Joanna first joined Ice the Cake towards the end of last year and since launching her business at the beginning of this year Joanna is going from strength to strength. She is an absolutely lovely lady and is raising money for Cancer Research along the way. So it is an absolute pleasure to introduce this weeks Guest Blogger... Charms by Joanna
Please tell our
readers a bit about you & Charms by Joanna…
I started making
cards and also glass painting on plastic boxes many years ago. I bought every
box I could find, most of them contained pony beads so I was then left with an
abundance of these gathering dust. Mum then suggested I try making bag charms
because she did not like the big, chunky ones available in the shops so, I
bought the findings, tools, and . . you guessed it, more beads! I never even
used the pony beads, I gave them away to someone making children's jewellery to
raise money for charity. The bag charms progressed to include phone charms,
then about 5 years ago I started making wine glass charms for friends and
decided they needed boxes to keep them safe so, then added decorating boxes
back into the mix. I decided it was finally time to start selling, I was
running out of space because I was making far more that I could give away and
so I became a sole trader in February 2012.
How do you come
up with your designs/ what influences you?
Things that
sparkle, that is what influences me most, I call it "Magpie Syndrome"
- shiny!. My designs just pop into my head, many times I have selected the
charms to go on the bottom of a bag charm for example, I then rummage through
my vast collection of beads and findings then end up putting a different charm
on the bottom! The only time I make anything specific is when I am filling an
order. Even then, I usually give them a choice and very rarely make 2 the same.
The boxes, a little less sparkle but I can use just about anything to decorate
them. I love shopping and see so many pretty things that I either think
"will it go on a box?" or "can I use it to make a charm?" -
I have used wooden shapes to make Christmas tree decorations, wrapping paper to
make decopage pictures for cards and boxes, and even made a "Kindle"
for my friend by printing a copy of the first page of her favourite book,
painted a piece of MDF shaped to the same size as a real Kindle, painted it
black, then painted the buttons etc and stuck the page to it so it looked like
a real one too!
What would you
call your ‘style’?
Dainty, unlike
me . . .My bag charms tend to be more dainty than most and I find it very
difficult to make the designs random, even ones that may look random to others
actually have a specific pattern, many times I have made something then changed
it because it looked uneven.
What is
currently your favourite design?
Wedding wine
glass charms, I am having loads of fun making them to match a bride's
requirements for colour and wording.
Who inspires
you?
Mostly my mum,
she was the one who started me off with the beads and it is her fault I now
have a growing stash of fabric and ribbon, which I use to decorate the boxes -
but I love her dearly, she is my best friend.
If you could
design a charm for anyone in the world who would it be and what would you
create?
Ooh, good
question . . . He probably would not have much use for them but I would maybe
make some wine glass charms for Craig Busch at Kingdom of Zion in New Zealand,
they would have to have cats so I would probably do them all with the same mix
of oranges, yellows and black beads then put a different cat charm on each, I
think I have about 10 different ones in my stash so that could be a set of 10.
I would also add a phone charm to match and maybe a keyring to go with it, and
maybe something he can pin to his safari hat!
What is your
greatest achievement?
I think that
would have to be fulfilling the wishes of a dying woman. I met a lovely lady
living in Surrey a few years ago, who was
diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, they could not trace its source
which meant it was less than 2mm (too small to bee picked up by any scans). She
had all of the radio and chemotherapy her body could cope with but it
persisted. She asked me to make boxes for all of her friends and family and I
made matching cards as well. Her intention was to write letters for each of
them in the cards and put little gifts in all of the boxes, she was going to
wrap them all up with their names on and hide them, leaving a note for her
husband to find after she had gone.
I made
approximately 30 boxes with cards, and mum and I had delivered them to her, we
had a cup of tea and that is when she told us what they were for.
If
you weren’t doing this job what do you think you would be doing?
When I was at
school I actually wanted to be a food scientist or biochemist! I failed my
theory for my cookery exam by 2 points, had I managed another couple I would
have had an A because they could not fault my practical. I hated the teacher
who did the theory hence I did not do well, I was gutted as needed this exam to
go with my Chemistry and Biology passes. Had I have redone cookery I guess I
would probably be working in a lab about now but I guess the crafting bug would
still have caught me somewhere along the way.
How do you spend
your time when you are not working?
Difficult one to
ask as I never consider this to be work, I just love it so much. Many times I
have taken a box of card making things on my summer holiday and come back with
the box filled with Christmas cards instead. I often take beads and things when
I go to stay with my friends in Leicester.
Do you have a
current special offer for Ice the Cake readers?
Any orders
through Ice The Cake or anyone mentioning ITC when they place an order will get
10% discount, Charms by Joanna will absorb the discount for the Happy Bags to
ensure the charity still receives their full share.
A Message
from Joanna...
I love what I do
and if I can put a smile on someone's face then that makes me happy too.
Contact Charms by Joanna:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CharmsbyJoanna
