No Blog Updates next week!

Hi, my apologies that there will be no Blog updates next week from me at Lello as I will not be around next week.
Please log on again on Monday 8th March for the latest news!
Karen x

Friday's Fashion Find of the Week!

True to my word I have found 2 this week!
The first is a really lovely light weight, leather 'peachy coloured' 'effect 'zip jacket £45.00.
I just love this and may have to nip and buy myself one for the Spring.
Very on trend for Spring Summer with all the muted shades, looks great with jeans.
To match the jacket I also picked up this pretty scarf with lace flower trim, £12.00. Both by Warehouse.

My second choice was this gorgeous dress, which if I wore it I think I'd have to wear a little black cardi with, but if I was a size 10 or an easy 12! I think I'd snap it up and not hesitate. The top half is black and white stripe jersey (sleeveless) with a slight frill round the drop neckline. Then a lovely big satin bow with embellished coral coloured sequins on the skirt, not too short. It looked fabulous on the rail and ideal for any party or wedding and a snip at only £40.00. I think it's good enough to wear to a prom! By Miss Selfridge.


Jacket and Scarf by Warehouse


Dress by Miss Selfridge

Our New Shop!

Placing orders today for the lovely new stock we are buying to fill our gift shop with.
As well as Lello jewellery, cards and albums we have chosen some beautiful table top gifts to sit along side our own products.
Shop due to open in about 3 weeks!

As you can see from the photo's I took this morning, the space is set out but empty apart from a few vases which have arrived. I think it will look lovely when all the stock is in.








All our jewellery out on display.

What are we wearing at Lello Today?

It's down to me again today! and you will have to excuse the pose! but we are having to get creative to show off the jewellery otherwise all the pictures start to look the same, we might as well have a laugh doing it!
I do ask all the other girls if they will pose for me but as time goes by they become reluctant to as they know how many people read my blog each day!
But I am older and 'perhaps' wiser and dont mind putting myself for up for it as we don't take it too seriously.

We have quite a large range of blue jewellery and it's all great to wear with jeans and one of the season's up and coming 'nautical trends'. To match my blue check blouse today I am wearing a blue and white ceramic bead necklace, Willow, with a ceramic butterfly bead attachement, matching Willow bracelet, royal blue classic glass pearl earring and matching royal blue glass pearl bracelet.

We like 'colour on colour' here. We don't tend to match too many colours all together, as a company and personally my sister and I like to wear and design jewellery and clothes which all sit within the same colour pallete, not that it's for everyone.
Log onto our blue jewellery page, online to see:
Willow necklace £16.00
Willow bracelet £8.00
Royal Glass pearl earrings £5.00
Royal Glass pearl bracelet £8.50

Apologies & Our new shop!

Apologies first for Friday and not up loading our fashion find of the week.
I was feeling rather poorly on Friday hence the blog was not updated, so I will try to make up for it this week and come up with 2 finds for Friday.

Secondly I wanted to report that we would be opening our own shop here at Lello within our factory. It is still a few weeks away but we will be selling our jewellery, handmade cards and albums together with some lovely gifts and all sorts of craft items.
The shop will be open Mon to Fri (not at weekends) from 9am to 4.30pm. Once I have an opening date I will let you know.
We have started to get quite a few people popping in to buy our jewellery and simply were not set up for it, but we will be soon. So watch this space!
It couldn't be easier for our customers, jewellery cards and gifts all under one roof with more than adequate parking!
Karen

BIG CLEAR OUT

We are having a mass clear out at Lello today. This factory of ours has steadily filled up with stuff which is best suited to a skip. So it's all hands on deck and my job is sorting out the dispatch area with the help of my colleague Karen.
We plan to open a jewellery and gift shop here to the public in the next few weeks as we have started to get a lot of calls and enquiries from members of the public wanting to buy our jewellery.
So today is 'clear out and move around day' everyone is taking one day off from packing and picking orders and design projects (all urgent ones will still go out as usual) to rearrange the new space. It's not something we do very often but we know if we all work together it will get done properly!

We are all dressed in our 'scruffs' and once I have written this blog, I'll be knee high in bubble wrap, boxes and mess!!
I'll upload some pics of us 'busy at work' later today.

Lastly we had a bit of a Lello night out last night. Four of us all went to the cinema to see 'Chick Flick' Valentines Day and I have got to say, we loved it! Very girlie and full of very attractive men, what more could you ask for! If you haven't seen it and like a bit of 'easy watching' not too taxing on the brain and a bit of escapism, it's for you! Karen
Log on tomorrow for our 'fashion Find of the week!

Aut/Winter 2010?

I know we haven't had summer yet but our work load at the moment is directed at Aut/winter 2010.
I thought I'd share with you some of the trends for later in the year and an idea of what we will be producing in terms of jewellery.

We use the fore casted trends available to design companies such as ours in a loose term and as inspiration because many of the actual trends would be too severe for our customers.

Big for Aut/Winter '10 is military style jewellery and accessories. Stars and air force style badges/clips with a metal feel, stars, stripes, wings and war time logo's.
Safety pins look to be used in someway, but I would imagine this would be a detail we would not use in our jewellery.
Pom Poms and pom pom hats are going to be big this year so there will be a slight hint of this in our new ranges. Together with leather straps and chains and quite grungy looking jewellery.
A current Spring Summer line of Lello's which will be in stock in March echo's this trend so it would be a good buy for Aut/Winter as well, it comes in white and black, 'Onyx' black bracelet shown below.
It will also fall well for our Halloween range of jewellery we will be bringing out with skull ring & bracelet and spider bracelet and necklace, all on trend not only for Halloween but on trend for Aut/Wint.
Pictured below are a couple of our Halloween lines which will launch in August and also one of new Spring Summer lines made from leather straps and jewels, 'Pewter' lightweight chain necklace and white leather strap £14.99, Onyx black jewel and leather strap bracelet £7.99.



Onyx bracelet (Spring/Summer) £7.99


'Pewter' necklace, Spring Summer £14.99


Aut/Winter

Skull ring - Halloween


Spider bracelet - Aut/Winter


Skull bracelet - Aut/Winter

What are we wearing at Lello Today?

I thought I'd be the guinea pig today. I am wearing an assortment of our jewellery.
My Russian doll necklace is something I wear quite a lot and it's great just with navy or white.
The Russian doll necklace has just this week sold out, so I guess I shouldn't have worn it for the photo! But it does come in black and white, £13 for the necklace and £7 for the matching bracelet something for those women who like jewellery which is a bit 'quirky or individual'.

My red 3 strand bracelet with diamante and heart detail is £6, available in other colours. My white leather and large stone effect wrap around bracelet (Diamond) is NEW for Spring Summer and costs £7.99, this design also comes in black and I think I will be wearing it a lot when the warmer weather arrives.
I am also wearing our red classic pearl earrings which come in a multitude of colours and cost £5 per pair. Please note they have sterling silver backs!
All new stock arrives in March. If you'd like a copy of our new jewellery brochure please email me your address karen@lellodirect.com


After several attempt's I just had to go with this pic, sorry it's a bit staged!
I think you can tell I am a bit 'under the weather', managed not to sneeze during this picture.

Lello opening a Shop!

It's been a long time coming but we thought we ought to put this building of our ours to good use and open our own shop here to the public. ' A sort of a Lello Lifestyle shop'!
We have opened the doors a few times and customers have bought jewellery from us but we aim to offer a few more lines besides our own jewellery and accessories.
Hoping to open at the end of March! Mon to Fri, 9am to 4.30pm.

It will be a great opportunity for local people and those who live in the area to come and buy our lovely jewellery and some other selected items we have chosen to sell alongside it.

Watch this space for more news.
Karen

Spring Fair NEC

It's our last day at the Spring Fair NEC in B'ham today, something we have exhibited at for the past 10 years! No one year is like the next and you just can't tell how it will go for you.
Rushed off your feet for hours or sat on your bottom for hours with the odd person walking by.
We seem to have had a mix of the two but more of the rush which we are very pleased about.

It's a long five days but very worthwhile as you just don't know who might walk past your stand.
We saw Linda Barker the 'changing rooms' star no doubt looking for new product to add to her mail order brochure. The lady off 'Ladette to Lady' came on our stand and loved all our pearl jewellery which came as no surprise and there were no doubt countelss others.

We are busy typing up all the orders we have had in from the show to get our stock out to waiting customers.

Lello is actively seeking an agent to sell their jewellery in and around London! if you know anyone who might be interested please get in touch, info@lellodirect.com or call me on 0116 2601004.
Karen

Wednesday

I am in the office this morning and waiting for the call from my colleague Karen at the Spring Fair as I am due to be there with her today. But the show has quietened down from the rush of customers we had on the Sun and Mon so my services may not be needed.
Shame as I am sat here in my pink sweatshirt and matching converse (with my badge round my neck) wishing I had dressed a little warmer had I known I wasn't needed today. Oh well! I might still be dashing up there in the next hour or so to help her.

I thought I'd upload the picture below, not a great one I realise but it's of me on a night out last week wearing one of our lovely new wrist corsages! I wore a plain black dress and a red wrist corsage with our matching red pearl earrings (£5.00). It made a nice change from wearing jewellery and I had some lovely comments about it not only from my friends but from other women I met in the toilets! I thought it would a good trial run!
Our new corsages for proms/weddings and any sort of celebration come in 6 colours, red, black, lilac, ivory, beige and pink (£15.99). They all have a large rose on the top with little metal Lello tag and tie with a ribbon round your wrist, packaged in a lovely ribbon tied box. I loved wearing it and will definitely wear one of the other colours when I next go out. I did my best to get the corsage in the photo (I am on the end on the right) but you can only just see it amidst all the wine glasses! The corsages will go on our website in the next week or two and joining them will be some lovely new handbags and scarves all to match our jewellery ranges.


Gemma, Wendy, Rachael, Carla & Karen (me).

Tuesday!

It should be what are we wearing at Lello today but because we are exhibiting at the Spring Fair Birmingham till Thursday I thought I'd up load some images of our stand instead.
Sunday and Monday were great days and the comments about our new jewellery were just great. We took lots of orders and it has been very worthwhile.
Today however the show appears to be very quiet.

Fiona on our stand on Sunday with our handmade cards in the background.
We were both dressed in pink and yellow to match the stand! which customers found quite amusing!


A few customers.


Our range of black glitzy cards which were very well received.





Some of the jewellery on show.

Fashion Find of the week!

Sorry to disappoint you today but it is all hands to the pump to prepare for our Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham which sets up today and starts on Sunday. We are screwing legs to tables,
mounting handmade cards and loading our van aiming to be away for the NEC at around 11am.
I am the van driver! so it should be fun.

But I do have something to show you which could be classed as a fashion find of the week!
Our lovely new wrist corsages for proms, weddings, parties etc. In fact I am going to wear one to night when I go out for dinner just to see what all my friends think.
They are lovely and I do anticipate women just wearing them to 'spruce' up an outfit and not necessarily for a special occasion.
They will be available in Red, Black, Beige, Ivory, Pink, Lilac and tie round your wrist with a cordinating ribbon and little Lello metal tag. Each corsage comes beautifully boxed.
The corsages will retail for £15.99 and they will be available 1st week of March.

I will upload a couple of pictures this afternoon of the corsages and also of our stand at the NEC.

This Weeks 'Women' Magazine

Lello is featured 'quite nicely' in this weeks 'Women' magazine in a feature on Valentines gifts.
Not sure the editor realised that they had uploaded an image from our 'Little Lello' range so it would only be suitable for little girls and teenagers. Mind you it does fit me so as long as your wrist isn't too large you'd be ok. Secondly... it's currently out of stock, oh dear!
But of cause there are many more styles to choose from our website.

Many of the images which appear in magazines like this are uploaded from a company many of us manufacturers subscribe to. The editor simply types in 'heart shape jewellery' a hundreds of images from companies like Lello, pop up! So we have absolutely no control over which image they choose, nor the opportunity to suggest images, nor do we know when the image will be published.
Nevertheless we are very grateful they choose us!
(thanks to my friend Mel who spotted this)



Little Lello bracelet, top left £3.99. Due in stock early March!

Crazy

It feels like a bit of a crazy day as we rush to get everything ready for the Spring fair at the NEC. Set up starts Friday when we drive over and set the stand up and the show starts on Sunday and runs through to Thursday.

I really enjoy the Sunday as there is always a buzz but the following days are long and you can sometimes have to wait several hours before anyone gets to your stand each day.
The show starts at 9am, though we have to get there for about 8-8.30am and finishes at 6pm!

Lello will be exhibiting there for the 10th year in row, but for the first time in the Gift Hall, hall 4. Our stand no. is K40.
Please note the Spring Fair is only for trade buyers and not open to the public.

We will be showing all our new jewellery for Spring Summer plus current lines and also our new handmade cards and matching photo albums.
I will take our camera and upload some pics of the stand next week!

Fingers crossed it will be very busy and not like last year when the snow stopped a lot of people from attending.
Karen

What are we wearing at Lello today?

I have snapped Fiona this morning wearing a new set of our Spring Summer jewellery, 'Pewter' necklace made from a light weight metal large chain with white leather strap, £14.99 and matching chain and white leather bracelet, 'Zinc' £7.99. The bracelet wraps round your wrist so you see both the chain and the leather strap.
I don't think this one will stay in stock for very long!

Sunny but Freezing!

I know you don't want a weather forecast when you log on to our site but nevertheless it is freezing. Roll on Spring.
The last of our production samples arrived this morning, Yippee! A lovely long 'anchor' necklace to add to our nautical designs with matching charm bracelet with anchor, light house, ships wheel etc.and a few others which I have uploaded pictures of below. All we need now is the stock which will arrive mid/late Feb!
Glad to see our customers are buying to trend! current online favourites are our nautical bracelets, pictured below is Fiona wearing a set last summer, please note we only have the bracelet in stock for 2010! Made from navy and white stripe glass beads with little silver coloured beads in between and red ships wheel, £6.00. Go to our blue page on the website.



Fiona wearing our Nautical bracelet, summer 2009, a popular line with our customers
online at the moment. This item has been carried into our range for 2010.



New for Feb, our lovely long antique metal effect chain necklace with ships anchor, matching charm bracelet shown below. Price TBC.