i heart victorian details

Stumbled across this lovely gem from Tree & Kimball while perusing one of my favorite wedding blogs, Ruffled. Of course I drool over any kind of victorian detail in jewelry and I have been loving soft elements in necklaces for awhile now, but it also doesn't hurt that this piece happens to be in my favorite color that I am constantly obsessing over! It makes me want to start experimenting with Rit dye to get some of these rich colors.

a little pick me up

Woke up this morning feeling a little less than spectacular with very little time to make myself all pretty. I decided to wear a head scarf a la 1940s swimsuit pin-up, like the photo above, with my curls pinned back into a messy bun. Just a little something to make my day a teensy bit more fun.

stacked and mismatched

It is pretty likely that you have recently read an article about or seen a celeb sporting stackable bracelets. For awhile now I have loved stacked rings... pairing together different heights and styles of rings on one finger. But stacking bracelets makes so much more of an impact and feels so sexy, rock-n-roll, devil may care! I am embracing this trend and pulling out some bracelets that haven't seen the light of day in years... there is room for them all! The higher the stack, the better. A few of my favorite combinations are turquoise, leather and brass; wood and gold; sterling silver and black; and 2 different hues of rhinestones. The more the merrier!

crystal caverns

I have had an interest in rocks, stones and gems ever since I was little. I dreamed of being a geologist (or rather a gemologist, as I later discovered) and was ecstatic when my parents bought me a rock tumbler for Christmas one year. I often broke open river stones to find geodes inside and to this day still have about ten shoe boxes in my old childhood bedroom filled with the stones I collected throughout the years. So it's not a surprise that I gravitate towards geode jewelry. The beautiful colors and raw crystals are breathtaking and only the simplest of settings is needed to compliment these magnificent stones. (Necklace by Jacquie Aiche, ring by Kimberly McDonald, and earrings by Iris Jewelry Design on etsy.)

done and done

Finished up my last three hours in the studio and I finally completed my locket. It was a painstaking project but I am happy with the outcome. I am off to sunny California tomorrow to visit my niece! So excited! Be back in a week.

NYC bound

I am headed to NYC tomorrow to help out at our new store opening in Chelsea Market. This is one of my favorite places to visit while I am in the city, so it will be nice to be working there for a few days. And then on Monday I am CA bound, to visit family and see my little niece. I apologize for the lack of posts during this time in advance!

soul mate

I got my subscription to Lucky in the mail this weekend and I fell instantly in love with the necklace Hilary Duff was wearing on the cover. This beauty, by Ninh Wysocan, is perfect in every way! I did a little more research on Wysocan and it appears I have found my jewelry soul mate. I would beg, borrow, and steal for any piece of jewelry in her collection in a heart beat. But sadly, since I do not have the disposable income nor am I BFFs with the designer, I must substitute for a mimicked version of this exquisite piece made by moi!

easter egg time!

I saw this on poppytalk and literally giggled with joy. It kind of reminds me of the "just because" notes I put under the lids of my jewelry boxes, but way cuter. Check out the entire how-to at: http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-hippity-hop.html.

Happy Easter everyone!