I love you, Wednesdays.

Because, seriously, Friday is still 2 days away. I love you, Wednesdays is my bloggin' attempt at a.) shutting up about my products and sharing the love of others' with others! and b.) sharing sources of inspiration that often stands behind my jewelry and creative process. Summer is in the air. At least technically. LA has been gloomy and gray for the month of June, also known as "June gloom." People here rejoice because it means a thinner electrical bill at the end of the month. I sign because it reminds me of living in the Midwest and the gray that surrounded the landscape year round there. Call me a snob, or what have you, but I prefer sunshine! With summer comes beautiful flowers and veggies and birdies and insects and weeds. Ugh, weeds. A gardener's bain of existence. Unless you LIKE the way some weeds look. For example, the DANDELION. I HEART this "weed." I heart it because it is a work of geometrical art. It's so architecturally perfect, yet so vulnerable at the same time. I heart dandelions because they represent freedom and youth and letting things go. I heart it because it represents delicacy, yet at the same time it is strong - as soon as you mow it down it comes right back up! I heart dandelions because they represent new life and possibility - it's purpose is to reseed the land and then transform to a yellow pom flower. With a dandelion in my hand as a kid I always felt like I had power - for wherever I blew it's white frills I knew that it would result in a frustrated homeowner the next summer with too many weeds in their front lawn! Call it investing in your future.

(picture is of a screen print I bought at IKEA - I, of course, had to paint my own dancelions on it!)

I don't care what the neighbors think, I am keeping my dandelions this year (and may even blow them into others' yards just to share the joy!). Apparently other Etsy sellers see the beauty in dandelions, too - check out these great products I found!

Blow with the wind over to their shops to see more great creations! ShnookumsStuff, arippke, westwillow, WooHooCrossStitch, barbraziemerphoto, SusannahTucker, flywithme, AliciaBock, dailyvignette, ZephyrWoods, janeymacpress, ScarletBeautiful2, erwinlian, soule.

So, what inspires you today?

I left my ::beading:: heart in San Francisco

They say that you don't know a good thing until it's gone. I can second this saying indefinitely after my weekend in San Francisco. I lived in Berkeley for 3 years (thank you, grad school) and moved from there to LA less than a year ago. I loved San Francisco when I lived there, though was looking forward to moving away to La La Land and away from all the drama that had become my surrounding in SF (isn't that always the case when you are sick of exams and writing papers?). When people ask me if I miss The Bay at all, usually the only things I can list on my "Miss You" list are the stores there (LA's shopping culture is less condensed and quite spread out. LA's Chinatown, for example, is pretty much for local Asians or for tourists who are in the market for faux purses and shoes. In terms of jewelry, I have observed, LA is of a buying culture, as apposed to a making culture. LA's crazy busy highways and lack of stellar public transportation also make it hard to shop - I also miss San Francisco's excellent subway system in which one can easily get to wholesale stores without having to worry about parking or traffic jams!). I especially loved Chinatown when I lived in SF, and frequented it as often as I could for both it's shopping and Chinese language resources (bargaining with the Chinese ladies in Mandarin Chinese is a great way to practice the language outside of the classroom!). I also made a point to always bring my out-of-town guests to Chinatown to both show them this mini-nation within SF's city limits, but also for all the great and cheap souvenirs available with it's crowded, smelly streets. I have always loved Chinatown and felt that, by the time I moved, I knew it better than the average San Franciscan. What I did not know, however, was that San Francisco is TOPS in jewelry supplies wholesale. Don't get me wrong, I always knew there were plenty of jewelry stores that sold beads, jade, gold, etc in Chinatown - I frequented them often and even bought all my wedding jewelry supplies (pearls and findings) in Chinatown. But now that I am actually in the market for such supplies, go figure, I live in LA, which is supposed to be a fashion capital but has NOTHING in terms of jewelry supplies (I met a jewelry designer at an art show here in LA who says that she GOES to Texas to get her supplies. Why has Texas figured this out but not LA?). That said, I truly saw Chinatown with new eyes this weekend. In fact, I saw the whole city with new eyes. I saw things I never noticed before and had such a great time getting around carelessly, without a map and without a prerogative other than taking pictures and finding beads. I returned to LA reporting to my husband that I fell in love with San Francisco all over again -- THOUGH I would never really care to live there as I find its value most potent when experienced in small doses. I love it more now than I did when I could see it's skyscrapers on the other side of the Bay from my window. My friend from grad school, Erin, was kind enough to join me on my crazy and at times quite intense adventure around Chinatown and Berkeley for the best beads we could find - I was a woman on a mission! I visited half a dozen stores within a few hours and walked away with SUCH treasures! I don't want to post pictures of the supplies yet as I want the new items to be a total surprise, but in the meantime you can read the reviews I have written for some of the stores I visited: Lawrence Trading Company, Hoang Jewelry #2, Baubles and Beads, and Scrapbook Territory (a great source for charms - and I used to work here!).

(picture is of Lawrence Trading Company in Chinatown).

Meanwhile, I got to hand deliver a commissioned necklace to my pal Erin while in Berkeley. Erin was in Costa Rica a few months ago and came home with dozens of rad shell beads and figured I could make a few necklaces out of them. I not only made several of starfish necklaces that sold out with a few days of listing, but I also made Erin this fun and abstract necklace:

(Erin took the above photo while in Costa Rica - inspiring or what?!)

And an addendum from last Thursday's post: Chrissy asked me if I had seen Top Chef Masters and if it was brightening up my otherwise reality TV-less Wednesdays. I did watch the first episode and was left feeling "ma ma hu hu" (Chinese for so-so - there is your Chinese lesson for the day!). I will surely give it a few more go's before making a final verdict. Either way, So You Think You Can Dance is up and running, making my Wednesday night routine of making jewelry in front of the tube better (much to my ESPN-loving husband's dismay!). Also, Chroma Lab reminded me that "Bemz and Marimekko have teamed up to offer slipcovers in a range of their fabrics."

H O L Y     M O T H E R   O F    P E A R L.

Watch out, Mr. Wallet. Things might get tight. And, in the spirit of saving the best for last, it seems that Chinatown read my last blog entry. Seriously? No words!

Andy Warhol = <3

A little background: my parents are in town visiting for a month. They drove from Kentucky to Los Angeles to both explore the area and visit the Hubs and myself, see our places of work, our house, etc. My mom likes to think that she gave me her "designer jeans" since she herself is an interior designer and quite the painter/illustrator (my brother also went to art school and is in the film field). That said, yesterday I went home all excited about discovering the name of my beloved fabric (see yesterday's post). I showed my mom my new blog entry and, before I told her the story behind it, she said, "Oh, yeah, that's Marimekko." Turns out she knew it all along. Arugh. Anyway, Mom had a gift waiting for me from her recent trip to the Getty: an Andy Warhol book! You can imagine my excitement, especially since I, as stated yesterday, LOVE big and bold, and REALLY, really love modern and pop art. The book was laying next to a pair of earrings I recently made. My mom and I did a double take when we noticed them next to each other - they went together PERFECTLY! Needless to say, I got a little carried away with the idea of combining pictures in the book with some of my new jewelry items :) Come to think of it, I am pretty sure I have enough Andy Warhol prints, dishes, bags, postcards, etc. to exclusively photograph all my future jewelry on top of Warhol art. I am sure the copyright police wouldn't mind ;) Click on the image to see the corresponding Etsy listing.

My, Liz, what beautiful earrings you have! Liz, 1963

Flowers, © AWF, 1963

Elvis © Andy Warhol, 1963 Daily News, © Andy Warhol, circa 1967 Flowers, © Andy Warhol, 1970 Gee, Merrie Shoes, © Andy Warhol, 1956-57

Flowers, © Andy Warhol, 1970

Whew! On top of that, I had some fun with color today and made an Etsy "poster sketch" around my new Lime and Cherry red Turquoise, Cinnabar, and wood necklace (click here to make your own Etsy collage - this is how treasuries are made, my friends). I love these colors! Can you play Where's Waldo and find my item? I not only made the necklace and the poster in these colors, but have these colors all over my house, too (call me OCD, I'm fine with that!). I never used to care for red and green, but, like your taste buds, visual tastes develop over time! (These roses and Pods were my Christmas centerpiece!) And speaking of taste, ArtGrants has it - she included me in one of her latest treasuries! Thanks, Bari!

(Eye-Spy Bead Up's Chinese Coin earrings!)

I am headed to my alma matter in Berkeley and San Francisco this weekend. Sure, I am going there technically for a conference, but REALLY I am going to do some M A D S H O P P I N G in Chinatown's "going out of business" jewelry stores (they seem to all be going out of business, all the time). Alas, I didn't know the great resource I had in these stores when I lived in Berkeley. We are talking pearls, findings, crystals, beads, etc. Watch out, Chinese ladies, here comes a white Chinese-speaking super shopper! Can't wait to see what kind of things I buy and subsequently create!

(Me and the monkeys at the entrance to Chinatown on Grant Street. Silly, San Francisco).

I love you, Wednesdays.

Ok, I actually don't care for Wednesdays, now that Top Chef and ANTM is over and we are still 2 full days away from the weekend. I do, however, love browsing through other people's blogs and seeing the items and photos they find inspiring. I love pictures and colors and patterns, and putting such images together can be super fun and uplifting! Since Wednesdays are otherwise boring in my life and often find me wordless, I am going to start a new lil' feature on my blog:

I love you, Wednesdays.

Here I will post things I find inspiring outside and perhaps not directly correlated with my own work, whether it be other Etsy sellers, photos, fashion, prints, nature, etc. I think that you will dig this for 3 reasons: 1.) Who wants to hear about just me all the time... I mean, really? 2.) This will be a great way for me to formally define what inspires me in hopes of starting conversations and sharing inspirations with each other. I also think that 3.) this will be a good networking tool, as I am always on the look out for blog lovin' and spreading the word about other great Etsy sellers. So, with no further adu, let the lovin' commence! I LOVE BIG, BOLD PRINTS. Love 'em love 'em love 'em. If you were to look around my house you will find big, bold reds, pinks, blacks, and limes surrounded with splashes of prints. Most of the stuff I buy is either at IKEA or stuff I find along the way (CB2 is one of my favorites. Here is a picture of the edge of my living room leading into my kitchen - we painted the main living room wall red; b/w striped rug is from IKEA's as-is section and the Chinese chopstick plates are from Crate and Barrel - I am proud that I bought them LONG BEFORE either Chinese or lime were "in"). One day, while watching Project Runway (RIP until August, dear friend) I noticed a SUPER SWEET wall canvas on the contestants' apartment wall, I saved the DVR of it for months in hopes that I could one day find the print somewhere and make an acrylic version of it myself. I even bought the colors and the canvas, took a picture of the paused TV screen and was ready to go, but when I moved to LA I thus lost the recording and my inspirational piece. And when my camera pooped out on me, well, let's just say I was more upset about losing the pic of the print than I was of my pictures of family and friends. Yes.

Today on Etsy I happened to stumble upon a product that used the same long-lost material I have gone ga-ga over (visit Kid A Collective to see the rest of her super-cute-kid-clothes Etsy shop!). Thankfully, Maria's shop listed the designer and label of the dress' print: Pieni Unikko. Upon further research (Wiki counts as research, right?), I found out that the print is from the Finish line of textile called Marimekko, and was started by a Finish gal named Maija Isola in the 40's!

It has recently found itself in the spotlight again, and people all over the place are ripping the print off, including car makers (too much for me) and this Charles David shoe (ugh).

Thankfully, Etsians know how to do it better. Check out the amazing uses of this print I found on Etsy (now I just need to figure out which one to purchase!)

(You can find these super awesome items on ModDiva, fieldofroses, mabels, lyyli, and chromalab's Etsy sites!)

Now that I know the name, I have discovered that the label, Marimekko, is everywhere. H&M did a line of Marimekko clothes last Spring (and, to my surprise, I recognized the black and white dress on the left -- it's in my closet! Turns out I have been an official Marimekko fan all along!). Apparently Dolce and Gabbana did a knock-off line a few years ago that doesn't really do the pattern justice, in my opinion, and of course is totally overpriced. I would rather make it myself with IKEA fabric (to read all about it, click here). Either way, I am out to find all the Marimekko I can get (thankfully they have a branch store here in LA!). These pattern make me feel alive and inspire me to surround myself with bold color and bright, lively flowers! So, what inspires you today?

Quotable Jewelry

This week marked an important little landmark in my Etsy journey -- I have sold more items than currently have listed (57 sales; 56 items at the time!). It's always funny to see how giddy I get when I get a message on my (new) Blackberry saying that I sold an item on Etsy! Makes me feel alive and reminds me why I have spent so much time and money in this crazy hobby of mine! I finally added some new items to my Etsy site today. Two new pieces with quotes behind them need particular attention: The first one I especially love. I bought these precious little sterling silver rose charms awhile back and have been waiting to figure out how to use them perfectly. When I was thinking of finding a scripture to go with the rose, I was reminded of the passage from the Sermon on the Mount: "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them." ~ Jesus (Matthew 6:27-29; The Message translation). Love 'em. Next on the list - this little sparrow resin charm I have had for MONTHS. When I was in Baltimore I found these really cute Czech orange beads that just screamed "Buy Me!" I am glad they go so well with the charm. Happy is the person who not only sings, but feels God's eye is on the sparrow, and knows God watches over me. To be simply ensconced in God is true joy. ~Alfred A. Montapert Also posted several new items on Etsy today (finally). I have been in a rut and have not found the strength nor the time to make jewelry in over a week (long story short - my parents drove all the way to LA from KY to visit for a few weeks, and on the 3rd day here my dad was admitted to the hospital and had to have emergency surgery. He's thankfully fine now, and yesterday when he returned home I was happy enough to finally get back to the creating table. Funny how the two are correlated!). While I was in Chicago I also found some GREAT cinnabar beads, which I really wanted for a reprise to this bracelet:Glad it turned out as envisioned, and this time with nicer materials (nice glass and beautiful, Chinese textured beads!! On an unrelated note, I discovered "Craft Cult's" Heart-o-matic feature today -- a website that tracks your Etsy store site. Why have I never heard of this place before? Now it's easy to see who "hearts" my store and items without having to click on each one, one at a time! Wahoo! Lastly, I got pictures of the sari that my friend Chrissy is wearing to this wedding (she asked me to make a few sets of earrings and necklaces for the wedding eventS - she's on the right). I am thinking crayon green and yellow crystals and gold wire. Thoughts? As always, thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

Prom Jewelry and Treasury

Well, looks like the bracelet and ring I made for Courtney's prom worked out well. She said she got more compliments on the bracelet than the ring, which is fine by me since it was the first ring I ever made! Glad to have helped. Next on the list is still my friend Kelly's wedding necklace and her bridesmaids necklaces. I have been going back and forth with the design of her necklace in my head for months now, especially since she was on the fence about her dress and then ended up getting a different one with a different neckline. This new one is all lace - beautiful, thick, creamy lace. In my opinion, such detail should be the centerpiece of the outfit, so I am thinking twice about the wrap-around necklace I was envisioning before. Though I am totally inspired by this necklace I noticed in my friend SoMi Speak's wedding picture (click it for a link to her photographer's site): What do you think? I would probably use some kind of a crystal or pearl pendant. I think it's close enough to my first design idea, yet simple enough to not take away from the dress' detail, too. Meanwhile, a high school classmate asked me today via Facebook (an admittedly great marketing tool!) to make her a bracelet for her wedding. Also got asked to do a swap of goods with my friend Chrissy, who needs several pieces of jewelry to go with a Indian wedding bridesmaid's sari. In exchange, she's going to either make me a purse or some screenprinted t-shirts! Me like! Finally, I was informed that I was listed in an Etsy treasury this week -- my first! Thanks, VintageEmbellishment!

My first award!

I love the networking that blogging provides. Within only a few days of first launching my blog I made several "blog" friends with whom I now keep in touch regularly. It's so much fun to see how other Etsians have transferred their craft to a blog (and/or to a twitter and facebook page!) and the stories behind it all. One way blogs keep each other in the spotlight ("blog lovin'," I like to call it) is to share awards with one another. It's kind of like a e-version of a chain letter, where someone nominates you and you have to nominate others in return. I dig it. That said, today Cherry Tart Designs awarded me with the My first award! Thanks so much, Cherry Tart - I am honored! Make sure you check out her blog, too = she does super cute graphic design and even features yummy looking recipes, too! So the rules now are that I have to list 15 other blogs that I dig and inform them that they have won the award, too :) So here they are, blog of people that I already know or have met along the way that I dig. And in no particular order:

SoMi Speaks My Sweet and Saucy Not Your Plain Jane Cheryl the Explorer Always Look on the Bright Side No Tea For You How About Orange 101 Things in 1001 Days Cup O' Cake designs Cleveland's a Plum Much to Say About Nothing Creative Kismet K-Tell Winter Rose Designs California Teen

(To be official, the Rules of Blog Award Acceptance: 1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. 2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.)

Awesome! Hope we can all check out each others' blogs and find new blogs in the process! On an unrelated note, I finished Yelping about the bead stores I visited in Baltimore and Chicago. In case you are new to Yelp, it's an online community that reviews everything from stores to restaurants to doctors to hotels, you get the picture. I have really found a fun and funky community there and was asked to be an Elite member earlier this year. Dig that, too! (If you are on Yelp, holler at a sister, I love reading others' reviews!). Beading clearly makes me happy :) Here I am in front of "Happy Beadium" in Chicago (and yes I am aware that I am wearing clashing colors!). I had hoped to get pictures in front of every shop we visited, but got so caught up in the moment that I forgot! That said, I plan to bead for the majority of the weekend and have lots of new things to post next week. I had hoped to finish more items this week, but I ended up selling several items I WORE TO WORK to some co-workers (they had to force me not to just hand them the items right off of my neck!) and spent my evenings filling their orders (while watching So You Think You Can Dance, of course). The only thing that might get in my way is that my parents are arriving tomorrow for a 3 week (yes, that's 21 days) visit. Riiiiiiight. So I might not get much work done after all. Fingers crossed. Here's to a great weekend!

Laos and LA - I N S P I R A T I O N S

Perhaps my least favorite international trip was when I went to Thailand a few years back. I could get into massive detail as to why I hated this trip (think group trip for school with strangers and no translator), but I'll instead include one positive story of the "adventure." (It's all blogged here if you want to read more or see pictures!).

One Sunday, while we were visiting a church in Vientian, Laos, I met a local gal who spoke perfect English (a rarity). Her name was Sophia. We asked each other questions as little Lao children watched the foreigners interact with one of their own. She finally noticed that none of us had joined the large crowd for lunch and arranged us a table. No utensils this time, just plates of meat with vegetables through the catalyst of sticky rice balled up in ones hand. Of course the only thing on the table that was vegetarian friendly was sticky rice, and I ate as much as I could stomach to suppress my hunger. Sophia noticed that I was helpless and walked me down the street to find some food. A woman bent over a rusty cart making some kind of fried coconut milk with corn and green onion ensemble. Her skillet was similar to one we use for Danish breakfast at home, with a dozen circular inlets which produce a round shaped fried food. Sophia purchased four for me and then some friend banana from another shop across the street, and refused my money when I offered.

She explained to us that her father was a pastor and thus she had always grown us Christian, though had a hard time at school as others did not understand her cultural choices. All this time, I could not keep my eyes off her beautiful earrings, made of Tibetian silver and a kidney wire. When I mentioned that I liked her earrings, she immediately took them off and put them on my ears. She said she was just happy to help me find food and that the earrings were the least she could give me. I didn't deserve anything from this gal, nor did I have anything to give her in return but humility and thanks. (You can see Sophia and the kids of the church in the top picture, as well as me wearing the earrings later that day below). While shopping at Beadazzled in Baltimore, guess what I found? The silver tribal beads! I of course bought them right up and put them on some kidney wires. They are available on my Etsy shop here. _______________________ Also found some great inspiration in LA. For whatever reason (other than the fact that LA is rad?), I have spotted a bunch of these little tweet-like birds hanging from cables, mostly in the Hollywood area. I dig it and just had to buy these precious bird charms as a reaction (they are 12 x 17 mm and 14k gold plated with matt finish). Of course no bird necklace is complete without a Swarovski crystal and cute little bat-like charm to top it off. (Bird picture by my friend Josh).

You can view this necklace on my Etsy shop here.

Pounds of Beads, Custom made items, and Giveaway winner!

My first hobby as a young gal was collecting Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. I think I figured it was a good way to have a similar souvenir from every city that was worth having a HRC and even practical in a sense (who doesn't love t-shirts?). My collection, at current, is at about 50, though I can't remember the last time I wore one. Some times I don't recognize myself... now instead of looking up local HRC's in a hotel phone book, I instead am Google mapping local bead stores on my Blackberry! That's right -- I have officially sunk to the level where I now put the main attractions of a big city on the back burner and replace it with first finding local bead shops! This past week I visited Baltimore and Chicago to see family, friends, and, well, Bead stores! I hit up only one in Baltimore, but 5 in Chicago, and will be Yelping about it soon. But in the meantime, here are some of my fabulous finds (totaling to about 10 lbs if you include the glass and the fork/spoon set!). Needless to say, I am going to have some fun this week! I'll of course keep you posted on what I make and how certain pictures I took in BMore and Chi-town correspond to my jewelry! :) Next, I hurried home to finish two of the three items due this month. First I made Elizabeth's earrings for her Body Building show to match her bikini. I like how they turned out. She told me today that she was so inspired that she ordered, for her next show, a plain swimsuit in addition to hundreds of Swarovski crystals that she is going to glue on herself! My kind of swimsuit! Next I finished Courtney's prom ring and bracelet. I braided three strands of beads and ended the bracelet with a brushed silver clasp. The ring was a bit harder, as I have never made one before! (pardon my ugly hand modeling!) Good thing Courtney wanted chunky, cause that's what she got! I used a really thin silver wire (32 gauge) which made the process more like hand stitching than wire wrapping. Next up will be pictures of these two events - both happening this weekend :) Lastly, we have a giveaway winner! Thanks to everyone who entered and left such beautiful feedback. I took it all to heart and have saved it for a rainy day. I numbered every entry and didn't use a hat method but instead used a computerized random number generator and it came up with the number 17, which belonged to REGINA! Congrats, gal! I liked this giveaway so much that I think I am going to do another one again soon! Well, I better get back to creating new things! More to follow soon!