…Nicer Things – Alyssa Smith Jewellery

Alyssa Smith Jewellery - Tweethearts, Love Birds Necklace

We’ve been joined at Plush Jewellery but another incredibly talented young jewellery designer maker, Alyssa Smith. As with all of the jewellery designer makers we work with, Alyssa Smith’s work is gorgeous, wearable and just that little bit different.

About Alyssa Smith
Jewellery has always been Alyssa’s passion. From a young age she was creatively minded and determined to learn as much as possible about jewellery and began selling her jewellery in a local independent gift shop. She know from that point onwards that all she wanted to do was create beautiful jewellery and see women enjoying wearing it.
Alyssa Smith creates intricate yet bold jewellery designs in silver, often characterised with drilled patterns and combined with gemstones, Swarovski crystals and fresh water pearls. Heavily influenced by fashion trends, Alyssa Smith creates one piece and develops a whole collection around this theme, using colour to add personality and sparkle to each piece. Alyssa aims to create fashionable yet timeless jewellery which can be work now and in years to come.
After graduating with a degree in Jewellery design and marketing, she created “Alyssa Smith Jewellery”. Her philosophy is simple. She loves to create beautiful jewellery full of sparkles and loveliness to make women feel fabulous no matter what the occasion; whether it’s for spicing up everyday life with some colourful earrings, a confidence boost with a striking piece for an important interview, or adding understated sophistication for a special evening.

My particular favourite pieces that Alyssa Smith has sent us are Alyssa Smith Tweethearts Necklace – Lovebirds, Alyssa Smith Tweethearts Necklace – Home Tweet Home and Alyssa Smith Dark Side Necklace.

Pop over to the website and have a look.

Bestest

Allie

PS Not long to go until Christmas. Keep an eye out for our gift guide.

Chichester Park and Ride

If you’re coming into Chichester for a sport of Christmas shopping, the Park and Ride Car Park is the Chichester College car park. Not been to Chichester before? There are yellow AA signs on all of the city’s approach roads pointing you in the right direction around the ring road.

Pop in and visit us while you’re in the city

Lights, Reindeer, Fireworks…

Saturday, sees the switching on of the christmas lights in Chichester (they’re LED and eco-friendly noless). The city will be a hive of activity all day; if you’ve got little uns they can have their piccy taken with real, live reindeers who will be outside Marks & Spencer in East Street (actually, I believe children of all ages can have a photo with the reindeer), shops will be bedecked in their festive guises (we’re getting the snow spray out this year!!), the mayor of Chichester will be switching the lights on at 5pm, street entertainers will be entertaining the shoppers and the whole thing wraps up with a mahoosive fireworks display, last year it sounded like the Royal Artillery were practicing on the cathedral green.

The free Park & Ride shuttle service also commences it’s seasonal service on the same day, see yesterday’s blog post for more info, which eases the frustrations of parking in an incredibly old city.

Oh and if you’re a member if Qype, we have a downloadable discount voucher which is valid until the end of Nov, so you can pick up a few glittering Christmas presents and save yourself a few pennies on the same day.

Bestest

Allie 🙂 xx

Take the Strain Out of Christmas Shopping with Park and Ride and Late Night Thursdays

With the countdown to Christmas in full swing, the popular annual free park and ride service for visitors, shoppers and commuters will operate here in Chichester on the four Saturdays leading up to Christmas, starting on November 28.

The shuttle service runs from Chichester College of Technology car park and runs into the city centre with drop-off and pick-up points at Eastgate (opposite the Cattle Market), North Street, and at the cathedral in West Street, before the bus returns to the college car park.

The service operates on Nov 28th, Dec 5th, 12th and 19th and the weekdays running up to Christmas – Dec 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th (Christmas Eve)

Late night Thursdays also give shoppers and workers the opportunity to buy their Christmas presents at a more leisurely pace with most shops in Chichester staying open until 8pm on the four Thursdays leading up to Christmas – (*edit – Thursday 26th November is not a late night shopping night after all) 3rd, 10th and 17th Dec.

We’ll be open at Plush Jewellery in Southgate, pop in and say hello.

Bestest

Allie

Gorgeous Things on a Monday Pt 3 – Chris Hawkins Jewellery Corvid Crow Cufflinks and Necklace

Chris Hawkins Jewellery Corvid Range Crows Cufflinks

Another fanfare of shameless self-promotion for gorgeous things on a Monday but these Chris Hawkins jewellery Corvid range Crows are just too darkly delicious not to mention, nay rave about.

New for winter 2009, Chris Hawkins says of his Corvid range ‘Blackened silver and dark garnets give the collection a distinctly dark feel.’ This gothic collection is inspired by the obsession that the Victorians had with collecting.

The cufflinks each feature a crows head with dark garnet eyes and each is backed with a polished blackened silver bone.

The necklace features a blackened silver crows head hanging from a 20 inch blackened silver chain, he is also available with dark garnet eyes.

About Chris Hawkins

‘An early interest in sculpture, and a fascination with the miniature led me into jewellery making. My work combines the highest level of craftsmanship with a sense of wonder and discovery, as the closer and longer you look, the more you will see. While highly informed by fashion my work is also tactile, pleasing to both the hand and eye. In recent years I have become increasingly known for, and concentrated on, collections for men. I was trained in the traditional goldsmiths apprenticeship.’

Find out more over on our Chris Hawkins designer page here.

Bestest

Allie

…Nicer Things. Kimberley Selwood Jewellery

Kimberley Selwood Jewellery

Looking for gorgeous gift ideas this Christmas? Searching for that delightfully different piece of jewellery for one of your beloveds? Well, look no further. We’re now showing two collections by multi award winning jewellery designer Kimberley Selwood and they are simply stunning examples of modern jewellery. Each piece in the Butterfly Effect Collection and the new Kimberley Selwood Plume Collection are handmade by Kimberley. Her attention to detail led her to winning the prestigious New Designers Award for Jewellery and her jewellery is now part of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Modern Greats Collection.

Kimberley’s inspiration comes from organic forms and her designs are enhanced with intricate hand-pierced patterns and delicate textures.

Easy living magazine described Kimberly Selwood’s jewellery as having eye-catching originality which is perfect for evening elegance. We think that Kimberly’s jewellery is simply stunning and would delight anyone opening a gift box on Christmas Day.

Take a look at all of the Kimberley Selwood jewellery here.

Bestest

Allie

A mobile test

Hallo all. This is a tiny test blog to see how this iPhone app works. Is it just as easy as the web version? Let’s see shall we.

Bestest

Allie

Packaging for Those Perfect Presents

I know I say over on our website that your pieces come in a presentation box, wrapped in ribbon ‘but Allie,’ I hear you ask – it’s amazing what technology can do isn’t it – ‘what do these presentation boxes look like? What colour is this ribbon?’ Well, read on dear reader to see what happens when you come in and see us at Plush Jewellery – if you order online the only thing you don’t automatically get is the gift bag, they get a bit squashed in the post but if you would like one, please give me a call on 01243 778424 or send me a tweet after you’ve ordered @plush_allie

Your jewellery is carefully placed in a gorgeous presentation box and we hand tye ribbon

Our bow tying skills are honed to perfection!

Then we gently nestle your presentation box into a gift bag

We then close your bag with another ribbon.

Finish it off with another hand tyed bow. The tag's ready for you to add your own message

Bestest
Allie