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.

August 2016: New Beginnings {Earrings-of-the-Month}

Years ago, I captured this photograph of a nest while hiking in Modoc National Forest. And it popped into my head as I prepare to send my eldest off to high school in August. New beginnings. Big beginnings.

R is a bundle of excitement and nerves. He will be part of a pilot group, forging ahead to bring the International Baccalaureate program to the high school level here on the Monterey Peninsula. He's been immersed in the PYP and MYP programs at his other school, but this is a new beginning.

I still see him as this soft, little boy – most of the time – but I catch glimmers of his teenage self, with harder edges and a wee bit of tween ‘tude. He's gangly and awkward right now, but I am embracing each stage because it passes quickly. So, I’m facing this change and growth head on and enjoying the person he is becoming.

New Beginnings

The August 2016 EcoChic Designs’ Earrings-of-the-Month selections are made in the shades of these eggs, with turquoise, amazonite with flecks of earthy brown, and other gems...all handwired with sterling silver.

Toasting Fifteen {earrings-of-the-month}

Fifteen years ago, this month, this happened...

My husband Jake and I are celebrating 15 years of marriage this month. Fifteen years. On one hand that feels like a lifetime; on the other, it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

In this past decade and a half, we've had two kids, lived in two states and five different houses, and juggled probably about dozen different jobs between us. We've been to Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; we've traveled to Italy and Costa Rica. We've SCUBA'd, zip-lined, canoed, and tangoed. It's been an amazing adventure.

But it's also been work. Don't let anyone tell you that marriage is easy. Still, being happily married is a daily choice...and I choose it. Every. Day.

So, I was inspired to create earrings that feature the traditional gift of fifteen years of marriage: crystal. And because pearls symbolize wisdom acquired through experience, I added some of those into the designs, too.

The earrings are combinations of clear genuine crystal quartz and pearls handwired with sterling silver. They hang from sterling silver earwires. Photos to come. I hope all the gals enjoy!

Wishes for the Forties: Bliss, Blue Jeans, and Bubbly

As a friend was looking towards her fortieth birthday, she asked me to create a bracelet for her...and to surprise her with a story. So, here goes.

My wishes for her forties...at the center of the bracelet is a sterling silver wishbone.

I selected smooth iolite rondelles and faceted rondelles of pale smoky quartz because they reminded me of denim and champagne! Once you hit your forties, you care less about pretense and are more than comfortable popping open an expensive bottle of bubbly in your blue jeans and your favorite t-shirt.

I included a hummingbird because they represent the enjoyment of life and lightness of being; a lotus blossom symbolizes the purity and the love of god; and the owl is sacred to the Greek goddess of knowledge. Life, faith, and knowledge. That is bliss.

Happy 40th, S. Hope you like it.

Gemstones for Healing: TEAM GRAMMA

Right now I have two women in my life who are fighting for their lives. One is battling breast cancer and the other recently discovered that she has a growth on her liver.

Years ago my mom had done a lot of reading into gemstones for healing. I don't know if it helps. But, my attitude: it can't hurt.

Here are some pieces I made for TEAM GRAMMA. Amethyst provides protection and cleansing while smoky quartz teaches that there is light in the dark and provides courage. All are hand-wired with sterling silver and have upcycled sterling findings such as links, chain, and clasps.

Pieces for TEAM LAURA are coming soon. Stay tuned.

'A Little Love' Bracelets

I made some bracelets as Valentine presents for my favorite little girls. Upcycled sterling silver chain, sterling heart motif findings and lobster claps came together with faceted chalcedony briolettes, prehnite rounds, and faceted jade. Hope they like them!

OLIVE My Earring Club Members!

It's the end of the month...which means that my next month's creations for the earrings-of-the-month club gals goes in the mail today.

Having won a recipe contest through We Olive, I roped some friends into joining me and my family at the Paso Robles Olive Festival, an all-day celebration of all things olives. We sipped olive oils, bent olive branches into crowns, spooned olive jam onto olive oil crisps, slathered olive oil lotion onto sun-baked skin, and cooled off with olive oil ice cream – topped with balsamic vinegar. What we didn’t do, that I thought we would: taste olives. You know, the actual fruit. I envisioned tubs of green, almond-shaped cerignola; slightly wrinkled, almost midnight gaeta olives; and the green picholine to the purplish liguria all swimming in their pools of delicious brine.

So, while dreaming of olives, I decided to make that the theme for this month’s Earrings-of-the-Month selection: Olives!

The earrings are made with eco-friendly olive-shaped acai seeds handwired with sterling silver, lava beads, and hematite. Here’s what my vendor writes about their acai beads: “Our beads are made in our small workshop in South America. The workshop is clean and workers receive a fair wage so everybody's happy! Plus collecting and selling seeds creates income for the indigenous people. Without this income, the rainforest is often destroyed to provide for a more agrarian society.”

For a March Baby Boy...

When a friend had her first baby, a boy, I wanted to create something for her that was both meaningful and useful. I used milky aquamarines since that is his birthstone (meaningful) and added an easy-to-use silver toggle clasp (useful).

In my blissful sleeplessness of new motherhood, I often forgot which side I was supposed to nurse the baby on next.  So, I swapped a ring from one hand to the other.  I figured she could use this as a nursing reminder, just switching it from one arm to the other, if she wished.

This one-of-a-kind bracelet features milky aquamarine nuggets handwired with recycled blue glass and features a sterling silver charm with her sweet boy’s name.  It closes with a sterling silver toggle.

Welcome to the world, Orion!

Mint Chocolate Necklace I

Though mint-chocolate chip is not my favorite ice cream flavor, I've always like the combination of colors: pale green with deep, rich brown. In preparation for the TREAT YOURSELF Craft Faire, I decided that mint-chocolate would be the theme of my items.  All unique, all one-of-a-kind with similar gems. If you like this color combination, keep your eyes peeled. There will be more coming...

A teardrop prehnite with deep brown inclusions hangs at the center of this piece. Milky chrysoprase, smoky quartz, minty fluorite, and recycled green glass are hand-wired with both bright and oxidized sterling silver to form this one-of-a-kind necklace. It closes in the rear with a twisted sterling silver toggle.

Click here to purchase this piece or view more pictures on my etsy site.