Our Wedding Location

In South Louisiana everyone has a 250-300+ person wedding

...so personal right?

We decided (by "we", I mean my fiance went along with what my mother, sister, and I wanted) to have a destination wedding to....

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina

with about 50-75 guests in a picturesque location. That's more like it!

I can't wait! My mom is doing fresh flowers in a color palate of grass green, lavendar, and robin's egg blue. If you like my jewelry, you'll love my wedding even more! Our families are so excited!

Now to pick a photographer, DJ or band, and so on in North Carolina. I have a lot of decisions to make!

Auntie's Beads~what a great find!

I finally found the Chinese crystal beads that I've been looking for at Auntie's Beads!

I've seen other companies offering a small selection of Chinese crystal, but Auntie's beads offers a much wider selection. They also have gemstones, pearls, swarovski crystals, findings, charms available and so much more!

If you are an avid beader, you can get a membership called the Beader's Advantage for $30 which includes FREE SHIPPING and 10% off of every order! That's such a fantastic deal. See there website below for more details.

http://www.auntiesbeads.com/

Along with the great selection of beads, they have free beading videos, articles, and other beading projects!

Engagement Announcement!

I'm engaged!!!

My boyfriend and I have been dating for over 5 years and we are engaged at last!!!

Here are pictures of the ring he surprised me with on Saturday night. He picked it out all by himself!

The wedding planning has already begun! I

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Before I began my Etsy line, I spent my time refurbishing old jewelry. When I ran out of my own, I went through my mom's old jewelry, my sister's, etc. My creativity really flourishes when I'm limited on supplies. I begin to see things that I wouldn't normally see. As my mother often says, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention."

Recently, I went to the store Express in the mall to check out their after Christmas sale and I hit the JACKPOT! I found three gorgeous necklaces that were decked with rhinestones, beads, chain, and more rhinestones. These pieces were simply exquisite, but they were a little bit much even for me. I couldn't pass up the 90% off discount (yeah...no mistaking 90% off of $148.00 for one necklace!).

The wheels began turning and I was like a kid on Christmas morning....I couldn't wait to get home and break apart these glorious necklaces and recreate them into wearable pieces! 

Here are the original photos:

The outrageous gold mesh bib...so heavy to wear!

Regular Price: $148, My Price: $16.00

 I almost fell over in this one....

 Chains, locks, keys, hearts, flowers, bows, butterflies...am I done naming all the trinkets?

Chains, chains, and more chains and a few rhinestones too

Regular Price $98, My Price $16.00

And my favorite....

Regular Price $148, My Price $16

I had the most fun with this one!

 Even beautiful to photograph, but *sigh* where was I going to wear this heavy necklace?

More to come on the refurbished pieces!

I made about 20+ wearable pieces....necklaces, bracelets, headbands, earrings, and more.

You'll see it all very soon!

Merry Christmas!

Over the years, my mom and began collecting bird ornaments here and there. Eventually, we had so many that we had a separate bird themed tree for Christmas! This year I celebrate Christmas with my very first tree and I have continued the tradition in my home.

I bought a plain snowflake tree topper, but it just didn't fit into my bird theme. So.....I challenged myself to create a fanciful tree topper that suited my bird ornaments using only what supplies I already had around the house.

Before: A NEST

After: A pefect tree topper for my BIRD TREE

 Sparkle, shine, and lots of whimsy are the only requirements to make it on my tree and maybe a bird or 10!

 Take a look closer and you'll find friends of a feather

Lady Ostrich

 

Mr. Cardinal

A royal peacock

and one of many bird houses

Kissing fish are welcome too 

and the sea horse

I can't forget about the little Santa Dachshund

 and some of Santa's helpers too!

Sampson is on the left and Mia is on the right. Samp is mad because the tree skirt can no longer serve as his napping area due to wrapped presents!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'll be back refreshed and ready for the new year....lots to do and a little relaxing too!

Can you guess the theme of my Christmas tree this year?

Here's just a tease of my tree topper this year!  I'm going for the enchanted forest on Christmas morning look.

 A little colorful owl living in my tree.

More to come on my tree topper....there's so much more to share! 

Thankful

Welcome to my first ever blog post! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me start by giving thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, Laurent, for seeing me for who I am and to my family for always supporting my creative spirit.

I'm starting this blog in an attempt to share my creative insight to those in need of a little artistic guidance. What can I offer you may ask? I can offer project ideas for your home, yourself, and others with a whimsical flare and a handmade touch. I like to invent in many mediums like jewelry, painting, interior decorating, and floral design to name a few.

Recently I've really jumped into pursuing my jewelry line, Of the Earth Jewelry, while holding down a full-time job as a Speech-Language Pathologist. There's not much time for anything else, but I manage. I just keep looking at the BIG PICTURE...happiness. I take it one day at a time and continuously ask myself, "what makes you happy?" Being creative and sharing my ideas with others makes me happy (among other things like my cuddly little doggies sitting in my lap). More to come on my pursuit to happiness....

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Randee