i wish .... for this beautiful ring

This beautiful sterling silver and pearl ring from the etsy shop of Galit Barak has me swooning today. I love it's asymmetrical shape and off centre pearl.

It looks so wonderful on a finger too! See more of Galit's jewellery here. There are some lovely cuffs and neck-pieces also.

newsworthy jewellery part 2.

Following on from my post last week about zoemou jewellery, here is another local Australian jewellery brand I found from the same source - here. I'm a long time fan of resin jewellery and homewares so these stunning pieces from the girls of  it was me are instant favourites!

These pieces from their current spring summer range have that great blend of femininity with soft pinks and delicate ribbons, rocked up with a dose of black lace and mesh. I love the combinations of shapes and colours in these stacks! I would love either the white lace or black lace square cuffs.

As well as the neutral palette, it was me has some luscious summer colours in their range. I love that the turquoise has been paired with the blues for an ocean colour theme and then used as an accent with the melon/peach bangles. I love these colours together for summer!

There are coordinating resin rings which have an organic, hand finished shape and again come in yummy, juicy colours! Head over to the website for a browse yourself. I'm sure you will picture yourself with an armful of these amazing bangles too!

i wish for.... a kristina klarin necklace

I think this beautiful fabric and bead necklace would be perfect as a summer accessory. It's by the wonderfully talented Kristina Klarin from Kris's Color and Stripes blog.
See more big, bold and colourful pieces in the online shop here

newsworthy jewellery

It's not often I find pretty inspiration from the news, but such was the case a few days ago while reading the news online. I cam across a gallery of vintage inspired jewellery and have some new local Australian jewellery brands to share with you.

These lovely pieces are from the Gypsy Moon Collection by Zoemou. I can certainly see the art nouveau influence in these pieces - especially the top earings! The Gypsy Moon collection is the first collection using sterling silver and there is a great back story to the collection.

"Each Zoemou “Gypsy Moon “ piece is named after Roma gypsy names, such as Danika (translating to ‘morning star’), or Electra (translating to ‘brilliant one’). Every item is totally unique and individually hand cut by talented artisans. Even though made of sterling silver, the Gypsy Moon collection adheres to the Zoemou philosophy of feeling lightweight and natural, whilst being feminine and strong."

Sourced from the Gypsy Moon Look Book

 

This style of jewellery is my favourite. I love intricate cut outs and large statement pieces. Here are some other piece I would own in a heartbeat from previous collections:

 This very cool Numbered Barcode necklace was part of a collaboration with designer Daniel Avakian.

This Chrysanta piece from the Secret Garden collection is my absolute favourite. This was the 3rd Zoemou collection and the pieces are crafted from leather. The range was inspired by the book of the same name.

     Young children discover a magical garden behind wild ivy and as the garden blossoms and flourishes, so does the lives of the children.

Source Secret Garden Look Book

a kindred spirit

It's no secret that I am an etsy fan and a place I like to visit for some inspiration is the treasury page. This where creative etsians pull together collections of products based on a theme, be it colour, shape, texture, season... pretty much anything. It's a great way to find new shops and objects to add to your favourites. I recently was drawn to a treasury by hoolacreation - it is a beautiful celebration of one of my all time favourite colours.

 {Soft and Romantic Treasury by hoolacreation}

I have already added a few pieces from this collection to my favourites.

I was so impressed with the collation of some many beautiful pieces of art, jewellery and clothing that I wanted more from this talented lady. It was at this point that I discovered that she and I were kindred spirits with similar tastes, and low and behold careers. We both are graphics designers, the only difference is she has channelled her creativity into creating wonderful products - something still on my "one-day" list.

 

 {funny and lovely colors treasury by hoolacreations}

Next up, I found this collection of aqua and red - a colour combination I recently blogged about here. My eye straight away went to the Handpainted Pattern Bowls from Kevin Oshea Designs (2nd left bottom row) and the Vintage Russian mechanical alarm clocks (far left bottom row - sold already unfortunately) from Clockwork Universe.

.

 Another treasury colour combination is this orange and blue set called Goooood morning Etsy! There is definitely something very fresh and 'morning' like about these colours and once again some great products.
My picks: love on a sunday morning - framed print (top left) - such a tasty image, and the smiley face of the Shine mixed media collage print (2nd left - second row).

The final icing on the cake for me was this typographic celebration - Typographic addiction. I noticed a piece from plastique (the helvetica necklace) from which I still want buy something...anything. I've also now been introduced to another typorgraphy jewellery maker - junkprints. I love the visionary necklace (top row, 2nd from right). I noticed another familiar seller in Farouche whos cool Sugar and Spice tags I featured a few months ago here. This time it's the bold typographic print "you are here now" (top row - far right)
Now not only is hoolacreations a wiz at pulling together great etsy treasuries, she has a great store herself selling prints, bobby pins and necklaces. The style is a modern retro feel and very cool. Here are a few pieces that caught my eye. I seemed to be drawn to the green items - perfect for us southern hemisphere dwellers haning out for a sunny, green spring!

Round Round Handmade Bobby Pins

Spring 2 print

Spring Necklace

Catch up with hoola creations here there and everywhere: etsy, www, facebook, flickr & twitter

pebbles and felt

A few of my favourite things have come together and I am thrilled to have found them. I have a thing for pebble shapes and have made some lovely pebble finds over the past year. I am also a fan of felt. I love the texture and softness and think it has a real homely quality to it. You can imagine my excitement yesterday when I discovered the Delica etsy shop full of felted pebbly goodness!

Left: Felted Pebble Gift Set in Blue tones - All my favourite colours together >gush< I just want to pick these pebbles up!
Right: Aqua Dot Felted Bowl Duo - Another great colour and texture combo and great little bowls for keeping all sorts of knick-knacks in, or simply a nice decorating piece.

Even better for a necklace lover like me are these pebble shaped felt necklaces! I think I might combust as this is all so for me! I would take one of everything if I could.
Top left: Gadelle Felted Necklace - this beauty comes in a few colour ways with this denim blue one my fave.
Top right: Felted Pebbles on Leather Necklace - these are a more traditional pebble look and a statement piece necklace
Bottom left: Felted wool pebble necklace - a woolly pendant. The larger grey pebble is about 6cm diameter, so another nice big statement necklace
Bottom right: Silver white necklace - this multi strand necklace takes felt into the warmer months. The tight white merino wool balls don't look as cosy on the silver ribbon so you could wear this in spring or summer.

For more pebbly wonderfulness, I love these Felted Acorns. They are lavender filled and come in a nice colour range. Again my pick is the blue colour way. These would make a really nice gift that can be put out on display or tucked into drawers as a scent sachet.

.....and one more way to get felted pebbles into your life, this Set of 4 magnets would hold things up in style on your fridge. Visit Delica, my new favourite etsy shop and also check out the blog fro Delica's latest felted creations.

colour crush - Chrysophrase

Just what exactly is Chrysophrase you might ask. Well I had never heard of it before, but now know that it is a gemstone in one of my favourite colour tones.

It was these Chrysoprase and Silver Pebble Studs from ashley jewelry that introduced me to Chrysophrase. What would you call the colour of the gemstone: apple green or maybe sea green? It's slighter bluer than jade and can't be described as green or even aqua.

Being a natural gem the colours can vary from deeper shades to a paler almost jade colour. These earings are from an incredible jewellery etsy store - briguys girls. Here are 2 more pieces from the same shop featuring the same stone.

While I like the faceted pendant above, I am totally smitten with the bottom piece and it is quickly up high on my wish list. I love the combination of the cool coloured smooth tear drop stone and the delicate silver leaf shaped pieces.

I'm also reminded of some Dinosaur Design pieces which embrace this colour.

 

Both these pieces are from the Bamboo collection which is a few years old now but still a favourite of mine.
The bottom Dinosaur pieces remind me of Celadon pottery - the glaze used in asian ceramics.

This is a photo a bowl which is part of my mum's collection of Celadon - perhaps this is where my love for this colour comes from!
Whatever it's called - this is my current (and pretty constant) colour crush!

blush pink - colour crush

This week I've found myself drawn to pink -  blush, rose or dusty, I have found myself in a very girly frame of mind and loving everything pink. I'm not normally that way inclined and have never been a 'pink girl'. I've always been more into the cool colours like aqua, blue, green. Anyway, I have found some lovely images and products around the web-world to share with you today.

These images had me gasping earlier this week! They are so pretty as both images and items of clothing! They are from the Flickr stream of Allen Company Inc. The talented Kristina certainly has an eye for vintage finds! The top image features dresses from the 1940s and 60s. The dress on the left actually looks like a dress I saw in a shop earlier this week. Take a closer look at it here. The bottom left image is titled "What little girls dreams are made of" but I think big girls dreams are also made of shoes, bags and even a little hat like the antique eggshell one (take a look at the original here as it is cropped out in my collage). Kristina sells her vintage finds through etsy and has new finds every Monday. I love dresses, they are so elegant and lady like. It's quite amazing how timeless the style are too. Check out this 1940's emerald strapless dress. I could see it in shops today.

 top left: A Spectacle (Pink) by Ashley G ::: top right: Pink Grapefruit - Print by Amber Alexander ::: 

bottom left: medicine cabinet for SAD afflictee by Doodle and Hoob ::: bottom right: sardine and anchovy postcard by cricicis

This collection of perfect pinkness is from various talented artists on etsy. What most appeals to me is that these use the colour pink without the clichés of 'pretty pink-ness'. Even the cute bunny has an individual, unique style. I think he is fabulous.

Another etsy find is this Set of 3 Little Sauce Dipping Bowls in Speckled Blush Pink by the little red door. So sweet!

and finally - the clothes shopping....

 Both these looks are from Forever New. They always have such fun, girly clothes and these to outfits don't disappoint. I particularly like the Tulle tiered skirt in the top pic!

Hope you enjoyed my colour crush today!

silver cocoon - jewellery

I took a peek over at the Uniform Project the other week and was quite taken with a piece of jewellery Sheena was wearing. It was donated by Silver Cocoon and I instantly went and sought this brand out. Silver Cocoon creates wonderful jewellery from felted wool & acrylic and the result is interesting, sculptural pieces that I want to wear!

Sheena from the Uniform Project is rocking the Hive Acrylic necklace - see my earlier post all about the feel good project. An accompanying piece is the Hive felt cuff in those 5 great colours.

The talented Tia Salmela Keobounpheng is the artist behind these pieces. She applies influences from her Finnish background as well as a childhood enriched by her architect father. I think you can see the scandinavian design aesthetic as well as structual, architectural influences in these designs. I love the shapes in these pieces.

The felt coil bracelet goes straight to the top of my wish list - and I think that this would be my colour pick to. I love this green, but there are plenty of other vibrant and also muted colours to choose from. Each bracelet is handmade by Tia so you will certainly get a unique piece.

I really like this shape that appears in quite a few pieces. I have used similar shapes in artwork - it's actually part of my own logo I use on illustrations I do, so I would love to wear this shape.

top: Chain Acrylic Necklace ::: bottom left: Pod Acrylic Earrings ::: bottom right: Drape Wood Earrings 

There is (of course) an etsy shop, an online store, a blog and to learn more about Tia there is an interview with her here at Nordic Reach

tea party dress- ups - Alice in Wonderland

For today I thought I would have look about etsy and see if I could come up with something to wear to a mad hatters tea party. With a mad hat/headpiece in mind, I came across this amazing store;

 

These incredible headbands are from Kat Swank's Liaison etsy store. I think you could possibly steal the limelight from the Mad Hatter himself in one of these pieces! Aren't they incredible? There is so much detail and fabulous colour combinations all topped off with lovely photos of gorgeous girls! You can find more out about Kat here in an interview with Love My Dress. So with the headpiece sorted, how about some jewellery?

  

These are Alice In Wonderland pieces from the Karing is Shering etsy shop. I'm particularly partial to the white rabbit and garden door pendant. The Tea Time ring is also sweet and it's little lid opens up.

Another little find I came across is the Forkometry store on Made It (an all Australian handmade marketplace)

I think this is quirky Alice inspired fashion statement. See more of Forkometry on madeit or their blog

pom pom please

Ever since I spotted the picture of Sheena from the Uniform Project wearing this funky winter outfit with the fabulous pom pom necklace, I have wanted one! That particular piece is by Icelandic designer, Elín Bríta, but I can't seem to find much about her online.

Instead I turned to etsy and have 2 amazing shops to share with you.

First up is Gray Design. This shop is full of great hand-knitted winter woollies including the Winter Storm Pom Pom Necklace and the Creamy Cowl with Pom-pom Brooch. I love the idea of the neck cowl. It goes on over your head and can be arranged to suit your outfit. Check out the full range here and see some examples of how good they look for winter.

 

Next up is A Alicia Handmade Accessories. This shop is full of awesome accessories that add personality to outfits.

{top} Acid Flamingo Necklace - made from fairtrade, naturally dyed organic material, this piece certiainly ticks all my boxes - including my latest colour crush

{bottom left} Pale Grey Blossom small felt corsage brooch - I've never considered a corsage before, probably because all I think of is and American prom! These felt lovelies certainly personalise outfits. Here it adds details to a plain knit, but Anna Alicia also shows they work well on jacket lapels. See her full wonderful felt range here and an range of organic cottons pieces here. 

{bottom right} Silver Mix Hair Accessory add some fun to your hair!

There is also a dedicated wedding accessory shop with lots of great pieces in the same style as above including buttonholes for guys and even ring bearer pillows

Cute as a button

I am self confessed fabric fan - I could spend hours perusing fabric design websites and browsing through prints in haberdashery stores. I love Ikea's range of funky patterns and they are so affordable.
Here is another creative way to celebrate beautiful fabrics.

This is the handiwork of Fiona Bailey. She creates jewellery, like this one above, from fabric scraps and recycled clothing. This cuff above is handmade using 51 buttons. I imagine it takes a lot of patience to cover all those buttons, but a lot of fun to get the fabrics together and colour combinations just right!

 

As well as the cuffs , there are some link style bracelets. This one features a combination of black & white buttons set with silver plated links.

But wait there is more - in the form of rings.

 

This button is 2.5cm and I love the texture in the fabric you can see in this image!

There is an etsy shop (of course) where you can find more of Fiona's creations. As well as the jewellery there are knitting kits for sale where you get the wool, knitting needles, any add-ons (like buttons) and of course a pattern.

Plastic fantastic

After an unsuccessful weekend hunt for resin jewellery, I thought I would cheer myself up with some of my fave etsy stores. Each of these stores has something I would be very pleased to wear and they really appeal to the graphic designer in me!

Plastique is a store with definite appeal for the designers out there. Who wouldn't proudly walk around with any of these pieces. The creator Jen herself is a graphic designer so she sure knows her market!

These curly typographic shapes have a particular appeal to me as I am quite renowned for my curly doodles.

Isette is a store full of lovely pieces but my fave are these 3.Could it be because they all look like an 'e'?

What I really like about Untamed Menagerie's pieces is that there is that little extra piece of imagination added. Silhouettes are super trendy but the talented Penny and Nikki add that little bit of whimsy which makes their peices stand out from the crowd!

I hope you enjoyed this little preview. Please visit each of the shops for yourself.

Images from top:

{Plastique}

{Isette}

{Untamed Menagerie}

All collages by me!

Bejewelled Beauties

I am a sucker for a good bit of bling so these necklaces are up high on my wishlist!
I discovered DelorisPetunia's etsy shop a while ago and every now and then find myself dreaming of owning and wearing one of her statement necklaces.

I have a blue satin top that any of these beauties would look amazing with,

& here are a few other samples of her beautiful work:

{ All images from DolorisPetunia.etsy.com }