My new favorite piece!

Right now in the store we have two really sweet little couches. The upholstery is perfect and original. They look like the plastic coating was taken off yesterday (you know it probably was).


Well now they get to brighten up the store! Aren't they lovely! Would love to take these home with me. Maybe because the beautiful floral reminds me of Spring! I think I'm going to put one in the Easter Window :)

Spring time Ear Wear!

Like everyone in blogland I just can't stop thinking about SPRING! And summer too I suppose. Anyway here are a few new earrings I made today. I already know these gold coral stick earrings are part of my new "uniform" (the outfit I will wear everyday this summer...i.e. sundress, flip flops, these earrings, and a flower in my hair) Anyway, they are on 14k gold fill chain, and have small sawarovski crystals and seed beads at the top. Hopefully my camera and I will be friends today and I will get up better pictures of these.

Remember these little guys? The lovely shell clusters I picked up in Hawaii? Well here is my first creation. Sweet little spring time earrings. I used hoops made of metallic seed beads to join them together. They look like little flowers! Oh wait - that gives me more ideas! Good thing I bought I bunch of them....back to creating!

Happy Monday! :)

Shabby Chic Color!

Well here is a new addition to the store. I'm thinking its a great piece to hold all the new beads I am going to carry. Here are a few shots to show you how we came up with the end product.
As you can see... the piece is pretty ugly in the before shots. I never painted any furniture blue...and I was inspired to do so with spring coming up. Blue and white remind me of the ocean and of course - GREECE and the Greek Islands. :)

First coat was a nice deep color of blue...almost navy. Painting cabinets always takes forever since you have to paint the inside and all the shelves... but I finished at last.

The last coat is a white white, and its brushed on as quickly as possible with the driest brush possible. I just finished this up and need to wait a day or so to really give it that great distressed look. So I will have to post those pictures when shes all ready.

Don't you just love these white porcelain rose knobs? I didn't have enough to sell, but they are the perfect finishing touch to this cabinet!!! :)

A Perfectly Imperfect Sunset!

Who says there can't be beauty in Jersey City. . .

Here the sun sets on another day in Jersey city over the Hackensack River, the City of Newark, the Hess oil refinery, the power lines, and Newark airport (can you see the jet taking off above the tree?)

A sunset is a sunset! Always beautiful :)

Use the Muse Entries and Winners!

Hello Friends! Sorry I have not been blogging as much as usual. A wonderful friend of mine's father passed away this past week. It was a heartbreaking couple of days. I'm sure all of our prayers are with her during this very difficult time.


On a brighter note, the Use the Muse Contest has been revealed and judged. You can click here to see all the FANTASTIC entries and the winners. My piece did not receive a prize this time around, but its no wonder! These women created some beautiful and stunning pieces. I really enjoyed participating in this contest and would do it again for sure!!!

So this is my piece! I named it Flora and Zephyr :)

When I first received my “Use the Muse” contest kit, I couldn't help but think of romance! In Greek mythology, Zephyr was the God of the winds and Flora was a Goddess of flowers and all things that grow. I wanted the piece to look both windswept and vine-like. The vintage watch face hold a small image of the lovers from an Italian painting by Jacopo Amigoni. The stained glass focal point (which holds the lovely muse) is made of two colors of stained glass and 100% lead free solder which I covered with gold leaf to make it match the muse and the rest of the piece. I must admit that wearing it would make anybody feel swept up in a whirlwind romance!

Have a good one! I'm off to troll though all of your blogs now to see what you've been up to this week! :)

The Mati Anklets have arrived!

A few weeks ago I showed you my plans to make several Mati anklets. They have come out more fun that I thought! I am really excited to wear these in the summer. I hope to get them up to my website in the next few days. :)

This one is more of a classic blue and white Mati combo. I used freshwater pearls, glass seed beads, and swarovski crystal.

This one is definitely more my style! I love black and gold. The glass beads are hand painted with tiny evil eyes and a splash of coral paint. There is also a lot of gold detailing on the bead that you can see if you enlarge it. I also included black onyx, swarovski crystal, and glass seed beads.

Well this one is all ready for Spring! Spring Mati :) I used various freshwater pearls in beautiful greens and peacock colors, swarovski crystal, and two colors of Mati beads (green and pink). I also used a bead cap on the center eye.

Well its still 30 degrees here! I hope all my wishing and hoping pays off soon! Come on Demeter, bring on the Spring!!!

SALE! SALE! SALE!

I think that about sums it up! Michelangela is having a HUGE Spring Cleaning Furniture Sale!!! Hurry in this weekend to get the best selection! Many pieces are marked down up to 50% off!

Oh yes! And Happy Spring!

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." ~Charles Dickens


Those of you in the area know that it was SNOWING this morning....SNOWING! And now the sun is shining! Crazy March Weather!

Hope to see you this weekend! If I don't see you, I hope you have a wonderful first day of Spring!

"Use the Muse" Contest

Well I have entered my submission for the "Use the Muse" contest that was being held by The Beader's Muse. This is the first time I have ever entered any pieces for submission. Usually I'm intimidated but Scarlett really made this contest easy to enter. First we bought a kit of beads to use including a specific component dubbed "The Muse." You could use as many or as little of all the beads in the kit, plus you could add your own...but you HAD to use the muse.

The contest was really a lot of fun and I look forward to future contests. Even though they have received all entries they have not yet had "The Big Reveal." This is when every one's pieces and descriptions will be up on the site and everyone will know at once what the muse was. For that reason I cant post any pictures at this time. I would post a teaser...but my main computer is still down so you will have to wait! I can tell you that in addition to the beads I received I added freshwater pearls. I also named the piece Flora and Zephyr. Flora is the goddess of Spring, flowers, and blossoming and Zephyr was the God of the winds. More on that myth when I can show you some images!

*I borrowed these images from Scarlett over at the Beader's Muse - Please visit and check out the contest! I will let you know when its time to check out THE BIG REVEAL!

Wow! She's on a roll!

Girlfriend over at Chocolate and Steel is having ANOTHER giveaway! Thanks Christine!!!! Maybe I can channel the "Luck o the Irish" on this one :)

Check it Out!

Stained Glass Tulips

As I was walking out the door to work today I noticed how perfectly the light was hitting the tulips sitting on my kitchen table. The light filled each flower and made it glow like a stained glass window. The pictures were difficult to take with the lens facing the light... but I think they came out pretty good.

I'm definitely ready now for Spring with my bouquet of colored gems! Jordan gave me these :)

On a sad note, my primary (work) computer has crashed. We are working on it. So for now blogs...pictures...jewelry... all may be delayed without access to my computer and digital camera. My boyfriend was nice enough to let me borrow his laptop today. . . but I don't think I will be downloading pictures on to it, etc.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

They're Magnetic!

...and beautiful too. As you can see I'm still feeling the Hawaiian spirit and sat down and made a few fun magnets today. I had a bunch of pre-cut flowers leftover from Christmas party invitations (as you can see - these werent exactly Christmas colors). I'm still brainstorming on exactly what I will do with them...but I am thinking a message board of sorts.


These were so easy to make and really illustrates why I love my glue gun so much ;) The little round black stones are lava, and make the magnets easy to pick up even though the flowers are paper.

Have a good Sunday!

Hawaiin Goodies!

Vacation or not I'm always on the hunt for priceless junk. As many of you know, being a pack rat is simply a way of life. Here are some of the goodies I added to my nest of treasures. Above is my favorite find... Vintage Hawaiian Milk Caps. I love these! They even have palm trees on them! I thought this was a great find because I also bought them in Hilo at a great little antique shop. So these are a souvenir as well as something I can play with later.


I also found these stamps at the same shop. A little poking around online tells me that they are also from the Big Island, (which name is Hawaii actually). Apparently the "City of Refuge" at the bottom of the stamp refers to the fact that the city the park was in was originally a sactuary for tabboo-breakers and war refugees. The city is on the Kona side of the island (we didnt make it over there this time) and its called Puuhonua 0 Honaunau. It became a national park in 1961 and the stamps were issued in 1972. I think they'll make great pendant necklaces ... and look~ the shell beads I bought match them too.


Here are more shell beads that I picked up. I liked how the tiny seashells had been made into little loops of shells. Perfect for springtime and summer earrings. I also loved these seasehll pendants. I'll be showing you what I come up with soon :)


This small seashell dish was also in an antique store. I just had to have it. Its adorable and looks great on my dresser. It will always remind me of my trip to The big Island of Hawaii with my Sistah! Alexis also found the "A" pin in a secondhand shop and I can't wait to make a necklace for her out of it :)


Back on Oahu I found another vintage shop that had these great vintage pin and earrings sets. The were from an old jewelry shop that went out of business in the late 60s. The stones are pink coral and peridot and I can't wait to transform them into a necklace and earring set. :)

So there you have it.. a peek at my new found treasures! yay!

Have a great weekend!

Giveaway at Chocolate and Steel!

This is one you will definitely want to win! A beautiful ring from Chocolate and Steel. I just discovered her blog today. Word has gotten around! You must check it out and her beautiful Etsy shop too :)

Back to the East Cost

Well Hello Strangers! I'm back at last. I know I said I would blog out there....but there's something about vacation...(or tequila?)...I couldn't seem to get any work done! ... Anyway no need to get into details hehehe. ;)

But it was a great vacation even though it rained everyday! argh! That's ok because we really got a lot done including some great hikes. We also flew to the Big Island and hiked around Volcano National Park. That was definitely the best part of the trip, seeing an erupting volcano is truly an experience of a lifetime!


Here are a few photos I took while I was out there. I also became really inspired for some other projects I'll tell you about soon! Above is a picture of the waves crashing on new land (lava rocks) on the Big Island. This spot was the farthest point east of the Hawaiian Island chain and has "the freshest air in the world" according to scientists!


This is a lava bath in Kiluea Crater where we embarked on a 5 mile hike. We walked around the crater and then down into it and across the lava (which is not hot obviously) It was crazy!

I also hiked up Diamond Head right outside of Waikiki. This is the view from the top.

This is Rainbow Falls in Hilo, the Big Island. If you come in the morning at sunrise, there is supposed to be a rainbow over the falls. We missed the rainbow but the falls were still incredible!

Well I guess its back to reality! Nice to see you all again :)