I have a deep love for pearls that almost rivals my love for metal. 

While my jewelry aesthetic is far from traditional, I am in LOVE with all pearls, classic and otherwise. Here’s why…

• I love pearls because the shimmery, pitted surface reminds me of what I love most about metal. 

• I love them because they come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and types. There are SO many lovely options to get my design juices flowing. 
• I also love pearls because they are unique and mysterious in their own particular way.

You may already know a bit about how pearls are formed, but here are a few morsels you might not have known:

1. Did you know that they’re the only gemstone to come from a living creature? 
2. Freshwater pearls come from mussels, while saltwater pearls come from oysters.
3. The process begins when an irritant finds its way inside the mollusk in both freshwater and saltwater pearls.
4. This irritant or particle is the nucleus of the pearl, right from the very beginning.
5. As a defense mechanism, the mollusk begins to coat the irritant with a substance called nacre.
6. Nacre is made up of a substance called aragonite that creates the iridescence you see in pearls.
7. The mollusk continues to coat the irritant with thousands of layers of nacre over two to four years.
8. When the pearl is fully formed, it’s carefully removed with the intention of not harming the mollusk. 

Pretty amazing when you think about it, right? A little ocean creature covers a small irritating pebble with a beautiful, magical substance that makes them smooth and shimmery, and irresistible.

For as long as I can remember, I've used pearls as accents in my jewelry designs. As I’ve grown and evolved as a designer, pearls have become a core focus for my collections. I love the gray Tahitian pearls with pits and lines and rainbows. The Edison pearls are beautifully iridescent with warm peachy, yellowy tones. South Sea pearls are soft pale yellow, and the Fireball pearls look like little comets. The rustic and organic surfaces that I select to use in my work contrast beautifully with my metalwork’s smooth, industrial style.

I hand select the pearls and have my own pearl drilling machine to drill them, leaving the most beautiful part exposed. If I leave the drilling to the pearl seller, they will assume I want to cover up the part of the pearl that has the most texture. This couldn’t be further from the truth. My favorite pearls are the ones with the most beautiful pits and imperfections. I choose to celebrate those imperfections for their unique qualities and the effort it took to get them from their rough “irritant” beginnings to me, in all their imperfect beauty.

This month, and every month really, let's honor the noble pearls for their beautiful perseverance and all their grit and glory!

Shop the Pearl Collection now to find a lovely, shimmering pearl necklace, charm, or earrings to match your style and personality!

You can be a jewelry designer! Do you like the sound of that? I created my Chains and Charms collection so that the wearer could become the designer. With just the right hand-selected components and a little creative inspiration, you can create several different looks and styles using just a few pieces.

There’s a Chain and Charm to Match YOUR Style! 

Chains

My collection includes several different chain options to inspire and suit your style and taste, including:

• Long chains and short chains 
• Delicate chains and chunky chains 
• Hand-crafted chains and manufactured chains
• Mixed metal chains and sterling silver chains

Charms

I LOVE making charms and there’s always a wide variety of options available in charms: 

• Big charms and little charms
• Long charms and short ones
• Mixed metal charms and sterling silver charms 
• Varying shapes and sizes using gorgeous gemstones 

Designing your Chain and Charm Necklace is EASY and FUN!

Remember, you’re the designer, so you design to your heart’s content! 

There is no wrong way to style your piece. It’s YOURS! 

Here’s my favorite way to style a Chain and Charm necklace, and it’s a great way to dip your toe into designing, and to get started: 

1. Select your chain - Long, short, delicate, or chunky. It’s up to you!
2. Choose one long charm - Gemstone charms are available in many options like opal, aquamarine, turquoise, citrine; you name it, I probably have it.
3. Choose one short charm - Pearls are great for the short option. They add beautiful dimensionality and a touch of soft color. 

You’ll see just how easy it is. With just these three components, the possibilities are endless, creative, and perfectly adjustable to suit your mood. 

I love to pair a longer gemstone with a pearl and cluster them together. Or sometimes I’ll hook one charm higher and the other lower to give the illusion of long and short, all in one fantastic necklace. 

Want to show your wrists some love? 

Chains and Charms are for bracelets too! Add a few smaller charms to a bracelet chain for a beautiful one-of-a-kind look. If you have several charms, you can attach more than one, wear them together, or swap them out depending on your outfit or mood.

 

Chains and Charms are fully customizable to suit your mood or outfit!

The possibilities are endless! I have collectors who have created unique and distinctive looks with their Chain and Charm collections. 

My friend and model, Julie, selects stones that feel good to her on any given day. She’s entirely in tune with the metaphysical and healing properties of the stones. She has that superpower and puts together some beautiful pieces using her intuition as her guide. 

Find your Inspiration!

Are you ready to test your jewelry designer skills?  It’s easy, fun and SO satisfying! Get started today with a chain and one charm. When you're ready for more, add to your collection. I’m regularly adding new charms to my website every couple of weeks, so there’s always something new and beautiful to add to your collection.

“In this world, I am happy. I can be myself without judgment. No rules for how I should behave, what I should say, or how I should look.”

Just shy of 15, she’s not a kid, but also not an adult. She’s trying to figure out who she is, in relation to the universe. Her friends may be preoccupied with boys and trying to decide how to feel about them. Most of the girls have insecurities about body image. They wonder, are we pretty enough, tall enough, or skinny enough? Is our hair too curly or straight enough? Is anything about us enough?

She feels boxed in by society and social norms. Everybody gets put in a category because that understanding puts others at ease. But for a young girl like her, she craves freedom and fluidity.

Still a child in many ways, and dependent on adults, the love affair with her horse provides a sense of being in control and independence. She feels confident and free. Learning to control a 1,200-pound animal is empowering, and that feeling extends to all parts of her young life.

It’s a sense of adventure and an escape from things she wishes she didn’t have to pay attention to. She’s in control, in a world that otherwise tells her what do to. It’s freedom and self-direction, something every young teen craves.

How can you describe the connection between a horse and a girl, not yet a woman?

It’s a feeling, far deeper than words.

It’s unconditional love and admiration for a majestic beauty, with enviable confidence that’s innate, and that humans can only wish for.

It’s a best friend who accepts you as you are, no matter how you look. It’s the eyes that say “trust me, I will never hurt you,” from rider to horse, and horse to rider.

It’s the unspoken words, “we can accomplish anything together, we can go anywhere and need little else to be happy.”

Others might not understand. Why would we expect them to? The horse and the girl, in their own little world, surrounded by snow but still warm. Unaware of anything but each other. You take me as I am. You don’t question my love, affections, or motives. We’re good to each other, and that’s enough.

The chill in the air is not a bother. Together in their little world, there is nothing else that matters. The sun on her face reminds her to breathe and cherish the moment. She is where she should be, and she is enough of everything.

It’s every little girl’s dream. Right up there with becoming a princess, nearly every little girl dreams of having a horse of her own. When I was a child I had a total fascination with horses, and with their beauty and grace. I had an intense desire to ride and learn to jump, but aside from a few years of dressage lessons, I never got to do any of these things. Still, the dream persisted for years.

I can still feel it and remember it vividly. As a child, pure and innocent, I imagined the connection I’d have to my very own horse. Like something out of a dream, I could almost feel the soft, thick mane, the natural woodsy scent and the sweet smell of warm breath while I snuggled and kissed my horse. I even had a book, The Love of Horses, that further influenced my strong desire to have my own horse.

This connection between a horse and a young girl is powerful. While some little girls collect Barbie dolls, others were meant to ride. My dear friend Julie, owner of Firefly Horse Co. is living out that little girl’s dream. She grew up on a farm, with her own horses, and now owns a beautiful horse farm. She’s grown into an amazing rider, and an equine therapist as well. Through her deep connection to nature and horses, Julie helps her clients, many of them children, approach and cope with life through grace, self-control and compassion. Invaluable lessons for a purposeful life.

Julie can attest to the lifelong dream and magic of riding and owning a horse. There’s a reverence, and awe, in the presence of these majestic animals, with their strength and wisdom. They are gentle, calm and soothing, but large and powerful at the same time.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll journey along this path, into a new year. I invite you into this magical world, as Julie’s story unfolds. Together we’ll celebrate our shared connection to nature and mother earth, with kindness, self-love and hope. 

I encourage, and welcome your interaction. Imagine yourself inside this majestic place, surrounded by nature and beauty. Be still. Stay in the moment. Tell me what you see and how it makes you feel.

Without my family, my friends, and my collectors, the past year would have looked very different…

The love part…

Gemstones are amazing! Each with their own juicy, colorful goodness, plus so many shapes and sizes. I also love the symbolism of each stone, and I think about this when I’m in my creative zone. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you love your birthstone. I don’t happen to love Emeralds, my birthstone, and I’m pretty sure my hubby would never wear Pearls (giggle).

The ish part…

The meaning behind birthstones, has been somewhat randomly assigned by the commercial jewelry industry, to sell more jewelry. Sometimes there are many different interpretations for each stone, so this is kinda sketchy. So, what if you don’t love YOUR birthstone? Are you just S.O.L.? No way. If the meaning of another birthstone resonates with you, go for it. If you were born in July, but you love the rich golden color of Citrine, don’t listen to anyone’s stinkin’ rules. Buy the damn Citrine.

That said, I’ve set aside the ish part, and I’ve challenged myself to make small capsule collections of birthstone jewelry each month, in my own edgy, industrial signature style. On my bench right now, I’ve got some beautiful Opal and Pink Tourmaline for October, Citrine for November and Turquoise for December. Garnet, Amethyst and Aquamarine stones are gathering in their trays for the beginning of 2021. I think you’re gonna LOVE the combination of cut, fine stones, combined with gritty, mineral specimens and stone slices. 

Just for fun, I’ve compiled a list of traditional birthstones, and their meanings below. Several months have more than one birthstone. Keep in mind, gemstones often have more than one meaning or interpretation.

Before you go, make sure you sign up for my VIP Insiders List to get updates on these new monthly capsule collections. I’ll be sending updates the first Thursday of each month to show you the collection for that month. VIP's get to see it first, so don’t miss out!

Birthstones by Month:

January

• Garnet:  Believed to bring safety to the wearer during travel. Good health, wealth and happiness. 

February

• Amethyst:  Strengthens relationships and brings the wearer courage. Personal empowerment and inner strength.

March

• Aquamarine: Purity of spirit and soul.
• Bloodstone:  Brings health and strength

April

• Diamond: Everlasting love. Courage, clarity and strength.

May

• Emerald: Wisdom, growth and patience. 

June

• Pearls: Purity.
• Alexandrite: Good luck, fortune and love.
• Moonstone: Love, passion and fertility. 

July

• Ruby: Love, passion and youthful energy.

August

• Peridot: Strength, shielding from evil
• Spinel: Eases anger, promotes harmony
• Sardonyx: Courage, happiness and clear communication

September

• Sapphire: Purity and wisdom. Sincerity, truth and faithfulness

October

• Opal: Purity, hope and truth
• Pink Tourmaline: Artistic expression, compassion and love

November

• Topaz: Long life, beauty and intelligence
• Citrine: Soothe tempers, brings calmness 

December

• Turquoise: Health and good fortune
• Tanzanite: Transformation
• Zircon: Promotes sleep and scares off evil spirits

 
If you really wanna geek out on all the juicy details, you can read more about gemstones here on the GIA Website.