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Featured Friday – JuLVa

JuLVa

This week’s featured Etsy shop is JuLVa in Riga, Latvia.  Shop owner Julija Vareiko creates handmade hair accessories inspired by the Japanese art of tsumami kanzashi.  Before this week, I had never even heard of kanzashi.  Now, I am enthralled by it.  Meaning ‘folded fabric hair ornaments’ according to Wikipedia, tsumami kanzashi are traditionally made from tiny squares of silk that are folded into petals using origami techniques.  In this shop, Julija uses primarily grosgrain ribbon.  I find myself looking very closely at the full size photos of her items just to see the intricate details.  I can only imagine the kind of patience that she has to have to create such beautiful work!

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Swarovski color carousel

I love the Swarovski color carousel for viewing coordinating and contrasting colors of Swarovski crystals and crystal pearls.  I tend to work with pink and purple shades at this time of year, so it’s nice to spin the wheel to something different and see what interesting combinations are revealed.  I particularly like indicolite as the main color.  It is complemented by turquoise, caribbean blue opal, and blue zircon.  Or choose indian pink and padparadscha for contrast.  Give the carousel a spin and choose a favorite of your own!

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Featured Friday – Watson Woodworks

This week’s featured Etsy shop is Watson Woodworks in Pueblo, Colorado.  Shop owner Eugene Watson creates handmade wooden jewelry boxes using exotic and domestic hardwoods.  His work is unique, creative, meticulous.  My favorite item is the helical box in granadillo and curly maple.  Simply beautiful.

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Spring 2014 Pantone fashion color report

The Pantone spring 2014 fashion color report introduces the top ten women’s fashion colors for this season.  Leatrice Eiseman, executive director at the Pantone Color Institute, discusses the colors in a five minute video that is well worth your time.  This palette inspires me to create some beautiful new jewelry pieces that incorporate my three favorites – radiant orchid, placid blue, and violet tulip.  What do you think?  Would you wear that combination?  What colors would you choose?  Please leave a comment below!

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Featured Friday – Karen Faulkner Art

Karen Faulkner Art

This week’s featured Etsy shop is Karen Faulkner Art in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.  Shop owner Karen creates original watercolor paintings and fine art giclee prints of colorful, abstract flowers.  Her work is simple, clean, amazing.  I simply cannot choose a favorite item from her shop, there are just too many beautiful pieces.

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Professor of Crystal video series

The amazing folks at Swarovski have created a video series called “The Professor of Crystal” that will appeal to crystal lovers everywhere.  In each video, the professor provides expert instruction that makes it possible for do it yourself crystal aficionados to realize their visions using Swarovski Elements.  The videos feature a range of topics such as gluing, epoxy clay, hot fixing, soldering, mechanical application, basic jewelry making, and felting.  Learn more about the professor here.