Summer's Palette...

A new piece I designed going to California this week....

I'll explain all about why it's going to Cali in a future post!

 It's a very special and exciting circumstance.

I'm just loving these pieces with all of the versatility of the different ways to wear them...

This summer's color palette....

elegant faceted peach pearls, czech glass faces, carved bone, golden pyrite....

....lovely faceted mother of pearl and interesting ammonites...

 ...all making for some beautiful summery tones for the upcoming months!

One more thing I wanted to share with you is this stunning and incredible piece of history...

It belongs to the girl with the incredible eye...Misty, of course. She has that great eye for fabulous!

I borrowed if from her for a photo shoot because it has so much personality. It is from the 1700's, from France, and one of the oldest male dress forms she's ever had. You can visit her store's website, Antiques on Holiday and see more gorgeous French finds there.

  Perhaps Napolean's uniform could have been designed on it???

...only history knows the answer to this....and

oh the stories this dress form could tell...

See you in a few days, mes amis, and

have a beautiful week!



A New Adventure...

Meet Johann....

He lives here....

He's the keeper of all things lovely and beautiful....

He is the care taker of dreams...

...and he watches over your jewelry too!!!

 

I am so excited to debut my new adventure... vintage assembled jewelry chests.

Perfect for your budoir, vanity, or any special place where you like to keep your treasures!

Johann is coming to Etsy tonight, read more about him and the assemblage there.

Some new ear baubles coming also...

Victorian Butterflies...

Ladies in Waiting...

French Crosses...

Sparkling Starlings...

Mes Amis, which earrings are your favorites???

Special Pieces for Special People...

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, who just so happens to be a wonderful vintage jewelry designer, asked me to make her something to compliment her mother's old ruby brooch that was passed down to her...completely flattered, I obliged. But OMG, talk about pressure!!! Trying to come up with something that would compliment the beauty of this special, incredible brooch and live up to her standards as an artist, quite frankly, had me very nervous.  It took me the full three weeks to decide which route to go with the project and here is the final product....

...I accented the brooch with beautiful hues of ruby, smokey qaurtz, pyrite, tourmaline, and of course, vintage mother of pearl rosaries.

 The feature that I really wanted to convey with this necklace, was the ability to display the brooch in several different ways. I constructed this necklace so she can wear it doubled...

at full length...

or with the brooch displayed off to the side...

The more I played with this piece, the more ways I discovered to wear it!!! What a FUN piece and I hope she likes it! Be sure to check out her creations on her website, she is very talented.

And of course I had to make something for my dear friend Misty for doing all of that Paris picking for me, and just because she is just so darn fabulous...

Misty had brought me back a bunch of these beautiful French military medals from France last year, and I had a couple of them left, so I decided to make her a beautiful bracelet with one, complete with her monogrammed initial on the ribbon....

Misty deseves this piece!!! She is one of the most thoughtful and kind-hearted people I know, and I am proud to call her my friend. Love you Misty!

Below is my "French Love" necklace, it just went to Etsy the night before last...

I wanted to show you some of detail of this vintage miniature hand-painted portrait that I found in Paris last fall. This little portrait is really amazing, you can actually see the tiny little brush strokes upon closer inspection of it's facade....

I added an old European basket brooch to one of the silver chains because I thought it paired so well with the glass portrait frame.

and alas, some new earrings going to Etsy tonight...

Au revoir, mes amis!See you in a few days with that exciting new project I have been working on!



A Bountiful Voyage...

Well, I must begin today's post by apologizing to all of you in Blog ville for not being more efficient in my posting for the past several days. I have been moving one of my retail spaces where I sell my jewelry and it has been one daunting and 'not so fun' project. I would much rather be here blogging or making beautiful jeweled adornments for the eye and soul!!! But I do have to stop for a moment and share with you some of the incredible pieces my dear friend Misty has brought me back from her recent trip to Paris. I just picked them up yesterday and you will be seeing these beautiful baubles in my summer designs.

 How wonderful is that, to have a friend that will go and "Pick" for me in France? The only thing that could be better than that is going myself, right?

 Vintage French Embroidery...Yummy!!!!

 Lots of old mother of pearl...my fave!

A handpainted Eiffel Tower brooch...Sweet!

 Marcasite birds...Love!!!

And their are several more vintage Parisian souvenir books loaded with old pictures, coming in with this batch also. Let me know if you see anything that you would like to have custom made just for you!

My favorite thing she brought back and making an immediate detour to my jewelry box (lol), is this gorgeous turn of the century nun's rosary complete with her personally engraved cross from 1902. Look at those hand cut faceted garnets!!! This is, in all my years of collecting rosaries, the most beautiful I have ever seen...

A really cool feature of this particular rosary is all of the souvenir medals from different parts of Europe that had been added to this piece from the past 100 years...

And now for the really good stuff!!! It's giveaway time again... Oh Happy Joy!!! I love giving away jewelry and here is the next piece up for grabs...

All you have to do is leave a comment anywhere on my blog and you will automatically be put into the drawing. I will personally draw (the good old fashioned way) the winner out of a hat the second week of June. So leave me a comment about anything you want and you will qualify!!! Can't wait to see who wins... Au Revoir and have a beautiful weekend!