The Trouble with Sunshine -- and Vanity Prevalence

Sometimes I am just in awe when that momentous, bright yellow thing appears in the sky.  It's astounding.  And without a doubt, even though I wear sunglasses all winter long in the gloom of Seattle -- I can not find my sunglasses again when the sun rears its bright sunshinyness.

It's a tragedy for me really -- when I can't find my sunglasses.   Not because I am as concerned about UV trouble with my eyes as I genuinely should be -- but because I am 35 years old and a little obsessive about crows feet. No,  seriously -- it's one vanity point within the deep dark recesses of my soul I will forever fight to keep at bay.

See, there are a ton of things I could do to help with the wrinkle factor -- you can find them on any google search, for what is google, but the ultimate vanity breeding machine?

I could drink more water.  That's  pretty much a no-brainer. Trouble is -- I got so used to buying bottled water when I lived in Texas (I wasn't fond of the water there and britta and pure water filters only went so far) that it's nearly impossible for me to gauge how much I am taking in on a daily basis.

I could drink less coffee -- this goes hand and hand with the above.  Trouble is when I limit myself to a certain number of cups a day, my "cups"  (which is actually a specific unit of measurement, rather than the design of a liquid holding dish) get larger and larger by the day.  So my 2 cups a day will still end up being oh, 48 ounces -- making null and void the "8 cups of water a day" that is often recommended.  I have now got to add on to that everything I have also had in coffee -- making me become far more acquainted with the "ladies room" than I prefer in a given day.

I could buy vast amounts of old-lady cream.   This is my preferred method of battle as it is my firm belief that old lady cream is the nectar of the gods.   I look in my "medicine cabinet" and find "Origins,"  "Lancome,"  "More Origins," Hair dye (to cover the unseemly gray my red hair seems to proliferate for no apparent reason), and possibly some medicine.  But, that is more likely to be found under the sink in my bathroom as it's just not as prominent as my vanity struggle against crows feet.

What I do not find in my "medicine cabinet" or "powder room" at all -- is my biggest weapon against crows feet:  Sunglasses.

Why sunglasses?  Well, I drive a lot, and I laugh a lot, and I generally am a pretty happy person -- so crows feet and laugh lines sure are coming.  So what do sunglasses have to do with anything?  Well, when I am driving around -- in sunglasses, even in the rain -- I am seriously much less likely to squint.

I do not, however, make use of sunglasses when taking photo's for the shop -- if anyone has figured out how to do that -- go ahead and send me a link in the comments :)

Until then -- I guess it's good to be happy it's springtime.

 ~Maggie~

Spring Colors -- Monaco Blue

I really do like quite a few of the spring colors. Monaco Blue is my favorite -- because gemstones are really quite easy to match to it.

Two very easy stones to match -- which I will focus on today are Lapis Lazuli and Iolite.  Iolite is a little trickier because it often has purple and gray hues in it.   Other stones to consider -- traditional sapphire, sodalite, azurite and london blue topaz. These are good to search for when looking for a fabulous Monaco Blue to match this season.

As for photos today, I am only going to post a few -- because my shop is really loaded with colors to "search for" related to the spring popular colors.

This is a new necklace offered in the shop -- in stunning AA grade Lapis Lazuli and "Faceted" Sterling Silver spacer beads.  Dainty and demure, and so much fun.

The Lapis Bib Necklace is $112.00.

Some of my favorite all time Earrings, these "Lady Sings the Blue" are made using London Blue Topaz, Moss Aquamarine and fabulous little sapphires. 

Lady Sings the Blues are $80.00.

Part of my new "Budget Luxe" line, these are beautiful Lapis Lazuli rounds finished on hand-hammered Copper Heart Hoop Ear Wires.

The Copper Heart Hoops are $43.00.

My mother really wanted to steal these earrings from the moment I made them and showed them to her.  This is iolite at its finest, wire-wrapped on 14k gold filled hoops

The Large Iolite Hoops in 14k Gold Filled are $75.00

I made these 45mm Sterling Silver Iolite Hoops to compliment the 14k Gold Filled Monaco Blue Hoops Above.  These are just as lovely at at 1.75 inches, large, but not overwhelming.

These are all also available in my Etsy Shop.

Happy Spring :)

~Maggie~  

Spring Fling Giveaway :)

I just got back from the Jewelry Show up here in Seattle, and since it was so much fun, I am feeling seriously generous.  Plus, it's been a long time since I hosted a giveaway.  

Since we're heading into spring -- and with Spring, Easter colors, I have decided to give away one of my most elegant, yet wear forever Pearl Earrings, in the most darling Pale Lilac color. 

There are a few ways to enter -- so go ahead, you may be donning a new pair of sterling silver lilac pearls as spring hits.  Enter before Wednesday, because I am doing this as a "flash giveaway" so that you (hopefully) have them when spring hits on Wednesday, March 20th.

Here is a picture of the lovelies, rafflecopter below that.

See them in the Shop

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ooops, I did it again...

I've not been focused on my shop -- I did it again, and just before another jewelry show.  As my mother says: You always have so many pans on the fire you are inevitably spun up like a top.  

She's right you know.  This last weekend for example, I drove hubby to his "business trip" (read: Temporary Duty in the middle of nowhere for the Army), I sold a few lovely pieces and got them off in the mail, I produced an entire website, three videos, helped on a campaign for Military Spouse of the Year, thought about grocery shopping and have been attempting to catch up on my Master's thesis.  I am about three weeks behind on that. 

Besides all that last weekend-- my old Army injury flared up, making me lose about 80% use of my right arm -- ensuring that I did all the above left handed only. I lost the keys to my husbands car -- I washed mountains of laundry (putting NONE of it away, just adding to the pile of folded clothes on the top of the dryer) I took care of one sick kid -- I got some massages to work out the injury, and I read a million articles (well about 40) for my thesis.  

So, I have looked at the shop here and there -- but basically I have been going a million miles a minute and feeling like I've gotten nothing accomplished. 

In fact -- the dryer just finished with it's ominous buzzing and frankly, I am unsure if I want to complete that "chore" for today.  

I really want to be playing with the jewelry -- I want to be prepping my list for the show.  I have most of the list in my head -- but if I don't go with a plan this weekend, I will make crazy impulse buys and in a week or two I will stare at a pile of gemstones wondering aloud for days:  What on earth was I thinking?

But alas -- though I hit the show in two days with my mother -- I know also that I must focus on my school-work first, and write this thesis. 

You all know of my mother right?  And her fabulous taste in gemstones?  She chose the stones for the below beauties:

My mother knows feldspar like no tomorrow -- the three sisters of flash heavy feldspar are some of her favorite stones: Sunstone, Labradorite and of course, Moonstone.

Iolite Hoops in Sterling Silver: She has a thing for the lovely blue Iolite provides.  There is also a set of these lovelies in 14k Gold Filled.

Multi-tourmaline Hoops -- Mom had me make these in a perfect rainbow.

Pink Garnet Hoops  We kind of chose these together, but she picked out the ultimate strand.  She also picked these perfect Nectarine Spessartite Garnets.

I will still continue the spring colors series soon as I still have a few colors left. But until then, I will be neck deep in books and reading.  I will also at some point in the next 48 hours have to finish two chapters of my thesis, so that I can enjoy Friday with Mom and not be spun up like a top.  

Until then -- here's to Spring being just around the corner :)

~Maggie~

Spring Colors: African Violet

I admit -- I have never been a lover of flowers.  I only know the differences between the biggies: Roses, Lily's and my personal favorite, Tulips.  I sure do love me some tulips. 

So when one of the colors was announced as "African Violet" I was all kinds of "ught-oh," because I barely know what violet is, let alone "African Violet."

See, I think I grew up on the 8-pack crayola -- not the 128 or 150,000 Pantone is clearly working with. So for me -- even well into my almost ten years of jewelry design, colors have been like a rainbow--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black.  And, I suppose pink.  

The pink is more like an add-on to me, like the "and sometimes Y" when working with vowels.  

So African Violet is somewhere between true "purple" and lilac -- but I would hazard closer to lilac.  So the most obvious gemstone would be amethyst -- but not just any Amethyst -- Rose de France Amethyst, sometimes called "Pink Amethyst."  You can imagine what "Pink Amethyst" does to my stoic brain -- I mean is it pink or Amethyst?  

Because to be honest, Amethyst is actually a specific color of quartz -- so how can you make that "color" pink instead of it's true form, Amethyst?  

Rose de France Amethyst Earrings

It boggles the mind.  Especially a mind like mine that like to look at what words mean (semiotics) to people -- like, what makes green mean green linguistically.  Or to go back to the subject at hand, what makes "African Violet" the color it means in the Pantone universe?

Rose de France Amethyst Large Heart Hoop Earrings

Massive hoops and a Dangle -- yeah for Rose de France Hoop Chandeliers :)

These Pearl Earrings are some stunners -- they can be found in my Bridal Line, But the softeness of the Lilac Pearls can be worn anytime, not just at weddings :)

These lovelies have both "African Violet" and "Lemon Zest" it's like a 2 for 1 deal on these 1.25 inch Ametrine Hoops in Sterling Silver

OMGosh it's jewelry that isn't earrings!  This Rose de France Cluster Cocktail Ring is made to order in the shop.

~Maggie~

Spring Colors: Lemon Zest

It was a rough weekend around here -- what with the kids seeming to ignore every request for chore completion I could throw at them. It was also one of those necessary weekends to do some serious spring cleaning.   Don't worry, I am still fully booked for more weekends of spring cleaning. Sigh. 

But, since we're working on colors for spring, I decided after this long weekend of cleaning, steaming and cooking to look at something a little sunshiny. 

Lemon Zest. 

I don't know about you but lemon zest as a color name just makes me think of that one ingredient I forget most of the time when cooking -- because you know the idea of zesting a lemon and not using the juice bugs me and my OCD in the kitchen nature.

But Lemon Zest the color -- it's really quite pretty, and one of my favorite gemstones bringing this color to bear is "Lemon Quartz."  So, when I knew I had to get more lemon zest in my shop -- I went to CraftyMothers on Etsy and Searched "Lemon Quartz"

The thing about Kate at CraftyMothers is that her taste in gemstones rivals my own -- she has exquisite taste in colors, clarity and quality, and she ships uber fast.  I ordered a few pieces that I still have to make in Lemon Quartz, but I still have a few items to show you from my shop.  

But first, I want you to see these lovely citrine quartz earrings Kate made for her other shop, SapphireSmith, that also hold true to "Lemon Zest" for Spring.

Earrings By SapphireSmith:

And now for a few Lemon Zest from my shop -- by the way sorry, Lemon Quartz is a pretty tough stone to photograph.

These "Lemon Quartz Earrings" are finished in 14k Gold Filled.  And, they Sparkle. Boy, do they Sparkle.

These beauties are Heliodor and Swarovski Crystal -- wire wrapped on 30mm Sterling Silver Hoops.  What I love about heliodor is that it's the yellow form of beryl -- or a sister stone to both Aquamarine and Emerald.  Nice, eh?

Anyway -- I hope that got a little sunshine in your day, Maggie is off to clean the kitchen her children have destroyed leaning how to bake stuff in the cold, rainy winter that is Seattle. 

~Maggie~

Spring Sale

I just created an "early spring sale" in the shop -- must be my happiness at seeing a bit of sunshine.  It;s pretty simple-- everything is already marked down through etsyonsale, so you don;t even need to use a coupon code. 

I don't know about you -- but coupon codes can sometimes be a drag for me.  In my excitement to purchase the discounted item I often forget to put that pesky code in there and end up paying full retail.  Sign.

Everything is marked down -- and as an added bonus, it's still free domestic 2-5 day shipping.

Here are a few examples for spring ideas:

Tsavorite Garnet Hoops 1.25 inches, Sterling Silver (Spring Color Emerald)

Amethyst Heart Hoops, Sterling Filled Hand Hammered (Spring Color Rhapsody)

Garnet Heart Hoops Sterling Filled (Spring Color Poppy Red)

Brilliant Rose Quartz Dangles, Sterling Silver

Pink Garnet Hoops, 1.25 inches 14k Gold Filled

Emerald Jade Hoops in Copper -- 1.75 inches diameter,  St Patrick's Day, Spring Color Emerald

Spring Colors: Grayed Jade

Mmmm, yummy grayed jade.  I like it for it's subtle yet steely green undertones.  Because, you know, I like green a lot -- since it plays off my hair so well and brings out the green in my eyes.  But, a girl can't always wear Kelly Green or Emerald.

 These pearl hoops were the first attempt to really get a grayed jade in the shop -- they are really lovely.  Luckily, I made them in 14k gold filled, or again, they would have wound up in my jewelry box, or more likely, my daughters. See, pearl is her birthstone, so she is certain every single pearl that enters my studio must in fact land in her jewelry box.

 Since we're talking "grayed jade" how about some actual jade?  This Necklace is made with natural jade in multicolored beads -- so it's got everything, Linen, Grayed Jade, French Roast, Some Wines, Caramels, etc. It's pretty divine -- and again, actual jade -- or grayed jade.

These are just plain fun.  A lovely green African Opal that is in fact a lovely grayed jade, or even, light emerald color.  Don't worry, we're getting to Emerald.But these were made after a smaller set was already made for the shop -- and luckily, a customer pointed out the error of my ways in being just this side of lazy and copying and pasting the description.  These host 30 gemstones on each 45mm sterling silver hoop and are really quite fun.  There is only one available in the shop as I only bought one strand at the last show I went to.  In November.  There isn't another show for me until March :(  But until then, this one pair is in the shop here ... assuming I can get another strand (or 3) they may make another appearance later this spring.