Suppliers :: the positive and the negative

As a jewelry designer for almost 15 years, I have my favorite suppliers and I have a mental list of those I steer clear of.  Once in a while we try out a new one and then add it to either one of the aforementioned categories.

I'd like to give a shout-out to my favorite supplier of Bali silver components, Rishashay.  They manufacture and sell beads and findings of all sorts and are members of the Fair Trade Federation.  Sure, they're a little more expensive than some of the other companies out there, but I'm willing to pay a little extra for consistent products.

I recently purchased a large amount of ball head pins from another source, that shall remain nameless, because they were a little cheaper.  When will I learn???  To be quite blunt, these headpins suck.  The size of the ball is inconsistent, the wire does not always exit the ball in the center, and some of the headpins have random "shoots" of silver.  I've never seen that before.  Needless to say, I'm disappointed in myself for straying from my trusted supplier.  I could probably return them, but I'm too lazy for that.  I'll sort through them and recycle the useless ones.

So what did I do today?  I got on the phone with Rishashay and ordered a new batch of headpins.  I ordered 24 ga long and short and 26 ga long and short.  One could order online, but I like talking to these nice people.

End of rant.

Some New Flowers

Every spring, I plant 7 hanging baskets for the front (actually the side, but it faces the street).  It took me several years to figure out which flowers work best in this mostly shady/partly sunny spot.  The best results for me have been begonias.  This year, we visited the nursery a week earlier than usual (because of the awesome weather) and I was able to get begonias in 7 different colors -- a color for each basket.  Pictures of these will have to wait until they bloom a little more.

I also planted some pots of flowers that I had never done before, just because they looked so pretty.  Here are some multi-colored portulacas.

And a beautiful selection of multi-colored celosia.  The fuzzy part in the middle reminds me of a caterpillar.

And, I tried a new type of geranium this year, which I found at a new-to-me greenhouse in Anchorage, Suttons.  What a fun and funky place!

Let's hope I don't kill these 3 beauties.  They all require full sun.  This is something that our property, with all of its birch trees, doesn't often get.  I'll be moving them around to the sunniest spots all summer long.

Ruby In Zoisite

Ruby in Zoisite is a super interesting stone, that I don't see much of, even while gem shopping in Tucson.   It is the occurrence of ruby and zoisite crystals, all in the same specimen.  Zoisite is generally green with black inclusions and everyone knows that rubies are traditionally pinkish red.

These earrings feature gorgeous briolettes of Ruby in Zoisite.  I added a genuine ruby rondelle alongside to highlight the red component of the briolette.

As always, you can click on the photo to go directly to the listing for these one-of-a-kind earrings in my etsy shop.

Lessons From My Mother

This past December, I marked the 20th anniversary of my mother's death.  That day of her passing is a sad one every year, but huge milestones like 20 years feel even worse.  I still miss her every single day.

This photo of her was taken in 1953, probably right before she and my father were married.  The house, in Elmont, NY,  belonged to my Aunt Helen (my father's sister and still kicking at 95!) and Uncle George.

Here are some things I learned from my mother, Carol.

1. Always postpone ironing for as long as possible.  I mean, seriously, none of us will run out of  things to wear, so wait for the pile to become enormous and then spend most of a day doing it.

  Seeing as I rarely iron at all, I think I've pretty much followed her advice here.


2.  The family should eat dinner together every night, at the kitchen table.

   This is an old-fashioned tradition that I still believe in and do to this day.


3.  Never go to someone's house for a visit empty handed.

    I live by this rule.  When invited for dinner, I either bring a requested dessert or a bottle of wine.  If the
    host and hostess say "don't bring anything",  I bring a bouquet of beautiful flowers.


4.  Life is too short to drink instant coffee.

    This goes without saying.  Instant coffee isn't worth the time it takes to make it.


5.  Play Mah Jong.

    Well, she taught me how to play, but I've never lived anywhere where other people knew how to play and
     one can't play Mah Jong alone.  With regret, I must confess that I've never played with anyone but her.


6.  When playing the slot machines, always make the maximum bet.  How would you feel if you hit  
     a  jackpot and you only had 1 quarter in the machine?  Pretty stupid, I imagine.

    When in Las Vegas, I follow this sage advice.  Usually it means I lose my money faster, but hey, why take
    a chance?


My mother was a wise, wise woman, wasn't she?

Brass Charms and Pendants from Artbeads

I was invited to be part of Artbeads Summer Blogging Fun and what fun it is!  I selected some really cute floral charms and one very unique pendant to create some summery necklace and earring sets.

To see their huge selection of charms: Artbeads Charms, and pendants: Artbeads Pendants.

This first necklace and earring set features outline style flower charms that are very fun to work with.  They have a convenient hole at the top, but you can also dangle drops off of each of the petals, if you want to.

The square panel on which the outline flower charm rests provides a perfect backdrop and continues with the floral theme. The matching earrings (below) are pretty cute, if I must say so myself!

Continuing with the flower theme, I selected this folded fan pendant mainly because it has lots of loops at the bottom to hang drops.  Plus, I have never seen one like it and the uniqueness appeals to me.  I chose glass beads from my stash to dangle and used a different set of beads in the same colorways to include in the chain.

At the bottom of the brass fan, I suspended another wonderful flower charm.  This one is solid and has a very different look than the outline one.  And the matching earrings:

One more pair of earrings featuring detailed brass leaf pendants and white freshwater pearls, because pearls are always in season!

Disclosure: Artbeads invited me to join their blogging community. I receive these products free of charge in return for honest reviews. I have not been paid for doing this

New Necklace . Soft Colors

These three understated stones work well together.  There isn't one trying to get all the attention.  This is because they all low on the saturation scale.  Harmony, for sure.

From left to right: moss aquamarine, rose quartz, lemon quartz.  All of the metal is oxidized sterling silver.  This lovely necklace is for sale in my etsy shop.   Click on the photo to go directly to the listing.