Butterfly Brooch Pins for Pancreatic Cancer UK

If you follow me on any social media site you will see that I have been posting lots of pictures about a design I have been making.  This design is a cute butterfly brooch pin that I am selling to raise money for Pacreatic Cancer UK.  I have been working closely with the charity and I am pleased to be able to try and make a small difference using my skills.

This is the butterfly

you can purchase the butterflies from my website which is here  I would like to say a massive thank you to all the people that have purchased so far.  We need to raise awareness and funding for this charity.

Some people may ask why am I raising money for this charity in particular? Well it is not only because of the storyline of Hayley from coronation street. It is a more personal one.  One of my good friends has this cancer which is terminal and before I met him I wasnt even aware what it meant so raising awareness is a key point. If we can all just help a little and start talking and raising awareness of this cancer then if it just helps one person it would be fantastic.

I am also going to be releasing the pattern for knitters to make and sell their creations or for themselves and dontate to the charity too.  As I have had alot of knitters asking if they can make them too and help in some way.  Also keep a look out on @peggysyarns on twitter and on the website for specially dyed yarns and stitch markers to raise money Peggys Yarns Website

If you would like to learn more about pancreatic cancer uk please go to their website here

Guest Post by Georgina

Hope you all enjoy the next guest blog post that is by Georgina and it covers the idea of customisation.

Customisation of Shorts 

I am going to write about customised denim shorts. They seem all the rage this summer, first being dyes all sorts of colours and patterns and then being studded, ive seen pyramid studds, cone shaped ones and square ones, the list is endless really.


Although i havent got myself a pair yet, i just find them far to expensive to buy and im too busy to make a pair, which i think would probably cost alot too! i do think they look amazing on tho and also every pair come out different so you will never see two of the same, this is great because it means that whoever is wearing them has picked that pair specially from the others, this gives them a lot more personality i find! very individual.

You can find Georgina's blog here here so please take a look and show your support to her too.


If you would like to guest blog for Peggy's Collection please comment or send me an email many thanks 

Guest Post Heidi Jackson

Hi everyone I hope you all enjoy reading a very special guest post by my very talented niece Heidi Jackson.  Heidi has also modelled for Peggy's Collection in my last two collections, hope you enjoy the post she has wrote and please comment

An introduction into my life, aspirations and thoughts:

Hello everyone! I’m rather excited to be writing a guest blog for Peggys Collection as I’ve never been asked to do anything like this before. I’ve recently started a new blog which includes beauty, fashion and just general life posts. I wasn’t exactly sure what I should write about for this as I usually write about a variety of different subjects over on my own blog. After a few hours full of thinking and planning I thought of this. Writing a little introduction into my life and the things I love, meaning that all of the people that don’t know anything about me as a person will then be informed and know what I’m all about.

Obviously I won’t bore you with every single fact about myself from the minute I was born up until now, that would be one long blog post for sure… I’m a 16 year old girl who has just finished her GCSE’s. I plan to go to my local Sixth Form and study three particular subjects until I’m 18. I feel passionate about writing which is the reason I started writing a blog online, it all started out on Tumblr, my old blog that still exists! It’s just Blogspot would allow me to branch out into the world a bit more which is what I wanted.

Blogging:

One thing that annoys me about being part of a ‘blogging’ community is the fact that so many people now write blogs that many smaller individuals like myself don’t get recognised in the huge crowds of beauty posts and so on.

Another thing would have to be that many young girls of my age constantly post and also talk about high end beauty products. This isn’t always a negative; it’s just that I like to get recommendations from more popular gurus, but with products that have such a steep price tag that doesn’t always happen. Unless it’s a wonder product or claims to do something supernatural I don’t think you need to have an entire collection full of expensive make-up brands. There are without a doubt plenty of drugstore products that are brilliant value. Of course, a few are acceptable if they consist of a beautiful exterior or sparkle.

Magazines:

You may or may not know that I would give my right arm to be a journalist of some sort when I’m older. Ok, so not literally and anything but my right arm or writing would be out of the picture. (Common right handed human over here) The only fear I have of joining that kind of career is how journalists are perceived, I understand why a select few are liked by the public! Such as, the fact that some women write horrible things about other women in the spotlight when we should all be supportive and strong as a gender and also how they can sometimes send out the wrong message to readers of the magazine or newspaper. If this is my dream I don’t want to just chuck it away because of the people who were stupid enough to use their power stupidly, I would be honest and not a writer that the public dread hearing about.

Overall:

That’s just my thoughts and examples on only a very small section of what we hear about but I’ll move on to more positive things now! That really is a big aim of mine and I’d be thrilled to achieve it one day. I also would love to carry on my love for performing, mainly as a group in as I currently do with a local youth theatre company. The feeling that buzzes around the audience, performers and backstage people is absolutely amazing and I had never experienced anything remotely similar to that before I joined the company. Knowing you have entertained somebody possibly put a smile on their face and brightened up their dull day is an unbelievably rewarding feeling that you can’t beat.

Heidi Featuring in Fat Sams

I realise that this post sounds a little like I’m trying to get your approval for me to be President of the United States but that isn’t the case, unfortunately. In fact I’m not very political at all so it would all seem like a load of gobblydegook to me! Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you could follow my blog and thank you very much for taking the time to read this blog! Hope you enjoyed it J

Heidi

Spring Summer Collection 2012

The spring summer collection 2012 was held at Wells Next The Sea in Norfolk. This is one of my local beaches which I have visited since a child and I knew this was the perfect setting for my shoot.  Here are some of the photographs taken by David Taylor http://www.dctaylorphotography.com/

Also thank you to the hair stylist and MUA Emily Ross who did such a fantastic job and also to all the models who all looked fabulous.

Also a big thank you to the Harbour Office in Wells Next The Sea for all their help and letting us use their office and the harbour and the boats it was such a help and made the photo shoot go smoothly.

Model Abby Whiting

Model Heidi Jackson

 Heidi had great fun twirling around in the the flower skirt and said it made her feel like a princess

Model Joe Embrey

Kevin d'Odemont

Model Lydia Bareham

finally a group shot of all my fabulous models

If you have any enquiries about any of the designs please contact me on peggyscollection@gmail.com or through my website http://www.peggyscollection.com

Vintage Life Magazine Features

I was once again featured in the national publication of Vintage Life Magazine and my Marilyn knitted vest top was featured along with my article.  I was also featured in the issue of last Nov/Dec where I designed the knitted red slippers.   The image of my model Lydia Bareham was used in the Jan/Feb issue and it featured a photograph of her in the Marilyn design.  This was from my autumn/winter collection photo shoot with the very talented David Taylor of dctaylor photography  dctaylorphotography website 

I am looking forward to working with Vintage Life Magazine again as it is one of my favorite publications.  If you havent read it and you love vintage you really should you can subscribe online to it too Vintage Life Magazine Website or you can buy it in WH Smiths and other retailers which can be found on their website.

 

Bridal Designs Wedding Jewellery Guest Post

Here is the first in a series of guest blog posts I am featuring on this blog.  I am currently designing and making my spring summer collection so rather than neglecting my blog I will feature a few different people on here.  Hope you all enjoy them and please feel free to leave comments.

When I said I'd write a guest blog post for the lovely Diana I was struggling to think of a topic, after all ...what did we have in common? She's a talented knitwear designer, I make wedding jewellery , she's Gok Wans' knit queen, I...er.....make wedding jewellery.

Then when browsing her website I came across a familiar sight...the #SBS badge! What? i hear you cry? Well if you are a regular lurker on Twitter you will probably know, but for the rest of you, #SBS stands for Small Business Sunday. Theo Paphitis (yes him of Dragon's Den fame) supports small business by retweeting (basically forwarding your message) your tweet to all his followers. He chooses six businesses every Sunday for this honour and both my website (http://www.bridaldesignsweddingjewellery.co.uk) and Dianas were chosen at the end of 2010 for a retweet. This might not sound like much but it's amazing what a difference it makes, your website is mentioned to 208,000 of Theo's followers, thats a lot of potential customers! 

So, we do have something in common after all, unfortunately it isn't knitting ability...I'm ok at scarves....as long as you like them with holes in and a bit wonky....

Tracey x

Twitter Charity Auction

SPECIAL CHARITY AUCTION ANNOUNCEMENT

To celebrate this weekends X-Factor final, @RAOKRichie (AKA, Former Project Director of The GIFT celebrity charity book), @wallace_gromit Children’s Foundation and of course, the wonderfully generous @peggycollection, are offering you a chance to purchase your own unique piece of celebrity style… and all for an incredible cause!

This coming weekend, between 6:30pm Saturday - 10pm Sunday, proprietor of Peggy’s Collection, and fashion wear designer to the stars, Diana Clarke, has offered up one of her elegant & hand made, UNISEX, pieces of knitwear, for an exciting TWITTER based charity auction!  All proceeds from the auction will be donated to “Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation” – a truly wonderful and innovative charity, set up by Nick Park to help transform the lives of poorly children nationwide. 

We have decided to span the auction across the entire “X-Factor weekend”, to enable everyone to have a chance at bidding on this fantastic item!  To be in, you simply bid  the HIGHEST price you wish to pay, to make sure you get it!  We will keep you updated as to the present HIGHEST BID, and you can re-bid as many times as you like until we close this at 10pm Sunday.  So make sure you follow us on twitter to keep up to date with the bids!

(If you have any auction questions, please contact @RAOKRichie, or @peggycollection on twitter)

‘We are very grateful to Diana for supporting Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation to help us transform the lives of sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK through the sales of her beautiful knitwear. Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation helps sick children and their families in local communities across the country to ensure they receive the best possible care and support’

Marie - www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org

So on the week the British winter really started to bite, is there a better way to keep toasty warm, and stylish, than this elegant and unique – and of course hand made, “Signature Edition, Coral, Chunky Knit Scarf”?  Never before made in this colour/design/edition combination!  It will also warm your heart knowing that by taking part, you are helping poorly children across the Country.

The winning bidder will receive their piece of celebrity style in a scented gift-box, also making it a perfect, and very special, Christmas gift… if you can bring yourself to part with it of course!

We will also provide the winning bidder with a big THANK YOU shout out – so you’ll hopefully make some new friends in the process J!

So we will see you on Saturday & Sunday, simply tweet @peggycollection your bids between 6:30pm Saturday and 10pm Sunday, and celebrate your x-factor final weekend in style!

HAPPY BIDDING!

Richie, Diana, and Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation

Autumn/Winter Collection 2011 photo shoot

One cold chilly day in November, the 5th to be exact was my first ever photo shoot at a Georgian Hunting Lodge.  Photographer was booked, models booked, make up artist booked, jewels and designs at the ready!

My photographer is called dctaylor photography, Photographer is David Taylor and his website can be found  here    I first started talking to David on twitter and he is also local so we met up and had a chat about a possible photo shoot.  From that moment on the planning started and I am so pleased I commissioned him for these photographs as they are just what I wanted for my designs.  I am going to be working with David alot on various projects over the next few months which is very exciting for me.  Please have a look at his website his photographs are truly stunning.

My models were my niece Heidi Jackson, Lydia Bareham and Eric Lam.  They all did a great job and made my designs really come to life.

The make up artist Clare Alexandra was brilliant and did such a fabulous job on all of the models.  I asked for 1950s glamour for Lydia and fresh and young for Heidi and Eric and that is exactly what I got.  I hope to work with Clare again in the future on the next photo shoot.  Here is her website

We all had a great day and Eric even played us some music on the piano, he said he could play a little but believe me he was fabulous.  We were very lucky that the weather held out just long enough for us to get some great shots.

The gorgeous jewels were loaned by JBD London and here is the website they were gorgeous and really made the designs stand out.

Here are some behind the scene shots including some of the professional ones courtesy of dctaylor photography Photographer David Taylor

The jewels all laid out ready for the photo shoot 

Lydia getting her make up done 

dctaylor photography, photographer David Taylor taking fabulous shots of Lydia in the gardens

Heidi and Eric keeping warm in my designs 

Now the professional photographs! 

All of these items will be available on my website this week please feel free to send me an enquiry if you wish to order before.  You can also view these and more photographs on dctaylor photography website

© Peggy’s Collection 2011 all content and photographs

Poppy Brooch - British Forces Network

I have had the honour of working and helping the British Forces Network.  I have designed a poppy brooch made from chunky yarn and this is now available to buy through my website Peggys Collection Each poppy will be handmade and completely unique and slightly different every time.  All proceeds will go to the British Forces Network.  I will also be releasing the knitting pattern shortly for the poppy so you could even make your own poppy too and show your support that way.

You can find out more about the British Forces Network by clicking on this link http://www.britishforcesnetwork.co.uk/

Peggy's Collection The Poem

I have met many wonderful people on twitter but one lady is May Thomson @survivorsburg  She is a very talented lady and you can find here website  here  She has wrote many inspirational poems and she was very kind and wrote one for myself.  I would like to say a very big thank you to May for the poem.

Peggy’s Collection

 

 

Do you like good quality knitwear?

Some good information I would like to share,

Peggy's collection is real fine,

Vintage inspired is her line,

Hats, scarf’s, wraps, even dresses,

She knits all these while dealing with life’s stresses,

A talented knitter that’s for sure,

All delivered to your door,

So if you like vintage inspired design,

That hugs a body real fine,

Go to Peggy’s collections,

Take a look at all her creations,

Housewife, business lady, knitter and mother,

3 kiddies she has 1 girl and 2 boys,

Forever picking up their toys,

A skilful lady indeed,

Just email her for what you need,

From babies, ladies to gents wear,

All her prices are fair,

We met each other on twitter,

Lovely designs you can’t get better.

 

May Thomson

2011