Tuesday, May 31, 2011

little pink pearl Treasury at Etsy

This soft and lovely treasury was created by Etsy seller, Yann Pendaries.  Yann is a photographer from Paris, France. He has such a good eye for color and the play of light on objects.  His own photography  is most often soft but detailed.  He has chosen similar pieces for this treasury.

My Soft Pink Flower Bobby Pins are included in his treasury.  I feel honored to have one of my items selected. Enjoy this treasury.

Vintage Inspired Lanyard

Yippee!  My new Vintage Inspired Lanyard is featured on an Artfire collection!  I am so thrilled with this new lanyard I made over the weekend.  I have taken the vintage inspired theme that I so like, and created a functional beaded lanyard with antiqued brass, a lucite flower, and lots of yummy crystals, freshwater pearls and even some Epidot, a sweet little gemstone.

This collection is fabulous.  It has so many gorgeous pieces displayed that are for sale by many talented artisans. Enjoy!


Monday, May 30, 2011

The Mystic Wynd Blew - BESTeam Feature

It is such a pleasure to feature Mystic Wynd today.  Mystic Wynd is the Etsy shop owned by Karen who spends many hours organizing and leading our BESTeam, which stands for Boosting Etsy Shops Team.  This group supports one another and assists each other to promote the shops of the team.  If you have an Etsy shop and can commit to some time each week to promote others, please check us out and see if you would like to join us.

Karen lives in Arizona and designs lovely artisan jewelry and accessories. She enjoys creating a variety of styles of jewelry and appeals to a large range of women, from students, to career women, to stay at home moms and to grand-moms.  Here are some of my favorites from her shop.

This romantic Cloisonne Heart Brass bookmark is perfect for your favorite romance novel.  While you sit back in the comfy chair with your cup of tea or maybe hot chocolate, you know you will need this bookmark close to you.  At some point you will need to rouse from your relaxing read, and how nice to have a lovely bookmark to save your place in the book.

My heart always beats just a little faster when I come upon a lovely vintage inspired treasure like this next necklace.  Karen has aptly named it Rosalyn.  It is a beauty.  So romantic and Victorian!


For a different take on vintage, look at this Green Acrylic Retro Modern necklace.  The green just breathes life, and the style is so 60s or 70s. What fun to wear this!

Karen is a creative writer and has a blog also called Mystic Wynd.  She features part of her poem Mystic Wynd on the Home page of  her blog.  This poem is just a small sample of her talent with words.  Read her blog posts or any of her wonderful pages and get totally immersed in what she is saying.  You can follow Karen on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Lavish Blooms in My Front Yard * Iris

Look at the beauty in my front yard.  Spring has finally come to Northern Colorado.  It has been a cold May, but we are starting to see warmer temperatures and some sunshine.   Irises are blooming in abundance.  The man who lived in my home before we purchased it last year planted lots of perennials.  These are some of my favorites.  Enjoy!  Let me know which you like best in your comments.  Hope your Memorial Day weekend is fabulous!





Thursday, May 26, 2011

Besteam Feature: Wayfaring Magnolia

Fashion has gone through so many changes over the past 50 years.  Skirts hem lines go up; skirt hem lines go down.  Collars are big and pointy; collars are petite and round.  Add a bow to the neckline; oh, but no, let's add a plunging neckline with lots of cleavage showing.  There are so many possibilities, and one person who is very knowledgeable about the changes over all these years is Amanda Esch from Wayfaring Magnolia on Etsy.  She is a member of the Besteam on Etsy, and she truly does her best to provide us with excellent vintage clothing from the past.

Amanda studied history at Michigan State University, and finding the history behind beautiful vintage fashions is something that she loves. Her shop is full of a variety of vintage fashions.  Here are some that I especially like.

Let's start with a fashion I never had an opportunity to wear because I was a child in the 1950s.  However, I have fond memories of ladies wearing similar clothing to this Vintage Light Pink Suit. I imagine the lady who wore this also wore a small hat to go with it, and maybe some short pink gloves. Isn't the flounce below the waist fabulous?  I love the way it curves from short in the front to long in the back.  Oh to be slender enough to wear something like this!


Now take a look at something dear to my heart, the 1960s.  I was young, and loved fashion.  I sewed most of my clothes.  Hem lines went way high in the late sixties and I was about 18 years old.  I loved plaids and bright colors.  So I think this one is just fab!  Just look at the detail: gathered cap sleeves, plaid on the bias, pleated front to the dress, lace up front, a cute string bow at the neckline, and clever plaid on the bias pockets on the jumper.  What fun!  This is for sale in Amanda's shop.  It is called 1960s Red Tartan Plaid Mod Dress.


The greatest invention for modern fashions was POLYESTER!  It came along in the 70s.  At the time I thought it was great.  For the first time in my life I could wear something, wash it, hang it up and have it look perfect for wearing again.  Everyone wore polyester.  Here is a cute Bright Red Polka Dot summertime skirt.

Fast forward to the 1980s.  Puffed sleeves, princess lines, bows.  See this gorgeous Purple Lace 1980s Formal.

Come visit Amy's shop Wayfaring Magnolia to see these fashions, men's clothing, jewelry, ties and other wonderful vintage items.  Amy also pens a blog also called Wayfaring Magnolia.  You can catch up with her on Facebook and on Twitter.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Contemporary and Lightweight Jewelry for Your Ears

Look what I discovered!  Sleek, modern, contemporary and very lightweight earrings that I can easily change to any color or bead design that appeals.  If you look closely at the picture below, you will see that the bead sits between the two curved pieces of silver plated metal.  There are small pins that come out from the bottom of the earring.  The bead fits on each pin on either side and the pressure of the earring holds the bead.  If you want a different color bead, you can pop out the one that is there and replace it with a different one.

The earrings in the picture above are shorter than the ones below.  Both earrings are made the same way, but the ones below are longer and slimmer, so they have a different feel to them.  Notice how I used oval crystals in these.  These sparkle and shimmer in the light, and swing as you move.

You can use rondelles with these type of earrings also.  Here are some deep purple/blue crystals in the long slender earrings.


Each of these modern earrings simply attach to the earwires by using a needlenose pliers and gently opening the ring at the bottom of the earwires and attaching the earrings.  Then a gentle nudge to close the opened ring on the earwires completes the process.

I purchased my earring supplies from Bead Supplies in Hong Kong.  They are very dependable, but it does take about two weeks for those in the US to get supplies from them.  They communicate so well, and almost always send along a little coupon to use on your next order.  Here are the earwires I like for this.
FN-ER-01003

Here are the slender long earrings before they are put together with beads and earwires.

CH-ME-09029- NICKEL FREE Silver plated Geometrical Charm V2, 4 pcs
If you don't want to try your hand at making these, consider purchasing a pair.  I have a variety available in my Etsy shop.

Monday, May 2, 2011

BESTeam Feature: Your Daily Jewels

Live Life in Color is the tag line for Your Daily Jewels banner above her shop!  I don't think she could describe the feel of her jewelry better.  This shop is owned by Norah, and she is a member of BESTeam on Etsy.

Blue can deliver lots of punch!  Look at this beautiful Bright Robin's Egg Blue pendant on this necklace.  You will see some round gold rings at the top of the pendant.  Norah refers to these as a halo.  This pendant necklace can be worn with or without the gold rings.  Very versatile!

Add some pizzaz to that little black dress.  Wear these black onyx earrings topped with lovely vintage Swarovski crystals.  Accented with vermeil gold rings, you will glow when wearing these.


Norah is a physical therapist by profession, and she also takes care of children with disabilities.  The month of April was Autism Awareness month, and 10% of the sale of this gorgeous red bracelet will go to the Autism Society of America.


Norah also blogs about her jewelry and special causes.  Not only does she promote organizations dedicated to helping children with various disease, she also educates us about these diseases.  Visit her blog to find out more about Norah.  Connect with Norah on Facebook too. 

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