Tea time in an English garden....

... that's the name I wanted to give to this collection but it might be a bit too long! Maybe it will only be "Tea time"... or "English garden"... I'm still thinking...


Jade flowers, soochow jade beads, peach Swarovski crystals... and Vintaj natural brass for the earrings... perfect for tea in the garden, right?

Birdies

It's pretty chilly outside but it's officially springtime and little birdies are tweeting and flying around everywhere...


Little birdies are also back into my Etsy shop in lots of colors (light yellow, teal blue, sweet lavender, warm red...) with one of my favorite designs : my "Dans les bois" necklaces, featuring adorable handmade polymer clay birds and beautiful wood beads (dark tiger ebony or warm honey-colored bayong).

Swarovski crystals give a sparkly touch to the composition.

A cute little canary...

The Spring version of "Le jardin du peintre" featuring Czech glass flowers and a silver sparrow framed in a tiger ebony rectangle and hanging from a black leather cord and a very pastoral brown leaf ribbon...

Tweet, tweet...

Cherry Blossoms

There is nothing like a tree full of cherry blossoms to celebrate the arrival of Spring! Doesn't the world look more beautiful under a cherry tree in bloom? Suddenly, the sky becomes pink and life seems as light and sweet as cotton candy... well, at least, for a moment...

"Fleurs d'agate", a necklace with cream and beige felt flowers, peach freshwater pearls and orange bamboo leaf agate...


Some new "Frou-frou de fleurs" earrings with springy colors : )

Celebration!

"Special", sculpture by ArtMind.

Time flies, my friends... I realized the other day that I opened my little Etsy shop TWO years ago and I can say, without exaggeration, that it has changed my life!

First, because discovering Etsy was such an exhilarating experience : I remember like yesterday the pleasure of being able to see, admire and buy the work of so many crafters, artisans and artists from all around the world, and being inspired to express my own creativity. And second, of course, because having my own little corner on the Internet and putting my creations for sale gave me a new focus, a new artistic medium and also, a new identity...

Looking back at my very first listings, I thought that showing some of my first necklaces would be a nice way to celebrate this anniversary : )




"Chic coquelicot" necklace, purple felt poppy with a beaded centre, and light blue freshwater pearls.
"Bouquet de violettes" necklace, a bouquet of purple and red felt flowers, with freshwater pearls and frosted Czech glass.
"Bouquet d'amour", a Mini Olala necklace with pink and red flowers, bright lampwork glass beads and sparkly Czech glass.

And during the whole month of March, I am offering FREE SHIPPING worlwide in my shop.
Enjoy : )

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!!!

Pre-birthday blues...

I'm not feeling too good today... First, it's my birthday in a few days and I always feel a bit down around that time of the year (but I magically feel fine just after!), second I have a cold that is really taking all my energy away and third, I had a killer toothache 3 days ago that concluded in a root canal this afternoon : (

Not good, not good...

So, I'm searching comfort looking at Alexis Bittar's website and dreaming in front of his beautiful lucite jewelry collection... Yes, I am a big fan of Alexis's art and I am deeply in love with his "Secret Garden" bracelets (and, by the way, each of them costs the same as my root canal!... *sigh*). Look at the glow, look at the details, look at the beauty!




If you want to see more of Alexis Bittar's Spring 2010 collection, check his website : www.alexisbittar.com