handknits for nerds.

My husband is such a techie. He loves fancy electronic gadgets. A lot of his free time is spent on tech sites where he oogles and drools over the newest toys.
Well, until recently he has had the worst cell phone imaginable. Picture a small silver cell phone, the screen is about an inch wide, and there are no high tech capabilities whatsoever. I don't even think it has a camera on it.

(1999 called. They want their cell phone back.)

Finally, this week he got a new toy. It's the brand new Droid from Verizon wireless, and he loves it. The problem with a new phone though, is it didn't have a case for it yet. So.. being crafty and such, I knit him one.

Handknit with super soft and squishy merino wool, it has nice ribbing at the top to prevent it from slipping out, and fits oh so perfectly.

A little andriod guy made out of wool felt waves to you from the bottom.

After numerous nudges from my hubby, I also listed one in my handknits etsy shop. See if there are more nerdos like him who would like one.

He said it's robolicious. What do you think?

Lost in life..

Ever feel like you are so busy doing other things in life you miss out on the little things?

Here's a pic of my little boy. He's 16 months old this month, and oh, so curious!

the beach bride

My husband and I got married on Po'olenalena beach in Maui three years ago. I remember how frustrating it was to try to find a beach wedding appropriate dress within my budget.

Luckily for me I found a Nicole Miller dress on ebay that was $150. SCORE!

Luckily for modern beach brides, these days there are easier options. I found browsing the internets:

Carly Dress
Jordy Dress

Sophie Dress

Riri Dress

Sienna Dress

Fighting Eel's bridal collection. Gorgeous beach bride attire and gorgeous dresses for your bridesmaids as well, all under $200. Best of all, they are made in Hawaii!

Featured!

Featured as a staff pick on 1000 markets! :)

See my Romantique Smoky Topaz Cocktail Ring on the left side? Yay!

Metaphysical

Since I've started making jewelry I have been drawn into the metaphysical properties of natural gemstones. It's fascinating, really.

Of course, many of these stem from folklore passed on for generations and generations, but it's insightful to know the history of these stones. Not only are they beautiful, but they have healing properties as well? I don't know about you- but that's enough to make me wear more jewelry. :)

For example:

10 mm pink amethyst cabochons

Did you know that amethyst is able to relieve worries & anxiety? It's also known to enhance mental strength. It's a powerful crystal that encourages purification, calm, and transition and transformation.

Popular wearers include Cleopatra, whom wore it as a ring. Another is Leonardo Di Vinci, whom believed in it's powers and wore it as a protective talisman (against evil thoughts and to encourage intellect).

The thing is, in order for to benefit from the metaphysical properties of the actual gemstone you need to have the gem come in contact with your skin.

This insight inspired my new! line of rings, necklaces and bracelets. All of the jewelry in this collection will have open back bezels, which allows contact between you and the beautiful gem.

Look for some sneak peeks in the coming week(s)!

1000 Markets!

Yay! My store is now live on 1000 Markets.

If you haven't been, its a wonderful new (to me) webstore for handcrafted goods. It's a great site, very modern and user friendly. It's a juried site, so in order to join the markets, you will have to submit to a jury process. It's full of beautiful work, gorgeous images, and just all around lovely stuff.

I heart 1000markets.

Come join the fun!

Leaflette-organic 14K necklace

Introducing:

Leaflette- 14K Goldfill Lariat with Sparkling Garnet Briolette

This is a new line I'm pretty excited about. I love the assymetry with the hand forged 14K gold fill leaf on only one side.

I am working on a sterling silver/ labradorite and rainbow moonstone version as well.

Let me know if you have any custom requests in mind. The gemstone possibilities are just endless!

The necklace shown is very limited edition, since I only have a few of these precious garnet gemstones available.

For sale at my shop!

Pretty in Pink

10 mm Round Pink Amethyst Faceted Cabs

14mm Square Pink Amethyst Antique Cushion Cabs

Up in my bead shop. :)

Gorgeous

Every once in a while you come across a shop that takes your breath away. masaoms is one of those shops for me.

Her work is beautiful! I absolutely love her use of raw minerals in her work. It's original and truly organic.
Chalcedony Ring

Amethyst Ring

My favorite- Aquamarine Ring

So. delicious.

Featured!

my very first etsy front page! I'm so excited! My Luxe Faceted Amethyst ring is there on the bottom right column.

It was actually up on July 10th. I just found it online. :)

hip hip hooray!

New goodies!

I've been working on some more goodies for the shop. Here are a few sneak peeks!

Sparklette-Gold fill Swarovksi Dangle Earrings

Romantique- Smoky Quartz Cocktail Ring

These and more will be listed on the shop soon!

Lovelies

find of the day:

gorgeous vases from Pigeon Toe Ceramics.

truly beautiful pieces!

Inspired by the sea

so I am sick with a horrible cold. Makes me wish for warm beachy days under the sun.

I'm working on a line beach and sun inspired even for those stuck in a office. :)

Here's the first one:

Organic seashell ring.

Looks like a smile. Makes me happy. Cast from a beautiful shell I handpicked while in Hawaii.

I need to take better pictures.

organic hammered rings

when I was little my mom used to buy me these little candy rings that you could wear on you finger and well, eat.

mine never lasted very long. :o)

these are inspired by those very same candies.

Prehnite ring with organic hammered band

Pink Amethyst with organic faceted band

I am in love with the simple look of these rings, and I LOVE the facets on the stone! yum. yum. yum.

I'm working on my etsy shop for my jewelry- amoebicjewelry.etsy.com and these babies should be listed soon! stay tuned!

bead p0rn

I finally made the jump and started up my etsy shop! Littlebeadshop will be my gemstone beads & cabochons store. So today I started listing a few items from my inventory to my bead shop onto etsy. I'll be listing some more the next few days. Here are few sneak peeks:

Gorgeous faceted prehnite round cabochons


Sparkling faceted crystal quartz cabochons

Sexy faceted Smoky Topaz cabochons

Don't you just want to eat them? Or is it just me?

There's so much back-end work with opening an etsy store! Packaging, logos, not to mention taking good pictures has been difficult as well.

This weekend I'll be working on a tutorial for a simplistic bezel set ring. Since these most of my favorite cabochons are faceted, the actual ring can be very simple. I'm debating whether a photo tutorial or a video would be easier.

Hopefully I could find some time to take some good photos of my jewelry and list those up in my jewelry etsy site. hopefully the 1 year old cooperates!

Puff Daddy

Find of the day:

Puff Daddy by Pickles

This adorable knitted stool! I'm going to knit a bunch for my 1 year old for him to sit on and throw around.

You can find this and other adorable knitting patterns on Pickles website. Most of her blog is in Norwegian, but she has a bunch of incredible (free!) English patterns as well.

crochet fabulous

If you love crochet, I'm sure you have run into futuregirl's beautiful craft blog.

I remember drooling over her crochet handbags for such a long time.

This beauty is one of her designs. Isn't it gorgeous?

I saw one of her bags in 2007 and decided I could make one. After some fidgeting, I realized- I couldn't make the dang thing lie flat on the bottom like hers did. I hid it in my craft closet next to my other failed crochet attempts.

Fast forward to 2009. I was browsing all my blogs and I found that she is generously posting the pattern for the aforementioned tote bag!!

It's called the starling bag, and it's wonderful.

Check out her awesome crochet tutorials and tons of other goodies!

too many?

I am the first to admit that I lie victim to crafting ADD.

Definition: insufferable attachment to multiple crafting obsessions. Sadly, there is no cure.

At one point or another I have had a blog/flickr page for EVERY single hobby.

One day as I was updating yet another blog, I realized that the solution is to simplify.

Welcome to my little webspace. :)

Jennie