May I Introduce you to............

This is Pickle Lilly himself, erm yes, I did write 'him'self.  Let's just say that when he was a tiny thing he was so pretty we simply assumed he was a she and her/his name then was Daisy.  As he grew things became somewhat, hmmmm, how can I put it, obvious maybe? We realised our mistake and he was renamed several times. However, I had a habit of simply calling him a pickle, each time it came out though the 'lilly' followed and it has stuck.  Not very manly no, but then neither is he so it suits

 

 

 

 

So that is the cat behind the name Pickle Lilly Moulds...........well doesn't every cat have a business??!

 

Big CONGRATULATIONS to Michelle Willey for winning our Bank Holiday Giveaway. The ten moulds will be on their way to her this week - thank you to everyone who left a comment to be entered

 

Bank Holiday Giveaway

Firstly I must apologise for being a bad blogger of late - the mould making has taken over, it's been a week of very early mornings and late nights, somewhat hectic.

 

However, the time is here for a new giveaway...........10 flexible silicone moulds, with a total of 17 individual cavities, here they are -

 

 

To enter the giveaway simply pop over to our facebook page and follow the instructions on the giveaway post which is pinned at the top of the page

 

A winner will be chosen on Bank Holiday Monday 27th May and announced on the facebook page at 7pm

 

GOOD LUCK! 

How To Make A Flake Charm Tutorial

Welcome to my first tutorial. My first introduction to the silicone moulds that I now make and sell was through the use of polymer clay. I was to say the least...........an addict. I have used the clay for over ten years now and once I'd found that you could get these amazing moulds to use with the clay, well, a whole new world opened up for me.  So here I'm going to show you how to make a flake charm using our own flake silicone mould

I have used Fimo clay as this is what I currently have but any polymer clay is fine. You will need an eye pin to use as the hook, the mould and your chosen colour of clay - I'm mixing a little chocolate brown with white. Firstly condition the clay - simply by mixing the colours this will soften it either by hand or with a pasta machine (a pasta machine that is dedicated to polymer clay use - do not use one that you use for food)

Once conditioned roll out a small sausage of the clay that is slightly shorter than the mould, lay this in the mould to check for size, you need just enough to fill the mould. A tip 'd like to pass on to you is when using polymer clay with the moulds wipe the mould first with a baby wipe, NOT water.  this helps the item to come cleanly out. Press the clay gently into the mould corners and flatten the back. If there is excess clay either slice off with a sharp blade or take the clay out and reduce the amount you have

To gently remove the clay from the mould, give all the sides a light squeeze to release then ease one end out, then fully. You should have a realistic looking flake, if it slightly bent just flatten out on your surface by hand, although try not to be too heavy handed

I use eye pins for hooks. So use some pliers or strong scissors to cut the looped end with about 1.5cm left on and bend the other end to a hook, not fully closed though, this will help it stay in place once baked. Pop this in the end of the flake using your pliers gently. The charm is then ready to bake - bake for 30 mins at 110 C, 230 F - I have always baked the clay on Gas Mark 1, super low - please do not put food in the oven at the same time, ALWAYS bake separately.  Some people have a dedicated separate small table top oven just for the clay

And ta da! There you have one flake charm/pendant - these make fab retro earrings, great for a little touch of fun kitsch to your outfit. Please remember it is very important not to contaminate any items you use with food by keeping all items you use for polymer clay separate. I hope you have lots of crafting fun now



Me Again...

Hello its Jess again :) I enjoyed writing my last post so much i want to do another one!

Its been an unexpectedly busy Friday morning but I'm so glad its finally the weekend. Here's what my weeks been about...

Mostly, I've been focussing on reading this enormous book so that i can finally take my theory test, because I am loving my lessons and would like to be driving by the end of this year ( Hopefully a lot sooner!) 

I'm taking my lessons in Ashford, Kent with ASF Driving School - http://asf-driving-school.co.uk/ and would highly recommend this instructor.

I have also been trying to get my head around how to change my number from O2 to GiffGaff which is a bit of a headache, but I've managed it! Now I've got to work out how to make this lovely heart out of the paper they sent me :P

Also, last night i gave myself a 'You've managed to make your money last until the end of the week' treat - My new D&B CD - which I'm very happy with :)

And now I'm sitting here, after having worked very hard this morning, sharing a coke with myself! You have no idea how long it took me to find a bottle with my name on it!

And that's about it, I could get used to all this blogging! But as much as i enjoy talking about myself, i would much rather post pictures of all your lovely creations, so please send us them at dreamstar2020@aol.com and tell us what mould you used :)

 

Hello From Jess :)

Hello :)

I am Jess, admin manager and amazing daughter of Mel! Right now I'm busy chopping up leaflets and printing out labels for Picklelilly's. (With the help of some M&M's) Generally that's how my mornings go these days. But I'm not complaining! I've always wanted a job where I can roll down the hallway in my dressing gown and slouch into the chair in front the computer and just get on with it!

And working with my mum? That's alright too I suppose ;P

Shocked that's its Friday tomorrow as this lovely little week has just flown by :) And here's what I did with my bank holiday weekend...

Relaxed in the lovely sun, but still covering up as I know all too well that gingers do not tan! I wont take credit for this picture though as I did not take it. But it was taken next to me which is close enough :)

Also, on my travels with Jack, we stumbled on an old, abandoned tennis court, among old streets demolished to make way for the Eurostar in Ashford, years ago. It was very interesting with old washing lines still hanging on poles, dotted about the area too.

That's all from me today. Now I'm going to pop my music back on and get everything done before mum gets back ;)

Bye xxx

We have a winner..........

We had such fun creating our giveaway on our facebook page and finally we pulled out a winner on Friday afternoon.  We decided when we created our page to celebrate when we reached 150 followers - well that certainly came a lot quicker than we expected. Our lovely winner was Sue C - congrats once more to you Sue - she will be receiving 11 random moulds this week.  HUGE thanks to everyone who left a comment in order to be included in the draw

 



The amazing news is we now have............drum roll please..........over 500 likes!  Amazing, we are so very thrilled. I love to see everyone's creations so do spend a fair while (ok, too much time) looking through everyone's fabulous pictures. I'm often left open mouthed by some of the cakes and the amount of time and skill that goes into these. I'm hoping to have permission to feature some of these lovely ladies on the blog soon and share their talents with you.

 



It's been a great Bank Holiday here in Kent - sunshine all the way. Although I've been at my desk a fair bit as I love working at the weekends - yes odd I know, I feel somewhat more relaxed I think, simply knowing that the post office is closed helps me slow down a little and enjoy the process more, where as during normal working days there is a deadline.  I must confess I've had some help from the gorgeous Idris Elba today (Plays Luther on BBC) - as while I've been working I've been watching and listening to an interview with him on You Tube, certainly made for a nice work environment!

 

 

 

So tell us in the comments, who or what helps ease your working day?

   

Missing Mail.........?

We have added two new sets of silicone moulds to our listings.  These are both great sets for little boys or girls party cakes.  Each set has 5 moulds in and each mould would cost approx £3.25 - £3.50 each, so at £13 for each set that is the equivalent to buying 4 and getting the 5th mould free.......so for the boys

.....and for the girls

Did anyone watch 'Secrets of Your Missing Mail' - Dispatches, Channel 4??  Well I say, I was shocked. There was a courier company - if you watched it you will know which one - who were throwing parcels with 'Fragile' all over them, boxes falling off the conveyor belt that obviously had computers in them and the workers simply had no respect for other people's property. 

I've used the Royal Mail to send my post for years and in general am very happy with their service, the thought that they are to sell off the whole Royal Mail within a year is frankly, very worrying.  On the show they highlighted an area of London where they already had handed the postal service over to TNT - another good company in my opinion.  However, these posties would deliver to each household every other day, which is fine, but would take some getting used to I've no doubt.  The worrying thing here was that if the postie was out after a certain time, still with post to deliver, he was called back to the depot as the company did not wish to have a large overtime bill.  So if he had your post still to deliver to you on your day.........you'd have to wait for it until it was your day again ie if it was Weds and your day to receive the post, he would have to take that back to the depot if he was over the alloted time to deliver, and you would then get it on Friday, so that would mean you only had two deliveries of post that week - the Monday and Friday.  

I really don't see how this can work with businesses, or anyone waiting for important appointments etc.................it really is something to look into and let's stop knocking the Royal Mail, at least they deliver 6 days a week! 

Our First Giveaway

Wow - we hit 150 facebook likes on our page today, a big thank you to everyone who paid us a visit there..........and as promised we are giving away 11 moulds, the ones pictured below which are a random mix 

 

 

 

It's very exciting having so many people visit our page and making new friends along the way. We really enjoy taking a look at other peoples pages too, so if you have your own page please let us know and if we like - then we will 'like'

 

In order to take part in the giveaway simply like our facebook page here and leave a comment telling us how you use or would use our moulds on the giveaway post - the winner will be drawn at random - yes we are doing this the old fashioned way, names in a hat (or bowl) - and announced at 4pm on Friday 3rd May on the Facebook page

 

Best of Luck to Everyone