It's that time again!?!

Anthropologie Christmas ornaments

Wow, I told you it was going to be fast... and here we are, Christmas is just a few weeks away and the "Christmas spirit" is everywhere!

I thought it would be fun to do a little game like last year so... my "Advent Calendar Sale" is on again! The rule is simple : every day, I will post on my Facebook page one item from my shop that will be 15% off for one day only... and this, until December 24th!

Let's play : )

October

September went by without notice...

Suddenly, the days are getting shorter and leaves are turning yellow, sweaters and scarves are out, and it's time for pumpkin pies! I love Fall!

Here's to celebrate Fall : "Petite Noisette" (little hazelnut) bracelet and earrings mixing picasso jasper stones with tiger ebony wood, fireopal Swarovski crystals and copper.

And my "Couleurs d'automne" (autumn colors) necklace, also with picasso jasper, tiger ebony wood, fireopal Swarovski crystals and copper.

Happy Fall : )

Pompon-mania!

I've always liked things that dangle and move with the wind, like kites with long tails, wind chimes, flags, banners, lanterns... I've always liked long earrings too, and scarves, and fringes and tassels (or pompons as we call them in French..) that seem to dance with your every step...

So you can imagine how happy I was when, one day, a friend of mine gave me a bag full of colorful tassels he had brought back from Morrocco for me! A bag full of pompons... How exciting! So I put a little pompon here, a little pompon there... and then, I forgot about my bag of pompons...

...until I started making these new pieces with turquoise and branch coral and a Japanese tensha bead with pink cherry blossoms... suddenly, I remembered my pompons and it was obvious that I needed to add pompons to my "Folklore" collection! Aren't these pretty?

Mmmm, I can predict more pompons to come in the near future......

And just because, I'll leave you with this gorgeous picture of a Odd Molly shirt from the new Spring/Summer collection... Oh, how much I love this Swedish brand, where every piece of clothing is embroidered, crocheted, adorned with fringes and tassels and ribbons and lace and.... I love it : )

Bloom?

Spring is coming.... finally!

The last few weeks of winter have been depressing and tiring, full of rainy days and kids being sick.... But now it's time to think of the new season, sunny days, fresh and happy colors!

I must say that I needed a bit of a kick in the butt to get my creativity going as I had been quite uninspired since January... The fact that I didn't have any sales on my Etsy site in February obviously did not give me a boost but I guess it was partly my fault as I didn't feel like playing the game of the daily listings and frequent Treasury-making anymore...

Anyway, it's always good to take a little break when things get too tedious and repetitive... and, in my case, it looks like it was beneficial as I've been super inspired and productive since last week : )


Oh, and by the way, the "kick is the butt" was the Bloom Art, Craft and Design Market where I'll be on Sunday, March 20th... right on time for Spring!

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...

Pretty things...

A few months ago, I was looking at Gennine's blog and I saw that she had carved a doily stamp in a rubber block... This was so pretty that I immediately decided that I needed a doily stamp too!... but there was no way I was going to carve it myself, of course! Searching on Etsy, I found my treasure : a box of cute stamps including 2 doilies, a bird cage, an antique key and some other goodies... I also bought some Japanese washi tape with a brown lace print that I'm now using when I gift wrap my jewelry. This is much prettier than regular tape!


Et voilà!

"Cristalline" earrings - ice flake crystal quartz nuggets and rock crystal faceted coin beads on silver earwires

Here are my "Cristalline" earrings presented on a doily stamped card : )

Check out this shop for pretty stuff : www.PrettyTape.etsy.com

Fresh beginnings...

Happy New Year 2010 to all of you!!!

So, that's it, we're starting a new year... and a new decade! I hope this year (and the next ones) is going to be fun, exciting, rewarding, surprising, fulfilling and inspiring for all of us...

So far, I have been inspired a lot : I want to repaint my house, change some furniture, take a pottery class, register for yoga class, take a trip to Hawaii and ... make more jewelry! But to be honest, apart from a few pieces of jewelry, I don't think I'll do half of this, at least, not in January!

Here are a few of my "fresh" creations :

"Fleurs des bois", a necklace composed of bayong wood twisted beads, topaz Swarovski crystals and a bouquet of green and purple felt flowers.

"Papillons du jour", earrings with light amethyst Swarovski crystal butterflies, olivine green Swarovski crystals and copper chains.

Bracelet "Rendez-vous à Hyde Park" with tiger ebony wood squares, olivine Swarovski crystals and a lovely green and purple Liberty of London ribbon.

Fun Fab Fair : )

Last weekend, it was the Winter Fab Fair... and it was fun! Lots of people came on Saturday, a bit less on Sunday but there were lots of fairs and cultural events happening in Vancouver that weekend.

I thought I would share with you a few pictures of my display and jewelry, for which I received lots of compliments : )


My bird cage with my "Dans les bois" necklaces and earrings are always a big hit!


This "Feuillage d'or" necklace was bought by a lovely daddy for his daughter : )


My collection of "Goutte d'automne" necklaces featuring Brazilian agates attracted lots of compliments...


People always love touching and trying these ebony wood bracelets on! They are sooooo smooth...


And here's myself and my dear friend Andrea who always comes to help me when I have a craft fair : )

Of course, I met some super nice vendors and I could not resist buying a few pieces from them... I am especially fond of my new ring by Spark design but I'll write a special post about it soon...

(Thank you Elvira for these nice pictures of my display : )

Oh la la!!!

I have been extremely busy for the last few weeks and I have neglected my blog... I have noticed though that some lovely ladies have left some nice comments about my previous posts and this is very flattering to see that some strangers actually take the time to read my blog! Thank you : )

So, what have I been up to??? Well... I've been doing lots and lots of marking for the French courses I teach, I've been taking care of my kids, of course (my little one even had a project to do... in kindergarten!?!) and last but not least, I've been preparing for the Winter Fab Fair (this coming weekend) and another Christmas Market (in December).

One thing I really wanted to have for the craft fairs was a nice poster with *Olala* design on it to display on my table so people could see my name and, hopefully, would stop to look at my jewelry... I wanted it to look professional so I asked a friend of mine, Elvira, who is a photographer and graphic designer. And look at what she came up with :



Isn't it beautiful???? I love the atmosphere she has created in this picture, it's romantic, feminine, magical, mysterious, colorful, original.... It looks like a Renaissance painting! I think it's absolutely "oh la la!!!". I am soooo pleased with it, this is exactly what I wanted even though I didn't really know what I wanted : )


Elvira also did this one for me and I really, really like it too! I think I will have this picture printed as postcards that shopkeepers can display with my jewelry when I put some of my items in their shops... I can also use them as "Thank You" cards for my Etsy customers. As a matter of fact, I didn't have any of these "Feuillage d'or" necklaces in stock, so I made three today to take with me to the Fab Fair... I'll tell you very soon if they sold...

Winter Fab Fair, here I come!!!

Check out Elvira's website at : www.elvirayebes.com

Coup de coeur

And now, for inspiration and to please your eyes, here's my new "coup de coeur": I have discovered a new brand from Italy, Tricot Chic, and I'm in loooove....
And look! they used Liberty ribbons and trims in their beautiful (and sexy!) clothes this summer and even, for their jewelry! ... "Liberty Revival", remember?




http://www.tricotchic.it/

The Liberty Revival

Something else that I found shopping around and reading fashion magazines during my holidays in France was that, this Spring, there was a real Liberty Revival in Europe!... to be more precise, when I say "Liberty", I am not talking about "Freedom" but about the classic "Liberty of London Cotton Lawns" fabrics that usually feature multitudes of little flowers and that are an old-time favorite for mums and grandmas when sewing pretty dresses to their well-mannered daughters and grand-daughters ... (I'm sure I have a picture of myself somewhere wearing a Liberty dress when I was 6 or 7 years old!)

Shopping for supplies at Aniline, I couldn't leave the shop without a few meters of Liberty ribbons, they were so fresh and colorful... I still haven't decided what I am going to do with my ribbons but so far, I can tell you that there will be some Liberty bows in my Olala design Fall 2009 collection : )

Mmm, can't wait for the Fall!...

Sand garden

After the excitement of our trip to France, my husband decided to take the boys and me to Qualicum Beach, on Vancouver Island, for a few relaxing days of playing in the sand, beachcombing, bird-watching and snorkeling in the (cold!) Pacific ocean...

The sand and all the drift wood on the beach inspired me and I made these pieces that I find very elegant and natural with their subtle tones :

"Jardin de sable" necklace - white cinnabar, natural mother of pearl, fossil coral, Swarovski crystals

The matching earrings - gold vermeil carved earwires, white cinnabar, Swarovski crystals

I also came up with a "whitish" Treasury today : )

Preparing for the Spring Fab Fair

I am pretty excited to announce that *Olala* design will be back at the Fab Fair for the Spring Show on June 6th and 7th in the Heritage Hall on Main Street in Vancouver.

I participated in the Winter Fab Fair last November and I really enjoyed the experience : the Fab Fair is a pretty hip and cool craft fair gathering local jewelry and fashion accessory designers... that's why it's also called "the Bags & Bling Show"!

Imagine, a room full of jewelry and accessory!!!! Mmmmmmm.....

http://www.fabfair.ca/

Olala Tea and Jewelry Party

Last Sunday, I hosted a Tea and Jewelry Party at my house in order to celebrate Spring and Mother's Day.

Quite a few ladies came - some came alone, some brought a friend, others came with their daughters and even their mom! They all seemed to have a blast trying on jewelry, giving their opinion to each other and, of course, having tea and chocolate brownies!

It's always a real pleasure for me to see a creation of mine worn by a woman : she gives warmth and personality to it and the piece of jewelry enhances her femininity and her personality. It's a perfect combination, a real union! For me, seeing these ladies leaving my house wearing their new necklaces with pride was the most sincere compliment they could pay me and my work...

They also left with a small bouquet of lily of the valley as it is a tradition in France to offer lily of the valley to one's friends on May 1st for good luck : )