design by the sea

a farewell to blogger, and to typing in all lowercase.

2010-02-23T01:41:00.000-08:00

well, readers and friends,

the time has come for me to move on over to wordpress.

wp offers more flexibility, blah, blah, blah. but really, it's because max designed a beautiful new blog-centric website for me. so, find all further posts at:

www.marlonoel.com

but while you're here, go ahead and post a comment to:

my feature at the bright side project!

you could win a $200 gift certificate to my shop just by leaving a comment answering:

What piece(s) of jewelry in Marlo Noël's Etsy shop would brighten your day? How would you wear it or who would you give it to?

jewelry not yet on etsy

2010-02-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

love this one- the asher. champagne citrine (notice the new shape?!), london blue topaz (also new shape!), sky blue topaz, and smoky quartz, 18"- $78.

this is like a retired beanie baby. i'm not sure how, i just think it's funny when people compare things to beanie babies. actually, i'll tell you how. the smoky quartz stone above is really pretty, but the angle of the top of it is not something i was prepared for, and most were too wide to wrap. on the rest the wire just bunched and said, "no way, jose." i think the ones that worked went to the stores, and maybe i kept one. a new version of this necklace is available without so much wire wrapping at the top. 36"- $68.

this was made with valentine's day in mind, and although it's not in my etsy shop, it is available at jenni b. in monrovia and dreamy in encinitas. or just email me and i'll make you one. rose quartz and rhodolite garnet, 18"- $48.
these i only have one picture of, which is why they're not on etsy. i kind of like them, though, so maybe i'll have to make another pair and stage a photo shoot. black tourmaline and sapphires, $98.
the above bracelet and earrings are london blue, white, and sky blue topaz, champagne citrine, and smoky quartz. the whole blue and brown thing. i tried taking some artsy shots of the earrings in our christmas tree, but that was a disaster. looks like the lighting still wasn't great for the above pictures...earrings- $98, bracelet- $198.

this necklace is a version of a necklace i made and sold at the la county fair years ago, before i started photographing my jewelry. now it's called the mabel, and it's $298 if anybody's interested. adjustable from 16"-18".

that is a custom pendant i made for someone- a gift for her from her. it's similar to the avery necklace, with mint quartz, green sapphires, and headpins i made myself! the heart clasp isn't actually part of it, just holding it for the shot.

i made the above earrings for a bride last fall. keishi pearls, white topaz, and rhodolite garnet. I think they ended up being about 2.5 inches, and went nicely with her very drapey orchid bouquet.

i call it: restoration hardware under the big top

2010-02-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

some fancy 60's yard sale furniture- a la marcia brady.

some framed paper from ps- and a wonderful wall of stripes (like a circus tent, get it?) thanks, ryan :)

my proudest achievement- a pennant banner originally made for maribel's shower (also kind of circus-y). actually that chair rail is my proudest achievement. do you know how i feel about chair rail and crown moulding and wainscoting?

my lovely anthro lamp which matches the smaller one in the living room, and my very favorite cliche poster- which i now own two of.

here's what our room looked like last week. if i ever get around to ironing (and starching, judging by the picture above) my new duvet cover and sheets and pillowcases, i'll post pictures of what it looks like now. although, it took me about a year for these pictures, so don't count your chickens.

for my next trick

2010-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

i'm going to try to make these bracelets...

new jewelry in the shop!

2010-02-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

i finally listed a few new things in my etsy shop. more to come soon!

mary vii: fluorite on gold-filled (or sterling silver) chain $68

mary x: lemon quartz on gold-filled chain $68

mary xii: london blue topaz on gold-filled (or sterling silver) chain $68

mary xiii: smooth citrine on gold-filled chain $58

rachelle necklace: tourmaline on gold-filled chain $298

unique la

2009-12-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

this saturday, my mom and i went to unique la, a neat show at the california mart downtown with a bunch of crafty local designers. we saw stacey winters, who makes (and photographs, cause she's a photographer!) the following stuff:

and her bluebird print is the cover art for a new book!

and kelly robinson, who is a friend of a friend, and had this neat booth setup:

she also has a cupcake and event planning business, where she does amazing stuff like this:

so much talent! we bought a few things for each other's stockings, and i could have spent thousands pretty easily. we had a lot of fun, and maybe next year i'll have a booth of my own!

marlo noël in a new shop!

2009-10-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

marlo noël jewelry has landed here right down the street in encinitas, just in time for the holidays. it's a fabulous little shop called dreamy run by the nicest networker ever, heather o'quinn. if you're local, go over and check it out! or go to their website, cause it's so lovely.

ps: clearly not my jewelry above, but isn't that picture beautiful? it's actually jewelry from chris bolton, a customer of mine at paper source who sells to celebrities like gwyneth paltrow. how neat!

and look at that little bubble- dreamy was just featured in in style magazine- what timing!

they also sell wonderful gift items. you should do all your shopping there. or here.

another treasury!

2009-08-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

how nice to be included in someone's beautiful treasury. Thanks, Holly!

the animal

2009-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

we caved (i caved; ryan cheered), and finally bought this very expensive piece of machinery- the dyson animal. bed bath and beyond sends us 20% coupons every week or so, and even though dyson is listed as one of the brands it cannot be used on, apparently it can. as can all but about three of the brands listed. we saved $110, then ryan won a poker game last night, so it's like it only cost us a couple hundred bucks. what a deal!

we'd been struggling with a vacuum purchased from sears 6 years ago that seemed to emit dirt instead of sucking it up. everytime we use it, our house smells pretty awful. we decided we'd had enough after max vacuumed the whole apartment saturday and we were fairly certain it picked up nothing from the floor.

our suspicions were confirmed when we got the animal home and ryan vacuumed the whole place again (with excitement and ease! thanks to the easy maneuverability of the ball action), and he dumped the filter out three times. we ran it right next to the wall and it picked up stuff lurking in the corners. we realized how grimy our carpet felt before compared to how it feels now. apartment carpet with almost no padding underneath, granted, but still, much better.

now the boys actually want to vacuum- i know this will not last forever, so i must take full advantage of it now. there's even a motorized attachment for couches, curtains, and cars, which looks pretty neat.

so, although it was pretty ridiculously expensive, i feel like i can breathe in here without getting sick, as i so frequently do. and dangit if it isn't the coolest looking vacuum in the world.

on textbooks

2009-07-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

I've been reading this really great blog, and wanting to post something from it for you all to read. seth godin is a marketer who writes books (and a daily blog), and is really insightful about the new ways of marketing, and life. here's something i think anyone who ever had to buy a college textbook can relate to:

textbook rant:

I've spent the last few months looking at marketing textbooks. I'm assuming that they are fairly representative of textbooks in general, and since this is a topic I'm interested in, it seemed like a good area to focus on.

As far as I can tell, assigning a textbook to your college class is academic malpractice.

They are expensive. $50 is the low end, $200 is more typical. A textbook author in Toronto made enough money from his calculus textbook to afford a $20 million house. This is absurd on its face. There's no serious insight or leap in pedagogy involved in writing a standard textbook. That's what makes it standard. It's hard, but it shouldn't make you a millionaire.

They don't make change. Textbooks have very little narrative. They don't take you from a place of ignorance to a place of insight. Instead, even the best marketing textbooks surround you with a fairly non-connected series of vocabulary words, oversimplified problems and random examples.

They're out of date and don't match the course. The 2009-2010 edition of the MKTG textbook, which is the hippest I could find, has no entries in the index for Google, Twitter, or even Permission Marketing.

They don't sell the topic. Textbooks today are a lot more colorful and breezy than they used to be, but they are far from engaging or inspirational. No one puts down a textbook and says, "yes, this is what I want to do!"

They are incredibly impractical. Not just in terms of the lessons taught, but in terms of being a reference book for years down the road.

In a world of wikipedia, where every definition is a click away, it's foolish to give me definitions to memorize. Where is the context? When I want to teach someone marketing (and I do, all the time) I never present the information in the way a textbook does. I've never seen a single blog post that says, "wait until I explain what I learned from a textbook!"

The solution seems simple to me. Professors should be spending their time devising pages or chapterettes or even entire chapters on topics that matter to them, then publishing them for free online. (it's part of their job, remember?) When you have a class to teach, assemble 100 of the best pieces, put them in a pdf or on a kindle or a website (or even in a looseleaf notebook) and there, you're done. You just saved your intro marketing class about $15,000. Every semester. Any professor of intro marketing who is assigning a basic old-school textbook is guilty of theft or laziness.

This industry deserves to die. It has extracted too much time and too much money and wasted too much potential. We can do better. A lot better.

[Update: got more mail about this post than any other post ever. People pointed to Flatworld and to Quirk, and so far, more than 94% of the letters aggressively agree with me. Most of the people are either students, parents of students, former students or other disgruntled customers that are tired of being ripped off by a senseless, broken system. I also heard from a handful of people who said that I was jealous, that the union won't permit the system to change, that textbooks are really good, that professors are underpaid, that professors are too busy or (possibly and) that I'm delusional. I'll note that not one of these letters came from a textbook user.]

why you'd want to live here

2009-07-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

the nice part about living 5 minutes from the beach is that it's there if we ever want to go. the reality is that we never go. so ryan, max, my cousin travis, and i went to the beach tonight after dinner. we decided to take our fun camera out for a spin, and here are a few of what we ended up with:

max and i

me, filtered with ink

watching the tide roll in

cool feet

travis, max, ryan- ink again

the cardiff crew

ryan and i

you can see the rest of the photos here

french afternoon

2009-07-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

i received an etsy convo today from a blog called ''inventing weddings.'' they chose to use the amethyst sophia earrings in an inspiration board called "french afternoon". how lovely!

new jewelry in the shop

2009-07-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

we just finished posting so many new lucy necklaces and sophia earrings. with so many colors, they're perfect for bridesmaids and fashionistas alike! this week, i'm offering free insured shipping (and of course gift boxes) to anywhere in the US!

peridot sophias

iolite sophias

smokey quartz lucy & sophias

rose quartz lucy & mystic pink topaz sophias

london blue topaz lucy & sky blue topaz sophias

rhodolite garnet lucy & sophias

amethyst lucy & sophias

citrine lucy & sophias

death cab for cutie at the hollywood bowl

2009-07-08T01:24:00.000-07:00

on sunday, ryan, max, my mom, and i piled into max's jetta and headed to the hollywood bowl for a concert featuring death cab for cutie with the la philharmonic. i am a sucker for indie rock with added strings, so as soon as i heard this concert was in the works, i bought (asked ryan to buy) 4 tickets. it was my mom's belated birthday gift (who has a birthday on december 24th and expects not to be slighted every time?).

we had kind of nosebleed seats, but we rented 75 cent seat cushions and had a picnic of turkey sandwiches, potato chips (of course they're organic- this isn't a tailgate party), lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, and tiny bottles of wine. someone forgets the wine glasses, and now it looks like a tailgate party.

opening for dcfc were the new pornographers (no, their music sounds nothing like you would expect from their name...actually, what would you expect from that name?) and tegan and sara. i'd heard of t&s, but never been conscious of what their music sounded like. turns out, i'd heard a few songs on tv (grey's, the hills, one tree hill, etc.). the other music they played was really good, and probably will be even better once i've heard it a few times and can hum along. they were also hilarious with their between song banter, describing their mother's first visit to la (it's not as pretty as she thought it would be. i mean, it's pretty here. she's not staying in the pretty part. i won't say where that is, in case some of you are from there), and their jokingly outing her as a closeted lesbian for "getting fresh" with a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like working Hollywood Boulevard.

it was my second time seeing dcfc, and ryan, max, and lorelai's first. (if you're reading this, and you're like, "lorelai? her name's andrea," or if you're my mom and confused about your true identity, watch the entire dvd boxed set of gilmore girls. it'll explain everything. actually, if you're my mom, you already know i call you that, but i bet you'll bring it up after you read this, anyway.) we wondered if the people at the top of the hill above the hollywood bowl could hear the concerts from their house, and concluded, probably. the lights dimmed when dcfc came out, and they played for about 30 minutes, only breaking between songs to say, "thank you for coming," and, "give it up for tegan and sara." what we were wondering is why were there 50 chairs set up behind them, and where was the orchestra. we thought maybe they cancelled without telling us.

i noted that ben gibbard, the lead singer for dcfc, had lost some weight. i just went to google "ben gibbard..." and one of the first suggestions is "ben gibbard lost weight"--apparently the blogosphere noticed, too. somewhere between marching bands of manhattan and i will possess your heart, i remembered he's engaged to zooey deschanel. and then i remembered she's my favorite.

if i'd been with different people, i'd have dragged them around the venue to find this actress/songwriter/fiancee. sigh. those times ended long ago, and really, this isn't the roxy. have any of you ever hiked up the hill to the hollywood bowl? i'd rather not scale it all night, weaving in and out of incredibly long bathroom/beer lines. so, i saved a sprained ankle and stayed in my seat. besides, we had no camera and didn't stop at rite-aid to buy a disposable- you'd have thought we learned our lesson with alex greenwald and the too-dark-to-see-who's-in-the-picture iphone disaster of 2008. i swear, if i ever meet zac efron and i'm cameraless...

after the sound of settling, ben announced they'd be back in a few with "50 of their closest friends." they returned with i will follow you into the dark, complete with ben on acoustic guitar, backed by an orchestra. with a chorus of,

"if heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the 'nos' on their vacancy signs/ if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then i will follow you into the dark,"

that song is a tear jerker even without the violins in the background. i definitely got watery-eyed, but i passed it off as yawning. i have been known to sob uncontrollably at concerts, though (chris martin, i'm talking to you).

also on the list of orchestra accompanied songs were grapevine fires, which was one we waited for all night, soul meets body, my ringtone for the last 4 years and maybe forever, and title and registration, with the most logical lyrics of all:

"the glove compartment isn't accurately named, and everybody knows it/ so i'm proposing a swift, orderly change, cause behind those doors, there's nothing to keep my fingers warm, and all i find are souvenirs from better times.."

why is she typing out song lyrics? this is supposed to be "design by the sea". simple- i'm trying to culture you.

the last song they played was transatlanticism. it would ordinarily not be the most thrilling finale song, at nearly 8 minutes long, it's one i usually skip through after 3 minutes or so. this time, there were theatrics involved. coinciding with the music, a 5 minute fireworks show from behind the stage. you really have to watch the whole thing to get the effect, as the fireworks change when the music does. it was pretty breathtaking, (executed with "disney precision," ryan and i agreed) and reminded me of watching fireworks as a kid. it was hollywood magic.

to wrap up this short story turned editorial, some of the songs were amazing (summer skin, cath, grapevine fires), likely in part because i have a strong connection with those songs, and i really felt them. some of the songs were not as great. they lacked some energy, and i'd have liked some more interaction with the crowd. they have such an extensive catalog, they were bound to leave out some favorites (we looked like giants, for what reason). despite any shortcomings, the show was amazing. one of my favorite concert experiences ever, wrapped up in pyrotechnics.

i hate ups

2009-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

i sent a package to san francisco in december. usps told me i'd missed the cutoff time (3:30 pm) to get it there the next day, so i went to the ups store. i paid $54 to ship it guaranteed overnight with $1,000 of insurance. the package had about $3,000 of jewelry inside. i tracked it online as it arrived in san diego that night. and then didn't leave until the following night. the package arrived at 10:00 the next morning. about 19 hours late, and barely in time for the show which was the whole reason for this overnighting business. i'd also express mailed (with usps) a package to boston with $2,500 of insurance for about $19. that package arrived a day before the one in san francisco.

i meant to call ups to get some sort of refund on the shipping, but it was december, and i was busy, and the receipt just got lost in the shuffle. while cleaning off my desk yesterday, i rediscovered it, and called the ups store today. i told her the story, and she said, "it's been 8 months! there's nothing we can do." i said i'm not sure why it matters that it's been 8 months- it was still a guaranteed service, and it was still late.

i asked for ups' phone number, and the woman who answered said, very annoyed, "that was 8 months ago! you would have had to call within 15 days. it says it on our website. i can't do anything about it now." well, ups, while your life is shipping, mine is not. i said that policy was written in very tiny print on my receipt from the ups store, buried within a ton of other rules and regulations, and it was not clearly stated. and that that rule seemed to be designed so people would not ever get refunds because of that very small window of opportunity to complain. she said she didn't understand what i was talking about.

well ups, if shipping is your life, perhaps making sure packages arrive on time is a good idea.

otherwise, you should work on your customer service.

ps: the package in the picture was obviously not the one i was referring to (note the $4.60 postage), but a lovely friend, Aik, over at 'friends and family' did a product review and interview with me, and that picture is one she took. read all about it over there!

listen to your mother...or scarlet's mother, instead.

2009-06-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

a family friend of ours, jaime, writes a very sweet blog called "500 pieces of prudent advice for my baby daughter." she has an adorable baby named scarlet who will have quite the collection of motherly advice when she's old enough to read. how wonderful for them to have their blog posted on ohdeedoh today!

if you haven't read it start to finish, do so now. you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll yell, "i know!" at your computer monitor. a few of my personal favorites:

#28 Splurge on fresh flowers once a week.

#34 Good lighting is the key to decorating a cozy home.

#59 Drink Tea!

a masterpiece, of sorts.

2009-06-11T02:21:00.000-07:00

yay for spending hours lining up rows of earrings just for this blog.

you can't see them all there, but there are 64 pairs in that lineup.

that setup was ridiculous, but looked so cool.

i found some new favorite color pairings laying these out.

citrine and smokey quartz- so modern, who knew?

i've been working on the above order for my favorite customer in japan for about 3 months now, and it's finally finished. now, i wasn't working all day everyday by any means. but the grand total was 84 necklaces, and 64 pairs of earrings. the necklaces were actually much simpler than the earrings. 64 earrings= 128 spiral wrapped stones, and 640 tiny headpins. my thumb and forefinger were a little sore for a few days. you can't really use a thimble while making jewelry.

jurassic park peonies

2009-06-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

i bought some unopened peonies at trader joe's two days ago.

by that night, one flower had opened up completely and was about the size of my head.

one by one, the others have followed suit.

we thought we might put a stop-motion camera on one as it opened, but i have no idea how to do that, so i hope you like these macro shots instead.

i had an idea in my mind of what peonies looked like, and it's certainly not like this. however, they are very beautiful and have received rave reviews from everyone.

i only spend money on very important things...

2009-06-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

here are the beautiful pillows i bought yesterday:

don't ask how much they cost.

an americana adventure into tv land

2009-05-08T16:39:00.001-07:00

so a few weeks ago, i dragged max and ashley along to meet kate gosselin from jon and kate plus 8. she was doing a book signing in glendale at the americana, a beautiful outdoor mall conveniently located about two hours away. max and i drove all the way from san diego bright and early to get there on time. when i called two days before to see how early i should be there to get in line, the barnes & noble employee told me, "well, she is a bestselling author, so we recommend getting here 30 minutes to an hour early." i'd just watched a news clip of a signing she did in michigan, or minnesota, or montana where 1500 people showed up to one of her signings. i originally thought i might have to camp out for a good spot, so an hour sounded perfect to me.

the main reason i was going was because i love j&k+8. i also decided it would be such a great idea to make jewelry for kate and her daughters. they always zoom in on kate's face during the interviews, and her jewelry is clearly visible. i made kate an anna vi necklace:
and peyton earrings:
i made mady and cara matching madeline necklaces with a blue sapphire, similar to this:

and hannah, leah, and alexis paisley necklaces with a blue sapphire, kind of like this:
because with kids, you know, you can't give them different colors, or they'll fight over them. i know this because i'm an expert on children. i wrapped them all in a single take out box with teal ribbon, similar to this:i enclosed a note (which i would write in barnes and nobel 10 minutes before getting to the front of the line, making it extra thoughtful) and put everything in a kate spade bag. my prized striped kate spade bag. it's the small things, really.

we got our starbucks oatmeal and lattes and hit the road. i called when we were about 20 minutes away to ask, "are there a lot of people are in line for the book signing?" the same employee from two days ago said very seriously, "yes, there are about 30 people in line currently." oh-kay. they told us we each needed to buy a book to get a wristband to get in line on the third floor. i was paying for two books when ashley showed up, so we threw another on the tab. wristbands with the letter "d" put us securely next to the art books. the barnes and noble book club members were up front, followed by the b's, c's, d's, and so on. there were no a's. it will forever remain a mystery why. as more b&n club members showed up with strollers, we got shoved back further and further in line until we were next to cooking.

none too thrilled with our place in line, i decided to take action. i went down two escalators and right to the front of the wristband line. "how many club member wristbands are left?" (they limited those to 75, initially) "there are four left," the nice wristbander told me. there were separate lines for books and wristbands, and about 10 people in the wristband line (technically ahead of me, since i just cut to the front). "i need three of those, but by the time i go pay for a membership, they'll probably be gone, right?" "i'll take them to the register for you, you can go get in line up there." perfect! since i'd already spend something like $60 on books, it was only another $15 or so for a membership at this point. a membership that would save me anywhere from 15% to 20% on books i should be buying for half the price on amazon, but a more important 15 to 20 minutes in line. oh, well. pr expenses.

i returned to ashley and max with the new wristbands in hand. we found an employee and showed them to him. he pointed to where we were to stand in line (behind the club members, in front of the b's). we stood to the side of the line, not wanting to shove our way in, but the people behind us were audibly upset about this perceived injustice. "the d's are back there! this is for b's!" he told them we had member wristbands in our hands, and the woman next to us told us to rip the d's off quickly before a riot broke out. we did as we were told, fearing for our lives. people are very protective of their right to meet kate gosselin. a woman in front of us had been there since 6:30am. good job. we got there at noon, and you'll get to meet her 30 seconds before us. another woman who arrived at 7 was back by the cooking books. you get here at 7, but decide not to spring for a membership? too much of a commitment.

the line wrapped around the entire third floor, and there was a buzz. there were e! cameras there, but i fast forwarded through e! news for a few days following, and no coverage of the event. finally, kate arrived with an entourage, and stay-at-home moms and local fans of the show cheered. we were told that we could bring a camera, but kate would not be posing for pictures. i brought my huge tourist camera, and taught ashley how to use it. the lighting was pretty bad, and i ended up with a bunch of pictures of a blurry max reading a book. we'll call it "soft focus."

we got to the front of the line about 15 minutes later, and a woman a few people up posed with kate, who leaned in and smiled. score! i needed documentation of the event for this very blog. i went up to the table, which was about 12 feet in front of the line, and i said, "hi, kate!" she furiously scribbled her name across all three books (conveniently opened to the correct page by someone with a very important job) and said, "hello, how are you?" "i'm good. i made some jewelry for you and your girls," and i pushed the kate spade bag across the table to her. "wow, thanks," she said, looking surprised. i pointed back to ashley, and said, "my friend is taking a picture of your hair for a client." she said, "it's not the first time, and it won't be the last," and kind of laughed. i almost forgot to pose, but at the last second, i looked back at ashley, leaned in and smiled a shaky smile (i'm so bad with celebrity encounters- even barely celebrities freak me out). "thank you, we love your show," i said as we left.

that is the story of how i met kate gosselin. hopefully she will take kindly to my jewelry and they will all wear it on some magazine cover. or at least to church.

i feel like this is turning into self-promotion...

2009-05-08T13:25:00.001-07:00

which, it is, but it was supposed to be like an inside look at my life, or something. you know, beyond the jewelry. that sounds like a backstage tour. an incredibly exciting backstage tour. i promise i'll try harder!

which brings us to, a giveaway!!

the lovely australian blog, polka dot bride, agreed to do a giveaway of my jewelry for their fabulous readers. how nice of them! polka dot bride is a great wedding resource, with photo galleries of actual weddings (in blogland, i believe they're called "real weddings"), and drink recipes. they're even part of the top 100 aussie blogs. now, i read a few aussie blogs, and they are pretty great, i must say.

so, everyone out there, go enter to win! and i will make you $75 worth of fabulous jewelry if you are chosen. i think it's worth 2 minutes of your time. don't you?

the once a month blogger.

2009-04-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

i've been busy, and have about thirteen blogs in my head that need to be posted, but this seemed quick and easy, so it's what you get. a lovely etsian, kerrieslade included my lucy necklace in her treasury, titled, pop! it looks like a champagne-themed collection, so the champagne citrine fit in quite nicely.

anyway, i'd like to say thank you to kerrie for including me in my first treasury. i guess it's not really my treasury- it's hers, but, you get it.. here's a close up of the lucy for you.

yet another giveaway, friends

2009-04-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

the delightful divas in business are running a $50 giveaway to my etsy shop. Delightful Divas In Business (or DDIB) is an online community that promotes, connects, and inspires independent business women. how fabulous. they are even offering the chance for multiple entries. call all your friends, and enter, enter, enter!

thank you, robin and penny :)

another giveaway!

2009-04-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

i'd like to thank janie at the bride's cafe for a wonderful feature and giveaway! enter to win a $75.00 gift certificate to my Etsy shop by tuesday if you so desire :)

the bride's cafe is such a useful resource for wedding inspiration, vendor information, and beautiful photos of real weddings. i'm already married, but i peruse the site all the time because it's just so lovely! janie is a talented blogger and an amazing floral designer, to boot. Thank you, Janie.

so go now, and win that jewelry!

Win some jewelry!

2009-03-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

okay, so I'm a little late in posting this (days, in fact).. but i promised a giveaway, so here's a giveaway:

The girls over at Wedding chicks were so fabulous to include me on their beautiful blog. They did an awesome job with the collages of my jewelry, so i had to post them here.

You could win a $100 gift certificate to my Etsy shop, so run, tell all your friends, and ENTER TO WIN! Contest is open through next tuesday, march 17.

Thank you, wedding chicks!

a good month

2009-03-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

March is starting out to be a good month. I've had a few Etsy sales, made some new friends, paid off my Nordstrom Visa (no, I do not compulsively shop at Nordstrom, as my Mint account would have you believe; I use that card for all my purchases), found a house for my cousins to move into, taught a PaperSource wedding workshop that left me exhausted in a good way, made my bed (but somehow that hole in the wall still has not patched itself..), and made some good jewelry connections.

Today, I am so excited to say that I'm featured on Snippet & Ink, a lovely wedding blog. How sweet of Kathryn to include my name in her Friday discount section! Kathryn posts absolutely gorgeous wedding inspiration boards that definitely inspire me in so many ways. Here are pretty much the first three I found, because they are all equally amazing. So you should go now and read her blog everyday.

#343: Backyard Picnic

#351: Wizard of Oz

#352 Sweet Tooth

Watch for a very special post later today... Hint: free jewelry is involved, so tell your friends!

room for baby

2009-03-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

i've been hanging out with babies lately, and it's inspired me to post some cute baby rooms. oh, and because it seems as if every other person I know between the ages of 25-30 is pregnant. i'm only 24, so stop those thoughts.

seafoam and yellow, who knew?
from ohdeedoh

oh, those tiny clothes.
from ohdeedoh

unexpected colors, and neat silhouettes.
from ohdeedoh

not as cutesy as i prefer, but fun and outdoorsy.

love those vintage book pages above the bed.

great butterfies, fabulous jenny lind crib.

above three from domino

scarlet's room. that baby has no choice but to be stylish.
from the tiny bean sprouts!

yellow and black. like a bee, only better.

feels warm and cozy.

those circles remind me of the season 1 winner of project runway.
above three from domino

easy, beachy, fun.
from beachbungalow8: gum tree, los angeles

boho baby.
from beachbungalow8,
bedding by rikshaw design

easily transitionable into a kid's room.
from pottery barn kids

can't go wrong with pink and brown.
from pottery barn kids

it's my m!
from pottery barn kids

good pattern combinations.
from pottery barn kids

bedding looks like orla kiely.
from making it lovely

i've never been a purple person, but i like it here. seems restful.
from cookie magazine

i hope my nursery post inspired your nursery decor. because i know you're all working on one.

design overdose

2009-02-07T01:55:00.000-08:00

i spent the better part of my day reading design blogs today. i took one off my favorites toolbar, and added about eight more. i read making it lovely all the way back to the beginning, two years ago, and also discovered (as just about everyone in the developed world already has) decor8. i learned that anthropologie is offering craft classes at select stores, which i will be sure to find out all about at a fabulous dinner sunday night with a few former anthro coworkers. i also learned that shabby chic is filing chapter 11 bankruptcy. ryan said, "at least it's not chapter 7." i figured i'd email rachel ashwell and we'd reminisce about madre's.

the day wasn't totally unproductive, though. i did regain a strong desire to continue decorating our apartment. in particular, this time, ryan and my room. first up: a bed. we have a fantastic mattress (my first really expensive purchase), but no headboard. one that's stuck in my head for a couple years now is this:

i wasn't sure it was exactly what i wanted, but i honestly haven't seen any that are as versatile since. i also like metal-framed beds, like from restoration hardware, but sometimes they remind me of an orphanage. obviously a glamorized orphanage in annie the major motion picture, but still.
i like the idea of being able to read with my head against the cushy headboard, and the nailheads almost remind me of jewelry. and it goes with my anthro lamp, which looks like this one, except taller. (to be fair, the one below is in my living room)

the lampshade is blue/cream/brown printed, and this is very similar to our bedding (bed cut in half, and all):

we i also really want to paint our room. it is bad bad shiny ~~crack den~~ apartment white with popcorn ceilings right now. there's not a whole lot we can do about that, but it would be lovely to paint the bottom half of our room chocolate, and the top half an eggshell cream and white stripe, with some chair rail to divide the two. that's all! i really don't think that's too much to ask. and this picture in a coordinating robins' egg blue to hang above the bed:

currently, there are awesome patches of about six different colors in various places around the room that we painted a few months back just to see which we liked best, and about a 5 sq. ft. sweet untextured section of wall where a plasma was once hung. and then fell. and then the hole was patched. and then evan touched it while it was wet. you can imagine how that looks. you'll have to, because i refuse to post pictures of that embarrassment. and then we didn't know if we were moving, and we still don't really know how long we'll be here, but c'mon! this neither here nor there is driving me crazy! i just feel like i have such high standards to live up to after reading apartment therapy all afternoon.

I'm feeling pink

2009-02-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Paper Source, the fun company where I work, is introducing new colors this year (woo hoo!). Currently, we offer about 30 solid colors, including two pinks and four purples. A single new color introduction carries along with it about 10,000 pounds of paper. PS uses every scrap of paper they print, which means the edges get turned into business cards and tiny envelopes. This also means that they have to be pretty darn sure a color will be popular with the masses before they go printing a bunch. Up first- fuchsia (I really thought it was fuschia):

What a lovely color choice. People seem to be surprised about my affinity for pink, but I really do love it. Now, I wouldn't paint my room this above color, but i definitely have some jewelry storage boxes in the hue. I would, however, very gladly take this room:

The Eames rocking chair isn't absolutely necessary for me at this time, but i just love how warm and cozy the mixed colors and patterns feel. This is actually the living room of Nicole, from Making it Lovely. She even included a cradle, creating a sweet space for the whole family.

Anyway, upon seeing these pictures last night at 1am, I immediately wanted to re-do my entire living room. I once tried to paint a tiny room in our apartment (that at one point was going to house Max's captain's bed) pink, and the boys revolted. They could care less what else I do, just no pink walls! This coming from the boys who wear pink ties and painted-on jeans. When all was said and done and blue, Max said, "yeah, pink would've looked better."

And last, ranunculas, because, who doesn't love those?

inspiration bored.

2009-02-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

in all my spare time this week, i've done surprisingly little. Although the week did include a rousing trip to the dentist who informed ryan and i that we need a little over two thousand dollars of dental work. oh, and that our insurance really doesn't want to pay for much of it. yay, auto repairs, healthcare costs, and taxes!

i took pictures of new designs today, as well as pictures of packaging. i've emailed a few design blogs to see if they would like to do a feature on my work or an interview on what inspires me, where i get my ideas from, how i started making jewelry, etc.

for you, dear readers (all two of you), i will post some inspiring pictures, in hopes of inspiring myself to...do whatever it is i'm supposed to be doing right now. which i'm pretty sure is making lunch.

an inspiration board. i need to make one of these with all those pictures ripped out of domino (r.i.p.), and all those paint swatches borrowed from restoration hardware.

this is a great idea, which i've seen a number of places now, which is to turn a vintage frame into a chalkboard. while the sound and mess of chalk on a chalkboard unnerves me, i could turn the huge vintage frame i already own into an inspiration board. you know, for behind my desk:

this desk, in white, is what i want more than anything right now. i feel like it's a practical purchase in this economy, and might inspire me to create new works of art in a workspace other than my coffee table.

nothing is for like ever.

2009-01-30T14:05:00.000-08:00

so, my favorite magazine is done, apparently. domino, a home magazine, which was (i believe) a spinoff of lucky, a shopping magazine, has come to an end, like blueprint before it.

word on the street is that it was because they charge only about $1 per issue, and their only real revenue comes from advertising. since everyone's hurting, advertising budgets are cut, and magazines can't survive.

domino has been the inspiration for many of my home decorating projects. every month, i tear pages and pages and pages out to place in a messy pile with the intention of one day organizing it all. despite the mess, i sort through the pile every time i want to repaint or add shelves or just need some ideas.

domino, you will be missed.

a tree and jewelry by the sea.

2009-01-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

I finally photographed my Christmas tree, which, by the way, was still alive after a good 6 weeks. We sadly had to take it down a few days ago, even though it still smelled good, because there were some unsavory brown patches. I kept the tree lights on whenever I was home, and it created a lovely, sparkly glow in our living room.

The trick to keeping a tree this long, I concluded, is boiling water. I read this is not true, but it's worked for us two years in a row. Also important, not keeping your tree near a heating vent. Luckily for us, we don't ever run our heat- partially because there are always 3-6 computers on at any given time, and partially because the heat from the stove keeps this tiny place toasty for hours after we're done cooking.

I've also been up to taking pictures of my jewelry for my Etsy and website. The website doesn't have new pictures yet, but soon, it will get a brand new redesign, courtesy of Hase Design ! It's all quite exciting.

I had a small surge of inspiration and made some new jewelry with my sapphires and ruby. The Amelia necklace is below, in shades of red, orange, and yellow.

The Avery necklace follows, with mint quartz and sapphires, in blues and greens. These were both inspired by some TenThousandThings jewelry I saw a long time ago and have had in my head ever since.

Max and I were quite excited to find that when you do a Google search of "Mint quartz necklace," the Avery is the very first 'organic' listing, meaning not a paid advertisement. Apparently, this has to do with many people linking to it from Twitter, other Etsy locations, and now, this blog! Stay tuned, loyal followers, for more hip and with-it designs.

a return to writing.

2008-12-21T22:29:00.001-08:00

it's been a serendipitous day for me today, and i decided it was time to finally start the fourth blog of my life. i'm always saying, "i'm gonna blog that," about various occurrences in my life, but really, everyone knows i'm lying. it's mainly for me, because i really get a kick of reading my own life story in paragraph form, full of sarcasm and dry wit.

i also needed to start a new blog because it seems as if everyone has a design blog lately, and they're all interconnected. i, too, can find cute ideas, and would like to post them for the world (or the five people reading this) to see.

my serendipitous day included seeing a cute baby at work with her parents, whom i recognized from their own blog. i did not tell them this, as they do not know who i am. to be fair, we were once at the same baby shower. i asked the dad what the child's name was, even though i already knew it- but that would've been a little creepy if i just went up and said, "hi, clare! getting ready for the big move to texas?"

i met the doppleganger of my college friend, lauren. same smile, hair, sense of humor. when i asked for her address for our customer registry, the city she named was the same as lauren's. what are the chances.

it looks like we might be moving soon. my cottage (sweet eighties apartment) by the sea will no longer be mine. i hope to find a tiny beach home to move to- with crown moulding and built-ins. an updated kitchen with marble countertops would be amazing. thanks, santa. as a farewell, i am posting pictures of our decorating endeavors.

and now, i must go wrap some christmas gifts in white kraft paper. minimalist this year. the obvious choice considering my place of employment. our tree, however, is phenomenal, so i'll post pictures of it later in the week. i'm planning on keeping it here until the fire marshal drags it out.