blue and green

A couple of friends from work commissioned me to make some special requests and I finished one of them this weekend. Wendy's daughter Emily is going to two proms - she's doing a very princess-y outfit for her own prom and for the other she's wearing this BCBG dress:

and to give it a bit of pizazz she's wearing these BCBG shoes:

I love these shoes! But Wendy was having a devil of a time finding jewelry to work. We agreed that lapis lazuli would be gorgeous but she hadn't been able to find anything that wasn't an absolute fortune. I believe I have now saved the day with what I came up with.

Lapis lazuli and serpentine. Did you know that the first blue eyeshadow was simply crushed lapis worn by Cleopatra?

Emily is going to look stunning in this ensemble if I do say so myself!

 

UPDATE: here she is!

etsy experiment continues

I've tried out some new "poses" for earrings with a few new pairs that I've made by hanging them from some other pieces of my vintage pottery collection. I love how the little hand looks!

And the green vase is a nice soft backdrop. I have lavender in it but that didn't show up in the close ups.

I love the smoky mauve and pink taupe pearls together - this is going to be a rare pair.

The white pitcher does a pretty good job too.

 

Then I worked on the banner and I was hoping it would look like this ...

but once I made it the correct size for etsy it turned into this ...

I guess I'll need to have another go at this to get more beads in the banner photo. Here's the link to the store again: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JessicaLovesJewelry

etsy experiment

OK well, I thought I had kind figured out how I wanted to approach the etsy thing and what I wanted my banner to look like and how I would like to photograph the earrings. All of it very do-able but requiring some new fonts and new pictures. I figured I had about two weeks as I wanted it to be ready for my sister's birthday.

I mailed her presents to her last week thinking it could take a while for them to get to her. But they arrived super early and she opened them right away. And wore them right away. And made a video and talked about them right away.

And the video will be up on YouTube later today. So I scrambled to throw something together late last night and get etsy up and running - ahhhhhh! It's not at all what I want it to be just yet, but it's there. I'm interested to see what happens! Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JessicaLovesJewelry

etsy obsessed

I've been a bit awol this week because I'm obsessed with trying to figure out all the things I need to do to make this etsy store happen.

Still trying to make up my mind what I'm going to call it - which is pretty crucial. Looking at fonts. Trying to decide if I want to use my own handwriting for the script. Looking for a good image of what I think I want to use for a logo ...

And making more stuff!! So it's taking over my life a bit right now, but it's such a fun project. I'll let you know how it's coming once I figure a few more things out.

what's in a name?

I named yesterday's post "Jessica's Jeweleries" just to be cute, but I do need to come up with a name for this etsy store if I'm gonna get this show on the road. That's probably just a bit too cute, but I like the double J happening there since those are my initials.

 

I need to find a name that's not already taken and here's advice directly from etsy about naming:

• Choose a name that is easy to remember and spell.  You want potential buyers to be able to recognize, remember, and be able to find you again, even if they have briefly visited your shop.
• Try to limit your shop name to one or two words that flow well together.  For example, “JessicasDesigns” works a thousand times better than something like “beaddesignsbyjessica.” Make sense? 

It does make sense. What you you-all think of JessicaLovesJewelry?

jessica's jeweleries

Here I present you with some photographic experiments of recent earrings made by me and modeled with the help of some West Elm purchases.

This is now the best thing ever for organizing projects I'm working on:

aquamarine and labradorite on silver

 

 labradorite and pearl on antique brass

labradorite and quartz on antique brass

labradorite and pearl on antiqued brass

coral and brass birds

I definitely think some of these work better than others. The mercury glass votives seem too reflective and I think that's the same problem with the silver bowl. But would the better ones be good enough to put on etsy? Would love to know your thoughts about this.

And there's lots of labradorite on the go right now because my sister made a birthday request and then I just got kinda carried away!

West Elm goodies

Here's what I got on the weekend. I'd been wanting another set of measuring spoons since, you know, I do soooo much baking now. And these are such a beautiful colour.

So pretty in fact that I decided I needed the matching measuring cups.

And then I'd been chatting with Anne so much over brunch about my jewelery ideas and the etsy store - what should I call it, how would I photograph stuff, organize stuff - all of that. So when I saw the egg crate all I could think of was putting beads in it!

Then I saw these little lacquered bowls and all I could think of was how they would make a great background for earrings. I got a yellow and a silver one.

And I thought the little bamboo bowls would make an interesting colour and pattern background too.

The mercury votive holders were just too pretty to leave behind.

Stay tuned to see how this little experiment works out!

brunch & Balzac's

Anne and I got together for brunch finally after way too many rain checks. And since it had been so long we decided to go for our favourite green eggs and ham at Mildred Pierce. There was lots of catching up of all sorts and then we went across the way to West Elm to check out all the spring goodies. Raina at If the Lampshade Fits and Nicole at Making It Lovely had me all excited to see what was in store. I'll have to show you what I got later in the week.

Then we went to Balzac's for coffee and a treat. I love this place even though I don't actually drink coffee anymore. I did have a nice hot cider.

I still love the smell of coffee, and the gorgeous floor and the beautiful bar.

It is everything I think a cafe should be (if only they served almond milk and some nice wheat-free goodies).

Anne wore the birthday gift Marcel made her.

And I wore the scarf that Anne made me for x-mas.

And a pair of amythist earrings I made for myself.

Anne thinks I should open an etsy shop. I think she may be right. What do you all think?

I'm on a roll ...

Last year Marcel really wanted to make Siobhan's birthday present and he truly did a wonderful job! But this year I decided it was my turn because I was inspired by her red lipstick to do something red and dramatic.

Instead, as you can see, I ended up with something a bit more like Anne's gift. And that would be because Siobhan confided that when she saw Anne's she absolutely loved it.

Also, she has very beautiful aquamarine eyes so this really will go with just about anything.

a few more baubles ...

Marcel and me had a few more earring projects we wanted to finish on the weekend. These little birdies have been hanging around waiting for some inspiration so they could take flight.

Ceciley asked for something red so Marcel thought a little coral might look nice.

Looks like he was right. I added a little bit of red abalone to mine because it always makes me think of one of my favourite books, Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Then I reminded Marcel than in his rush to get Anne's present finished he totally forgot to make some earrings to go with the necklace.

Whew, he's all tired out from making so many pretties!!