The Advent Calendar Sale Game...

Advent calendar kit by Hello Magpie

Incredible : today, it's December 1st!!! The golden colors of autumn are long gone, the days are getting shorter, darker and colder (it even snowed last week!) and everybody is already thinking about Christmas.... Christmas!... can you believe it?!?


So, in order to make this hectic season a bit more fun, I've decided to launch a little game : the Advent Calendar Sale game!
The rules are simple : every day until Christmas, I will select ONE item from my shop and put it on sale (10% off) until the end of the day... There will be a total of 24 items selected every day among earrings, bracelets, necklaces and brooches : )

Today's item is my "Lampions jaunes" earrings :


What will it be tomorrow?...

PS : Look at my Facebook Fan Page to see which items have already been selected.

Macadam

Last winter, I discovered black lava and in no time, black lava beads had become really hot (good one!) in jewelry... I did a bit of research on the symbolism of black lava and I liked what I found : a stone of strength and fertility. It is said to provide stability in times of change and to help dissipate anger. Exactly what I need!

As lava beads are porous and not very shiny, I thought that their "roughness" would be perfectly complemented by the softness of wool felt. So... I came up with my "Macadam" collection that I personally find very urban chic and comfortably feminine : )


"Macadam" necklace with black lava round beads, charcoal grey wool felt balls and shiny grey Czech glass seed beads

"Macadam" bracelet with black lava beads, wool felt balls and Czech glass mounted on an elastic and finished with a sexy bow of black satin ruffled ribbon

"Macadam" earrings with black lava and charcoal grey wool felt balls hanging from lovely sterling silver flower earwires

Soon, I'll have a teal blue version of my Macadam collection... of course, black and blue, I couldn't resist!
To be continued...

Spice Market

Already the end of October... The kids are decorating the house for Halloween tomorrow and I am preparing for Portobello West Market that will also be tomorrow... Yes, it sucks, I'll have to pack up and rush back home at the end of the day to be there for "trick or treat"... Can't miss that!

Here's a little sneak peek at what I'll be having on my table at the Market : some new "One thousand and One Nights" necklaces and earrings in spicy colors : paprika, saffron, cinnamon, curry and thyme...


"Mille et une nuits" necklaces and earrings - Swarovski crystal baroque pendants, Moroccan silk beads in paprika, saffron, cinnamon, curry and thyme

J'aime les feuilles d'automne!

The other day, I walked out of my house and I saw this :

The early evening sun made the autumn foliage look so bright, so golden, it was purely delightful!

The next day, I went on a special hunt : I had to find some leaves, some autumn leaves, to use to give a "fall mood" to my Etsy pictures...
You would think that this is easy enough, that anybody can do that but hey, I live in a city and in a city, you look kind of weird when you stare at the trees, when you observe branches and the shape of leaves, and really you feel like you are stealing something when you pick a few leaves and a branch or two!... that's why I took my little boy with me, just to pretend I was doing it for him in case I would get "caught" stealing some dead leaves on the street... shameless mom I tell you!


Here's a deluxe pair of earrings featuring beautiful Swarovski crystal branches and small baroque pendants that play the part of the leaves in this "autumn garden" composition... Believe me, these ones are striking in real life! And they glow almost as much as the early evening sun on the autumn foliage : )

Bleu et Noir

I think my obsession for combining blue and black together started in Paris, this summer, when I went to one of my favorite shops, Crea Concept : I love their designs, often asymmetrical and a bit quirky but always beautiful and elegant. I indulged in a couple of irresistible pieces (I could have bought the whole shop, of course...) and retrospectively, I realized that what I chose was... black and blue!

Here's a little snapshot of my lovely Crea scarf, in blue wool and black tulle (did you notice the blue polka dots?.... soooo pretty!). This scarf is so soft and beautiful that I wear it over my black sweaters, like a piece of jewelry...

And talking about jewelry, here's a captivating piece that I named "Nuit de Chine" because the dark blue stone makes me think of Chinese blue:


This necklace features two dreamy blue azurite beads paired with cloisonné beads, and plum jasper stones spaced with Swarovski crystals in indicolite blue.


I also made the matching bracelet but I might have to keep it for myself since it goes so well with my new Crea outfit ; )

Bold and beautiful!

It's funny, lately, I am fascinated by bold colors like fuchsia and bright yellow and I am obsessed with mixing blue and black... really, obsessed!

So, this month, I came up with a few new pieces for the fall and I must say that they are quite striking like my "Marquise" necklace for which I combined hot pink Brazilian agate and black onyx spaced with fuchsia Swarovski crystals and some vintage (and authentic!) Venetian beads.


"Marquise" earrings - fuchsia Brazilian agate barrels, jet black Swarovski crystals, Venetian glass


And here's a little composition I am really proud of : instead of making pompon brooches with my beautiful Japanese silk, I had the vision of a mosaic of little silk squares that together would become a bouquet of flowers sewn on black felt... Of course, it takes me forever to sew (I'm so slow!) but it is so much fun to play with colors : )

A Sunday Afternoon in September...

Even if I'm still in denial, the holidays are officially over! The kids and I are back to school, we've put our beach towels and flip-flops away and we are slowly getting re-accustomed to the wet and chilly Vancouver weather : (

We actually just came back from our holidays last week and I must say that it was quite funny to unpack from my suitcase my pretty Oilily carry-on that I had stuffed with colorful silk ribbons and my sewing kit... untouched!
Yes, I had big plans of making silk pompons brooches while I was away but, of course, I never managed to find the time!


Hopefully, I will have something new to show you next week as I have to prepare for my next show : I will be at Portobello West, in Vancouver, on Sunday September 26th. This fashion and art market is very famous in Vancouver and I am pretty excited to be one of the exhibitors for the September and October shows : )

Now, let's get to work!

Olala part en vacances!

No, this is not me!..... (I wish...)

These are pictures I found on Kenzo's website today while I was browsing and dreaming about all the beautiful shops I'd love to visit when I'm in Paris this month... Yes! I'm going away for a few weeks : my husband has always wanted to take all of us to Croatia, where his family is from, so we're going this year! And... as I'll be soooo close to France and my family, I'll take off on my own for a few days at the end of the trip to go see my papa and my maman in Paris : )

Oh, I can hardly wait.....

Trois couleurs : rouge...

And now, here's the last part of my trilogy of summer colors with red.

"Sur la route de Kalamata" (the roads to Kalamata) necklace


Despite of the controversy about the use of coral in jewelry, I love to work with sponge coral (which is not endangered). I personally like the organic feel and orangey red color of this material that can be combined with so many different other colors.

Here is one of my favorite pieces from this summer, "Sur la route de Kalamata", a necklace that combines sponge coral beads, ceramic beads in blue and red, and dark chocolate tiger ebony wood with touches of brass and Swarovski crystals. Even though I’ve never been to Kalamata, the inspiration for this necklace was definitely Greece!



And "Guirlande de corail" (coral garland), a very feminine necklace that features a garland of honey jade carved flowers, combined with red sponge coral rectangle beads and topaz Swarovski crystals.


Enjoy the summer holidays in Bleu, Blanc, Rouge : )

Trois couleurs : blanc...

Second part of my trilogy of summer colors, here's white : I came across these amazing ice flake crystal quartz nuggets a couple of months ago and I immediately fell in love with these! This stone looks like ice or snow, I don't know, but it is absolutely unique. I combined this crystal quartz with faceted rock crystal, white rabbit jade, AB translucent Swarovski crystals and some carved silver beads to obtain a pure, all-white effect.

My "cristalline" collection is perfect for the summer, paired with white linen clothes and... a margarita in hand ; )

Trois couleurs : Bleu...

It may be because I grew up not too far away from the Mediterranean sea but if I had to choose two materials that would epitomize summer, it would definitely be silver and lapis lazuli...

These pieces are called "Ciels d'azur" (azure skies) and they are composed of lapis lazuli, natural aquamarine (for the necklace) and gorgeous silver and enamel cloisonne flowers that emphasize the dark color of the lapis lazuli beads.

Tiny silver Czech glass beads punctuate the dark blue lapis lazuli and accentuate the golden glow of the pyrite dust present in the gemstone.

Eikcam

Last weekend was super busy, there was the Greek Festival on Sunday (10 hours of selling my stuff on the street, no thank you, I don't think I will ever do it again!) and the "Studio warming" of my friend Grace, aka Eikcam, on Saturday. Grace's work is so beautiful and colorful that it makes her white studio look like the coziest place in town!

Grace and me, wearing my freshly acquired "Baroque" pendant by Eikcam : )

I'm busy!

Two big shows in the same month is a lot of work! I didn't realize that when I said "yes!" to the Greek Festival that is taking place this Sunday (June 27th) in Vancouver, hardly 3 weeks after the two-day Fab Fair... I'm a bit freaked out because the organizers of the Festival are expecting 90,000 visitors during the day!!! Is it possible? That sounds like a lot... I will never have enough jewelry, I should make moooooore..... Au secours!!!

Greek Day, Sunday June 27th, West Broadway Street (@McDonald) in Vancouver, from 11.00am to 9.00pm.

Multicolor

The Spring Fab Fair? It went well, very well, thank you! I had a good time, I met lots of nice people, saw some friends, couldn't resist to buy a few things (look at this beauties by Eikcam) and I had a very emotional moment the first time I used my new Visa card machine and saw the little "Olala design" receipt coming out : )

Now, I am preparing for another fair that will take place next Sunday (June 27th) in Vancouver. Here's the info if you live in the area. I am working on summery items using different shades of blue (turquoise, aquamarine, lapis), white (rock crystals, freshwater pearls, mother of pearl) and some fresh greens, pinks and purples like in these quartz nuggets bracelets :

"Weekend napolitain", a bracelet made of multicolor quartz nuggets, one golden Venetian bead, 2 lepidolite beads and light peach Swarovski crystals.

A very summery version of "Fleurs des bois".

One of my personal favorite color combination for "Frou-frou de fleurs".

Now, let's hope for summer to finally come, it's been so grey and chilly lately... Brrrr...

Bientôt l'été!

I almost fell off my chair this morning when I saw the date on my computer : June 1st... June 1st?... It means that the Spring Fab Fair is at the end of this week, summer is just to follow (we NEED sunshine here... badly!) and school is going to be finished soon... so the kids are going to be on holidays... so it's going to be chaos here every day...

After a few minutes of total panic and a cup of strong tea, I decided that everything was fine and I "regrouped " (as hockey players say on TV... yes, I am becoming more and more Canadian!) while taking a few pictures of my newest creations, some long and funky necklaces called "Guirlandes estivales" (summer garlands).



I must say that I am really excited to present these necklaces at the Fair this weekend because I think that they absolutely ROCK! I love the cheerfulness of the bright jade flowers, the warmth of the wood beads, the elegance of the Swarovski crystals, the softness of the silk string around the neck and the whimsicality of the little charms : )



And if I don't sell them this weekend, it's ok, I'll wear them all at the same time this summer and I'll look super cool : )