We love Halloween! Creepy things, dressing up, horror films, trick or treat … happy days.

This Halloween we’re launching the coolest treat you’re going to get.

We’ve created some fab spooky jewellery especially for halloween and we’re going to send you a selection of our faves for just £10! Our Trick or Treat Halloween Jewellery Parcel contains 1 halloween cord necklace, a spooky ring, a pair of studs and a trick or a treat too.

Get yours now here – https://www.thismaterialculture.com/product/trick-treat-halloween-jewellery-parcel/

Or treat a friend who loves halloween as much as you do. It’s dead simple, just use their address as the delivery address. It’ll make their October.

For the coolest halloween jewellery you can wear all year round, get a limited edition Halloween Trick or Treat from us at This Material Culture xxx

At This Material Culture we’re all about ideas – the bangle, necklace, earrings you buy weren’t churned out in a factory. Each piece has a story, a concept, and about 4 other earlier versions I decided weren’t good enough. I wanted to share the stories behind some of our pieces with you because we’re not a faceless company, we are two quirky, creative people with a passion for creating products that mean something (and are really pretty).

So it’s been a while since I’ve written on the blog (sorry!!). We had a mega busy christmas (thank you so much beautiful customers) and we’re busy making up more jewellery but I thought it was about time we shared another story of one of our pieces. This time I’m going to tell you about our cupcake bangle – a gorgeous, cute, pastel, tribute to the most wonderful invention of all time – CAKE!!

I bought the little cupcake charms because they are just so cute – tiny, silver and really detailed, with little sprinkles and everything! We’ve put it on a pendant because it totally holds its own as a cute little necklace, perfect for any bakers, but we’ve also got a cupcake bangle – and I love it.

I think there’s something fabulously British about cake, we’re huge fans of The Great British Bake Off (I’ve been hopelessly trying not to put a soggy bottom joke in this post) and in Liverpool we’re lucky to have some wonderful local independent bakeries, like The Custom Cupcake Company, Albion Bakehouse, Cuthberts, Laura’s Little Bakery and The Baltic Bakehouse and there’s no better treat than a proper homemade cake. I love baking, (you can read some of my recipes here) there’s something so relaxing about creating something out of nothing, and I I love all the cute, pretty baking accessories you can get now, so all that inspiration goes into the bangle too!

When I was designing this bangle I wanted it to bring you all the lovely happy feelings we get when we think about cupcakes. I decided to stick with little seed beads – they remind me of sprinkles and they just work. For the colour scheme I wanted to use cute pastels, but in cakey colours. So I looked at some of our favourite cakes – french fancies, cinnamon swirls, iced doughnuts – and chose my colours based on them. I settled on baby pink, lemon, brown and white, and then chose a range of pearlised, sparkly and matte beads. And of course, we can’t forget the super cute cupcake charm!

Each bangle is made unique, so the order and combination of the beads is totally unique on your bangle – I think it keeps the beauty of a handmade product, while obviously still looking like a This Material Culture cupcake bangle.

So there you have it, the gorgeous This Material Culture Cupcake Bangle – inspired by well… cupcakes!!

Get yours here xxx

At This Material Culture we’re all about ideas, the bangle, necklace, earrings you buy weren’t churned out in a factory. Each piece has a story, a concept, and about 4 other earlier versions I decided weren’t good enough. I wanted to share the stories behind some of our pieces with you because we’re not a faceless company, we are two quirky, creative people with a passion for creating products that mean something (and are really pretty).

This post is all about The Story Behind… The Dreamcatcher Earrings

I don’t know about you, but I love dangly earrings. I have two holes in my lobes so I love wearing a cute pair of studs and a fab pair of statement earrings. I’ve bought and made a tonne of earrings in the past and I’m always drawn towards feathers. I wanted to make a really beautiful pair of statement earrings that featured these gorgeous silver feather charms but on their own I think they’re a bit short. I decided to incorporate a little bit of beading because let’s face it, I really love beads!

I love the idea of dreamcatchers and I looked at Native American jewellery for inspiration for these earrings. Turquoise features heavily as you’d imagine and I decided some beautiful genuine turquoise beads were exactly what they needed. Turquoise has been used in amulets and jewellery for thousands of years, by many cultures, from the Egyptians, to the Aztecs, to the Native Americans. It has always been associated with protection and it really is a beautiful, natural stone, one of my favourites.

I think turquoise beads were enough colour so I framed them with delicate black seed beads and some gorgeous silver glass beads so the turquoise really stands out. So, add some turquoise beaded headpins to beautiful silver feather charms, on silver plated earrings wires and we have these stunning dreamcatcher earrings.

I really love these, I’ve made a pair for myself. I’ve worn them with a simple white shift dress, which looked fab and I’m a big fan of patterned maxi dresses and these go perfectly! If you’re looking for a laid back, boho summer look, the dreamcatcher earrings are perfect.

Each pair is handmade with loads of love and attention and you can buy a pair for £6 right here

Dreamcatcher Earrings

Thanks for reading, hope you like the earrings, let us know if you get a pair and how you style them!

At This Material Culture we’re all about ideas, the bangle, necklace, earrings you buy weren’t churned out in a factory. Each piece has a story, a concept, and about 4 other earlier versions I decided weren’t good enough. I wanted to share the stories behind some of our pieces with you because we’re not a faceless company, we are two quirky, creative people with a passion for creating products that mean something (and are really pretty).

Here’s The Story Behind… The Giraffe Necklace

As a young business, we do LOADS of events, trying to sell our jewellery and get the word out about This Material Culture. We’ve been to craft fairs in country houses, warehouses, pubs, bombed out churches, coffee shops, gift shops, you name it!

Though waking up super early, walking miles and carrying our stock in suitcases, canvas bags and hold alls isn’t the easiest job in the world, these events have been so important in growing our business.

Some have been miserable failures where we’ve only made £7 in a whole day and only 6 people actually turned up, and some have been hugely successful where we’ve made enough money to cover our stall cost and to buy a lovely takeaway on the way home (and pay the water bill of course) and had a great day chatting and meeting awesome people.

We get a unique opportunity to talk to the people who actually buy our things. And we really do listen. Hence, the giraffe necklaces. We do a few vintage fairs and I really like finding some old forgotten treasures and turning them into beautiful pieces of wearable art. I made a couple of necklaces out of toy animals (check out our instagram and facebook for some photos) and one was a giraffe I got from a car boot. It was the first thing we sold that day, and loads of people asked us whether we had any giraffes, as that was a one off piece. I made a mental note, and then realised that at an awful lot of fairs we did people were asking whether we had anything with giraffes on. I did a little look on the high street and giraffes are the most popular animal ever!

I managed to find these gorgeous bronze giraffe charms featuring a mummy and a baby giraffe and thought they were perfect. They’re nice and big so everyone can see what you’re wearing but they are light and totally wearable. And they have nice, cute faces, which is really important! We worked on the design, finding the chain length, designing the packaging and the Giraffe necklace was born. It’s been really popular, it’s cute, quirky and makes a lovely gift.

I recently got a lovely email from Jessica who’s sister bought her a giraffe necklace and she said… ‘My sister bought me a giraffe necklace from yourself when she attended a vintage fair in Liverpool a few weeks ago. She gave me this for my birthday as I absolutely love giraffes. Now I absolutely love this necklace! I love delicate dainty pieces of jewellery which are quirky but well made. & this necklace is exactly that. It’s beautiful in design and quality, as well as quirky but dainty! It suits my personality and style perfectly!! I’ve already worn it loads and had so many compliments on it!So thank you. After seeing this, I can’t wait to buy more of your handmade jewellery.’ I was so chuffed to receive such a lovely email and to know that something you guys had suggested, I had listened to, designed and made could make someone so happy!

And it’s not just the girls, I was chatting on twitter with blogger Lauren (@beautyxdivision) who said her other half totally loved giraffes too. I’d bought some smaller silver giraffe charms in my quest to make the perfect giraffe necklace and though these would be perfect for a more gender neutral giraffe necklace. I used simple black cord to hang it on and the effect is a cool, tribal, giraffe necklace, perfect for guys or girls.So there you go. Running a business isn’t all making loads of pretty things and making lots of money. It’s really hard work and because you’ve built it from nothing, a lot of patience and positive thinking makes the lack of a regular income just about bearable. But I believe This Material Culture will be a success, because we care about the people who buy our pieces, we listen to what they want and use design and creativity to make that happen. The giraffe necklace is the perfect example of why starting small, being genuine and listening to your customers is the best way to go, and yes, it is really cute too!

If you’d like to buy a gorgeous giraffe necklace, the links are here…

Bronze Giraffe Necklace

Silver Cord Giraffe Necklace

Thanks for reading and if you’re in Liverpool check out our Facebook and Twitter to find out what events we’re doing and come say hello!

Rebecca

Here’s the story behind the This Material Culture Dinosaur Necklace

At This Material Culture we’re all about ideas, the bangle, necklace, earrings you buy weren’t churned out in a factory. Each piece has a story, a concept, and about 4 other earlier versions I decided weren’t good enough. I wanted to share the stories behind some of our pieces with you because we’re not a faceless company, we are two quirky, creative people with a passion for creating products that mean something (and are really pretty). So here’s The Story Behind the This Material Culture Dinosaur Necklace.

I love dinosaurs, I always have. I grew up watching Jurassic Park (it came out the year I was born – fact) and I read the book when I was about 12. There is something so fascinating and awesome about these ancient creatures, and I remember going for fossil walks when I was little with my dad and scouring up rocks to try find ammonites.

I started working in the World Museum Gift Shop in Liverpool last year. If you haven’t been, you should. It’s a crazy old building with one floor of dinosaurs, then another of egyptians, then an observatory, then a floor of creepy stuffed animals – it’s awesome! In the entrance hall there’s a giant pterosaur hanging from the ceiling, and when you finish work on a late winter evening, the museum is empty and there’s a huge flying dinosaur skeleton above you, it’s pretty special.

Working in the shop, I realised I wasn’t the only ‘grown up’ who loved dinosaurs. All sorts of people ended up going home with plastic stegosaurus keyrings or a cuddly ankylosaurus or a triceratops bouncy ball, from pensioners to preening teenagers (and of course, the enthusiastic five year olds).

I think the heart of our brand is being able to wear quirky awesome jewellery that features something you love. And people really love dinosaurs! So when I found these amazing T Rex charms with their big smiles and teeny arms I knew we were on to a winner.

Dinosaur Lovers Unite

And they’ve been dead popular. We had one lady buy one because she had small arms and used to be called T Rex as a nickname. We had a little girl in a bright pink princess dress and fairy wings buy one, put it on and refuse to take it off. I’ve had people show me their dinosaur socks to prove their love and affinity with all things dinosaur. The lovely blogger Sarah wrote this fab review of our This Material Culture dinosaur necklace which you can read at moshing zombies.

It’s random, adorable and so much fun and the main reason people buy one is because… guess what… they love dinosaurs! You can have your very own little T Rex pendant, and band together with us dinosaur lovers. Be proud. Wear a Dinosaur Necklace.

Dinosaur Necklace

Rebecca

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