Hot, Hot, Hot! {Earrings of the Month}

We have been in the middle of an unseasonably hot month. Earlier, D and I spent the day in San Francisco while R was at an all-day seminar in Santa Clara. We hiked four miles, all over San Francisco, up and down from Coit Tower during a record-breaking weekend. It was 107 in the City that day. When we picked up R and his classmate, it was 109 in Santa Clara. Crazy hot.

And, while it has let up some, it's still hot. So, this month, I was inspired by heat and the warm colors of carnelian, amber, garnets, and rough rubies. All of these creations are handwired with sterling silver and hang from sterling silver earwires. I hope my subscribers enjoy these...and I really hope it starts to cool down soon.

‘Lighting Sun’ Tulip Necklace and Earring Set {Donation}

Inspired by the shades and stature of the Lighting Sun tulips, I created this especially for the York School Auction Gala, April 2014.

Carnelian nuggets, orange recycled glass, and faceted moonstone are all handwired with sterling silver to create this one-of-a-kind necklace and earring set. These pieces feature upcycled sterling findings and chain; the sterling ear wires are handmade by an artisan in the San Francisco bay area.

Camilla's Pumpkin Patch {Earrings-of-the-Month}

I love pumpkins. No, I don't mean love as in a casual crush. I mean love as in full-blown-lusty-obsession love. I love pumpkins. I once ate so many pumpkins one season that I had an allergic reaction to it. Dead serious. So, I've curtailed my pumpkin creations in recent years and have turned to making jewelry that reminds me of a pumpkin patch instead.

This month's pieces include light carnelian nuggets, dark carved carnelian, recycled orange glass, orange aventurine,and more - all hand-wired with sterling silver to create one-of-a-kind pieces for my subscribers' lobes during October. I hope they like them.

Like the Reveil Dijonnais

This month's EcoChic Designs's earrings-of-the-month creations are inspired by June's birth flower: the rose.

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold. 

~Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Roses are not my favorite flowers. I think it was too many years, working as a florist, bundling up dozens of roses - with baby's breath and ferns. Ugh. Roses were de rigueur; I longed for the customer who said "Oh, just be creative! What are those odd-looking blossoms?"

But I am a sucker for garden roses. Walking through rows of bushes covered in lacy blooms, I inevitably stick my nose into one of them and inhale the heady scent of the rose. Ahhhh...summer! Enjoy these creations, in the colors of my favorite garden rose - Reveil Dijonnais - with its dramatic yellow, orange, and magenta petals. They will be on their way to my earrings-of-the-month subscribers this week.

Granola Mamma

A good friend of mine doesn't wear jewelry very often. I mean, she always wears her wedding band and earrings, but that's about it for bling. So when she asked me for a necklace - "just stones, no charms, in earthy tones" - I jumped at the chance to make something I thought she might wear.

I picked a piece of rhyolite that I had gotten in Oregon a few years ago, then handwired that with ruddy, faceted carnelian, mossy grossular garnets nuggets, sunny olive jade, golden rutilated quartz rounds, and small rhyolite barrels.

I hope she likes it. Happy Earth Day, fellow granola mamma!