a little nostalgia

while doing some Fall cleaning, I stumbled upon this little gem among my stack of recycled envelopes that I use to ship my supplies in. Simple white envelopes with a blue floral monogram.

they're leftover envelopes from my parent's wedding invitations way back when! weddings were so much simpler before =)

lovely blue agate!

So I've been a little MIA again lately, as I was preparing for my very first wholesale trade show. How did it go? Ehh... I've never heard the phrase "watching paint dry" more times than I did last weekend. It was definitely an experience though, despite the lack of buyers at the show (it wasn't open to the public) I learned a lot. When shows aren't open to the public, you don't get the curious browsers - these buyers know exactly what they are looking for and you either have what they want, or you don't. Which is a little refreshing! I am glad to say that all of the work that went into planning my booth definitely did NOT go unnoticed. I got tons of compliments on my display, from the buyers that weren't necessarily looking for my aesthetic and even men! It was good to know that anyone who set foot within my 10x10 foot booth absolutely loved my designs though!! No in-betweens, so I'm hopeful that I've made some great contacts for the future.


These took unnecessarily long to make...

Most of the shops were factory made, lots of bags, and of course tons of jewelry. I was fortunate enough to be neighbours with other designers that weren't importers - so our little area was a little more unique than the rest =) And hell, as a jewelry addict and maker, I couldn't resist this blue agate necklace by Mari Plawiuk.



I've been wanting more bold jewelry for a while now but all of my pieces are pretty dainty and delicate. Anyway - this necklace was gorgeous and I was pining for it all weekend until the very end - its mine now =) The necklace also comes in brown agate with gunmetal hardware. Mari was really sweet and we did a quick little partial trade as we were both packing up our booths. She's based just outside Toronto and her work is sold in a couple places here.




And the traded piece - none other than my 'Waterdrop' necklace in 'Caribbean':


I guess we both like blue!

Think Pink!

We're well on our way into autumn which brings us to October - breast cancer awareness month! I've never done charity work with my pieces but what better time than to start now? For the entire month of October, 10% of all sales of these two necklaces will be donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.




On October 4th Canadians across the country will be Running for the Cure! Torontonians, its not too late, you can still register online to participate in this year's run at Nathan Phillips Square!

new poll! earring backings for hook earrings

Every once in a while, I'll come across some forum posts about buyers of earrings and how they either love or hate those little plastic earring backings that come with earrings. I've seen two types of backings - the plastic kind and the rubber kind. I find the plastic ones less reliable because they are stiffer, less grippy and the rubber ones seem to hold better. I currently include rubber ones with every pair of earrings sold (that don't already have a backing).

Although I'm a total hook-earring kind of girl (easy on/easy off), I find that they DO stay on better when they have those little rubber backings on them.

I guess its a love/hate relationship with those... What do you think? Do you actually use them? Are they thrown in the trash?

Macro Monday: Piggy

How is it possible that the end of September is creeping up so quickly??

This week's macro shot is brought to you by my bf, courtesy of his brand new camera he recently got. Its a simple point & shoot but its not your typical pocket sized one, its pretty big.. and heavy.. but its a really nice camera! Playing around with his macro mode:

He's a funny guy =) The little pig's nostrils light up like a beacon, its blinding.