Anchors, Whales, GSD's & Dino's! YIPPIE!

Good news blog buddies! I found some time in my busy schedule to work on some new cuties for my Etsy Shop! YAY! Let's all jump for joy! I had a lot of fun with this round of new designs, I'm especially excited about the little Dinosaur. Is he not the cutest thing EVER? Let's name him! Please leave suggestions below :)

In other news, today I'm heading off to the Boston area to attend a lovely Gem Show and then continue on to see my little sister, Alex, who is about to graduate from college! Yikes! The time really does fly by! So, I'm headed out there to help her with round #1 of moving some of her belongings back home. Should be quite the task because my sister has a shopping problem...

I love you Al, but I'm just sayin'...you need help :)

I'll be sure to take some pictures while I'm wandering the Gem Show and then fiddling around in Beverly MA to share on this here blogski :)

WHile I'm gone, make sure you check out all the fun NEW GOODIES in my Etsy Shop! Pass it along to your friends :)

Let's Play Catch Up : Sundance & Home Decorating

Wowza! I haven't blogged in quite a long time! What's going on with that?! So sorry all, sometimes my brain gets all A.D.D. on me and it's all I can do to just hold on for the ride :) I promise I've been absent for good reason! Let me explain...

Well first off, as you may or may not know, The Sundance Film Festival was this past week! To my utter euphoria, I was involved in an amazing art collaboration of video shorts that screened at Sundance on Friday! So exciting! Wahoo! So, that ate up quite a bit of my time last week, taking away from my blog of course :( It was all worth it though, I watched the screening via a Live Feed on the internet and I'm not sure I've ever had such an extreme overwhelming sense of pride in my life! It was truly otherworldly to see some of my contributions make it to Sundance! YAY!

Aside from the hoopla of Sundance, I've been spending a lot of time conceptualizing/sketching new designs for my Etsy Shop! As well as coming up with fun new ideas to make your A.N. Original Jewelry experience more fantastical! Oh yes, I'm also putting together some bead DESTASH lots to make room for new gemstones...yippie! Stay tuned if you want to get a sweet deal :)

Last but not least, I've been obsessed with trying to revamp my bedroom. I'm in an apartment so I'm avoiding the paint situation, although I'd really LOVE to paint, gah! I searched far and wide for a new duvet cover but opted to stay with the one I have for now and choose to revamp the artwork in my room. This is where you come in...

See, I have lovely Red/Cream Toile patterned Pottery Barn bedding, with accents of red around my room, as well as very vintage-y old hollywood looking lamps and floaty drapes that are a gradiation of sage green.Now, what I need from you is your assistance in choosing a huge ol' painting for above my bed! I have a thing for Vintage Ad Art, they are all over my apt so I think thats the style I'm going with! I also have a thing for monstrously oversized art...so all of these prints would be purchased in a very LARGE size :)

I've narrowed it down to these 3 options, HELP ME CHOOSE! Which one do you think would be most majestic and fabulous?

Almost....

I've been pushing myself to expand my Bridal collection so I've done just that. Or at least, almost....

Today I'm working on adding 15 new listings to my Etsy Shop! Including these pretty little lariats! They are so simple, but chic and unique looking in their asymmetry. They look really graceful and at the same time fun, when worn. I'm super excited about these because I just think they are the sweetest little things, especially for bridesmaids! I REALLY must do some new model shots with them, but alas, Winter is a big Debbie Downer in the world of outdoor promo photos. It's right about now that I REALLY wish I had the time/money and space to set up a small indoor photo studio at home...

Anyway, I'm working on adding all 15 new listings tonight and tomorrow, there will be other color selections of these lariats as well as some other fun stuff :) I'm hoping this will help motivate me to continue to work on bridal designs that are chic, unique and accessible... because as you all know, bridal season is almost upon us!

So, make sure to check the shop soon to see whats new :)

P.S. : What color combo's do you like for weddings? Which color combo's do you think are most popular/trendy right now? I'd love to hear your thoughts as I'm fiddling with all these bridal pieces :)

New Pendant Experiment Time! Your Opinion, Please???

I've been wanting to start incorporating faceted gemstones and cabochons into my jewelry for a while now but have struggled with doing so in "my style". The other day I had a rush of design ideas and did some quick sketches and this is what I came up with!

The pendant is small, about the size of a penny, and I'm thinking of doing a series of this style pendant but with different simple silhouetted design variations. I feel like it has a bit of a Renaissance feel to it...Yes?No? I want to do a series of these with different stones in simple tube settings, I used a Pink Topaz in this piece because it was just an extra stone I had laying around, not sure if I'd go with pink for others but we'll see!

Anyway, when it came out of the tumbler with the Bright Mirror Finish I wasn't overwhelmingly excited about it, though I REALLY wanted to be! SO I decided to try out a number of different finishes and compare them via photos afterward, and THANK GOD I did! I totally feel in love with the pendant after the sterile mirror polish was gone :)

I'm personally LOVING the Brushed Oxidized Finish, it brings so much more depth to the piece and I love that it feels a little ancient. I know not EVERYONE is into oxidized jewelry, so I think just even the Brushed Satin Finish is a great change/upgrade from the mirror finish it initially had. A nice bright option for bright silver lovers but still retains a bit of depth.

So, can I get everyones lovely opinions on this? Are you liking this simple pendant style? Which finish are you most drawn to?

Thanks for your help guys! I promise to get to that Trunk Show Secrets post by the end of the week!

I've been a VERY Busy Bee!

Wow! I've been so productive the past couple days that I'm really impressing myself! I've been feeling the pressure to be more and more prepared for the holidays on Etsy, and I LOVE to offer lots of items in my Under $30 section because it's so great for holiday gifting! So, I decided to get myself ahead of the game and get all my Under $30 offerings in my shop (although I DO have 2 left to list today, so I can't toot my horn too much!).

A couple weeks ago I told you all about my trip to the Hartford Gem Show, and shared some pictures of my loot with you. Now I can FINALLY show you some finished products! Woohoo!

Anyway, enough with the chit chat, I have a lot more work waiting for me today! And we all know, when the motivation hits you, you have to just go with it! Here's a small sampling of the almost 20 new listings I put up in my Etsy Shop last night! They all can be found in my 30$ or LESS section!

What do you guys think?

**Stones clockwise from the top left: Deep Amber toned Citrine, Pyrite aka Fools Gold, Deep Red Almandine Garnet, Rainbow Moonstone, Forest Green Quartz, Mystic Rainbow Quartz

Gem Show Loot

Yesterday, I made the 2 and a half hour trek from Saratoga Springs, NY, to Hartford, CT for a gem show. I have to admit, I wasn't especially excited to go show for stones this time around since I was feeling so under the weather, but I pushed through it and I'm so glad I did!

I've been to the Hartford Inter Gem Show a few times before and it's typically pretty large, but this year, it was quite a bit smaller and a number of my favorite "Go-To" Suppliers were noticeably absent. My initial reaction was that of defeat and general panic. Seeing no familiar faces at the booths threw me for a loop, but I focused and dove in to find what I had come in search of. I was determined to make this trip worth the 2.5 hr drive either way!

I started going through each table quickly to get a feel for stone and facet quality offered by each vendor I came across, and fairly quickly was able to rule a TON of suppliers out. I always get so dissappointed when I see a supplier sell poorly cut, dingy and generally funky stones. While I realize I am a bit of a stone snob and am a VERY picky gemstone customer, I was still expecting to find better quality in general. I'm well aware that not EVERYONE is looking for high end stones and might be just fine settling for a more inexpensive stone, but that's but not me.

So anyway, before this get too boring and negative, there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel! I thankfully found a few new suppliers with some really great product that I probably wouldn't have ever paid any attention to if my "usuals" were around, so maybe this was all a blessing in disguise? I ended up coming away with some gorgeous Garnet, Whiskey Quartz, Deep Amber Citrine, Moonstone, Labradorite, Chalcedony, some really unique looking Rutilated Quartz , some really funky Pyrite (super excited about the Pyrite)and a gorgeous array of different colored Crystal Quartz! The only thing that I couldn't find for the life of me was a really high grade deep purple Amethyst. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY had it! And I was ready and willing to buy a strand that was around $200 or more, if I could find some great Amethyst, but alas, everyone had cloudy, blotchy and poorly faceted Amethyst. It was a serious let down! The Amethyst was one of the major things I had gone to the show to find so it was a bummer and forced me to rethink some pieces, but all in all, what I walked away with from the Hartford show was fabulous! Sure, I had to do some digging, and was thrown into an initial panic, but all in all I was super happy with what I left with and so excited to get new pieces made with all these juicy gems!

So, which stones are you favorite? I'm really LOVING the Pyrite, Moonstone and Deep Amber Citrine! Yay! SO exciting!

P.S. I think most stone suppliers under estimate the power of an introduction and a handshake when talking to potential customers! I am typically a very loyal customer and return to the same vendors, and I know a lot of other designers do the same thing. Of all the vendors I met yesterday, only one took the time to introduce himself, his company and shake my hand. I was caught off guard initially by this but, it totally worked because I ended up buying 3/4's of my gemstones from him! A little kindness and respect goes quite a long way, don't you think?

Be sure to check back regularly as I have a whole buncha fun blog posts lined up including another installment of my "A.N. Original Home Trunk Show Secrets", a couple yummy recipes, fun photos, home videos and some really great music. Thanks for reading everyone! :)