calla lily jewelry blog

challenge (thirteen)

callalilyjewelry — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:23:43 +0000

where I’ve been this week:

buried under the contents of these boxes

(they’re our wedding invitations!)

Julia’s wedding (twelve)

callalilyjewelry — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:08:56 +0000

Nearly two years ago, I worked on a wedding for Julia, a friend of my bridesmaid Ashlee.

Julia had picked beautiful strapless Jenny Yoo gowns similar to this in a mossy green.

source: Jenny Yoo

With a neckline that was straight across, I thought we should make use of all that available space.

I found very nearly the same color coin pearls, which are round and flat, and made a double stranded necklace with silver chain

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good close up from her pictures, but the wonderful Jenna Cole took some stand ins for me. I think they show it off quite well.

source: Jenna cole photography

Thanks again to Julia for giving me the opportunity, and to Jenna for the pictures!

because making a phone call was too easy (eleven)

callalilyjewelry — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:58:11 +0000

When it was time to ask 5 of the nicest girls ever to be my bridesmaids, I decided to get a little creative. I’d been wanting to try sewing on paper, with the new machine I got for my birthday, so I selected the oldest pictures I could find with each girl, and sewed them to a card.

and wrapped them up, so that this is what they found when they opened the envelope

It took a little time to organize, so that people were starting to wonder if they would be included (especially a certain only sister of mine). But I think it was all worth it when the mail finally arrived. (I’ve saved the voicemails, they make me smile!)

workspace (ten)

callalilyjewelry — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:55:44 +0000

ugh. Maybe this is why I’m not so “creatively active” these days. Check back, one day quite soon I’ll be fixing this.

2010 goals (nine)

callalilyjewelry — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:43:20 +0000

Note: Obviously the 100 days of blogging not exactly going as planned, but over Christmas my friend Lisa encouraged me to keep going. So I’m still keeping track, and we’ll see how it goes, how long it takes.

In order to have some accountability, I am publicly writing my goals for 2010:

1. Regular blog posts. Not ready for a daily commitment, but I’m trying for 5 a week, and I will schedule posts ahead of time to make sure it happens.

2. Workspace that is more conducive to getting work done in this house, and when we move in the summer.

3. A new logo to go with the new business cards I’ll get when I change my name in 3 months and 8 days!! Which I will then add to the website and blog so everything is consistent.

4. Be more organized with the financial aspects of selling my art.

5. Be a better poster on the blogs I read, both for the karma points and to get more visibility.

6. Do 1 more wedding or major project than I did last year, which was 3. And my own doesn’t count!

7. Establish a relationship with other local wedding vendors.

Time to get to work!

winter wonderland (eight)

callalilyjewelry — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:44:59 +0000

It’s no secret how much I adore photographer Nancy Ray, I can’t wait to hang out and shoot my bridal portraits! Her post on a recent snowy day in Boone is really inspiring me right now, to create something frosty and wintery. Maybe quartz will figure prominently. Check out the post here.

results (seven)

callalilyjewelry — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:18:53 +0000

Curious to see how last weeks Christmas decoration project went? Here are the results! I made one garland with standard size cupcake wrappers

and one with the little ones

I think I like the little ones best. The standard one is HUGE.

So, tonight we’re off to get a Christmas tree! Yay!

Time to start designing (six)

callalilyjewelry — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:03:54 +0000

My bridesmaids are all wearing different dresses from Coren Moore in silver, similar to this one

maggie dress

and a some others with a variety of necklines. The flowers will be similar to this piece from my awesome florist, Tre Bella, except with a bit more green, from rosemary.

So I need to start thinking about what jewelry they will wear. Since all their dresses are different, and they have different jewelry needs – my sis can’t wear earrings, her ears get infected very easily- I think I will do something different for everyone. I’m even thinking about doing different colors – some yellow and some green.

That’s probably all I’m going to say on the subject though, so it will be a surprise. But after, I promise we’ll have some awesome pictures of the outcome.

oops (five)

callalilyjewelry — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:32:37 +0000

Maybe trying a 100 post challenge during major wedding planning/christmas shopping was not the best idea. I’ll try harder.

Wedding recap- Heather (four)

callalilyjewelry — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:26:37 +0000

One of the things I thought I’d do to encourage more blogging is to go over previous projects and explain my process. I’ll start with Heather – friend, friend of a friend, friend of future sister-in-law, cousin of a co-worker. Heather and I know each other a lot of different ways! For her wedding in 2007, she came to me to get jewelry for herself and her bridesmaids. First, we talked about the dresses. Hers was a champagne colored silk, which she was wonderful enough to have a sample of, with Swarovski crystal beading, and her girls were wearing strapless silk dresses in a dark blue, and caring green flowers. We talked budget, so I knew what kind of materials we could work with, and then the brainstorming began.

First up, Heather. We decided on earrings and a bracelet, no necklace-so that the sparkle in the dress could stand for itself. I chose a champagne quartz for her earrings that went wonderfully with her dress, and designed a dangly earring that would pop out from under her veil

source: Leslie Koehn

Next, her bracelet – bringing in the champagne color from her dress, sparkly Swarovskis, and a little of the dark blue from her bridesmaids’ dresses.

source: Leslie Koehn

These shots are so amazing, it was great of Heather to let her awesome photographer, Leslie Koehn, to spend some time with my work!

And for her bridesmaids – we decided to do BIG earrings, in blue and green. I used peridot and iolite, on a gold hoop.

source: Leslie Koehn

Heather’s was the first wedding I completed, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I had so much fun looking at fabric swatches and deciding what to make!