this banner:

handmade Happy Holiday banner

a balcony garden:

this print:

this diy welcome mat project:

this super cool necklace:

and these sweet little critters:

I’m taking today to say thank you to my Uncle Russell (and all those who have served). My uncle passed away several years ago, so I find this day very emotional. 

Grandma Helen and Uncle Russell (at my mother's wedding)

Uncle Russell, his beard, and baby me!

Uncle Russell, his wife Janet, baby me, and baby Oliver

One of my favorite stories about Uncle Russell was that when he left Viet Nam, he ended up in California. He got his first motorcycle, and drove all the way across the country before calling home. Instead, he just ended up walking into the backdoor of the house where my mom, Grandma Helen and Grandpa Howard were living. 

Thank you.

I’m super excited to share that I just dropped off a bunch of jewelry at a new store in Alameda, called Modern Mouse! The store won’t be open until November 9th, but it’ll be worth the wait, because the wares are bound to excite and impress. Here’s a peek at some of the pieces I’ll have there:

Petri Dish Earrings

Cell Stem Earrings, Sterling Silver

Cell Formation Necklace, Sterling Silver

You should definitely check Modern Mouse out if you’re in the bay area. You can go to the website (link above) to see a lot of the other artists that will have goods for sale there. I can’t wait for the grand opening on Saturday, November 14th (from 2 to 6pm!).

Here’s the finished up version of the earrings I talked about yesterday:

Through the process of production for a totally different pair of earrings, I happily stumbled upon a moment that gave birth to these little delicate beauties. I can’t wait to play more and make really expansive and branchy versions!

I was working on making some earrings this weekend:

and as I was making all the tiny little “sprout” pieces, I noticed how sweet they looked piling up on my desk… I pushed a few of them around and started to think….

These little guys make such sweet little branchy designs. I quickly soldered a few pieces together:

 This first prototype is basically like a sketch. Though I tend to draw out a lot of my ideas in my sketch book, sometimes playing around with scraps and left over bits of wire is much more fruitful. These little sketches are an integral part of designing. Before I had soldered these babies together, I though they’d be hook / dangle style earrings. An accident with the torch resulted in the very top of the earring to ball up, so I embraced the accident and realized that it was the perfect spot for a ear post.

I’ve completed another variation of these earrings that is much more successful (I’ll share pictures as soon as they’re ready!). I’m really excited about them. But more importantly, I’m glad I allowed myself to take the time to play around at my bench. Though I was trying really hard to get some serious work done, even just a few moments of playing opened up lots of new ideas. 

Also, here’s another pair of earrings I recently finished:

Lichen Sprout Earrings. Sterling Silver and Garnet.

They’re my new favorite and look so beautiful on. I’m becoming obsessed with these little sprout forms – I want to cover everything with them!

In just a few short hours, my mom and brother will touch down in Oakland California! This is only their second visit since I’ve been living out here (for 3 years!) and I’m so happy to have them back here.

a young Momma with the hippest glasses

little Emm and Ollie, going to catholic school

I can’t wait to share all about the adventures we’ll be having.

2 of my most wonderful friends have recently been joined in harmonious marriage. Their ceremony was small, filled with their closest family. So my sweetie and I threw a “friends” party to congratulate them. 

This party was the only party I have ever really spent a great deal of time and resources on, and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

I’ve seen these types of banners before, so I was really excited to try my had at it for the occasion. I used some cute floral fabric cut into triangles (cut with pinking shears, edges left raw), spelled out my message with iron-on letters from the craft store, and then affixed the little flags to a long length of ribbon. Voila! Though you can’t really see in this picture, I also added little butterfly pins in a few spots. Cute!

I also made a huge center-piece with long branches of curly willow (I had been eyeing it for weeks), cat tails (my sweetie’s idea!) and dried “money plant” branches (little silvery-papery coins). The vase was weighted down with tumbled stones and filled up with dried moss. This was also adorned with sweet little butterfly pins.

Top it all off with good friends and good food (including these delectable dark chocolate cupcakes made Anna), and we all had a lovely time. Thank you everyone who helped celebrate!

I’ve been really sick the past week. Fever. Sneezing. Coughing. Yuck.

I had to cancel my appearance at the Knit One One sale and am really bummed about it. It’s such a great venue filled with lots of cool sellers and people. Any one well enough to go, should. 

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love images of cells and microscopic things. So while I was searching for the above image of “tissues”, I also came across this image of “tissue”:

In my fever-fueled delirium, I was initially confused about why this image came up in my search. Then it dawned on me: tissue. Duh.

Anyways, I really like the colors in the picture.

I’m so excited! This Saturday (September 26th) I’ll be selling my jewelry at Knit-One-One in Berkeley! There will be about 10 people, selling a wide range of goodies. It’s also a few doors down from the yummy Sweet Adeline Bakeshop. 

To entice you further, I will be bringing a sampling of my newest designs and even be offering special sale prices for the occasion! 

More Details:

Time: 10:00 am to 4:00pm

Where: the k11 studio, 3360, Adeline Street, Berkeley (2 blocks from Ashby BART)

Hope to see you there!

I have recently accepted what I consider to be quite a challenge, in creating a piece of jewelry that will retail at $50 or less. I never thought it would be so challenging, but it really has! I think I finally came up with something, and it may turn out to be the doorway into a whole new collection of pieces – exciting! I’ll have some pictures to share as soon as I get the new piece cleaned up.

On the way to my $50 challenge, I made quite a few other pieces, some of which I’m really excited about (though they are far from $50). Keep in mind this little peek isn’t cleaned up, but here’s a pendant I’m really happy with:

Double Lichen with Spores. Sterling Silver.

I think this piece will begin a new series that will marry two of my favs: the spores and the lichen…

Hard at work, soldering away on a sunday.

I also got to do some shopping at a gem and jewelry tradeshow this weekend. I went with a couple friends and bought some new gemstone beads for a new collection I’m working on ( check out the color spot collection!). And I have to admit, I really enjoyed a chilly and gray Sunday. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!