New Designs!

Here are some awesome new styles! Please let me know if you want multiples!

($18)

($6)

($13)

($11)

The Evergreen Collection

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas–even the weather is getting that White Christmas feel. My husband is a total Christmas aficionado and the carols are already being played loudly at our house. He’s ready to get the tree up, too–I have to admit that I’m not quite as in love with Christmas as he is.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite and I generally experience a tiny sense of panic once the turkey leftovers are consumed. I mean, there are just so many people on my list and I want to get exactly the right gift for them. You know, a gift that shows them how I really see them and know who they are. So, it’s unusual for me to get really inspired by Christmas in that warm, relaxed sense.

This year is different somehow. Maybe I’m more secure in my various relationships, maybe I’ve given up on making myself stressed out. If you figure it out, let me know. In the meantime, I’d like to show you my Evergreen Collection, inspired by my husbands affinity for playing the Pandora Christmas station.

This first pair was inspired by Amy Grant’s Emmanuel, God With Us. The song starts like this: “We dim the lights / We stoke the fire / We breathe the evergreen / The young one wait / While the old ones make up / Tales of how it used to be…”

I can imagine stoking the fire and breathing in the Christmas pine with my family gathered around, maybe enjoying a nice warm cider or glass of mulled wine and enjoying the play of the firelight on my sister’s hair.

This set was created while I was listening to Rockin Around the Christmas Tree…twice in a row by two different singers! Somehow, I could just imagine my youngest nephew (1year and a bit) doing his bouncy swaying dance for the whole family as we joked over sugar cookie decorations.

This final pair came together in the silence after all the music. The wind had died down and it smelled like snow. The quiet stillness reminded me of slow dancing in the falling snow late at night. The face of my partner has long since been eroded from memory, but I remember clearly that dancing with him and that moment felt warm and safe and sacred. Just moments before, we had been laughing and joking with our friends while waiting for our parents to pick us up. We were in a parking lot and my partner didn’t have a coat. The snow was falling out of star filled sky and he caught me up in a spontaneous waltz. Sometime between “1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3” and “turn”, the dance became completely absorbing. Completely intoxicating. Completely simple. Utterly and singularly beautiful. Somehow just right.

The Pentatonix

Earrings so beautiful, you will be moved to tears. Just like when you hear Pentatonix.

New Royalty Collection

My new collection celebrates the Faery Court in all its glory. Bedeck yourself as a Queen of the Fey:

Become Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, with these iridescent black green dangles. Mab is the bringer of dreams, the power behind nightmares, the mistress of all things dark and dangerous.

Each night colored feather is topped with a multifaceted gray black crystal, reminiscent of those glittering dangerous eyes of Mab. ($18)

Next, you can clothe yourself as the Queen of Ice and Winter, she who holds the very lifeblood of the world in suspension–she who calls forth blizzards and forces Jack Frost to bow to her. ($13)

Finally, you can become the Harvest Queen, the most celebrated of the Fey. The queen who pushes back against Ice and Darkness, sustaining the world with her bounty. ($13)

New feathers and new Designs

Just in time for the holidays!

First, here’s a Thanksgiving must–gorgeous color and texture in harvest hues will be the envy of friends and family while feasting! ($11)

This pair is perfect for your Christmas ensemble–glossy green iridescent pheasant feathers on elegant silver chains ($11):

Hot Pink waterfalls

Here is my new hot pink waterfall design–this time, they are side hanging , so the feathers turn and fall almost in a corkscrew ($14):

Rehab for Your Old Earrings

Do you have earrings that you’ve worn to death? Or maybe ones that need an update to be wear worthy now? I know I do! I have several pairs that I bought on sale at Kohls, or some other department store, or had given to me. Recently, I figured out that at least four of my friends and coworkers owned the same pair of metal multiple hoop dangles that I did. How did I figure that out? Oh, by being twinsies with a couple of them at a nice party (yeah, that’s not embarrassing or anything).

I decided after that to update and rehab some of my earrings into something that would never be mistaken for someone else’s jewelry! Here’s how!

1. Choose complimentary feathers

I selected some gray guinea feathers and wrapped the shaft with a complimentary silver fold over end.

2. Attach jump rings or chains if needed, so that the feathers hang well with the earrings

I had to attach a small chain, so the feathers hung with the hoops, rather than sticking out.

3. Do a trial wear to check for proper hang and movement
I wore these to work and figured out that I needed to add an extra jump ring to keep the feathers from twisting on the chain.

Cruelty Free Feathers?!

It felt like a gimmick at first–cruelty free feathers. I’m pretty certain the birds that these feathers came from are dead now, so how can the feathers be cruelty free?

I started investigating some various suppliers and I found that cruelty-free feathers are gathered from free range and humanely raised chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and peacocks. I have to admit that I was somewhat relieved that I wasn’t somehow furthering the horrible conditions that some animals suffer in.

I also started looking at feather quality. Humanely raised birds who get fresh air, exercise, and nutritious food have shinier, more lustrous feathers. The feathers last longer, too.

Cruelty-free Peacock feathers were extremely important to me. I wanted to make sure that peacocks weren’t being cruelty denuded of their blood feathers and left to bleed out. I previously volunteered at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and I watched firsthand how horribly a peacock dies when its blood feathers are pulled.

My feather suppliers are all based in the United States. They adhere to strict federal guidelines to be able to list themselves as cruelty-free. I also get an added bonus: peace of mind that any cleaning methods and dye processes are safe.

Come to find out, cruelty free feathers aren’t quite the news worthy item that I thought they would be. It does make me feel better knowing I’m offering the highest quality feathers–and in turn, feather earrings–possible.

New Designs for the Holidays

Here are some awesome new designs that will be available in my store Monday!

New Copper and Silver Designs

Here are some new designs I finished. First up, here’s a variation of the wildly popular waterfall feather and chain earrings:

This one is a series of turkey pinions arranged around a copper hoop:

Next, I have some gray guinea feather flutters. I’m so tempted to keep these! They are very light:

Finally, I’m really enjoying incorporating peacock feathers into my designs. Here’s the latest of my flare earrings: