Brighter Than the Sun

It has arrived!  Let the heralds proclaim it, summer has arrived in my little part of the great Pacific Northwest!  And yes, I am cheering ;)  It was over eighty degrees the last two days, which usually I'm not a huge fan of temperatures that high... but I haven't been able to get warm lately, so it was nice to feel warm all the way down to my bones at last.  Unfortunately my younger daughter wasn't able to enjoy the sunshine properly, she spent the weekend fighting a high fever.  We did spend some time laying under the tree in our backyard in the shade though, she seemed to enjoy that.  Hopefully she'll be back to normal soon, she seems to be feeling much better today.  

I have three custom order bracelets that I'm dying to get to work on... but one of my bead suppliers is very backed up and hasn't sent out my order yet.  I'm quite disappointed, I've been waiting for over a week and I'm not very good at waiting.  Perhaps this will teach me to become more patient ;).  Hey, it could happen!  In order to give my needy hands something to do on I stopped in a local place briefly and picked up a set of Vintaj findings to play with.  I am really excited about the necklace that resulted!  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love old things... and old is rather relative, of course, but anything vaguely vintage strikes a chord with me.  One of my favorite periods for inspiration is the Victorian period, which tends to influence my brass pieces heavily.  Brass just has that glowing warmth that evokes the beauty of an older time for me.  So this necklace, I'm rambling, I know, has something about it that is just classically beautiful.  It's a bit Victorian, a bit Jane Austen, and maybe even a bit forties.  I've called it Sweet Jane in honour of the amazing Jane Austen herself, I think it's a heroine worthy necklace ;)  I love all of the cape amethyst, it has this soft, dreamy quality.  The polka dot agate is warm and creamy and I have become more than a bit enamored with wood beads.  They are not only deliciously light, but add an amazing richness to anything they are in.

I've also been pondering a bracelet with black and hot pink... I wanted something both very rocker and very feminine.  It's taken me a few weeks of pondering, but I love what resulted.  I took these fabulous snowflake obsidian rounds and paired them with some faceted pink ruby jade rondelles.  I considered leaving it with just those two types of stones... but couldn't resist the urge to liven it up a bit with some white opalescent stone and some faceted black stone.  I hand wrapped a pair of hot pink and black dangles and added the cutest little pewter star and... voila!  Rocker Chick was born :)  

I'm so loving it!

I have two wedding-inspired pieces that should be up this week, a bracelet and earrings.  Oh!  And I'm going to be doing a few patriotic pieces for the Fourth of July as well!  Keep an eye on my shop :)  And feel free to join the Facebook page if you haven't, I do contests/drawings at least once a month!  Have a fantastic week everyone!

~~~~Jenn

http://www.soulsfiredesigns.com