Jewels of the Golden Globes 2014

Award season has started and so I've started peering at the stars ... not at their dresses, hair, shoes or makeup.. but at their jewels!  

The usual penchant for earrings was evident again, as was a heavy reliance on diamonds.  Notably the earring size is reducing, smaller sized drops were far more evident this year.

Necklaces were few and far between, but when donned, they were statement pieces.    Case in point is Sophie Vergara (above).  Her bright blue carved turquoise and diamond Lorraine Schwartz necklace was certainly big and bright and noticeable.  People either love it with her plain black gown... or hate it.   It's certainly a startling contrast and definitely showcases the necklace beautifully... and yes, it made her stand out amongst a sea of diamonds!

So, in no particular order (actually it is alphabetical by first name!)  these ladies stood out in the jewel department for wearing something just a little different...

Allison Williams wore a mix of black and white with her smaller sized drop earrings.   Diamonds in white gold and a black gem hanging below.

Amy Adams chose diamonds but with a more daring persuasion - this large (30carat) diamond pendant by Lorraine Schwartz on an extra long chain matched her plunging neckline.  Can't see the pendant? ... keep scrolling... there it is... waaaay down there!

 Angela Bassett wore black tassel earrings that co-ordinated well with her dress.

Ariel Winter chose multicoloured gemstone hoop earrings by Brumani for an exotic touch.

 Aubrey Plaza wore a beautiful collar of multi coloured sapphires by Lorraine Schwartz.

Cate Blanchett chose diamonds to go with her black lace gown... but oh, what diamonds!   Apparently Chopard also supplied her with security guards.

Dianne Wiest sparkled in golden tones - possible topaz - that sparkled with every move she made - and she moved alot.

Emma Roberts decided to contrast her sleek black gown with very large chandelier style turquoise earrings  - perhaps she had the same stylist as Sophie Vergara wearing black and blue?

Heidi Klum had a definite boho flavour to her outfit, aided by the Lorraine Schwartz necklace of black and white diamonds.

Dame Helen Mirren sparkled ALOT.  A beaded aqua gown was complemented by Bulgari emerald and diamond earrings.

Jennifer Lawrence wore an interesting white dress with black trim which has received questionable reviews, however her jade, diamond, black spinel, onyx and coral earrings by Neil Lane are universally loved. 

Julia Roberts added some old world glamour to the evening with her classic hair and makeup and rather large diamond studs by Harry Winston.  Now if you're going to do diamond studs, THIS is the way to do them!

Julianna Margulies wore black enamel, diamond and gold earrings that went beautifully with her black and gold gown. 

Kaley Cuoco wore a nice pair of ruby and diamond drop earrings

Kyra Sedgwick chose Irene Neuwirth amazonite and emerald earrings that complemented her coral coloured dress without overwhelming it.

Leslie Mann wore simple smoky quartz and gold drops

Mayim Bialik had black stone and diamond earrings... I'll take an educated guess and say they're by Kimberly McDonald - but I haven't been able to obtain confirmation yet.

Melissa Rauch also has my stamp of approval with diamond studded gold drops - diamonds but different to the standard.

Paula Patton wore some big rocks on her ears... I would assume white topaz or rock crystal quartz going by the size!

Rashida Jones chose a pearl vine style earring that climbed up her ears.

Sarah Paulson glowed in white opal and diamond earrings by Irene Neuwirth.

 Shaun Robinson chose the extra large size in earrings...

 

Tatiana Maslany chose to wear her long chain earrings from the top of and then behind her ears. An effective shortening technique!

Taylor Swift  chose ruby and diamond earrings by Lorraine Schwartz.

Uma Thurman may have had mixed reviews about her gown, but its hard to complain about her Chopard diamond earrings.

Zooey Deschanel was whimsical in Neil Lane flower shaped drop earrings featuring pearls.

So what was your favourite jewel down the red carpet?

Regaining a sense of calm, the BAFTA jewels and back to the bench

Good news - I'm slowly getting back into a routine here - some things have fallen off the everyday list though (like exercise oops!) but on the whole, there feels like there is more balance and every so often I even gain a sense of calm.

It is blissfully quiet today. Hubby left early in the plane, the kids left for school, the farm cats are napping, the working dog is quietly watching all, the cattle are in the distance happily eating. Apart from hearing the light breeze move in the trees and some distant bird chatter, all is quiet. Ahhhhh......

I caught up with the recent Awards ceremonies this week - the BAFTAs and the Grammys. The Grammys didn't do it for me - once again, all cuffs and dangly earrings. I guess these just aren't my 'scene'?

I did have high hopes for the BAFTAs, but perhaps the rainy weather got them all down as there weren't as many glamorous jewels as I had hoped for. They did have a couple of highlights - namely Jessica Alba who looked amazing in a flowing electric blue gown and wore a stunning collar of blue/green, perhaps made of azurite-malachite. Miranda Richardson wore a lovely pair of blue-green (possibly aquamarine/emerald) earrings and Thandie Newton a timeless emerald necklace. The rest was all a little ho-hum!







On the creating front I had a lovely day earlier this week with my muse perched on my shoulder whispering all sorts of great ideas. New jewels include exotic wood bracelets set off with a single big gemstone ; concoctions in amazonite (teal/aqua blue)or apatite (neon blue) and smoky quartz (brown); and a couple of pieces in deep amethyst (purple) and pink tourmaline. Then I did a couple of pearl earrings with some little sapphires to set them off. I finally went to bed close to midnight, still full of energy and wanting to create but knowing I really needed SOME sleep! I hope to get back to the bench today to do some more :D

The Connect2Mums network has recently launched a new AusMumprenuer magazine. They did a feature on Rural Mums and interviewed me as part of it. So I'm there (photo and all) on pp 28-29. They also selected some of my jewels in the fashion pages too. How exciting!

Right, best crack the whip and get back to the bench! Today's photo by the way is one of the new pieces - earrings with unusual diamond shapes of smoky quartz with a chequer facet under a mass of blue apatite gems.

Till next :)
Annette

The Patter of Rain on a Tin Roof

As I type this I hear the patter of rain in the background. Rain against a tin roof - there's nothing like it, especially when you really need it! Australia is such a big country - and while the central part of the eastern coast has been literally submerged in wet weather we have remained dry. Living on a farm makes you attuned to the weather and what it can do - and the lack of grass is having an effect, with the need for supplementary feeding. Changing the stock into new paddocks is more to give the cows a change of scenery than more feed! So, I am enjoying the raindrops for as long as they last and wish those affected on the coast could blow some more this way!!

Have you ever looked at where your web visitors come from - I've been watching my blog visitors lately and its amazing the way they find you, the most random searches - albeit for me it is something to do with either gemstones or jewellery. And the locations! There are some places I've never heard of (which I actually find rather embarrassing!). In the last week I've had lots of visitors from the UK, whereas my visitor list is usually dominated by US or Australian locations. I wonder why? Where do most of your visitors come from?

I must thank Anne of The Tall Poppy for a recent award - the Welcoming Blogger Award! She reckons I'm always popping up and welcoming newbies along and I must admit that I do like doing that - after all, you never know who you could meet!



Of course I've been doing the rounds of my arts/crafts online buddies and this week I must draw attention to two outstanding artists.

The first is Carol of The Blue Cat. Carol stumbled on my blog a few months ago, followed me over to Creative Bloggers and has been a stalwart supporter there. I love popping into her blog and seeing her gorgeous artwork - she has an affinity for our feline friends and imbues such personality into them that they are just adorable! She sells on various online marketplaces and they're certainly lucky to have such a talented artist on their books!

The other talented woman is Sayo - a fellow maker of jewellery and I just love her big silver rings with a lovely big fat natural crystal! It really appeals to the gemmologist in me I guess!!! Do check out her blog where you can see her great work - bet you buy a piece ;)

I would also like to urge any ladies downunder to join the marvellous Connect2mums network - I have already made some wonderful friends there and I'm sure I will find a lot more. It is so wonderful to have such a network for those of us down here in Australia as usually our only option for such camaraderie is based overseas. Of course, in true spirit of my above award I'm welcoming everyone aboard!

OK, I had better include a picture of something I've made recently. Ah yes, a torsade. I only make these occasionally as they are very time consuming - getting the colours just right and not just the combination, but the percentages of each colour. The last one I featured here on my blog sold the first time it was seen in real life, so I decided to make another. This one is a little more subdued in the colour, but very delectable! Made with freshwater pearls in sage, bronze-copper and cranberry, rich red garnet and some sparkling smoky quartz.

Till next :)

The Glamorous Oscars

A good proportion of the jewellery world this week are talking about the jewellery that the stars wore to the Academy Awards - and in particular Angelina Jolie's amazing Colombian emerald earrings! Although her little black dress by Elie Saab (a favourite designer of mine) was lovely - who noticed it with those glowing green HUGE earrings!

My first reaction was - 'What are her earrings?' *peering closely at the TV screen* 'They couldn't be emeralds...they're too big' *squinting, nodding my head no* 'But they look like emeralds...' *eyes widening and total disbelief crossing my face*... LOL

There were quite a few necklaces in evidence, and two huge statement pieces - Amy Adams wore a vintage (1950's) bib-style necklace of what appeared to be cabachon rubies, emeralds and sapphires; and of course you couldn't miss Taraji P Henson's 19th century diamonds.

I must say that these necklaces far outshone the dresses they wore - perhaps that is why stylists pick earrings and bracelets instead - that way the designer's dresses get noticed?

The Academy Awards were a very glamorous affair overall - although a few choices were made that may not have hit the mark completely, the general feel (at least to me) was hollywood style glamour. Was there anything that stood out for you?

It's been another busy week for me. I finally finished the gemstone - facts and lore - information on my website. I added in four new pages covering jade, jasper, jet, kyanite, labradorite, lapis lazuli, larimar, larvikite, lava, lepidolite, malachite, moonstone, moss agate, muscovite, nebula stone, nevada stone, obsidian, ocean jasper, onyx, opal, peridot, prasiolite, prehnite, pyrite, quartz - rose, rock crystal, smoky -, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, rhyolite, ruby, sapphire, serpentine, shell, sodalite, sunstone, tanzanite, topaz, tourmaline, turquoise, unakite, variscite. Woohoo, that was a job and a half. Please check it out if you want to learn more about stones!

I also got busy creating - this time pieces for my winter range. I can't believe I have my first show this weekend - the International Women's Day event being held, this year in our shire at Binnaway, a sleepy little town between Coolah and Coonabarabran.

Hilary from 57 Design Studio , a fellow jewellery designer whose blog I have read for quite a few years now, is in the midst of renovations and also has a show on this weekend. Glad to know I'm not the only one who will have to change tack after a while off and get organised for a show!

On my progress around my favourite blogs I found a post on The Tall Poppy that talks about a site called Outrageously Healthly that encourages and inspires a healthy lifestyle. I know I'm still carrying a few extra pounds from summer holiday indulgences - and designing jewellery, after all, has never been the most active way to spend the day!

Today's picture was selected in honour of little black dress events the world over - a sizeable necklace with lovely big balls of black tourmaline and an asymmetrical feature of rock crystal quartz and smoky quartz. A necklace that is bold, clean and 100% impact.

My back, ouch, my back!

My back is 'out'. OUCH. There I was, basking in the afterglow of a great show in Merriwa... I leant over to get something out of my handbag and it got me. A great big pain in the lower back. This isn't something that happens very often although it has been known to be a bit sore for a day or so. But this is ridiculous. Makes me really want to do situps to help protect it. But of course I can't. I can hardly sit down, bend down, lie down .... sheeeeesh. Anyway, it IS improving so fingers crossed by next week I'll be fine and dandy (and able to do some of those situps....)


Merriwa was fantastic. The weather was beautiful (if even a little hot) and there were lots of people who had travelled for the centenary celebrations. As I left on Saturday evening there were people piling into the showground and utes, trucks and akubras everywhere you looked. It seemed the whole community had turned out. The ladies pavillion had a few more exhibitors like myself too - Chris Mathews, a colour and image consultant from Dubbo was next to me and was on a mission to get the ladies into red lipstick (of the right tone of course) and day 2 even I, rather shyly, tried it too!

I saw lots of clients and familiar faces from last year and the committee always go out of their way to ensure we had everything we needed and were as successful as they could manage.

A question I often get asked, and of course, was asked at Merriwa, is how long does it take to make a piece of jewellery. I saw this article on Heart Harmony entitled 'it takes time to create quality' and this is so true. Even though the article is on photography, which is often seen as even more instant than jewellery, the idea is still the same.

For me, there is the time to find the stone/pearl that will feature in the piece plus the time it takes to get to me (often weeks). Firstly I weed out anything that isn't the best it can be (eg. too many inclusions, surface marks etc.) Then the creation process can vary from minutes (if lightning strikes / the stars are all in alignment lol) to days. The construction can be straightforward (under an hour) or it can be very labour intensive (hour upon hour). The piece then has to be checked to make sure it sits correctly, has the right 'look' I was after etc. before it is completely finished off. Sometimes it's not right and has to be redone. My pieces aren't churned out - each is one of a kind and I take alot of time to make sure the item is of the best quality.

Today's piece is one that inspiration was relatively quick to take but execution took a while to get the look just 'right'.

This necklace is extra long and can be worn wrapped twice or three times around your neck. Wear it at different levels or the same for extra looks. It looks particularly stunning as a choker and longer length. The smoky quartz gems in the piece are smooth clear orbs of smoky brown colour, the mother of pearl discs have a wonderful sheen and the peacock freshwater pearls have a gorgeous lustre. Lashings of 12ct goldfill balls were added in various sizes to add a richness whilst not taking away from the gems and pearls. Do you like it?

Well, the children are now on holidays for a fortnight and spring has most definitely sprung. Trees are in blossom, flowers are budding and lots of green, green grass in evidence everywhere you look. Once my back is feeling better there is lots of work to do and I'm steadily working on my website too (heee heee - so excited to unveil it shortly!).

Till next :D

A visit to Qurindi, a pearl and gem torsade and a tagging game!

I'm running a bit late with my blogpost this week...so much to do (as usual) and so little time to do it in (even MORE usual)! One day I'll be organised....HA!

I've had quite a social week this week, even though I couldn't really spare the time. But some things just have to go on the backburner for a little while don't they!? Of course I'm rushing around like a 'headless chook' now (one of my Dad's favourite sayings lol).

I am attending the Christimas in July market in the main street of Quirindi this Sunday 27 July. Not having been to Quirindi (apart from driving through it once or twice) it will be a whole new experience, with lots of new people to meet and show my jewellery to. It will be an INCREDIBLY early start as the market opens at 8am - and I am two hours drive away! But it finishes at 3pm so I will be home at a decent hour at least. Of course I always feel the compulsion to make new things for a show, so I have been busy at the bench for the last couple of weeks in readiness. Naturally, being a new 'crowd' everything I have will be new to them, but I like the 'fresh' feeling of having new things even if I am the only one who knows!

Today's picture is one of the new necklace - isn't it absolutely GORGEOUS? (Detail pic up the top)! I'm always deeply enamoured of my new pieces - only slightly biaised, promise ;). A beautiful torsade of three strands of deep lime & bronze-green freshwater pearls, deep mint green keshi pearls, faceted smoky quartz rounds and labradorite wheels and little nuggets of peridot. Scrumptious!!



On other notes, I must thank all those people who commented on my bridal necklace shown recently - such wonderful comments and obviously lots of people like bridal! I admit I do too, even though my wedding was almost 20 years ago (!) and so I thought I would share Michabella Creations bridal earrings page - she has some lovely designs that would look very chic and elegant.

I have mentioned the wonderful Mom Bloggers Club before. Well, through this site I met Celeste, who has 'tagged' me. I am supposed to list six of my quirks and then tag six other people. Well here we go on the quirks.

1. Although my mind is organised my studio rarely is!
2. I have to have a deadline or things won't get done.
3. I love to make lists.
4. I love to cross things off lists, even if it means I have to add on things that WEREN'T on it(but I've done anyway) so that I can cross them off *snicker*
5. I still haven't mastered the URGENT vs. the IMPORTANT (i.e.from the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People that I read well over a decade ago).
6. I stay in my PJs far too late in the morning in the effort to get something done first!

Here are the rules:

1. link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

OK, guys, consider yourselves TAGGED:

1. Jennifer - Happily Ever After Land
2. Cindi - Moomettesmagnificents
3. Regina - Margarita Bloom
4. Sarah - In the Trenches of Motherhood
5. Angie - Seven Clown Circus
6. Rebecca - Musings of a Mum of 4

Till next!

Smoky Quartz and relaxing with the family

Well, we seem to be well into 2008 now and I have had a wonderful, family oriented time! We have visitors - relatives and friends, some outings and lots of time together as a family. I don't tend to realise (until we get the opportunity to spend such time together) that my husband works so much and rarely gets time to do things with us. Living on a farm is like that - always something to do if it is light (and sometimes even when its dark!). But it seems acceptable at Christmas/New Year to take a step back and provided there is not something that badly needs fixing, to realise that it will still be there to do tomorrow and that family time is indeed precious. I found this lovely quote on the Modern Goddess Blog - “As far as living a healthy, happy life goes, I hold loving and being loved right up there with fresh air and water.” Oprah Winfrey. How true!

So, what have you been up to over the early part of the new year? I have been doing relaxing things like reading and watching the odd DVD when the children are off playing contentedly, or asleep. You may recall my almost breathless praise of the recent BBC production Jane Eyre when I managed to catch the first episode on TV in late November. I ended up missing the second episode and so bought the DVD so I could see it in its entirety!

I finally got to watch it just prior to Christmas and was so taken with it - the wonderful cinematography, the incredible acting by the two main characters of Mr Rochester (Toby Stephens) and Jane (Ruth Wilson) who really made you feel as if you were evesdropping on their lives, that I decided to the read the original Bronte story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and if anything it enabled me to enjoy the BBC adaptation even more. I can highly recommend watching the BBC production should you like historical dramas with a touch of romance (eg. if you liked the BBC's Pride & Prejudice - well you will LOVE Jane Eyre!)

On the jewellery front, things have been a lot more relaxed with orders the only new things being made, although having shown my rather extensive stash of gems to visitors lately, I can feel their pull and may have to indulge in my gemmie addiction shortly!

Today's picture is of the most divine smoky quartz. Huge lozenges of almost inclusion-free smoky quartz are so striking that they needed little in the way of extra adornment. So I linked each stone simply with some large linked gold-fill chain to create a timeless necklace suitable for every age.

Smoky Quartz

Firsty apologies for my tardiness - time has gotten away from me again!

There is something terribly attractive about smoky quartz. To think about a stone that is a brown-grey doesn't excite I admit, but some lovely fat faceted stones do tempt me!!! It is quite a difficult stone to match with other stones - I have successfully matched it with sage green pearls, with amethyst, citrine and rock crystal quartz and of course white pearls. But some combinations that you would think would work, just don't!

Smoky quartz in its darker forms is often called 'morion' or 'cairngorm'. The colour is caused by gamma rays either naturally occurring or artificial. As a quartz it has a good general hardness of 7 and as such is a fairly hardy stone. It occurs worldwide and has been found as crystals weighing up to 300kg (640lb)!

Metaphysically, smoky quartz is a grounding or anchoring stone and is a great antidote to stress. Lifting fear and depression it brings calmess and dissolves negative emotions. Such a beneficial stone, it should be worn for long periods, particularly as a pendant.