I am a jewelry designer with a love of all things beautiful. I am drawn to modern handcrafted lovelies. You will see them all as I discover them here on my blog. Enjoy!

psst.. and visit my shop to see these inspirations turned into jewelry.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

delayed. late. postponed

Just popping in for a quick second to say "hi" and also let you know that I will be having another giveaway but I'm going to postpone it for a week or so. I'm a tiny bit overwhelmed with getting ready for shows so I feel like I should wait until I can dedicate myself to it.


on another note, I had a really terrific weekend with the family. We visited the poppy reserves and went to the beach. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the weekend.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Weekend Eye Candy

Getting a great portrait is a really difficult thing to do. You have to coordinate expression, lighting, background, cropping....

While looking through a bunch of portrait pics I noticed that getting an honest expression is not easy to do. Most people pose when they see a camera. I chose all of these pics because they had such beautiful honest expressions.

Please visit my friends to see what they have curated for their "Weekend Eye Candy".

LoraHart
Hammer Stitch Burn

A true global economy

How's this to demonstrate how interconnected we are:

I purchased the most beautiful stone from India. It was sent to me in America to assemble into a necklace. And now it is on it's way to a really sweet lady in Russia.

While I always am an advocate of all things local this was a really special moment outside my community.

In case you are curious, here's the piece. Isn't the turquoise stunning!!


and again, in case you are wondering. The felt that that is hung from is from Papaver Vert. She is a really sweet girl with a great talent. Here's another picture of the pot cozies.

And the Winner is....

With 137 entries, Random.org chose #21 to win.

Congrats to Autumn from Jedigirlz. She makes has a wonderful blog also and makes the most lovely quilts. Here is your prize:
Another giveaway will start next Tuesday. Ready to try your luck again? Thanks so much for your honest and thorough feedback during this giveaway. Your opinions are so useful to me.

Now, I am signing off for a few days. I am still working hard to catch up and prepare for a slew of shows. This is what I've been up to for the last week. My hands are tired.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My two new favorites

I know, I've totally fallen off the face of this blog over the weekend. School was closed for James Friday through Monday so I got nothing done and am working hard to catch up. But I wanted to pop in super quick to show off my two new favorite pieces. I love the simplicity! I have more to show, at some point. Hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Weekend Eye Candy

This edition of Weekend Eye Candy is all about Bokeh. According to Wikipedia "Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning "blurred or fuzzy") is a photographic term referring to the appearance of point of light sources in an out-of-focus area of an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.[1] Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject."

Isn't the effect so pretty? I've been playing around with it on my camera but never knew there was a term for it. Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to visit other Weekend Eye Candy lists from LoraHart and Hammer Stitch Burn. Hope the Easter bunny brings you lots of chocolate:)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Road Trip!!!

Looks like I'm going to be doing some traveling! I got accepted into the Renegade Brooklyn craft fair. This is really my first time traveling for a show. I did Renegade in San Francisco last year, which technically counts as traveling, but we drove. This is actually on a plane traveling. Can't wait to meet a whole new group of creative folks on the east coast. My in-laws live in New York and said I could stay with them. But, honestly, I'd love to just kick it by myself. I NEVER get to get away anymore since my son was born (I'm not really complaining because he's terrific, but still!) So I'm hoping to turn this into a little weekend for myself. I've already had two people offer up their apartments in Brooklyn because they won't be there. It all seems like a dream.It's been a week of good news. I also was accepted into Unique Los Angeles. I did their first show in December and it was seriously AWESOME!!! Great group of buyers and sellers. I'm really excited to do this show again. If you live in LA you really need to "pen it in". It's a great show, have I mentioned this yet? And, just a little cattiness.... I ran into my old boss (un-named clothing company and I was the assistant designer) at the last show. It was sort of gratifying to see that we were both selling at the same show. It made me feel as though I had "made" it. I know I shouldn't care about such stuff as that, but sometimes I'm a little competitive. Not to mention, he was a mess to work for. Nice guy now though.Ok, and then I also am doing my first wholesale show. HOLY (*@!%), I'm so nervous. Wholesale shows are crazy expensive! But, I really need to take this to the next level if I want to continue making jewelry as my career. In this frugal economy retail is not going to support me. So, if anyone here has a boutique that they are looking to stock, I'll see you at the Calfornia Gift Show.

Here's some little experiment I've been working on with my camera. I just love the colors. I want to play with using photoshop on my pics and making them more interesting. I haven't had the time to play lately, but with all these shows coming up, can you blame me?
And I had to throw in this final picture of my little one. I asked him what his sad face was, and this was it. I love it:)
oh, I almost forgot. Here is a custom order I just finished up. I think I'm going to add something like this to my shop. Seems like people really enjoy jewelry that can be customize.

I call this "A beautiful mess". Such chaos:)

Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY!!!

This might be my longest post ever:) If you made it this far, thank you.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Undiscovered Uncovered 3

These are my favorite artists this week that are new to the scene (new Etsy shops). I usually bookmark things through out the week that I like and then feature them every Monday. Lately a few of those favorites end up making sales by the time this is posted. So congrats to them!! Hope you enjoy them.

Top row: Mary Poppins Print by Kat Takes Photos, Organic Circles and Pearl Pendant by Lisa Gent Jewelry , The Blizzard of Oz (woven copper) by Copper Cubes
Middle row: One for you, one for me (wishbone white) by Threefold, Podification Ring 1 by Reagan Hayhurst, Fred by Pacific Artworks
Bottom row: Flower Power by Slice Studio, Leather Birdie Wristlet by The Fig Leaf, Classic Modern Quilt by 3 Bees Design

Friday, April 3, 2009

Weekend Eye Candy 1

Is everyone already familiar with Lora Hart's blog "Such and Such"? She has a great post that she does every friday called "Weekend Eye Candy". She always features the most beautiful jewelry. Well, she has allowed me to join her along with a couple friends to post our "Weekend Eye Candy" as well.

As I'm sure I've mentioned at least 10 times this week, I got a new camera last weekend. I've been taking lots of pictures of flowers because they are everywhere and flowers are beautiful already. So, this week my list is all about ttvf (Through the View Finder) pics of flowers.

This should inspire us all to see the beauty in every day.

credits: chiecarroll, AliciaBock, SusannahTucker, Scarletbeautiful2, grafixmode, and SusannahTucker (again)


Please visit Friends of Weekend Eye Candy:

Such and Such

Hammer, Stitch, Burn


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Best new store in Los Angeles

Venokado, originally uploaded by Chocolate And Steel (Christine).

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE wine, especially zinfandels and syrahs. If you didn't know this about me then you should definitely check out my other blog "The Brown Bag Sommelier", which my husband writes. Our goal is to find delicious wines under $12.99. It is not an easy task but I am up for the challenge. Anyways, I digress.

What I wanted to tell you about is the best "new" store in Los Angeles (new in quotes because they opened at the end of last year). Venokado is an adorable wine shop that also carries gift items. Can you see how adorable this mid-century dollhouse is? I want it for myself. More gifts I would love are the lomo camera, the lightbox frames, the sofa, the cardboard helicopter....
They are now carrying my collection there as well. Please pop over sometime if you are in Los Angeles. You will not be disappointed. The girls that run the store are awesome as well - Susan, Molli, and Traci (with a little help from Oscar).
If you have a special gift to buy you should look into their basket service. They put together the coolest baskets, ones that I would want.

Venokado
7714 Fountain Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90046