this post there'll be a couple of different links you can click on if you would like to vote for me- no sign up involved in any of them!

My Valentines Roses- Photo by Jen Doyle

And now that Valentines Day is almost here, the shops are festooned with hearts, flowers, boxes of chocolates, gift sets...cards..cakes etc in every shade of pink and red known to man.. For me, I like the simple things..the card that you know your significant other has spent time picking out, and I have to admit to being very partial to a bunch of roses or tulips.. But I think in the end, no matter who buys what for each other, the romance comes from within.

Nature's Heart- Photo by Jen Doyle

So, as you all know, I have been nominated for a W'Oscar- am very excited about that, but I am lagging a bit behind in the voting, which closes at 2pm on the 24th February, so if you think I deserve to win Bridal Jewellery of the Year 2010, then I would really appreciate it if you could add your vote for me HERE 

And finally, here are the links to 2 of the competitions I have entered- Just click to vote!

Fusion Beads on Facebook: Share The Love Jewellery Competition

And here is the other one. Just click on the 'vote now' button, my entry is called 'A Burst of Sunshine Necklace, but you just enter #50 in the box:

http://www.abeadstore.com%20beaded%20jewelry%20contest/ 

Many thanks to everyone who continues to support me, I really appreciate you taking the time out to give my entries your votes. May I wish you all a fabulous and 'rosemantic' Valentines Day!

Primrose Pendents

Primrose Pendent in gold/pink

Primrose Pendent in Forest Green/Gold

These pretty beaded floral pendent necklaces are a new design I am playing with- what do you think? The beaded flower pendents are based on the shape of the primrose flower and can be made in any colour combination so if you like them and have particular colours in mind please email me jen@jendoyledesigns.com with your requirements! The 2 pendents pictured here in gold/pink, and forest green/gold are both for sale in my ONLINE STORE They cost €40 each with FREE shipping internationally!

And finally as I am sure you all know by now, Jen Doyle Designs has been nominated for a W'Oscar! Voting closes February 24th so if you like my work and think I deserve to win bridal jeweller of 2010 then please cast your vote for me HERE Just scroll down to Bridal Jeweller and click! Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to vote!

Back Home Again!

Stockholm City, January 2011 by Jen Doyle

Hi Everyone!

Well as you can see, I am back home in Ireland again. I had a wonderful weekend in Stockholm and as always there was never enough time to do everything I wanted to do! But I did manage to attend Sweden's best known wedding fair at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm City with my friend Marie. The hotel itself is amazing and was a perfect setting for the romance of a wedding fair. The photo you see of the hotel is one that I found on Google, just to give you an idea of the interior of the hotel. Built over 14 islands, Stockholm is a very beautiful city and I just wish I'd had more time to explore and take photos.. But- that just gives me an excuse to go back! I used to live in Stockholm, and no matter how often I go back there, it just never loses it's appeal for me.

Grand Hotel, Stockholm

We used Marie's mobile phone to film the bridal fashion show at the wedding fair and although it's a little fuzzy here and there (only so much you can do with a phone!), Marie worked her technical magic and did a great job of splicing and dicing the video clips to produce the above video.  There were several different designers/bridal boutiques present and the ones that stood out the most for me were Lilly and the Zetterberg Collection . Both of these collections were a little bit different and I liked a lot of both. The fabulous work of Blomster Paletten (florist) was used for the bridal flowers- these were amazing sculptured floral pieces that were very different from the usual bouquet of flowers and as soon as I can get some photos I will post them here for you to have a look at- I loved them!

Photo by Jen Doyle, Jan 2011

Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Jan 2011 by Jen Doyle

The weekend ended far too quickly, but I managed to get in some last minute shopping aroung the cobbled streets of Stockholm's Gamla Stan (Old Town), and we also bought some delicious cinnamon rolls and lemon cakes to go with some coffee and one last marathon chat before I left Stockholm on the 31st Jan.

Cinnamon Roll & Lemon Cakes, Jan 2011 by Jen Doyle

And finally, there are just a couple of weeks left of voting time for the W'Oscars so if you haven't voted already and think I deserve to win the title of Bridal Jeweller of 2010, please click HERE and scroll down to Bridal Jeweller of the Year, and all you have to do is click to cast your vote!

And as always if you have any queries please don't hesitate to email me jen@jendoyledesigns.com