Paper Jewels

Here’s a great example of indie design - fab style - and recycling too! This dress is from Amanda Vaughn-Redmon on etsy.

First and foremost of course, is that it’s a great-looking dress - it would be fun and flattering to wear!

Equally important in my book - she makes her garments in the U.S. (North Carolina) and she uses recycled/repurposed clothing for all or part of them. Of course that makes each garment one-of-a-kind, which is terrific too

Think about it - this is style at its best. It looks great, those fabrics would feel good and be super easy to care for (here, she’s used an old t-shirt, and slinky drapy poly knit) - and she’s taking what would otherwise be tossed away, and turned it into something fabulous.

Talk about a feel-good dress! Love it

This is beautiful!

This style is known as a “fascinator” and you can see why This one is meant for a bride - but fascinators are wonderful for many occasions. If you can carry them off. If you can hold your head high and feel confident and powerful and womanly.

All that is attitude - and attitude is what fascinators are all about, I think.

This lovely handmade work is available from Brenda’s Bridal Veils on Etsy.

Go look - her work will seduce you!

If it’s going to be cold - and it is - you might as well find a few luxurious, warm, comforting ways to cope. This
Cashmere Scarflette from Jujugold on Etsy
is a beautiful way to keep warm.

Hey, times are tough - if we can manage a few little luxuries, it makes the whole world seem a little better.

And look at that color!

I have to laugh at myself - it always takes longer than I think it’s going to, doing updates. So (chip chip chip) we move forward anyway

Here’s a peek:

I’m really happy with this one. The teardrop shape is graceful, and I love the way it looks with the pink quartz and the front toggle closure. Note to self - do more of those. Having the toggle in front is good-looking but even more, it’s easy to put on and easy to wear. Easy is good

I made it specially for Mother’s Day, but honestly necklaces for Mom sell pretty consistently through the year. Which is kind of a nice thought - that sons and daughters like to get their moms something even when it’s not (Hallmark inspired) Mom’s day

I just sent out a man’s necklace to a customer in Matlacha, Florida… I just wish I could hand-deliver it!

Man’s Carved Bone Talon Necklace

Matlacha (pronounced mat-luh-chay) is a small town between Pine Island and Fort Myers, Florida, where I lived for nine years. I love Matlacha. It’s the kind of place that 30 or 40 years ago was a tiny scrabbly fishing village and people there would probably have laughed if you’d said it was ever going to be expensive-ish or (moving) upscale. It’s still not “upscale”, it’s still a village, but it’s kind of funky and fun and they have a great seafood place or three.

Tee shirts and flip flops and not over-developed yet. It’s a really cool place. If somebody was willing to pay the travel expense I’d be happy to hand-deliver. Any time

Oh I think you are going to love this! Rare Bird Finds is one of my fave online sites. The ladies at Rare Bird have an absolute knack at finding fun, funky, and special goodies. I saw one this morning that made me smile. An eco-friendly shopping bag that GUYS can use too - without feeling weird about it!

Is that not great?
Honestly, you should put Rare Bird in your Favorites. There’s tons of, well, great finds there!

I’ve been peeking at Budget Diva, an online budget shopping blog that also has its own thrift store. Not only is it great fun to look around there, you can also score great deals in their shop. Right now they don’t have tons of goodies there but it’s totally worth checking out. Look at these shoes for example!

Nine West Pumps

These are work pumps, not as fun as flip flops maybe, but so goodlooking and if I have to dress for the office, I want my shoes to be this cool! If they were my size I’d have grabbed them asap. I have hope though. If they can find goodies like this once, they can do it again. Check them out!

Turquoise is one of my favorite gemstones and I’ll bet money (Monopoly money anyway!) that it’s one of yours too. It’s gorgeous, it’s flattering, it’s not hard to find, it looks good all year round and with all skin tones…. you know what I mean!

And sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re looking at the real deal, or a pretty fake. Of course if it’s pretty enough you might not care - unless you paid for Sleeping Beauty Turquoise and got assembled crap instead. (And if you paid for Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, believe me, you’ll care).

This post is a very short primer on some of the differences. Take a look below - here’s a couple examples of real versus not:

and

Only one of these examples is real turquoise - (1) I bought those teardrops (upper right) in Arizona in person, and (2) I do this for a living and after a while you can tell.

The other pics show very attractive beads - they’re just not real turquoise. Tricky, ain’t it?

After I started this I realized it could get kind of lengthy. So I’ll continue in Part 2. (soon!)

,I’ve just started working with antique silver finishes… am falling in love with them

There’s such an advantage! When the finish is oxidized or antiqued, you don’t ever have to worry about tarnishing. The silver is supposed to be antiqued And I’m not a snob about it - I work with sterling silver but also silver plate over brass. It’s affordable, and hey right now, that’s of the good.

Silver plate over brass has a lot of the perks of sterling - it’s supposed to be antiqued, and even if the finish wears (plating will wear, eventually) it has a sort of deepish silvery finish underneath. I’ve experimented with it - it’s not yellowy underneath. That’s why silver plate is nicer than gold plate - even when it “tarnishes”, it’s still antiquey-silvery.

Here’s one recent example - I love the lacy, delicate femininity of this pendant:
.

It’s available in my Etsy shop - I have lots of goodies there at very reasonable prices Go peek!

Gotta love this. I was peeking around and found this majorly good-looking tee…. it’s casual but with a little extra spiff That’s my kind of style…

Then I read a little about it and saw it’s made with organic cotton and water-based inks (solvent free) which is very high on my list of “this is how clothes should be made”.

It’s from Harrilu and no she didn’t bribe me to mention it - I just think her work is cool