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!