A very busy week!

This coming week is insanely busy for me. Yes, the wonderful, lazy days of Summer are ending, and the hectic days of Fall and a regular routine are back. My son returns to school tomorrow, so today is a day of organizing newly purchased school supplies, labeling new running shoes and figuring out what to pack in his school lunch bag for tomorrow. On Wednesday my brother- in -law, from Winnipeg, arrives to stay with us for 6 days. Thursday morning, daughter #3, leaves home and is driving back to British Columbia, for her second year of university. On Friday, our good friends from Vancouver Island arrive to stay with us for 3 days. Finally on Saturday, the reason everyone is visiting us this week is that it is my husbands 50th birthday celebration! The party is here at our house, but since we live in the country we always insist that everyone who "parties" here, stays the night. So I have our other 4 friends also staying here Saturday night as well! It is alot of planning and organizing but I know we will have a super time celebrating on Saturday night. Pin It

Labradorite

Long ago, the Inuit people (formerly known as Eskimos) believed that the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis, were once trapped in the rocks off the coast of Labrador, on Canadas' Atlantic east coast. Legend tells us that one of their ancestors released the lights, when the hunters' mighty spear broke open the rocks and set the colorful lights free into the sky. However, some of the lights remained trapped inside the rocks, and that became what is now the beautiful iridescent stone known as Labradorite! It is named after the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, after its discovery there in 1770. Labradorite, also known as one of the "gems of winter", is also found in other parts of Canada, the US, Mexico, Norway, Finland, Australia and Madagascar. This beautiful stone is said to energize the body, and bring good luck, wisdom, intuition and protection to the wearer. Labradorite is one of my very favorite stones, and I was fortunate to come across a couple of lovely Labradorite pendants, while shopping in Victoria, on my recent vacation. They are completely different, with one having some gorgeous cobalt blue colors that shimmer in the light, the other has fantastic flashes of greens, golds and blues! I am looking forward to using these stones in my Fall designs. Pin It

Looking ahead to Fall

I am back, trying to settle into some sort of routine after an amazing vacation. Thank you to all those loyal entrecard droppers who continued to drop in on my blog while I was away! It is very much appreciated! Back to reality and I am getting myself recharged for the Fall season. No, I am certainly in no rush to end summer...especially here where I live, where the warm carefree days of wearing shorts and sleeveless tops are numbered. However, being refreshed and full of ideas, I need to get designing jewelry, for the Fall shows. I was recently accepted into a juried art show in Calgary that will be held in November, as well I have a couple of other Christmas art markets that I also will be attending. Although many days of my vacation were spent relaxing and enjoying the wonderful nature and scenery of beautiful British Columbia, I did manage to sneek in a couple of shopping days! This was also excellent research for checking out the Fall trends and colors for this coming season. Jewelry is big and bold for Fall and winter 2009. The bigger the better! Large statement pieces, especially necklaces, dominated the runways for Fall.

Check out these designs by Marni and Dolce & Gabbana:

Long necklaces are a very hot fashion accessory this autumn, either wear a single big, chunky piece, or combine several strands of beads or chains for an eclectic layered look. Important colors in Fall fashion are black, gray, blue, red, and purple.

Of course no vacation would be complete without managing to pick up some fabulous new beads! So I am going to be very busy for next while. Pin It