New York in a bag...

I'm back!...

And I brought back New York in a bag... well, a mini version of it! I found these lovely wooden miniature buildings, monuments and cars at the MoMA shop among other goodies that I couldn't resist bringing back in my suitcase (like the matryoshka measuring cups... so cute!).

I had a wonderful time in the Big Apple and, even though it was a short trip, I did and saw almost everything I really wanted to do/see for my first "adventure" in the big city... I came back home content and full of energy!

Some beautiful felt I bought at Purl Soho, a paradise for those who like needlework...

A cute picture of my friends and me after my shopping spree at Alexis Bittar's on my birthday... Too bad the stuffed zebra wasn't there anymore but it had been replaced by a hybrid warthog/bear and a stylish fox ; )

Now, let's get back to work!

New York, New York!!!

"First, we take Manhattan" by Irene Suchocki

Big news : this week, it's my birthday (a big, ugly one with a zero at the end...) and I'm going to celebrate in style! Ten years ago, I promised myself that for my **th birthday, I'll do something super cool like going to New York with a bunch of girlfriends to go shopping, visit museums, see a Broadway show, eat in hip restaurants and giggle all day long....

Well, here we are : )

First stop on Feb. 17th, Alexis Bittar's Soho shop! It's going to be very difficult to pick something among so many beautiful pieces..... I will probably have to buy a few ; )

Ok, in my fantasy world, this is ME on my birthday looking fabulous in my long, long, long Anthropologie dress.... definitely another shop I want to check out!

Hellooo Manhattan!!!

The Kiss...

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Valentine's Day is in two weeks so we've been seeing lots, and lots, and lots of hearts on Etsy since the beginning of January....

Of course, after a while, I got into the "mood for love" myself and, looking for some inspiration for my jewelry, I came across some beautiful Venetian glass beads that immediately caught my eye : this style of Venetian glass is called “Klimt” because there is a multitude of colorful dots and a gold foil inside the beads which are reminiscent of Klimt’s Art Nouveau paintings! J'adore!!!


So I bought this magnificent 35 mm golden heart that I attached to a trio of chains with different shapes and colors in order to create a lace effect that is both sexy and mysterious : )

Weekend à Venise - Venetian glass heart pendant, Siam red Swarovski crystal, Czech glass flowers, trio of gunmetal and gold plated chains

The matching earrings...


For this bracelet, I combined two different shapes of Klimt Venetian glass, a flat square and a cube, with beautiful tiger’s eye square beads spaced with light topaz Swarovski crystals. With its rich yellow and golden brown stripes, Tiger’s eye is an amazing and mesmerizing stone... that's why I named this bracelet "Hypnose" ...

Macadam memories...

I received a pretty cool dish for Christmas, it was a present from a friend who lives in France... It looks like a cake stand but it is made of grey steel with a white patina.

The first thing I thought when I opened the box was : "Wow, this is going to be fabulous to take pictures of my jewelry!"... (I can't help it!) And indeed, I think my new "Macadam" necklace and earrings with black lava and purple wool felt balls are really looking good with Le dish in the background : )

(There is also a charcoal grey and a teal blue version of these in my Etsy shop.)

I must say that this dish brings back a lot of childhood memories because its style and material make me think of Parisian galvanized steel fountains, shop displays and café chairs just like the Tolix "Marais" chair that has been on my wishlist for the longest time...

(I love this chair!)

Coeurs de fleur...

There's something I have been wanting to do for a while : a year and a half ago, at the Fab Fair, I had bought some pretty ceramic buttons handmade by a local artist, Eikcam, who became a good friend of mine soon afterwards...

At first, I thought I would use these flower buttons for necklaces but there was also the option of using them for brooches...

A year and a half later, I finally took my sewing kit out... and I am really happy to introduce my new "Coeurs de fleur" brooches : )



The idea here was to keep the design simple to emphasize the details of the buttons.

I chose to use two layers of felt of the same color to make a flower around the "flower heart" but, as I love to play with colors, I decided to introduce bright colored embroidery threads to sew the button to the felt flower... and then, I let the threads loose to give a poetic touch to the composition : )

Et voilà!

Happy New Year 2011

In case you are wondering what I've been up to for the last 4 weeks, well.... let's see : there was basically a lot of rushing - rushing to finish my classes and then, rushing to mark exams, rushing to buy Christmas presents, wrap Christmas presents, mail Christmas presents (to my family and friends in France.... of course, they all arrived AFTER Christmas, darn!), rushing to attend Christmas markets with my Olala jewelry, rushing to finish custom orders, pack orders, mail orders, all of these before December 23rd............... oh, and I forgot to mention my son's 6th birthday party!

So, right now, I'm enjoying a little break : )


As well as a box of Lego Star Wars, Santa brought a little kitten to my youngest son this year (the cat's name is JoJo... what else could you expect from a 6-year-old?... come one, at least it's not Buttcheek or Fartflake!!!) and here's what I was doing on the 1st day of January 2011 : building Darth Vador's space ship with JoJo taking a nap on the empty box!... Life is good!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU and try to take it easy : )

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.