Fashionable Browns and What's New This Week

Brown and Animal Prints are Very In Style Right Now, Why Not Try it Yourself? Here's How!

This week I've got some great things for you on the blog, but first I'm going to start something that I've wanted to do for a while - style posts. I love fashion (I do make jewelry after all, so I suppose it's to be expected!). Sure, I may wear yoga pants and t-shirts at home when I'm running around like an idiot, but when I have any excuse, I like to dress nicely. I pour over fashion magazines, stalk the stylish online stores, and think of how the latest trends match with my (pretty conservative-classic) style.

Now I really want to share with you some ideas for how to wear the current trends, how to style jewelry with them, how to match trends with safe-for-work-wear, and how to go from day-to-night in a jiffy. And please give me your feedback on what you want to see and any questions you have!

See that pin board up there? These are a few trends that are very apparent now, but are still classic enough to wear for years. Recently, the Duchess of Cambridge was seen wearing a beautiful brown and tan shirt-dress style that has everyone talking up a storm (in a very good way!). Of course, hers was printed with birds, and was well tailored and probably cost a fortune, but there is no reason that "the rest of us" can't look just as good at a quarter of the price! Now, first-off, one of the biggest keys to looking good is tailoring. No one has the same measurements for every off-the-rack garment. Take an item of clothing, from jeans to an expensive dress, have it tailored or hemmed (anywhere from $10-$200, depending on what you need done) and see how magically your wardrobe is transformed from nice to WOW! Keep that in mind when trying on items. If it is a little loose in one area, take it to a tailor and get it fixed. You'll look and feel like a million bucks :)

Back to fashion! Browns and animal prints are very in style right now. Though I am not normally an animal print person, this dress "Tucker Slim Fit Shirt Dress" from Bloomingdale's (http://www.bloomingdales.com/) is very nice. The animal print isn't too wild and bold, so you could easily wear this to work with a few modifications and still look professional. The key is to not tie the waist tie too tightly, and not have the buttons all undone. Maybe one at most, should be undone, to show a very nice necklace underneath, or have it on top of your dress (see below for necklace ideas). For day time office-wear, perhaps add a dark, single color cardigan, and put your hair in a simple bun. To finish, do a simple berry lip, and understated eyes. Accent either eyes or lips, not both (you'll look like a clown, not the best thing when wanting a raise!). For night, let your hair down, maybe unbutton just 2 buttons, and put just a bit more lipstick on. You want to darken your makeup a bit more, but not too much (we ARE ladies after all, and want to look feminine and still respectable!)

Katherine was also seen wearing booties similar to the ones on the pin board as well, though these probably aren't the same. These "Brown Lumiati Maddy Booties" are considerably more affordable, and yet very stylish, from 6PM.com (http://www.6pm.com/). She also paired the outfit with dark brown opaque tights, which is perfect for those of us still knee-deep in snow (don't worry, I'm hoping the snow will disappear soon too!). If you're looking for something a little lighter, go for nude hose. BUT ALWAYS WEAR SOME SORT OF HOSIERY! Nothing screams "Unprofessional!" like nekkid legs. Seriously. Don't do it! For the office, I'd probably go with brown flats (save your feet for the killer heels when you go out later that night!)

To add your own personal style, add some pretty, yet not too flashy jewelry. The Cleopatra's Blue Goddess Necklace (http://www.etsy.com/listing/91033798/cleopatras-blue-goddess-necklace) is displaying some of the most popular trends right now - turquoise, gold, blue, green, amber, and multiple strands, to name a few. It is demur enough for the office, yet will easily transition to night. Pair it with the matching Cleopatra's Blue Goddess Bracelet (http://www.etsy.com/listing/93540180/cleopatras-blue-goddess-bracelet) and you have a surefire win in your hands. You'll look put-together, polished and professional, while not looking like another cookie-cutter office zombie.

What do you think? What is your style?

Coming up this week: Tuesday has new earrings you won't want to miss, on Wednesday Arwen gets serious about doggy health, Thursday shows a beautiful Treasury of Etsy items to usher in spring, there will be a fantastic feature on Friday of a very talented photographer, and another seriously cute Saturday Squee animal to start your weekend off right.

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday's Treasures: New Bracelets!

Summer Seduction Bracelet 5-Pack

As promised, I've got some beautiful new bracelets to show you today. Sorry for the late post...I seem to have lost track of time!
The first photo shows a beautiful multi-pack of bracelets, the first time I've bundled bracelets together like this, to give you a great value and lots of wardrobe choices.
I made 5 different bracelets on the same theme - summery, shiny, feminine - and made them so that they co-ordinate well together, but can also be worn apart if you just want a little glam. See my Etsy store here for details: http://www.etsy.com/listing/93557147/summer-seduction-5-pack-multicolored

Cleopatra's Blue Goddess Bracelet

This second bracelet I made to match my Cleopatra's Blue Goddess Necklace (found here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/91033798/cleopatras-blue-goddess-necklace). I made this bracelet with the same black beads as in the necklace, but I wound them on memory wire so that it will fit a variety of wrists. For more info, see the listing here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/93540180/cleopatras-blue-goddess-bracelet?ref=v1_other_2
These are some really great bracelets, made more awesome by the fact that, as they are on memory wire, they adjust to fit almost any wrist size...which makes them perfect for gift giving!
See you tomorrow,

Tuesday's Treasures - Newest Necklace Inspired by Boudica

Lamp Work Glass Boudica Celtic Sea Necklace, From my NeoAmour Collection

I am so thrilled to show you my latest necklace today, as today is Tuesday's Treasures, where I will aim to show you one completed jewelry piece per week. This necklace has been in the works for quite some time; almost a year, as that was when I bought this beautiful focal bead from my friend, incredible lamp work glass artist Louise, from Fireseed . It is a special bead, being one of a kind, and I knew it needed special treatment to do it justice. It took a while, but this is the fantastic result (if I do say so myself!).

Inspired by Boudica and the Ancient British Seas

I've long been inspired by the ancient Celts, as I've spoken about many times here on this blog, and beyond. When I recently took this bead out again and started turning it over in my hand, I was immediately reminded of the sea. I love the colors in this bead, as they are so vibrant yet still manage to be natural. I love how Louise managed to get so many different shades of brown, topaz, silver, black and blue into one bead, yet the whole bead does not look too busy. In fact, as I looked at it, I thought of the ancient English sea.

Simple, Yet Bold

Thinking of the ancient English sea, with its white foam, sandy stones and beaches, and vibrant blue of water and sky, I was suddenly, clearly inspired to create this necklace. I thought of, long ago, a young Celtic warrior Queen, Boudicca, as she prepared to take on the Roman Empire. She knew how important reserve forces would be for the Romans as they came over the channel from the Roman empire to Britain. I could see her planning her strategic attacks on British soil, against the usurping Romans, and thinking of how quickly reinforcements would come over the sea if the battles lasted too long.

This necklace was created for her. I used the stunning bead Louise had made, and then created a hand-blended mix of glass seed beads in shades to complement the focal bead. This necklace was made in a lariat-style so that you can wear it either choker style, with the bead hanging farther down your chest, or looser, with the pendant closer to your neck, depending on what you're wearing and how you like to wear your necklaces.

Please visit my Etsy shop to see the necklace here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90201685/lamp-work-glass-boudica-celtic-sea and please let me know what you think!

For more stunning glass beads by Louise, please visit her Etsy store here: http://www.fireseed.etsy.com
or her website here: http://www.fireseed.ca

Have a great day,

Inventory FAIL

 Okay, here's why I don't do inventory. See, back 4 years ago when I started getting into jewelry making (again), I bought all sorts of beads. I am good with keeping receipts, and making sure that I don't spend more than I make (usually - oops). But I never did a real, physical inventory. I know how much I mark things up, so I generally know how much stock I should have. But I never counted the beads and supplies that I bought as I went along, nor did I subtract the beads and supplies I used as I went along.
Then I got a new spreadsheet software program.
It requires that I start with a complete inventory.
Ugh.
So, for the last four days, my ADHD brain and I have been having little battles all over my office (which, incidentally, is still pretty messy since my last office posting in July, I know. Bad!). You see, one of the main reasons I don't do inventory is that, with ADHD, I get distracted.
Really distracted.
Any noise, bird flying past my window or dog fart (all too depressingly common) will stop me in my tracks. I get distracted by email and general useful and useless internet searching (such as, "best bead storage systems", or, "How can I count inventory without actually counting it?").
So far, I'm about a quarter of the way through and my inventory says that I have 177 different types of inventory (read: beads, findings, stringing wire, etc), and over 30, 056 items counted. Yes, I have actually counted over 30,000 individual things.
Mostly... I can weigh my seed beads, for example, to get pretty accurate counts (I am NOT counting 10,000-plus tiny beads that I can barely SEE, let alone keep in a neat little pile), but most of the time I'm actually counting the little bug - er - beads and things.
Most of the time.

Marie Antoinette Raspberry Ice Necklace

Part of the challenge of doing inventory is that I have all of these nice, shiny, new beads (when they get put into a storage cabinet for a while, and then you pull them out again, they are like hidden treasures, being unearthed for the first time), and when I take them out, I can't help but notice how pretty, say, the moonstone beads look against the rhodonite beads. And how pretty they would be strung with a nice 14 karat gold toggle clasp and 14 karat gold finishing beads. Then my ADHD brain takes over and tells me that it really won't take that long to make one simple (albeit stunning, if I do say so myself!) necklace.
In the middle of doing inventory.

 Never mind that I haven't tallied my toggle clasp or gold beads. I just decided to skip a bunch of spaces that will hold beads in my spreadsheet, count and record the interminably small, frustrating gold beads (while starting to fidget and string the moonstone and rhodonite beads), count and record the clasp and nylon-covered steel beading wire (nothing but the best and strongest for you, my dears), and GET CREATING!!

What started out as an, "It won't take that long" project - you can see in the first photo the disaster of my desk and the starting of this new necklace on the bead board - turned into a couple of hours of bead-play time. I don't mind. The necklace was definitely worth it - it was so much fun to make, and turned out so well, that I think the time was well used (and besides, don't I deserve a little break for working like one of Santa's elves??)
This necklace, entitled Marie Antoinette Raspberry Ice Necklace, is the newest piece in my NeoAmour collection and is available in my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleStudioJewels?ref=si_shop
Please let me know what you think, I really value your opinions :)
Have a great day. Oh, and if you don't hear from me for a bit, could you please send a search party in to my office? It may be that I got lost in beads....

New Toy!

 Oh let me show you my new toy! Brenna got this for me for our anniversary in September as our old digital point-and-shoot will only take about 3 photos now before you have to change the batteries (which are not rechargeable and that makes me mad!). He got this one for a really great price and I have to say I am totally smitten with it :)

 Many of the photos posted on the blog recently have been taken with the new camera, it is so tiny and easy to carry with me everywhere, I take it on walks with Arwen, and even just when I go to the end of the driveway to get mail. This little guy was waiting near my front step when I came back from getting the mail a few weeks ago. The viewfinder on the back of the camera is huge, which makes for very easy picture taking (no more squinting and then having to use extra eye cream on that eye to remove all of the extra wrinkles afterwards - score!).

Here's another shot I took on the last weekend of the farmers' market in June. I love how crisp the colors are - it makes everything really pop!
Anyway, enough bragging, just had to show you all the great little camera :)
Soon I'll be showing you some new pieces of jewelry (don't think I've stopped that, I'm just catching up on some major photo-taking!). Stay tuned for new pieces!

Newest Leaf in Copper!

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long (where did the week go?), but I hope to make up for it with this teaser of my newest piece.

You may remember another recent post with my first copper leaf pin, and here is a similar (but not exactly the same!) leaf in copper, with a torch finish, but this one is a pendant! I soldered a piece of copper tubing on the back so that it hangs in approximately the same way as it is pictured above. I still have to get it on some nice chain, and make a nice clasp to go with it, so I'll have more photos when that is done too :)

That is all for now, I have a marathon baking session ahead of me, or I'd spend much more time here with you all.
Have a great day!

Wonderful Wednesday - My New Baby!

 Woo! I got my new baby yesterday and I am so happy! I have never had a new one before. Can you guess what it is?

 YES! It is a brand new tripod! I know it sounds horrible, but though I have 2 old tripods, neither of them work and they are VERY old. Not that old ones aren't good, but man, having a new tripod where all the levers and twisty-things work is soooo nice :)

 Here it is! Well, in the box anyway. I got a stupendous deal on Amazon.ca - it was around $50 with shipping and taxes, and it got here in about 3 days! SO impressed.

 *sigh* look at it, it's so preeetttyyy. Came with a case and an extra mounting plate and goes to up to 72" high. wooooo!

And look! In the evening, in dim light, with NO flash on my camera, I got a perfect, crystal-clear exposure, no shake, no blur, just a great little photo. All thanks to my new baby, my tripod. YAY!

Happy 4th of July!

Arwen and I would like to wish all of our American friends a happy and safe Independence Day. Happy 4th of July!!Here is a new ring I just listed on my Etsy store, I hope you like it. See more here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleStudioJewels
Have a great Sunday!

Thoughtful Thursday: New Project Update!

Here are a few interim photos of the new project I'm working on. This is a modified version of a project from my new chain mail book. In this bracelet, I am making my own rings (yup, all 200 of them), and then weaving them into a loose Byzantine chain mail weave...
In between the Byzantine weave units, I am attaching bead units that are actually a part of the chain weave. These are Czech glass fire polish beads in Crystal AB that are strung on small pieces of wire with their ends hammered flat. Then I take the other end and twist it into a double ring and attach it into the weave of the chain. After 3 hours of ring making, filing and chain making, I have about 6 inches or so done. I should be able to get the rest done today.

Tell me, what do you think (honestly)? Would you like it in silver plate or sterling silver, or 14karat gold filled? With different colored beads? Let me know, I value your opinion!

That's all for now, tune in tomorrow for a Fabulous Friday Feature.

Sweet Saturday: A Few New Things

Copper Snowball Ring

I have been trying to redo my jewelry photos and lo and behold! I've found some things that weren't listed! They should be up and on the Etsy site soon...be sure to keep checking back to see the new goodies...

Lindsay's Caribbean Blue Ring

Mostly I have just found rings, like the one of a kind Lindsay's Caribbean Blue ring, made with a beautiful lamp work glass bead, inlaid with gold foil.

However, I do have some new earrings that I want to show you as well...

Carnelian Arrow Leaf Earrings

And here they are! Carnelian stones are hung from graceful Arrow Leaf shaped ear wires, hand forged from 14karat gold filled wire. Gold plate daisy beads hug the carnelian for a pair of beautiful earrings, perfect to go from day to night! I'll also have these available in sterling silver.

Copper Persuasion Pearl Ring

And back to rings! The Copper Persuasion ring is one of a kind. It is amazing how many rings you can have in a little bag and not realize it!

Copper Midnight Ring

The piece de resistance! The ring above is made with a gem grade cubic zirconium in midnight black to contrast nicely with the copper wire. It is one of a kind.

Have a great Saturday, I'm waiting for my camera battery to recharge so I can take more photos :-)

Thankful Thursday: At Last - New Couches!

Whew! I can't tell you how happy I am to get rid of our old, embarrassing couches. They had been a gift from my parents when Brennan and I first moved in together 8 years ago, but at that time, the couches were already 10 years old! Not that I minded - you know how tight finances are when you're first moving out, and they have definitely served us well over the years. However, we had noticed that lately, every time you sat in them, you tended to sink slightly lower than the time before, so we knew what was coming...

For the first time ever, Brennan and I bought new couches! We got a call on Tuesday telling us our delivery date, and they arrived yesterday! I can't tell you how excited we all are here. We purchased them from a Canadian store, The Brick, in late September and we were not supposed to get them until after the 20th of this month, but surprise! They came yesterday. Brennan and I spent all of Tuesday night cleaning the living room and using an at home floor refinishing kit to get the floors nice and shiny again (not that you can see it in these photos!) before the couches came. We were very fortunate to get these on sale ($200 off each!) and even better - they are made in Canada! I thought for sure that couches at this price would have been made in China (not that there is anything wrong with that), so it was nice to be able to support a Canadian business and manufacturer. Brennan also got some nice quilted blankets to protect the couches from MadameArwen , and they just happen to go perfectly with our curtains (did my man deliver or what??). Unfortunately, the living room is ripped apart in these photos - we had a fabric protector kit come with the couches and I spent the majority of last night applying that so the couches had to be pulled out from the walls, cushions taken off, etc. It is a non-toxic, water basedprotectant, not that cancer-causing stuff, so that was a relief (though it still smelled icky).
Of course, as soon as I got up this morning and let Arwen into the living room (we kept her out of it to avoid breathing in the protectant while it was drying) Arwen was up on the couch, trying it on for size. Success! She loves it, and, as you can see, seems quite happy with the size. What is great is that we got two full sized couches, not a couch and love seat, so that if Brennan falls asleep on one couch,Arwen and I will both fit on the other one!

That is all for now, Arwen and I are going to go and sit on the new couches, and marvel in the fact that we don't sink up to our eyeballs in them!
and Arwen

Sweet Saturday: New Rings!!

Sweet Saturday indeed! Here are some new rings I've been working on lately: the first is a ring that is sweet, yet sort of Steam Punk. I used sterling silver wire to make a comfortable shank, adding a teal Swarovski crystal to the center. I then coiled more sterling silver wire around the base wire and added 2 clear Swarovski crystals to the outside of the teal bead, coiling the remainder of the wire on the sides.
The result is a coiled ring that is pretty, yet different. You could keep it shiny, or allow it to patina and darken naturally, giving it a worn look for a more "Steam Punk" style.
The second ring I am calling my Turquoise Saturn ring. I took a real turquoise bead and surrounded it with a nest of sterling silver wire and creating a comfortable shank in the process.
It looks like a planet surrounded by rings (or a Robin's egg in a nest, whichever suits your fancy). I will be listing these rings on my Etsy store this weekend, so please do stop by and have a gander... I have even more cool items to come, please keep checking back!

Time is Running out!! Sign up for my newsletter to try and win a pair of magnificent earrings from my NeoAmour Marie Antoinette collection (You have to sign up for the newsletter first to be eligible to win!!), see the full contest details here.

New Ring!

Here is a new ring in my Etsy shop, what do you think? http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14787637

Remember to enter my monthly contest by adding your name and email to my monthly newsletter (You have to sign up for the newsletter first to be eligible to win!!), see the full contest details here.

Sweet Saturday: A Few New Items

~Boudicca Sterling Spiral Ring LARGE~

Here are a few new items in my Etsy shop, please click on the images to go and see their descriptions on my shop, and please let me know what you think :)

~Storin Celtic Spiral Sterling Watch~

And please, remember to enter my monthly contest by adding your name and email to my monthly newsletter (You have to sign up for the newsletter first to be eligible to win!!), see the full contest details here.

~Garden Party Beaded Badge/ID Holder~

Thanks for stopping by!