Alyssa Smith Jewellery

Gingerbread men jewellery - Alyssa Smith

We've recently launched a new feature in Make & Sell Jewellery magazine called How I Started. It's a feature on an individual from the jewellery world about, you guessed it, how they started.

I've been lucky in managing to get some big names, including Alyssa Smith. She's got a strong celebrity following (Sheridan Smith and Dawn Porter to name a few). I thought because of this she would be too big to talk to me, but oh no, she was actually one of the nicest and funniest people I've ever featured.

Alyssa Smith

Happy Ever After Necklace - Alyssa Smith

She started her company straight out of university, even though she "didn't know how to fill in a tax form." Now she's a successful business woman. Her Tweetie necklaces in particular are popular.

Tweetie Necklace - Alyssa Smith

I think I like her best because when the magazine came out she posted this on Twitter:

'I put the magazines on the main stand and left all the pages open at my interview. Had to be done! :-D xxx'

Legend!

The magazine is out now so take a look.

Business Cards

Look at my spanking new business cards. It's great to have my own cards and not ones that I have to scribble my name on the back of anymore; people tended to look at me like I must have stolen them and was playing make believe.

This is how I felt when I got my two boxes of cards...





You've got to love a little bit of The Emperor's New Groove.

Lou Gardiner, Free Machine Embroiderer

A National Treasure - Lou Gardiner

A great part of my job is getting to contact and write about stupidly talented people, one of them being designer Lou Gardiner. She creates amazing works of art using just a sewing machine. It's a level of talent that I'm in awe of.

Lou Gardiner

Pink Fizz and Feathers - Lou Gardiner

I interviewed her for one of our regular features on Sew magazine, My Sewing Room, which is a one page in depth piece on a person from the sewing world. She talked about her inspiration and her work with Sensations crisps, designing the logos for their new flavours.

Kettle Chips - Lou Gardiner

Also, she designs pictures of ducks wearing chef hats.

Bonjour Canard Cupcake - Lou Gardiner

She's now become a regular columnist for Sew where she frequently talks about her love of sherry, my kind of girl.

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I'm Back

So, it's been a year or two with no word.

Anyone would think I'd given up this writing milarky completely, but actually it's sort of the opposite. I was trying to fit in writing around my (rubbish) job but in April last year I managed to get myself a real life journalist job, yay!

I work for Aceville Publications who produce lots of magazines on a variety of topics, including several craft titles. I work as an Editorial Assistant on Sew and Make & Sell Jewellery magazines.

Make & Sell Jewellery - August Issue

Sew Magazine - July Issue

No, I am not doing any of the sewing projects myself, my stitching skills aren't quite up to scratch yet, but I do proof read, write, copy write, source pictures, style photo shoots and help in the design stage. In fact it's a really great job as I get to discover and work in all aspects of the publishing business, not just the writing.

They even occasionally let me out of the office to represent the magazines at events, I must be doing something right. A colleague and I recently attended Treasure at Somerset House, which is part of London Jewellery week. I saw so many amazing designers and spent my day looking at pretty sparkly things. Quite chuffed I get to do that as a job.

Anyway, I will attempt to post a bit more frequently now (once a year maybe). I'd like to give a good excuse for not writing, but it was mainly lazyness. Plus, you know, I'm busy.

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Heeley City Farm

Sorry I have been a bit lax with updating, real life keeps getting in the way!

This post is about Heeley City Farm which is, as the name suggests, a city farm just off the centre of Sheffield.

It came into life 30 years ago when a row of terraced houses in the Heeley area of Sheffield was knocked down to make way for a new ringroad. But, thanks to the protests of local people, the ringroad was never built. This was an excellent win for local residents but left the problem of what to do with the wasteland. This was how Heeley City Farm was born, they built the farm on the site and since then it has grown in strength.

I volunteered as a publicity assistant for the farm in my last year of university, which involved, among other duties, writing articles for local publications. There are so many different aspects to Heeley City Farm that it was hard to narrow down what they do into just a few articles. As well as being a working farm with several animals, including rare breeds, they are also home to the South Yorkshire Energy Centre which provides free information on saving energy in your home. The farm also implements work experience programmes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and adults with learning difficulties, helping approximately 2,000 people a year. They have a full events calendar, including their Summer and Winter Festivals which showcase local talent.

They do all this and more and a trip to the farm is really worth it, especially as entrance is FREE.
So here's a bit of shameless promotion: if you are in Sheffield go to Heeley City Farm NOW!

If you're not in Sheffield take a look at their website www.heeleyfarm.org.uk

Here are a few of my articles on the farm:
http://issuu.com/shulife/docs/shulife_dec_2010_issue_online_pdf - This was for my university magazine SHU:Life, page 26.
http://nowthenmagazine.com/issue-38/heeley-city-farm/ - This was in the May 2011 edition of Now Then Magazine, a free magazine in Sheffield.
http://victoria-richman.suite101.com/heeley-city-farm-bringing-green-to-the-steel-city-a390101 - My most recent article for Suite101 focused on the farm.

Thanks for looking.

Suite 101

Suite101.com is an online magazine site which publishes articles on pretty much anything you can think of (seriously, there was one on there the other day about the television series Xena Warrior Princess, that brought a wave of nostalgia).

I have recently become a 'Contributing Writer' for the site and have a grand total of two articles published; one on the attractions of the Romanian city of Brasov and the other on the best vintage shops in Sheffield. Random topics yes but that's the beauty of Suite101.

Please take a look at my profile: http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/791781

Also, check out www.suite101.com in general, it's a great source of information, written by people who are passionate and knowledgable about their topics (it was a very well researched Xena article).

Plus, if you're a freelance writer it's a good place to publish your work and they're always looking for new writers.

That's enough publicising from me.

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