Impressions to Keep: Silver Jewellery Keepsakes

I love keepsakes - especially ones that will last a lifetime and will always hold so much love and be something you will treasure forever. So when we were asked to review a piece of personalised jewellery by Impressions to Keep I was really excited as I have always loved the idea and couldn't wait to see how it worked and how well it turned out.

I was especially pleased to review for Impressions to Keep as it is a small family owned business run by the lovely Emma who is married to a man in the RAF with 2 boys of her own she and is just a "normal" Mummy doing something she loves without adding a huge mark-up on pricing like the larger companies do.

Emma

"I originally started this business making wet clay hand & foot impressions and taking hand/foot prints onto ceramic ware. Everything is hand decorated, names & ages all painted on by me before being glazed and kilned. I started up because I am a sucker for anything to capture moment of my boys' life and often ended up paying WAY over the odds for all my keepsakes! I was leaving the RAF after 18 years of service and wanted to DO something as well as look after my boys full time. So, after paying a silly amount of money for their hand & foot impressions to be taken, I decided I could to better and cheaper.....and hopefully I have achieved that.

Silver prices have risen massively in the past year, but I am still trying to keep prices as low as possible. I have a no frills free website, you will note the finger impression kit is not in a fancy presentation box, I do not put the completed jewellery in expensive jewellery boxes & I do not supply a silver chain as most customers have a spare one and do not need the cost of another added on.

I do not charge extra just because a piece is bespoke, customers are charged on time and materials, not just because they want something ‘non standard’. I LOVE my work, I love the people I meet and I Know how much people love to have this stuff, I am so privileged to be able to make something that will hopefully be treasured."

The 'Kit'

Emma sent Lexi and I a kit which contained a sheet of magic paper, a magic wipe to take Lexi's hand and foot prints and 2 small pots containing moulding material in order to take Lexi's fingerprints.

Our mission was so simple;

1. The magic paper and wipe came with detailed instructions. All we had to do was wipe the clear dry wipe over Lexi's hand and press down on the special 'magic' paper and voila her print would appear. Sounds easy..... And was! Even Lexi and I with our fat thumbs and inability to do anything creative managed to do a pretty good job even though we had to do it a few times because Lexi kept moving her hands.

2. Repeat the process above with Lexi's foot. This proved a little more tricky as Lexi decided that once she had the wipe on her foot, it would be a brilliant idea to do a little jig on top of the paper thereby making a lot more random toe prints on the paper than were ideally required!

3. Mix the blue putty together with the white putty and ensure they are evenly kneaded together. Simple roll into a small ball and press finger/thumb firmly into the putty. Hold for 10 seconds or so and voila, a perfect fingerprint! Emma sent enough for 2 fingerprints but we had a small accident with one lot so only had one chance at it - thankfully it came out really well! The putty can be reworked for up to about 2 minutes so it gives plenty of scope for change if need be.

All Emma's instructions for using the kit to it's full potential were absolutely brilliant. Easy to understand and well written with little hints and tips of how to get the very best impressions possible. It was a very good thing she sends out such detailed instructions because Lexi and I are absolutely useless when it comes to anything regarding crafting or being creative so it would've been an absolute nightmare if they were any less detailed. They were perfect! If I was going to do anything differently I would probably have had Daddy there aswell so that one of us could control Lexi whilst the other did the prints as Lexi got so excited that we ended up with a lot more prints on the paper than were required! Our efforts did make me giggle though and Emma was amused to see how much fun we had had! I wasn't entirely sure just how Emma was going to get any semblance of a normal print out of the mess Lexi and I had created....

Silver

Emma from Impressions to Keep uses Silver clay which is an ingenious substance, as when kilned it produces stunning fine silver jewellery.

Fine Silver has a higher silver content than sterling with sterling silver being 92.5% silver whereas fine silver is 99.9% silver, So you can be assured you are purchasing the highest quality silver there is. It does mean that because it is 99.9% silver, the jewellery is slightly softer and will need a polish ever now and again but that is no big deal for me as the high shine and little hands mean it would need cleaning anyway! Being fine silver, the shine is beautiful!

Service

The kit took no time at all to arrive in the post as promised by Emma. Once we had done our prints and sent them back to her, the jewellery arrived in the post very soon after which I was really surprised at! No time at all. Fantastic service from a lovely, friendly and inspiring lady! Thank you Emma.

Pendant

Emma sent back the completed jewellery and I actually cried when I saw how beautiful it was. The bigger pendant is a flower shape which has Lexi's name on the back;

And had her hand and foot prints on the front. The prints look amazing - especially considering the mess we had sent Emma! They are both so clear and well imprinted into the silver. It looks fantastic!

The smaller top pendant is also a flower shape and has Lexi's fingerprint impressed into it. It is absolutely gorgeous. I still can't believe just how well it came out and how much detail it has in it. Every little line, crinkle and crevice is right where it should be. It really does look amazing!

Impressions to Keep

Not only do Impressions to Keep make beautiful pendants in all shapes, sizes and styles to suit all budgets but they also make lots of other fabulous items like impressions in clay, prints on ceramic, personalised gifts, Christmas ideas and now NEW impressions in copper to compliment their impressions in silver range! You can view their full product list and buy from their website: http://www.impressionstokeep.moonfruit.com/ or on the Impressions to Keep Facebook page.

Silver Jewellery Prices

Prices range from £25 for just a single charm to £50 or £60 for a double Pendant to £90 for a large hidden doodle pendant. I think these prices are amazing as I have done lots of research about pricing before and this is at least a third cheaper than a lot of the large companies and is just as good - if not better! quality than most of the larger 'get it out quick' companies!

I have fallen in love with this double pendant with Lexi's hand, foot and finger prints on it and still smile each time I glance at it hung around my neck because it is the most beautiful keepsake of Lexi's that I own and I will certainly treasure it forever. Maybe when she is older, I can pass it on to Lexi and she too can cherish it as I do. She already "oooohs" and "ahhhhs" when she points at it and was sure to show it to her Mooma and tell her about "Lexi hand and foot on Mummy necklace by nice lady" which made me smile!!

Impressions to Keep make the most beautiful, sentimental keepsakes at fantastically appealing prices so are at the top of our list of companies which are Loved By Lexi's Mummy and therefore Loved By Lexi!