I'm back!

Wow, I'm exhausted!!! I haven't done anything for the last 2 weeks apart from watching TV, cheering for short-track speed skaters and hockey players, crying on my sofa watching the figure skating (Gosh, that Swiss guy skating on Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas" almost made me sob!!!) and faithfully counting every day the number of medals Canada had won (yes, I also checked the results for the French team...).

I'm glad this is over so we can go back to our daily lives because I was getting headaches and watery eyes...


In the mist of the Olympic frenzy, I still managed to do a few things for Olala, the most important one being to figure out whether or not I should order another 200 Olala engraved charms... Yes, I had already run out of the first 200 charms I had ordered last year and it made me realize how many necklaces and bracelets I had actually made in 12 months! Did it make sense to order another 200???

Well, I guess it did because I did place the order and I am now committed to make another 200 necklaces and bracelets...

Here are my little silver and brass charms with a few handmade tags that I use to put earrings on or to write the composition of my necklaces and bracelets before shipping.

One of my latest creations : "Guirlande d'azur", a necklace composed of lovely honey jade flowers, topaz Swarovski crystals and dreamy larimar blue crazy lace agate.

This asymmetrical design is one of my favorites and I have already made a few versions of this necklace : with ebony wood, bayong wood or sponge coral...

The bracelet version of "Guirlande d'azur"...

Olympic fever!

Ok, I'm one year older and I'm fine with it! I had a nice birthday week and some lovely girlfriends who spoiled me (yes, the spoiling part is always coming from my friends, not my sons and my husband...) and I really enjoyed the fact that I am on holidays : )

Unfortunately, all my fabulous plans of making some new jewelry, repainting my bathroom and purging the main floor closet that scares me each time I open it (!) kind of fell apart as we all caught the Olympic fever! Yes, Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and I must say that the vibe in the city is amazing! I have never seen so many cheerful people in Vancouver and I love the fact that there are so many signs of culture all over the place.

So here are a few pictures from my personal Olympic Games album :

The Olympic Cauldron is lightening up the bay and the mountains... unfortunately, we can only see it behind fences...

The boys and I in front of the fence in front of the Cauldron...

A giant Canadian flag on Georgia street... Go Canada!



My son trying to build a inukshuk at the Northern House...

This is my all-time favorite : the Vancouver Art Gallery is hosting the BC Pavilion and has been beautifully "dressed" by Michael Lin...

A lot of fun on Robson Square with an outdoors ice rink and a ziptrek! Of course, my son wanted to try to zip above the street but the line-up was huuuuuge... Anyway, I'm not sure I would have let him go!

The weather has been wonderful so far and we went to Granville Island the other day where we enjoyed the smell of melted cheese and the nice "view" of the Alps in front of the House of Switzerland.

One more week to go... Yippee!!!

Early Spring?

Isn't it ironic? We are just 6 days away from the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the olympic torch is getting closer and closer to my house (coming by on Thursday at noon... the kids are excited!), the city center is buzzing with tourists, journalists and policemen (lots of them!), I am receiving emails from my friends in France telling me that they are stuck in the snow and I say : snow? what snow???

Yes, here in Vancouver, it's SPRING!


As you can see, the lilac tree in front of my house is already budding... The weather and temperature have been really mild lately and we haven't seen any snowflakes since December : ) What sucks for the Vancouver Olympic Committee is actually great for me as I hate snow and I am always much happier when I have flowers around me...

So here's a new version of my "Papillon" bracelets to celebrate an early Spring : this one features a purple felt butterfly with a pink and copper lampwork glass bead, purple crazy lace agate coin beads mounted on an elastic and finished with a burgundy picot satin ribbon.

And here's a nice bouquet of felt flower brooches that I bought from one of my favorite Etsy sellers : Vaivanat. I absolutely adore these flower brooches and I could have them in all the colors of the rainbow! I actually bought another two but I intend to give them as presents to some of my friends so I don't want to show them here ; )

Vaiva is from Lithuania and she is the sweetest Etsy seller I have "met" so far.... You can visit her shop at : www.vaivanat.etsy.com

(but be careful, these flower brooches are addictive!).