It's the most wonderful time of the year!

You can hear the music, can't you? I love this time of year. The weather, the lights, the food, and my favorite: the Christmas Tree. For the holidays, we give ourselves permission to eat more, spend more, and hug more. I enjoy the innocence of children and how their eyes light up when you talk about Santa Claus.

Since I like decorations a lot (hello....jewelry designer!!!), my favorite holiday tradition is decorating the Christmas Tree. I love the smell of pine, the lights, and most of all, the ornaments. In my country of origin we did not have real trees. They were nice but fake, and they did not smell very well after a year in a box somewhere in the house. Since I came to the U.S. I decided to buy a real tree every year (I recycle it and I know the growers are planting more). I started with some minor ornaments and lights, but the collection has grown significantly. Every year I buy one or two "dated" ornaments and whenever I go to a new city I buy one. My sons have helped grow the collection with their handmade ornaments made in art classes. They feel very proud hanging them in the tree. Decorating the tree is a flashback of all those special moments, new baby, new class, new house, vacations.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments.

Happy Holidays!!!!

December Birthstone: TURQUOISE

Turquoise is one of the first stones to be mined. it was a sacred stone for ancient Egyptians and Native Americans. The name means "Turkish stone" as it came to Europe by way of Turkey. Some of the most amazing turquoise is found in Arizona.

Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminum. Even the finest of turquoise is subject to fracture, reaching a maximum hardness of just under 6 in the Mosh scale of hardness (slightly more than window glass).

Turquoise has long been used as a powerful protection stone against harm, an amulet for travelers and a good luck stone; also believed to protect from fears and nightmares. Turquoise is great for mental clarity. It helps with clear communications - Turquoise helps us to communicate our desires with others and to be clear about what we want.

Enjoy!

Gallery Nights

From October until April the City of Coral Gables together with the Coral Gables Gallery Association has a fun way for you to see the amazing art work in the city galleries. The first Friday of every month hundreds of people gather on Ponce de Leon Circle Park for live music, art exhibits and much more thanks to Art in the Park. The event starts at 6:00 p.m.and runs until midnight. There is no admission charge and kids are welcome. The park is located at 2800 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in Coral Gables.


I will have an exhibit-sale just a few steps from the park at William Permuy Salon, 2712 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Hope to see you there!

Gemstone of the month

Gemstones are so pretty and shiny! Their colors, healing properties, myths, and legends fascinate me. Gemstone folklore has been around for centuries in all cultures. Most intriguing are the healing properties of the stones and their unique energy. Gemstones embody intense concentrations of energy that can amplify the body’s innate energies to uplift our health.

In addition to the wonderful healing properties of gemstones, they adorn us in the form of jewelry. Hurray! No wonder I have so much fun and peace when I work with them.

Starting with November, every month I will tell you a little bit about the birthstone for that particular month. Maybe you will get intrigued and find out more about them.

Enjoy!

November: Citrine

Citrine is a golden yellow variety of quartz. The yellow coloration is due to the presence of iron. Almost all citrine that is available on the market today is heat-treated amethyst. Most citrine comes from Brazil. Citrine is a 7.0 on the Mosh scale of hardness. In the Mosh scale talc hardness is 1.0 and diamond is 10.

It is a powerful stone that brings sun and warmth into the heart. It works especially well with nervousness and unrest, and promotes self-confidence and renewed determination.

Note: some birthstones charts have Topaz as the November stone. One day I maybe able to work with Topaz, in the meantime I will enjoy Citrine :)

Social Media Train!

Trends are not only related to clothes and jewelry. Trends also impact the way we communicate and interact socially. The new buzz word now is “Social Media” a.k.a. Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs. So I decided to jump into the running train. This is the way I will share with you “What is on my mind?”, or “What am I doing?”

The definition of Social Media from Wikipedia is the following: “Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content; it supports the human need for social interaction with technology, transforming broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).” What I like the most about this definition is the “interaction” part. It’s not only me telling you “What is on my mind?”, but also hearing from you and learning along the way.

Of course, I will continue to use e-mail from time to time mainly to let you know about upcoming shows where I will be participating, but the most interesting stories will be on my Social Media Sites.

Hope you will be a follower and enjoy the postings. Cheers!!

Summer is over!

I can't believe summer is over. School already started and now we are waking up earlierrrr! The good part about this is that the last four months of the year are my favorite. September is my birth month and I'm already thinking what to do with some tiny Sapphires (September's Stone) that I have. They are so small but so beautiful. Luckily I can combine them with Lapis Lazuli (secondary September stone) and make a bigger piece.

On August my family and I went to Chicago. What a great city and friendly people. We enjoyed the architecture and the weather. What I enjoyed the most was the lounge at the John Hancock Building 96th floor. The sunset was amazing and also the view of the city. My kids loved the Wrigley Field Tour and my husband the American Art Institute (super modern jewelry at the store!).

I took several classes during the summer and you will find the techniques learned and new designs in my "Ready for Fall Collection". I will be listing my new pieces soon....stay tuned!

Cheers,

Elizabeth

Bead & Buttom Show

No, I did not stay in Milwaukee all this time, I just have been too busy to write about the best Bead Show I've ever been. I started planning this trip nearly a year ago and it was worth it. I tried to understand why this was such a nice experience: 1) very well organized; 2) many classes to choose from; 3) all the vendors you can imagine (the ones that you see in the magazines); but most of all 4) ALL THE TALENT THAT SURROUNDS YOU. From artists, students, bead Lovers....

I arrived at Milwaukee on Tuesday night just barely on time to take my first class with Kim St Jean - Fabulous Fold Forming. Lesson #1: do not take a class the day you arrive. Flight delays, traffic, can take a toll on your plans. Relax and prepare for the next day. The class was a good opportunity to hammer like crazy and to form beautiful shapes to ultimately convert to interesting jewelry pieces. This is a picture of what I made in the class.

Next day I took Susan Lenart Kazmer's class Altered Surface Charms Jewelry. Great instructor and artist full of energy and passion. The class was about how to apply patinas to metal and found objects and ideas about how to put them together in jewelry. We learned to drill, rivet, damp, disk cutting, and many other tips. I played with a lot of pieces but was not able to put together some jewelry. Lesson #2: for a "technique class" it is important to come with a project in mind, something that you can follow. Believe me, time flies and all of a sudden it is time to go.

Susan and me

Wednesday is a great day to arrive to the show because you can go the "Teachers Reception" at night and meet all the instructors and see their work and the class projects. Even tough your may have booked all of your classes already (like I did), it is good to see them up close and get ideas for next year.

I was interested mostly in working with metal, so most of my classes were related to working with it. My hands were hurting by Thursday....bad day because I had scheduled the Rio Grande Metal Forming Class......... Lesson #3: mix the techniques and classes so that you take a break. If you are doing beading, take a wire work class for example. Rio Grande Class was given by Ronie Mares. Excellent instructor, but the best part was to work with all the fancy tools you want to get for Christmas.

Opening Night on Thursday night was the best part of the show. It was very exciting to see the floor full of energy and people eager to buy. It was a good idea that I brought a list of things that I NEEDED.....The selection is amazing but I found that the prices were not the best. Lesson #4: bring your list and stick to it. Buy what you need to see in person (not over the Internet) and if you have money left....go ahead and go crazy!

Here are some of the projects that I made during the Rio Grande Class.

On Friday it was wire working day (and shopping). I took the class Little Amazonia with Un-Roen Manarata (please don't ask me to pronounce this, English is my second language....lol). The necklace was a gorgeous piece full of Swarovski Crystals. The class was very quiet, a break from the metal madness of the previous days. See my final project which I wore the same day and a picture of Un-Roen and me.

I'm a little bit embarrassed, but I took a short class Friday night, this time with Mary Hettmansperger building Bead Pods using copper and beads. What a fun class. You even learn how to color with fire and get those amazing colors in the copper. See a sample of the pods.

Saturday was the last day of a full class. Yes, you guessed, another metal class. The class was Rivets - Cold Connections with Tracy Stanley. By this day I was already an expert (yeah right) but the tips, and the designs for this bracelet were super fun to follow. I can tell you that this has been the most admired piece of jewelry that I made during that week. I look forward to continue making pieces with Cold Joints. See my project below and a picture of Tracy and me.

No wonder there is such a hype about cold connections, soldering is not easy and a little bit hot. How do I know? I took a three hour soldering class on Sunday (before leaving for Miami) with Leslee Frumin. Very organized instructor. Amazingly most of the students were Beaders that wanted to take their jewelry making to the next level and learn how to make bead caps, and toggles, and decorative eye pins to complete their beaded pieces. Great class but the time was very short. Lesson #5: for my next trip I will leave Sunday morning for my last hours of shopping!

If you are thinking on going to B&B next year, start planning now. Yes, I'm not exaggerating. Put some money aside here and there. Ask for "a class" for your birthday gift, for Christmas, for your anniversary, for your graduation, whatever as long as you can go. You will have to pay for your must take classes in January 2010 (some of them sell out really quickly). If you change your mind later, it is only a small fee to get a refund. Air ticket could be bought a couple of months later, and if you find a roommate you can save on the hotel bill. Bring some money to buy....this is very important. Food is optional!

I will continue sharing with you some of the projects that I will be making with all this new knowledge and inspiration. See you next time.

Cheers!

Ready for the Bead&Button Show

Tools? check, jewelry? check, class tickets? check, clothes? check, nerves? still uncontrollable. What is going on? I'm getting ready to go to the biggest consumer bead show in the world: the Bead& Button Show to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the first week of June. My husband called it "the Superbowl of beading". With this comment I think that you get the idea, don't you? In addition to having the biggest market place ever where you can find every single bead imaginable, the show offers more than 580 classes taught by national and international artists in many different techniques. Last year the show had more than 13,000 visitors from all over the world. For more than six months I have been planning for next week reading about the classes, the instructors, and the techniques. I decided to focus on "metal working" classes to horn my skills in this media which I think will complement beautifully my current gemstone jewelry.
















Stay tuned for the projects that I will be doing in the classes and see which ones are successful and which ones are just a "nice try".

It's official - I'm a blogger!

Jewelry Open House at Elizabeth's


Lola Bellafores Flower Arrangement

What a greater way to share this wonderful passion for jewelry design than with a blog. I started with a newsletter and it was nice to see how everyone responded to it, but with tons of e-mail that we receive everyday, a blog is an excellent way to communicate and you can read it when you are ready.

It all started at my jewelry open house on May 2. I had a wonderful time sharing my new creations. Jewelry makes people happy and that is why I love designing it. We had refreshments and the famous pistachio cake. Lola Bellaflores showed us her beautiful flower arrangements and the workshops that she is planning to offer.

Thanks to all that showed up and enjoyed a happy afternoon with us!

Once the open house was over, Lola's husband and famous architect, Roberto Rovira, showed me how easy it was to create a blog and here it is.

See you next time.

Cheers!