The owls are back

I can't get over the cuteness of these little guys. Every time I look into their tiny little faces I just want to squeeze them silly.

The owls are back in the form of the "Joy" necklace. Paired with white jade beads and sterling silver rings, this piece is a fun way to greet the new season. More details and pictures of the Joy necklace are available at the shop!

PIGS HAVE FLOWN
1. After years of resistance, Mr Hazel finally got a cell phone.

2. I went to the gym today. And instead of watching TV there, I actually got on the treadmill. My coworkers were shocked.

FOOD
The dinner surprise last night was to a fancy French restaurant. It was very Frenchy. Mr Hazel had the onion soup and then the duck confit, and I had the smoked salmon (lox!) with caviar, and then the rack of lamb. I requested it rare and it was as good as can be. I was vacillating between that and the Dover sole, because in every single one of my Regency novels they are always eating Dover sole with a sauce boat. And I wanted to taste what they ate in England in 1815. They also had squab on the menu, but I don't know if I can eat a pigeon (this from the girl who eats anything and everything). Pigeons are rats with wings.

For dessert, we shared a crepe with strawberries. We staggered out of there afterwards and it was a good thing I was wearing a dress - no constricting waistbands to deal with.

TV
We finally got around to watching season 6 of the Sopranos. And I had forgotten what an excellent show this is. Nail-biting moments, laugh out loud dialogue, heart-in-your-throat scenes. In fact, it's so good that we can't just watch one episode a night - tonight we watched two in succession. It's impossible to stop. We have 3 more episodes to go on this DVD set and then we start on the final half, which includes the series finale!

Peridot chandelier earrings

Today's new shop item is a pair of peridot chandelier earrings, named "Camille" after one of my friends. This is the first pair of chandeliers I've made and the ones I picked are really pretty - lots of filigree and the silver is very bright and clear.

More details and pictures of Camille are available at the shop!

Tonight, Mr Hazel is taking me out for an early birthday dinner. It's a secret, though - he won't tell me where it is or what it's called. He takes his surprises very seriously. Except how am I supposed to know what outfit to wear if I don't know what kind of a place it is? I may just have to wing it...


ETSY FIND OF THE DAY

And here is an Etsy find that I'm very, very excited about. I bought this adorable skirt from Kaching Design. I can't wait to get it!

(Photo courtesy of Kaching Design)

More cherry blossoms

Smoky quartz earrings

So I really wanted to name something after my cousin Ryan, who is Highmaintenancemom's little bro, but I couldn't come up with a good girl's derivative of his name. I decided to call this piece "Camryn" after his girlfriend instead. This one's for you, too, Ryan!

She is made of these gorgeous smoky quartz faceted briolettes, hand wrapped in gold-filled wire. I then added gold-filled jump rings to dress her up and put the whole lot on vermeil earwires.

More pictures and details of Camryn are available at the shop! (Also notice the debut of the French poetry book from Mr Hazel in these pictures.)

And in the good news front, Margaret, Bella and another pair of Ahila have all sold! Thanks, Lisa!

Yesterday also saw the arrival of the dress form that I had ordered. I've been looking for one of these for a while now for displaying and photographing my necklaces because I realized it's hard to gauge the length and the overall look just by using those busts. But with the dress forms, they are in proportion to a real person so you can see where the necklaces will hang in relation to the neck and bust. My sister also was the one to tell me that they are called "dress forms" and not mannequins (which are different things), so I knew what to search for.

The one I bought is gorgeous, has a wooden base and neck, and can be extended up to 6'. It also has a really huge pair of boobs. The one I originally wanted to get didn't have nearly as big a pair, but Mr Hazel thought this one was better because it has, according to him, "more of a form." Yes, we all know what he meant by that!

Also, I think this makes for nice decoration. Gives a room that chic, "Paris atelier" sort of a look.


I've retaken shots of some of the necklaces and will continue doing so until all of the existing necklaces have this picture. Here are some I've put up already:



I kind of feel like I ought to put some clothes on her.

Pearl bracelet

This is the pearl bracelet that I worked on forever last weekend. I finally got some good photos of her, named "Margaret" after a cousin. She is made up of approximately 30 button and nugget pearls, on a sterling link chain and toggle clasp.

This piece turned out to be rather pricey, definitely one of the priciest in the shop and the priciest bracelet yet. Blame it on the huge number of pearls involved!

More details and pictures of Margaret are now available.

And be sure to check out that "hand model" in the pictures!

I also finally finished a second custom order: another pair of the Ahila earrings, requested by my friend Meridith for mother's day. I think I may offer Ahila again, as she seems to be a popular item; this is the third Ahila I will have sold. Thanks Meridith!

Blossom time

Overnight, it seems like all the cherry trees around my neighborhood have burst into bloom, creating a gentle pink paradise as soon as you drive in. They also planted daffodils in the little park, making for a decidedly cheerful space.

As it is a gorgeously warm day today, I took my camera around and took pictures of the long-awaited blossoms. I may take a walk later on to snap more of my neighbors' trees. There are a lot of varieties of pink to be seen.

Here are some front yard shots.




View from our back deck.


Nomad and Moxie enjoying the view from their perch.


And this is the view from my craft room/home office.


And both hyacinths are finally in bloom!

Happy Spring!

It's raining gemstones

My gemstones arrived today!

And they are even more gorgeous in person.

Instead of reading my book like I usually do, I spent the entire train ride home staring off into space, my mind on design overdrive, dreaming about how I wanted to arrange the stones, what I wanted to make with them, and how they would look.

I just finished cataloging the lot of them and now I'm going to play!