Candy for the heart and soul

This is one of those posts you can't wait to write! But I had to wait...until we were shopped out and made it back home to Scottsdale from the Tucson Gem Show with our LOOT!

I know of a few friends who drive south (about 2 hours) for ONE day of bead/gem shopping and then I know of some who spend a week (and frankly, I am totally envious of them). I have to remind myself that this is my hobby... Who am I kidding?! I have many hobbies, but this is the only one where people WANT the labors of my hobby-lucky me. So I spent two full days shopping for anything that caught my eye...serious candy! There was a lot that caught my eye, actually, but the $1,000 price tag just left me salivating over that candy. 

 How in the heck??? Amazing!

no, I did not purchase this :(

 Himalayan salt crystal

 (sorry, trouble rotating this one)

 Amazonite, petrified shells, and sterling silver flower pendants

 Citrine, amethyst, druzy, flourite...

 Probably the best find my business partner found-rough, un-drilled aquamarine!

This is the booth of one of my favorite designers, Kia. She walks the walk. She travels mostly to India each year and gets dirty in the quarries to hand pick her gems and requests certain pieces be drilled, faceted, and polished to her liking. She has amazing, truly one of a kind stones. I haven't made too many pieces with them as they are rare and I have a problem parting with them. (see previous blogs about this psychological problem of letting go)

We met numerous people and I also got to speak German with a few very talented designers from...Germany! Gorgeous and unique designs of finished jewelry were literally everywhere.

The Gem Show does draw people from all over the world not only as exhibitors of precious and semi-precious stones and award winning jewelry designers but also tourists looking for "uniquities". There was some junk too; the cheap mass produced kind from China, but for the most part, there are so many super creative talented people!

I have committed to being more visible on my blog in 2017, so come back to see what I have fashioned from thousands of years of earth and pressure!

Getting Some Professional Photography

While my friend, Tiffany from His Glory Photography, was taking our family photos a few months back I asked her to take some of this necklace to put in my Blog Boutique. She made it look so beautiful and was able to capture the small flecks of blue in the labradorite pendant as well as the prism-like cubes that I love. It is mixed with black oval druzies just to mix up the shapes and textures. I couldn't upload these pics into my Blog Boutique before it sold. I so loved this necklace because it can go with so many outfits and colors that I was sad to see it go. But this "hobby" makes me sad too often!!