family.

after months of wanting to make a necklace for a really good eyebrow client of mine, i finally finished it today! she has two very bright little boys (twins) and recently had a sweet baby girl. i made her a necklace with the initials and birthstones of her kids. 

 gold-filled chain

sterling silver charms w/ stamped initials

tourmaline drops

sapphire bead

 another stretch bracelet made with pyrite and a gold filled bead.

a couple days ago, my mom and cousins were cleaning out my aunt's closets that were FILLED with all sorts of dishes, pots, pans, serving ware, etc. it was a daunting task that had been put off for years. they found all sorts of things, including this amazing vintage crock pot that i will now use as my pickle pot. :)

p.s. we will be putting on an estate sale with a lot of the pieces we found. there are some really great and practically new things for the home...i will have more info when the time comes. 

autumnal thoughts.

as the summer is breezing by (without really much of a breeze as of late) i'm thinking, naturally, of fall. i just love the crisp scent of autumn and the fall fashion that goes along with that cozy weather. here are just a handful of items that i am excited to wear more of in the upcoming months.

 chanel's fall '11 cream shadow in illusoire. i had a VERY hard time just choosing one color to purchase..for now!

 i never thought i'd be the kind of girl to buy a pair of toeless boots. i've never really understood the rationale behind the concept. but i was drawn in by the heel, the buckles and the blackness and i ended up loving them especially with a red pedicure! (boots by miss sixty. neiman's last call.)

 i've already worn this skirt a hundred times (i'm sure some of you will think it looks familiar.) it's so easy to just throw on a maxi skirt with a tank in the summer. but i can totally wear this in the fall with the boots i just mentioned. :) (maxi skirt by mossimo for target.)

when i first saw this shirt and i expressed how much i liked it, my lovely sister made fun of me. it's pretty big and tent-like, but that's what i love about it. and it falls so perfectly when worn. (shirt by torn. neiman's last call.)

bull. it.

a few days after the fourth of july, alex discovered a bullet hole on the roof of his car. yes, a bullet hole. he figured some idiot shot his gun into the air on the fourth and the bullet had to come down somewhere..
sooo, the bullet was extracted and it is in my possession. project: bullet charm necklace.

maison.

i've been meaning to getting around to posting pictures of our house after we painted all the walls and rearranged some furniture, etc. (renee, i know i'm overdue!) here are some shots:

i love my cookbook station complete with our michael aram fig salt & pepper shakers and our nambe pitcher/vase. (flowers given to me by alex's lovely parents because i had a terrible weekend!)

this was found in my aunt fatin's closet.

refrigerator art.

future project: reupholster red velvet chairs.

spyder lounging.

our toy chest...and my amazing epcot center tray straight outta 1982.

kitty toilet brush holder!

my favorite anthropologie soap dish has had lots of homes.

 a postcard (his artwork) written to me from one of my favorite artists, detroit's own ed fraga.

 our new cb2 table and philippe starck chairs.

our bedroom. "the kiss" painting by me.

my closet/vanity/computer room/cat haven.

 drawing by me. (not a self portrait!)

 the flower cross stitching in the corner was done by my mom in college.

 i've had that ballerina print forever. freida was given to me by alex. the transfer on wood was done by me.

 alex's black walled man cave.

 lastly..my jewelry station.

lights out!

hello, friends. i would like to begin this post by saying i never want to repeat this past weekend again. we lost power for almost three days and it was scorching hot outside. to top it off, alex left on a motorcycle trip for the weekend. so it was dark, hot and ridiculously uncomfortable and i was all alone. well, alone with six cats.
i tried to make the most of my situation and made a bracelet by candlelight..i think my eyes hate me for it.

p.s. that candle is my FAVORITE candle of all time EVER. yes i am being overzealous, but it's a great candle. vanilla tarte by Trapp candles. (you can peruse a variety of scents at hanan cosmetics.)

so this is the bracelet i made:

i had seen a how-to on a blog somewhere and i bookmarked it. it's kind of addicting...i've made quite a few already. here's the link if you want to try it out yourself. 

colour.full.

 simple drop earrings

pink quartz, jade, cherry quartz and black spinel

stretch bracelets

turquoise with gold filled frosted bead

moonstone with sterling silver frosted bead

i love toys.

i don't think i'll ever stop loving adorable little japanese looking toys or even those dumb erasers in the shape of an ice cream cone or a cow. among all of our grown up things, we have toys strewn about our house and i love it. this is one of my favorites...my gold munny. he was hiding out in my closet for the longest time, completely blank, waiting for me to make him come to life with a little paint..i decided to spray paint him gold...now he thinks he owns the place.

good. better. best.

yesterday i was finally able to spend some quality time making jewelry. it felt so gratifying! 

i had bought these gorgeous blue/green quartz stones a little before my wedding and i hadn't had a chance to utilize them until now. first, i made a single drop pendant necklace:

 then i added citrine stones:

 and still i thought it needed something...so i added the turquoise beads to make the necklace complete.

"alexandra" necklace

16 inches

gold-filled chain

quartz, citrine, turquoise stones

precious things.

life has a way of changing in ways you don't expect. my life has gotten a whole lot busier in the past month! there's food to be made, laundry to be done and a house to be cleaned. and being anal retentive about each of these things makes it obvious that if the job is going to be done, it's going to be done by moi! 

 i love all of our white dishes we have now. the artist in me gets excited to fill the blank canvas with color. these tomatoes and scallions joined in with soy chorizo, lettuce, cheese and toasted tortillas to make a (somewhat) healthy taco salad.

 i had to move my poor hydrangeas that are scorched from too much sun and i replaced them with these spirea that love lots of sun. the hydrangeas are now in a shadier part of our front yard. i hope they feel better soon!

 i also planted these salvia in between the hostas and the wild roses that were already there.

 my two favorite boys.

finally on a jewelry note: i had a chance to go into the basement and use my new jewelry studio. although it's a bit dark down there, i have an ample amount of space for all my tools and things..i'll be getting more lighting soon. i made these two stretch bracelets to add to my wrist. (the two closest to you.)  the one on top is made of hematite beads and bali brass beads. the one on the bottom is pyrite with tiny gold filled nugget beads. 

i'll be working in the studio again tomorrow. i hope i will have something to show you later!

late!

hello friends.
i hope you have all had a great summer and a beautiful fourth of july! (it was just gorgeous here in southeast michigan!)
i was called out on being overdue in blogging. (thanks, foof!) i know i've been away for some time. i've been busy putting the house together and cleaning and cooking and working and keeping six cats! yes, i said six. but, i have my jewelry setup ready save for some adequate lighting but that will be up soon.
i've been feeling like i need to make some new jewelry for myself! i've been a little bored with the usual jewelry i wear, even though i still like it. i've gone back to some older pieces that have been hibernating in my jewelry box. sometimes i forget about things when they're not right under my nose, so i've been digging up old treasures and they've become new again. i love when that happens! these are the necklaces i've been wearing lately. sometimes alone, sometimes all together:

 the scapular was a gift from my mom, i put together the champagne diamond/oxidized silver moon using pieces i bought, i made the silver triangular shape with the bezel set citrine stone and i also made the brass piece with the bezel set turquoise stone.

i can't get enough of these earrings. i bought them at hanan's a couple months ago and i wear them almost every day. they go with everything! i wear them to dress things up and i wore them yesterday at the pool while wearing a bikini! i did not make these. they're by janna conner. (i CAN make these, though, using pieces i've seen at munro's...but the pieces are not gold plated so they'd have a darker finish.)
on a non-jewelry note..here's a picture of our brand new, straight from italy masters chairs by philippe starck! (along with our new table from CB2.)

starck actually took three different chair designs and layered them on top of each other and then edited from that to make the masters chair. they're a work of art as well as very comfy chairs! since we could only afford two at the moment, we're thinking of mixing other (possibly acrylic?) chairs to go with these when we entertain.
i hope you have a wonderful, sunny week! i'm off to water our flowers. ;)