as time passes

alloy heart blog, how i've neglected you so. 

a lot of time has passed since my last post and for that i am sorry. you know that quote by john lennon? yeah, you know which one i'm talking about. ;)

so here is a photographic representation of what has happened in the last weeks...

alex surprised me with these amazing alexis bittar earrings i was drooling over in the chicago boutique. perfect to wear to my brother's wedding!

 we had a halloweeny party for our neighborhood friends where i had the dumb idea to make these exasperating cake pops...

...went to a halloween themed wedding where i dressed as a flapper:

 ...and alex as lucifer...scary picture, i know!

less than a week ago, i wore the earrings to the wedding...

 ...of my handsome brother to his lovely bride. :)

in between these events, i read and absolutely loved this trilogy...

...got addicted to this...

...made these...

...which will soon be featured on this:

yes, i am finally putting things up on etsy.com. i didn't realize how sort of/kind of complicated it is (setting up shop policies, shipping info, etc.) it will be up soon, I PROMISE! :)

revamp!

i made these earrings last year after i came back from the detroit rock show. that was where i first saw drusy quartz stones. it was love at first sight. i bought these beautiful gold ones and made a pair of earrings for myself. i loved them and wore them all the time but after a while i got tired of the look of the post flat against my earlobes. 

i didn't want the beautiful (and expensive!) stones to go to waste so i decided to change them. i made these using freshwater pearls, gold plated beads and jade stones. i'll definitely be wearing these more often now!

crazy crusty crystals

i have had this drusy quartz for probably two years now. i was so afraid for the longest time to bezel set it because i wanted to make something really cool using it and because i was so afraid i was going to make a mistake and ruin it. i finally decided i just needed to make it into a simple necklace because the stone speaks for itself. isn't it just beautiful? i bought it from the detroit rock show. i should've bought more drusys...i don't see them often. i was told this particular stone was coated with titanium to give it an ultra sparkly dark finish. i'm pretty happy with outcome, although i'm toying with the idea of putting it on a slightly heavier gold filled chain.
i have another similar looking drusy that's more of an irregular oval shape. perhaps i will work on that one tomorrow...

up

i took these pictures on sunday at the close of ella's birthday party. what a sweet way to end the night..balloons flying off into the sunset.

dMd

i made this necklace as a gift for dina from her hubby. he called me up and said that dina loves my jewelry and would i make something sentimental for her? so this is what i came up with. i stamped dina's, derrick's, and mia's initial in disks i had punched out of silver sheet..i used a couple copper heart beads to connect the silver chains and i made a second necklace in gold that attaches to the longer one. i used sapphire beads (dina's birthstone) to connect the gold chains.
wear it well, my friend. ;)

renaissance (doesn't) rock

a few weeks ago, a few of us made the mistake of going to the renaissance fair. i had never been and neither had alex. i knew we'd hate it, but alex kept repeating, "but i like medieval shit." so we went. and we hated it. but i came away with two good things:

 this chunk of citrine...

 ...and this geode.

yup. that's it. i guess i just can't understand how the renaissance meshes with samurai swords and goths. i don't get it. 

here are some other things that will accompany my new rocks. i got these two thingamajigs from aunty fatin's stash of awesomely cool stuff. the egg opens up and is velvety inside. i'm not really sure why that shell has metal ends, but i think it's pretty sweet. 

 i can't remember where these guys came from. i have a feeling alex brought one or both of them back from thailand a few years ago.

 these don't go on the same shelf as the other objects, but i figured since we're looking at small things we've acquired...we received these as a gift for our wedding shower. i absolutely LOVED them and had to have them. alex, on the other hand, thinks they look like a certain part of the male anatomy. he doesn't understand why i needed to have gold-plated fig salt and pepper shakers. :)

spark

aside from gathering inspiration from my surroundings and from the semi-precious stones i so love, i am always inspired by other artists. i recently bought this pair of earrings by kevia at hanan's (where i work). hanan and samia are so consistent in their buying eye. they always choose one of a kind, gorgeous pieces to fill our jewelry cases. my eyes couldn't get any wider when i was looking at kevia's collection. her work reminds me of middle eastern jewelry from decades ago but i also feel it's modern and evokes a simple beauty. check out her site here.

blurg.

hello friends. i apologize for my long absence. i've been working on lots of jewelry and we took a trip to chicago last weekend. here are some pictures i've been meaning to put up. 

i hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather!

 something from my aunt fatin that i attached a chain to and have been wearing as a necklace.

 a bracelet i made for miss reina with one of the druzy quartz stones i recently loved and bought.

 a bracelet i made for myself which i subsequently gave to jehan while she was visiting. those are agate beads and a pave ceramic bead that's a beautiful shade of midnight blue..the picture does not do it justice, unfortunately.

 one of the many bracelets i've been making thanks to andrea!

 a knotted lariat necklace i made using the gold, silver and oxidized silver plated pyrite stones i have.

a close-up of my halloween costume from foof's bachelorette party last night. i was a fairy. my coworker, jeff, made me look ethereal and glittery! i absolutely loved it and wouldn't take my makeup off until i was almost falling asleep.

rock candy.

here are some semi-precious stones i can't wait to use! 

top picture going clockwise: pyrite (i've used this a ton, but i wanted to show them next to the following), gold plated pyrite, silver plated pyrite and oxidized silver plated pyrite. with the price of gold going skyward, it's nice to have an alternative. and pyrite is my favorite stone so what could be better than pyrite with a gold overlay?!

bottom picture: i bought these druzy quartz beads today...i am so excited about these. there's something about druzys that i just love. i think it's the fact that they remind me of all the beautiful stones i used to want to touch at the science museum as a kid. (the rocks and stones were my favorite exhibit.) actually we recently went back and some things hadn't changed, thankfully. if you have not gone in a while (or ever) i suggest you take yourself one rainy afternoon to the cranbrook institute of science. it's interesting going as an adult. in some ways you feel transported back in time and in other ways you notice things you never would have as a kid. 

yellow fever

some bracelets i worked on today...i learned a couple new tricks thanks to andrea at beadaholique!

henri

 bracelets i've made recently. from top bracelet to bottom bracelet: yellow agate, turquoise swarovski beads,  black swarovski beads w/ sterling silver stardust bead, apatite (blue one), metal pave beads, beads i salvaged from an old necklace.

"rosary bracelets" made from wood beads and wood crosses i recently found at the gem show.

 24" necklace made from gold filled chain, turquoise beads and gold filled stardust beads.

henry and his cute little tongue.

alexis bittar, you know i love you.

one of my favorite costume jewelry designers is alexis bittar. he's a self-taught designer out of brooklyn and has gotten insanely popular in the last few years. now not only do small boutiques (including hanan's) carry his wacky/classy/luxe/gorgeous jewelry but big department stores like neiman marcus and nordstrom. his fall 2011 lookbook is a bizarre piece of work..and i love it. these are the highlights in my opinion. i want! (i NEED a neon bangle..or two.) 

photos taken from fashionista.com

please come home.

i've been away a while, i know. some of you may know that my sweet kitty, lucy, ran out of the house accidentally two weeks ago. :( i've spent the last 14 days looking for her, making flyers, posting them everywhere and going to animal shelters and vet offices. it's so heartbreaking. we've had a couple people actually go to the trouble of capturing a cat thinking it's lucy, but they have been false alarms. (poor tabbys of ferndale!) please keep lucy in your thoughts and hope she comes back home to us.

(sigh.)

on a lighter note...i learned how to macrame a bit. i've been making adjustable bracelets..here are a few:

 this was the first bracelet i made.

a few bracelets using copper, apatite, brass screw nuts and yellow agate.

finally got this in the mail after ordering it weeks ago (what year are we in again?) i think i'm about 15 years late in dying my hair a crazy color (i wanted green hair when i was 14. my mom said no.) but whatever. (p.s. i will not be dying my entire head pink!)

my new superhero cuff from forever 21. not bad for $7.80.

adorn.

 gold filled wire teardrop hoops with quartz drops.

 gold filled chain with iolite beads and gold filled wire teardrop pendant.

gold filled irregular hoops with jade drops.

green quartz and gold filled chain layering piece i made for myself.