Since I'm at the very beginning of my journey with Pandora Lilly Keepsakes I thought the best way for everyone to get to know me would be a blog post! So, hi, My name is Jade. I'm an *almost* 30-year-old artist that specialises in keepsakes and memorials. I live in a small county famous for its cattle and cider (10 points if you can guess where based on those two things) with my son N and our collection of exotic animals!
Pandora Lilly Keepsakes was created as a way for me to keep my daughter's memory alive and to offer other parents jewellery that had meant so much to me over the years. Panda (Pandora) was born sleeping in March of 2013, and I was lucky enough to have a gorgeous piece of memorial jewellery created for me pro-bono, which I cherished for a number of years until it was damaged. At this point in my life, I didn't have the funds to purchase a piece, so I made one for myself!
Fortunately, it was just the resin stone that had been damaged, not the ring itself, which meant I could remove it and cast my own. I did a few practices without ashes included, and they improved each time; eventually, I was confident that I could do it for real! The stone I created was baby pink, with hints of holographic glitter, and I wore it till it was misplaced about two years ago; that little silver ring had been with me for about seven years, and I still haven't forgiven myself for losing it. So much so that I still haven't replaced it, even though it's what I do for a living!
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures of it, but I've used an example image below with the same silver ring setting, so you get an idea of what my first-ever piece looked like.
The thought of being able to provide comfort to people through their loss was something I'd always admired and an idea that has been in the back of my mind ever since I received my daughter's remembrance piece. So, after discovering a whole community of supportive keepsake artists, I decided to take the plunge, and have been met with so much support that it made me think, "Yep, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life!" which is an extremely rare thing to experience.
You may have noticed that although PLK was founded based on the idea of loss, we also offer Maternity pieces. This is because I was lucky enough to go on and have my precious rainbow, Noah. and so I felt it was only right to branch out and create keepsakes that also celebrated birth and all the journeys we experience through parenthood.
I will be forever grateful for the support of my family, friends and online communities that made me believe in myself more than I have for a long time. I hope that this blog has given you all an idea of who I am and why I love being in this line of work. Thank you for taking the time to read all about us here at Pandora Lilly Keepsakes HQ; if you managed to make it this far, I hope you stick around!