New Amulet

This is my present to myself for Mother’s Day. Well, more like I made this at 4am because I got bit by the creative bug and immediately went into “Sheldon” mode but without the “eureka!”. Hehehehe. It’s aquamarine and morganite. I finally got my morganite from Allison a few weeks ago and I’ve been fondling the strand of beads, contemplating what to do with it. It wasn’t until yesterday, as I was reading up on the properties of aquamarine, I finally figured out why I’ve been craving beryl stones in general.

I’m learning to trust my instincts and intuition more and the aquamarine is helping me build that self-confidence. It’s also guiding me through the flurry of emotions and just going with the flow of things. I don’t always go with the flow very well, especially when it involves change. It’s a very beneficial stone for me, which explains why I’ve been drawn to it during the past few bead shows. Morganite helps promote love and compassion, as well as acknowledging old patterns and subconsciously figuring out how to go from there and move on. It’s almost like an emotional vacuum cleaner.

My life has been everything but simple. I’m finally happy with who I am and I acknowledge my flaws and shortcomings. These stones are great for that journey, as I dive deeper in the throes of marriage, motherhood, and my art. One thing my mother told me a few months ago as I was trying to explain how I’ve been feeling, is that you have to live in the present. I’ve known that for a long time, simply because you’re not happy living in either the past or the future. You’re missing all the great things that are happening right now. It’s just a hard concept to grasp when you’re caught up in the flood of emotions that come with past traumas and exciting new things. Learning to let go and go with the flow is a great application for situations like these. Having a baby has actually helped ground me to stay in the present because if I blink, my baby is going to grow up into a man before I realize it. He’s starting to have an opinion and he’s not afraid to show it. Oy, he gets his sass from me.

Yoga has been amazing. I’ve decided to continue with kundalini yoga twice a week. I’m also going to try restorative yoga and that will round it out to 3 classes a week. It forces me to slow down and be in the moment. It’s also part of my self-care regimen because it’s easy to fall into the trap of “I’m a Mom!” and nothing but that. Yes, this is my attempt at being well rounded. So far so good. Working out is good for my creative soul as well, so there are numerous benefits as well. I’m really happy with how this week has been and I hope the future is just as awesome. Now if only I can remember what my Dropbox password is…

The Perfect Ring

~~~Purchase your Perfect Ring here.~~~

There’s a reason I’ve been quiet on the jewelry front lately and I can’t even blame the baby for it. So let’s backpedal to before the baby was born…

Urban Maille put out a call for chainmaille artists to showcase on their website. Okay cool, I was a shoo in. That’s why I started seriously updating my Etsy shop around the end of August, I think. After I had the baby, coincidentally, Aislyn revealed to us “The Perfect Ring”.

I was skeptical at first. A ring? This was the grand plan that will hopefully make us all “fat and sassy” at the end of the holiday shopping season? Alright, I’ll order supplies and try it out. It’s worth a shot if someone believes so strongly in it, that they’re launching a huge marketing program once we crazy select artists have our rings made and action shots taken for promotional materials… exclusive business cards, postcards, etc.

I don’t remember if I made myself a ring first or Jesse… I may still have been high off of 600mg of ibuprofen (I very rarely took my serious pain meds). But once I slipped that continuous mesh of woven rings around my wedding ring finger, I was a believer /insert dramatic profound hero epiphany music (like when Harry gets his wand).  I’ve never been a ring person. I’ve tried to be but it just never happened. Tell that to the drawer full of sad rings who rarely see the light of day. I wear my wedding rings because I got used to them on my finger and I have to show off my hard earned diamonds. But this… this was “my precious”… Undoubtedly the “one ring to rule them all.”

Let’s talk about how it fits first. It fits like a dream. Like the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to the President’s birthday party. It hugs the curve of your finger and settles there. Forever. Fingers are not perfectly straight to begin with. Normal rings are sized to be able to fit over the knuckle and can sometimes not properly fit on the finger past the knuckle. And let’s face it, it takes time for it to conform to your finger. But this ring… this ring slides over the knuckle and then happily hugs every curve in your finger and you forget about it. It’s an instant love connection.  My husband, the skeptic, humored me by wearing the one I made him.  He lost his wedding band a few months after the wedding, which was fine because I just wanted him to have one for the pictures.  And they were very pretty pictures indeed.  He’d crack jokes about how I’d make them faster than he could lose them, but when I took it from him to oxidize, he kept asking, “Can I have my ring back?”  Mission accomplished.

Now let’s talk about durability.  Jesse’s been wearing his non-stop and it’s been holding up to whatever it is Southern California Edison engineers do.  I ended up making myself one in sterling silver with rose gold accents to wear as my wedding ring when I don’t feel like wearing my diamonds.  I very rarely take it off, so it has to endure all the activities of “Mom” and “Housewife”.  It’s held up extremely well and the silver hasn’t even tarnished much.  We shower with it, sleep with it, etc.  Like I said, it fits like a dream.

I made my sister one in solid rose gold filled.  She adores it and wears it almost as much as I do, but I think she takes it off.  Yes, this is the sister who likes her high end jewelry designers… most notably Tiffany’s and Cartier.  So it’s a high honor that she’s wearing my ring.  She’s always wanted to be a hand model, so TADA!

This is a great shot of my sister zipping me into my wedding dress… it perfectly catches her jewelry from the aforementioned designers above.  Now do you understand the fact that she’s wearing this ring is the highest honor this baby sister can achieve?  Oh and I made her a cute little dude to cuddle with too.

I’m very proud of this ring… so much that my bellydance pen pal told me to blow up the picture of our hands and frame it.  So I did and it was only appropriate to hang it directly under the Rorabaugh sign.  After trying to figure out if we’re staying here or buy a house or something, this was the magic touch that really made the apartment feel like home.

~~~Purchase your Perfect Ring here.~~~

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Ooo, Rocks!

Last night I decided to bust out my stone boxes full of iolite, sunstone, and tourmaline.  The idea was to make more earrings, but that idea didn’t pan out.  I did end up going back to work on my “Rock on a Rope” collection.  This weekend, I hope to take photos and start listing them on Etsy.  I also need to calculate the prices too.  I’m hoping this will be a more affordable collection, because I want everyone from any walk of life to be able to purchase a stone that speaks to them.  This collection is also a way of introducing stones and their energy properties to the masses.  It’s also been a good way for me to freshen up on my stone studies.  I just happened to buy a stone book for my Kindle.  That’ll be more helpful than lugging around my favorite stone book everywhere.  I’ll have a baby to lug around in 2 months and a bit.  Yikes.  It’s scary how time flies.

From the left, prehnite, rough watermelon tourmaline, rose quartz, larimar, and pink tourmaline.

From the left, iolite, sunstone, iolite-sunstone waiting for their chainmaille bit and chain. ♥

Sporting my iolite and sunstone necklace with iolite-sunstone focal bead.  Of course, the focal bead is from my crazy pirate rock lady.  And I really don’t look pregnant from the chest up.  Hehehe.

Show Stoppers

My favorite pieces are definitely the show stoppers.  The art pieces of jewelry that beg to be worn and admired.  Or maybe I’m saying this because I like wearing these statement pieces in the summer more than the winter.  No idea, but regardless, they’re all gorgeous in their own right. ♥

I need to make more like these…

 

 

A Good Start

So I’ve been needing to make myself some new earrings.  Something simple enough to wear everyday when I simply need something sitting in my holes so they don’t close.  I love my 20g Barrel earrings, but they’re too dainty.  I have no idea where I got the idea from, but I was like, why don’t I just use a bigger connecting ring to give it a little flair?  They’re earrings, so they really don’t need the typical strength butted mail needs.  Volia!  Awesome idea!  I don’t have a pic of the finished product, but here’s a picture of the original idea.

No idea where this burst of creativity came from, but I hope it sticks around for awhile.

Finished Carnelian Necklace

This is my new favorite necklace.  The color of the rose gold mixes dreamily with the deep red of the carnelian.  This necklace has limited availability due to the limited number of focal pieces.  Chain length is 20″ and is adjustable.

Carnelian is believed to enhance creativity and stimulate the mind.  Maybe we could all use some of that.

From My Personal Collection

This is my first attempt at anything purely in rose gold. I ♥♥♥♥♥ it. I might take off the dangles in the front, but I haven’t decided yet. First of all, I stopped by a bead store after jury duty a few weeks ago and stumbled into the biggest and brightest candy store I’ve ever seen. A whole room full of beads and findings in rose gold, yellow gold, and sterling silver on one side, then gorgeous Italian Murano glass beads on the other side.  I left the store with nothing but gorgeously shiny rose gold findings because anything in rose gold, especially bead components, are very difficult to find.  They are generally not commercially available.  Which is why I always go gaga over it whenever I see it.

One night last week, I felt compelled to start working in rose gold (hey, I had all this new stuff to use), so I dug up my precious envelope full of 3 whole ounces of 14kt rose gold-filled 24 gauge wire and went to work. The brown of the crystals complimented the gold nicely and then I started thinking of some other color to go with the package. Something hit me light a bolt of lightning and I busted out my favorite dusty rose crystal and I was set. Whoo hoo! I dug up whatever rose gold rings I had and this is what I have to show for it. Later on, I’m going to dig through my stone collection to find some stones that will go with the color scheme I have going. But I love this necklace. Obviously.

Custom order only. Please inquire.