Ramblings of a Jewelry Addict

the Soiree is on its’ way!

dbjewelry — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:22:12 +0000

I know the title is a little silly, but with all the rain the past couple of days, I’m feeling a little goofy. I’ve been busy the past couple of days – I had a great time on Sunday at the Clover Market - met some fellow vendors in person, had a great time talking to people, and enjoyed the company of my friend Cammy, who came all the way from Princeton to be my assistant for the day.

live sighting of me at the Clover Market!

Cammy at the Clover Market

fellow Handmade Philly member - Jan of Janzibar Handbags

fellow Handmade Philly members Tanna of Love.Honor.Upcycle and Christina of Momo Trees

Now, it’s time to get ready for Soiree in the City – a hip and happening bridal event this Sunday in Philadelphia.

There will be a variety of vendors, all who can help make your wedding day extra-special! Besides handcrafted work from me and Love.Honor.Upcycle, beautiful bridal couture and accessories, photographers, caterers and bakers, the list just keeps going… Besides finding beautiful things for your special day, buy a ticket for the Soiree – $1.00 from each ticket goes to Wish Upon a Wedding Philadelphia, which helps provide wedding wishes for terminally ill individuals. As extra incentives, goody bags will be handed out and there will be prizes from several vendors (including me).

concentric circles and pearl earrings I'll be giving away at the Soiree

Well, I’m off to make some new pieces - if you’re at the Soiree stop by and say hello.

trying out Etsy’s Treasury feature

dbjewelry — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:56:21 +0000

Just wanted to tell everyone about the feature I’m having fun with on etsy.com – Treasury. Buyers and sellers can create treasuries – groups of items from other etsy vendors. They can be based on a theme or just items you like.

The Etsy Treasury I created Wednesday night:

The treasury I was chosen for today, created by MagicalMysteryTuca

Try it out for yourself (and visit our treasuries!)

spinning the color wheel

dbjewelry — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:16:35 +0000

“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.” - Marc Chagall

Color is a very important part of my work, it impacts what stones I will use, influences the designs I’m creating and it can even affect how I work. I’ve found out lately that using color is very important – since creating jewelry for weddings I’ve been working on designs that are only white or crystal, but I still manage to sneak in bits of color. Now that I have a vested interest in weddings, I spend time reading about them and perusing bridal magazines and I’m finding that color is very important in weddings as well.

According to Project Wedding, color is a great way to “brighten” the day and they suggest 7 ways to creatively incorporate color into your event.

Here are some other great examples of the use of color in weddings from The Colour Lovers Wedding Blog…

Some examples of pieces I have made -

pearl and blue topaz earrings

coin pearl and citrine set

I’m looking forward to finding more examples of the use of color in weddings when I’m at Soiree in the City, so make sure you stop by and see what I’ve learned. You can order tickets for the event at the Soiree in the City blog, or through Ruelala‘s special ticket sales, but get your tickets fast!

jumping for joy

dbjewelry — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:33:07 +0000

I received some great news today (no, not a job offer) – I was invited to consign some work at a shop in Philadelphia, so I met the ladies who run the shop this morning. The shop is: Square Peg Artery & Salvage, near Rittenhouse Square at 108 South 20th Street. I met Jen and Rachel, who both were enthusiastic about my work (they chose almost every piece I took in), and I love the store. They consign handcrafted works from many different artists – I saw cool knitted pieces by PunkRocKnits and lovely bags by Janzibar (fellow members of Handmade Philly). Whenever you’re in the Rittenhouse Square area, make sure to stop by – there’s something for everyone and they also offer workshops and other events.

As a treat, I stopped at the bookstore and purchased a book I’ve been looking at for a while – Weave Wrap Coil: Creating Artisan Jewelry by Jodi Bombardier. I’ve been wanting to add something new to my wire-working skills and this book has some great projects and I can’t wait to get started wrapping.

I’ll let you know how the wrapping goes!

weddings galore

dbjewelry — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:55:15 +0000

For lack of a more interesting title, I came up with “weddings galore” because I’ve had them on my mind a lot lately. First was my friend Donna’s wedding, which was in June and I was lucky and happy to make the jewelry she wore on her special day. I never posted the images, because I wanted her to have them before the wedding, so here they are now -

: image by John Stickel Photography

Thanks to the wonderful photographer John Stickel, who loaned me this image of the bride (in her jewelry) and groom on their special day. You should visit John’s website, johnstickel.com to see his amazing work.

Bridal set of faceted crystal quartz marquis beads and rondelles, gold and white freshwater pearls, vermeil tubing and the bride and groom’s birthstones (peridot and blue topaz) as accents.

I’m glad that I got to post the images, because I was really happy with the design and Donna let me make what I wanted and she loved them without my having to change anything!

The next wedding on my mind is the upcoming bridal show Art of the Wedding, being held at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading.

Art of the Wedding show at GoggleWorks

I’ve been working really hard this week and will have several new pieces (images to follow) available.

P.S. – I received an acceptance for the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival today – check 2011 event page for details.

significant pause

dbjewelry — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:38:07 +0000

Hi,

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post – lots of stuff happened in 2010, but it’s all behind me and I’m looking forward to 2011. I’ve been preparing for a display of my work at the Tredyffrin Public Library in Strafford, PA. The display will be in the library’s lobby cases for the month of February. I didn’t want to just display my jewelry, so I’m putting in examples of the materials I use, books on designing and gemstones and my idea notebook, among many things. I love setting up displays (a hangover from my old job) and I’m looking forward to filling the cases.

I’ve also been busy working on my 2011 show calendar. My first show is booked – it’s a bridal show in Reading, PA called “The Art of the Wedding” at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. This is the first bridal show I’ve vended at and I’m looking forward to showing my designs. I have some new designs mulling in my mind, hopefully they will come out before the show.

Stay tuned for more event, pictures and thoughts!

back on the keyboard

dbjewelry — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:48:38 +0000

Sorry! It’s been a while since I posted anything, but now I have lots to write about. For today, just a quick note to show the package I received today – some special beads I ordered to make a birthday present for my friend Tammy.

wrapping and box from Thailand

Tammy’s birthstone is the diamond, which is not something I keep in my bead collection. Luckily, I found some lovely, tiny white diamond druzy beads from SUAY on etsy, and they arrived today, just in time for her birthday party on Friday. She doesn’t like long, dangling earrings (I don’t know how we stay friends), so I’m going to do a simple design of a colored freshwater pearl, with a couple of the diamonds at the top of each cluster. (photo to come)

diamond beads from Thailand

official launch

dbjewelry — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:38:07 +0000

Today I added some new items into my etsy shop – earrings that are part of my alumna collection: designs in gemstones that are various school colors. Of course I started with blue and white (Go Nittany Lions!) and have a few other schools represented. Look for more places to be added as I search out school colors and create some other designs to go into the collection.

Penn State/Villanova blue and white

Princeton black and orange

oh happy day!

dbjewelry — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:36:42 +0000

It was a beautiful day today in suburban Philadelphia! The sun was out, it was in the low 60s, what else could anyone ask for on a day in early March? Spent my day doing some volunteer work at the library and stopped at Barnes & Noble for a treat – new magazines! Picked up WWD Accessories – I can’t wait to see what’s happening in the jewelry world for spring/summer.

My little contribution to spring styles in jewelry will be my mini collection of aquamarine jewelry that I will post on etsy, once I finish photographing them. Since aquamarine is my birthstone, I felt I had to come up with something to celebrate March birthdays.

aquamarine

busy bee…

dbjewelry — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:06:05 +0000

I’ve been really busy the past 2 days (I think it was all of the sunshine) sorting, photographing, writing descriptions and lastly, posting items in my etsy shop. There are new items (as well as a few relisted) and more will be coming. I also received acceptances to 2 new shows today – The Italian Market Festival in May and a space at the Piazza Artisan Market (dates to follow). Check my show calendar for dates. I think I deserve a treat, so I’m taking the evening off to meet friends for dinner and a movie!