French Souvenirs...

Oh my Lord, where oh where does the time go? It feels like just yesterday I finished my Art Deco wedding project, but it's actually been almost a week! Oh well, time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Here's a few little things I've been working on lately... oh and by the way, for all of you Francophiles out there, my sweet friend Misty will be bringing me back some goodies to work with from the Paris fleas in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned, I will be posting the jewels that she brings me right here first thing. If you see anything you really like, just contact me using the form on the right and we can design something with the Paris souvenir that you like. We can put our ideas together and design something fun and unique!!!

New piece I just finished using another chaine maille purse. I just love these little purses! I think the reason is, for one, they're just gorgeous, and second, I love the fact that you can slip a little keepsake inside of them to wear around with you, everywhere you go. How cool is that? This little purse is circa 1920's and is made by the nostalgic Whiting and Davis Company. You can find it in my Etsy store.

These are really sweet earrings. They are the "Art Deco Madonna and Child Earrings". I used old art deco rhinestone dress clips for the centerpiece of these sparklers.

"Art Deco Rhinestone Bee Earrings". These little and cute bees used to be old art deco pins.

"Mother and Her Best Friend" Necklace. This beautiful portrait locket came from France and has the most gorgeous vintage photo inside of it. It also has a vintage photo on the reverse side of another beautiful French woman with flowers in her hair.

This bracelet was actually commissioned by a lady that visits France often and lives in Atlanta. She had been collecting all of this fabulous Parisian jewelry over the years and wanted me to design her something with it. 

 I will be making her another bracelet and a necklace with the rest of her little jewels. She has a great eye for really beautiful French souvenirs. I hope she loves this piece as much as I loved making it!

An Art Deco Wedding

I met a lady last spring who was as completely in love with art deco jewelry as I was. It's my absolute

all-time favorite style of vintage jewelry! This really sweet lady, with great taste, I might add, had commissioned me to design all of these fabulous art deco earrings for her daughter's wedding coming up next month. What you see here is just a small fraction of what I actually created for this spectacular event. 

The pieces in the boxes were converted from old pins and clips to beautiful, wearable, one of a kind art deco earrings for the bride's mother. We decided the sweet little Tiffany blue boxes (pictured in the background) would be a great added touch of elegance for the presentation of the bridesmaids earrings!

The beautiful large rhinestone dress clip earrings hanging in the center, are for the bride. They are really stunning in person! I may have to start a line of these fab pieces for my winter collection. The smaller earrings with the pearl briolettes are for the bridesmaids. What a nice and generous gift for all of the brides friends.

The art deco link bracelet in the center is another piece for the bride's mother! She deserves it, she worked hard on helping me gather and design all the pieces. This project was ongoing for 5 months and I just completed it today. Oh Happy Joy, time for a glass of champagne and a toast to the new bride and groom.

A Minute at the Beach

Ok, as promised, I have managed to break away from the jewelry bench for about, oh say, ten minutes. With 7 of that 10 being drive time, about 3 minutes actual beach time was all I could stand with frick and frack. aka, my children in fur coats. Bear, my Pomeranian, would not shut up. He barked from the time we hit the boardwalk all the way down to the water's edge and back to the boardwalk. People were walking by  holding their ears while their dogs were staring at us like we were crazy. My Chihuahua, Steve, did not want to have anything to do with any part of the visit. I guess his fear of wide open spaces had kicked in. Here are the fabulous pics of happy-crazy times...

Bear, barking his brains out at the sand!

Steve, not wanting anything to do with me, pictures, or the beach.

...Bear, still barking...

Steve, asking 'can we go now?' 'I am so over it!'

...Bear, still barking...

...and just one last picture to let everyone know that are beaches are still as beautiful as ever, even after the worst ecological disaster in the history of the United States. God has been so good to us!!!

All Work and No Play...

I hope I am not boring everyone out there with all this jewelry craziness...But seriously, buying, designing, and constructing it is all I seem to do these days. Luckily, I do enjoy it with all of my heart! I promise next post will be non-jewelry related. Maybe I'll go eat at Joe's crab shack, put one of those lobster hats on, and parade around the restaurant in some kinda crazy birthday song to someone I don't even know. And then I'll have my hubby document it all on my camera so everyone can have a good laugh. Hey, it would be quite a change from my previous blog posts, wouldn't it? Until crazy happens, here are some of my current designs that can be found in my stores and on Etsy...

The Holy Mary Keepsake Necklace... I just love these little chain-maille purses. This one is from Europe and is so sweet and small. Just big enough to put a memory inside of! I love the contrast of the gold-rimmed picture locket up against the silver chain-maille, I think it really makes the Holy Mary picture pop out from the purse. I attached the picture locket to a vinatge watch fob closure so you can take the locket off and add your own charm or locket to the front.

The French Sparrow Bracelet is made with a vintage signed French steel cut buckle. This piece is way more gorgeous in person. My pictures just don't do the beautiful buckle justice.

The Victorian Locket Necklace was such fun to make. It was one of those designs that all the components fell together like they belonged to each other in the first place. I love when a design comes together like that!

"Finding My Way". That cool old compass was found at auction. Very rarely do I ever find an old compass with such a detailed and beautiful face like this one.

French Cut Steel Earrings. I've been into the vintage French cut steel buckles lately. Ever since I saw a couple of friends wearing some as earrings, I've been obsessed with buying them...that is whenever I can find them!

These are soooooo gorgeous! Probably my new favorites to date! They're vintage French Lourdes religious medals with faceted tourmaline and Art Deco rhinestone links. Very unique, and one-of-a-kind! These just might end up in my jewelry box if no one buys them soon. They are available at the Destin antique market, Bienvenue! Well until next time my sweet friends...Au Revoir!

The Good Old Days

I was at Antiques on Holiday putting some new pieces in my case today and I wandered off to the upsatirs floor of the store (to shop of course) and I found this dealer who has all these fabulous old postcards...
well 2 hours later I scored these oldies...

These are all old postcards from the area where I live. From Pensacola to Panama City.

The postcard above is Panama City Beach back in the 1950's maybe 1960's. We had lots of fun here when we were kids. We even had a large family reunion here back in the 70's right smack dab on the beach. Talk about fun!!!

and my favorite postcard find of the day...

I actually remember going to the beach as a kid, and this many people being on the beach at any given time. Not anymore! I also remember seeing large numbers of fish, manta rays, and dolphins  from the shore. It wasn't uncommon back in the day to see school after school of manta rays swimming so close to the shore that you could literally reach in and touch them!  It's still beautiful today, but I remember it being so much more sublime, serene and breathtaking 30 years ago.

I also found this little gem of a postcard...

It's Monte Carlo in the 1920's!!! Isn't it gorgeous? Notice the train rolling across the inlet? It makes me

want to go there...

Here is the message that was on the back... The only thing I could make out was that whoever sent this was having a great time. See if you can decipher what they are writing...

Do you have a great memory of a special travel from long ago???

My Heart Belongs to Paris

For me, one of the most fun type of necklaces to create, are the ones that have secret compartments and contain hidden trinkets or objects. I just finished the piece above..."My Heart Belongs to Paris" using an old vintage mother of pearl coin purse from Europe. I added a vintage Eiffel Tower brooch, a folded copy of an old Paris street map, and a 1959 Franc coin to the inside of the purse. What fun to create these little treasure pouches....

Above is one of my past favorites... The Secret Prayer Kit Necklace. I filled the inside of this vintage rosary box with an old enamel sacred heart pin, a copy of a vintage French prayer card, and the bottom part of an antique French wooden rosary with crucifix. I loved the secret surprise element of this necklace, and just knowing that there is a hidden meaning or message inside of these secret containers and purses is

fascinating to me!

 

You can see and read more about these necklaces... they are currently in my Etsy store.

Auction Heaven

I just got back from one of my favorite shopping places on earth...Auction house! Oh, I had a blast picking out new treasures for future designs. I really love going to auction, it is so much fun bidding and everyone that runs the auction house is full of southern hospitality. Last night's auction was a success, I scored these goodies...

see that little medal in the center? It is so cool, whoever won it was participating in a potato race! It has the inscription on the back.

see the beautiful Elgin and Hampden pocket watches on the side?... They work!!

I was over the moon when I wound them and they worked!!!

I currently have an obsession going on with compasses... and Victorian pocket knives.

Knives??? I do not know why!!(LOL)

See the gorgeous Victorian mourning Cross locket in the foreground? That was the favorite score of the night, by far! The back is where you find the secret locket compartment...

Now, I need to get busy! Stay tuned, I will be designing some beautiful jewelry with these sweet treasures!!!