Over the next week or so I'll be sharing some projects with you that were made for a special couple for their engagement celebration but with some minor tweaking you could easily make them into Valentine's Day projects. The happy couple is a no nonsense couple but even still, it was nice to decorate to make the occasion even more memorable. First things, first. We needed a theme to work with. The bride and groom's favourite colours of red and blue combined with their initials was a good starting point. Red and Blue on their own don't exactly conjure up a romantic mood but with the addition of some white and a bit of hessian (burlap) we were heading in the right direction. The bride (and the groom!) got involved and stamped up the monograms and then punched them out whilst I was away at CHA. It was great to have this job already done when I got home. Neither of them has ever stamped or paper crafted before. Didn't they do an amazing job? The stamp set is from Just Ri......

Filigree stampings are one of my favourite jewellery making components. The lace-like patterns add a really delicate touch to your designs and yet they add substance at the same time. With such a wide range of shapes and finishes to choose from, they are also very versatile. Here's some ideas to get you going. 1. Use them as dangles in a charm bracelet. Dangle lacy filigrees from jump rings and they become charms on a charm bracelet. In this design they're lilypads for the frogs! 2. Form them into napkin rings. The soft metal of these square brass stampings made them easy to shape around a cardboard cylinder. Connect them together with jump rings and beads to give the napkin ring stability. 3. Turn them into a jewellery bail to slip the stringing material through. This one does double duty by adding decorative detail to the front of the pendant as well! 4. Wrap them around a teardrop crystal to form a custom fitting bead cap. 5. Add a cluster of smaller beads to the centre of ......

As a jewellery designer, it was only logical that beads would feature in the decorations for the celebration dinner. Here I've combined them with one of my favourite jewellery components, filigree stampings, to create a unique napkin ring that fits perfectly with the purple theme of the party. Making your own napkin rings is a great way to stamp your personal style on any celebration. Materials: Size 11/0 Delica beads: Fuchsia Lined Aqua AB; Silver Lined Crystal Preciosa 4mm bicones: 12 Amethyst; 12 Tanzanite Preciosa 6mm bicones: 6 Amethyst 3 square Silver Filigree brass stamping 6 silver eye pins 3 silver jump rings 26g purple wire Tools: Bead spinner Round nose pliers Flat nose pliers Flush cutter length of cardboard cut to 3.5cm (1.5") wide cardboard tube from paper towel To make the petals for the flower, I unwound about 1 metre (approximately 1 yard) of wire from a reel of 26g purple wire and made a hook on it. Don't cut the wire from the reel because the reel will a......