Appreciation...

I got really excited when summer first started because I seriously thought that I would finally have some time to relax and enjoy myself but of course, with the way that I am, I started packing my schedule with things and I'm now finding myself to be busier than ever!  *sigh* It doesn't help that my master's program has started, so I've been going crazy spending hours studying every single day :P

Anyway...when I'm really busy and tired, I think I have a tendency to get grouchy and negative so lately, I've been all about trying to remind myself to take a break and appreciate everything that I have :)  My schedule was a little busy today and I had to rush to the store to pick up something.  Normally, driving can really stress me out especially when I feel like I'm racing against the clock but while I was stopped at a signal light today, I realized just how gorgeous my view was and I realized that I'm so fortunate to be able to live in paradise even though it can get a little crazy sometimes!  I think if this was my view all of the time, I wouldn't mind being stuck in traffic as much!

Memory wire bangle bracelets!

So much new jewelry and so little time to post!  I've been selling jewelry at events in Waikiki since the beginning of this year and every step of the way, I've had a ton of support from my family.  I definitely couldn't have grown my business without them, especially my mom, so this post is in dedication to her!  :)

For my last event, she got really excited to make and sell her own jewelry, so she created these beautiful memory wire bangle bracelets.  Customers absolutely loved them and raved about how cute they were.  Because they're made of memory wire, they're open with no clasp to fasten closed, but they still stay on your wrist and can fit any size comfortably.  These are perfect if like me, you are always challenged in trying to fasten bracelets to your own wrist and instead have to ask someone else to help you :P  They come in a variety of beautiful colors and if you don't see a combination that you like, you can message me in my shop and a custom bracelet can be made just for you.  They look great worn alone as well as stacked together with other bracelets.

I just posted the first four out of many more to come, so check back again to see the rest of them :)

Please check them out on my Etsy shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/

Sandy Beach Charm Bracelet

I really love wearing jewelry that has a lot of movement and is fun to wear which is why I absolutely love charm bracelets!  There's something so satisfying about hearing and feeling it shaking around on your wrist and of course, they're also really beautiful too, just like jewelry should be.

Part of the Sandy Beach series of Skinny Pig Designs, this charm bracelet is made of a combination of glass in blue to represent the ocean, green for swaying palm trees, and tan for warm sand. Together with white seashells and silver chain, this bracelet has a lot of movement and is really fun to wear! All of this is fastened with a lobster clasp.  Please check it out in my Etsy shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/ :)

Waikiki Artfest!

There's been a bit of a delay since I was last able to blog because I had been bogged down in preparing to sell jewelry at The Waikiki Artfest!  It was a wonderful weekend of handcrafters and artists who sold their creations at their booths at Kapiolani Park.  The weather was so beautiful and we were so close to the beach, so I truly felt appreciative to be selling jewelry in the midst of paradise!

A little stress relief...

It's funny how I seem to have a knack for overloading my schedule and making myself super busy and stressed out, especially during vacation times when I probably should be relaxing and taking a break.  Between school, jewelry making, and my religious activities, I was really feeling overwhelmed this past week but this morning, I found that it's important to take little breaks throughout the day to keep me from going crazy.  With that, my new stress relief has been looking at pictures of animals with glasses on!

Hope this helps all of you brighten your day, even if just a little :D

Debut of Sandy Beach Series!

As promised a few days ago, I have finally posted up in my Etsy shop the first two items in my Sandy Beach Line!  I'm excited to share that these two are a matching set of earrings and a necklace.  The earrings are absolutely gorgeous and the beautiful sterling silver chains give it lots of movement making it really fun to wear.  Long necklaces have become really popular lately, so I made the matching necklace on a 24 inch sterling silver chain, so that the pendant part rests beautifully in the middle of your chest.  It's such a bummer that the pictures don't show how much these earrings sparkle!  I wish that everybody had the opportunity to see how gorgeous they are in person!  This set would be perfect to wear with any summer outfit!  Please check them out at my shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/ :)

Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail

Yesterday was a state holiday, so my boyfriend and I decided to take a hike on the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail.  I'm not really sure if you would call it a real hike since the path is paved, but it's a little steep since it does go up a cliff, so you get a good workout and all ages can enjoy it.  The view was so beautiful and it reminded how fortunate I am to have spent most of my life here in Hawaii!  Crystal blue waters, bright fuchsia bougainvillea flowers, and lush green foliage...so much inspiration for me to make more jewelry!  Each piece in Skinny Pig Designs is always inspired by my surroundings here in Hawaii, so I'm looking forward to making and sharing many more jewelry pieces soon!

Photos of our hike yesterday...

New Jewelry Line!

It goes without saying that Hawaii has a lot of really beautiful beaches.  Warm yellow sand, cool blue-green water, and swaying green palm trees...these were the inspirations for my new Sandy Beach jewelry line.  Using a combination of green, blue, and honey colored czech glass together with a variety of seashells, this new line consists of several different sets of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.  I'm really excited to show off these pieces, so check back tomorrow as I'll start posting photos of all of them here!

A bit of jewelry history...

I read an article today from National Geographic News that said that the oldest known piece of jewelry was found in Morrocco and dates back 82,000 years ago.  The fun part of it was that the jewelry was made of Nassarius shells, which is the same kind of shells that I like to use in many of my jewelry pieces, 82,000 years later!  Reading this sparked an idea in my head that maybe one day, I'll try do a line that is inspired by jewelry pieces throughout history.  Fashion trends truly do repeat themselves, even thousands of years later! :)

The full article can be found here on the National Geographic News website.

Here's one of my necklaces made with the Nassarius shell.  It's actually one of my most popular items and can be purchased in my Etsy shop here.

Celebrity Tweeting

I've had a Twitter account for a long time but never really figured out how to use it.  Recently though, I've gotten obsessed with following bloggers which led me to trying to better acquaint myself with more social media platforms other than just Facebook.  While I was playing around on Twitter just now, I noticed that there was a tweet from Taylor Swift since she was one of the first people that I started following.  Has a random person ever followed you and then you followed them back just because?  Made me wonder, would Taylor Swift ever follow any of her random followers???  I know it sounds insane, but I think as I'm sitting at my desk and making jewelry tonight, I'm going to ponder the deep question of what would it take to get Taylor Swift to follow my Twitter feed???  hehehe...  :)

Just enjoying a casual pre-show hang with this butterfly right now. http://t.co/zzCnk6TVRG
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 9, 2014

Pink Crystal Beach Bridal Set

I love taking something earthy and mellow and spicing it up a bit by adding some sparkle and bling!  This is especially true for when I'm creating jewelry pieces with seashells.  For my newest creations, I took a white cockle seashell and dangled it together with a silver rhinestone ball and a pink chandelier bauble.  I put these on an 18 inch sterling silver necklace and made some matching earrings to go along with it, making this set perfect as beach bridal jewelry!

Both the earrings and the necklace are available for purchase along with many of my other handmade jewelry pieces at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/