Sunday, December 18th, 2011

Thoughtful Husband of the Year Award

That’s a tough title to receive in my books. This one is well deserved.

This summer, my husband’s friend, Zubin, emailed me from New York to see if I could work on an anniversary gift for his wife Ushta. They were about to celebrate their 5 year anniversary, coming back to Toronto and he wanted something special to give to her. I have to say that I don’t work with many husbands, boyfriends, sons…. men in general… so when I do, it’s a pleasant change. I get excited because I know the ladies involved will be impressed with a gift that doesn’t involve electronics, home appliances or external hard drives. (Side note. I myself have received two hard drives from my husband since we got married a year ago. They’re both still in the wrapping.)

Back to Zubin.

He liked the Peacock Bracelet, but he asked if we could do something similar with different colours.

I opened my email one morning and this photo was waiting for me. He wanted to use their wedding flowers as the inspiration for the jewellery. (swoon!)

Get ready ladies, because the next email I got was a photo that Zubin snuck with his camera phone while Ushta was out. It’s a photo of the earrings he said she wore the most. He wanted me to get a sense of her style so I would know what to come up with. Seriously. See why he gets the award?

I had a lot of fun with it all and used some purpley crystals I bought when I was in Czech Republic several years ago. Some Amethyst, really cute glass leaf pieces that I bought in London on our last trip there… some great purple pearls… Swarovski Crystals… I went to town with every colour of purple I have. Here’s some quick pics of a few of the samples I made.

The choices went over really well and Zubin let Ushta choose which set she wanted most. We had a great visit and I made great friends with their 1 year old son, adorable little Neville, who is quite the charming little ladies man.

Gorgeous Gray Wedding

Roisin and I spoke on the phone and connected over email to come up with the jewellery for her bridal party. She wanted personalized pieces for her bridesmaids who were going to be wearing different gray dresses for her big day. I personally love it when bridesmaids wear different dresses. The below photos are quick iPhone shots I took while making the jewellery. I take notes in my sketchbook and print out images of the dresses.

Roisin was very thoughtful and described her bridesmaids jewellery styles and dresses and what she thought they would like.

This bracelet is made from vintage beads, crystal and glass pearls. It’s fun because you can dress it up or down and she’ll be able to wear it a lot after the wedding.

 

 

The necklace to the right is made with Fresh Water Pearls, Glass Pearls and Sterling Silver. For Roisin’s sister, I added some interest with the ribbon that she could take off or leave on. I loved the dress she picked- and I guess we have similar taste- we later found out her sister was a customer of mine and already had some of my jewellery. I love it when that happens.

 

 

 

 

These earrings are classics. Swarovski Crystal, Fresh Water Pearls and Sterling Silver. I think she’ll get a lot of wear out of these little ladies.

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, Roisin’s great dress from JCrew. Simple and elegant Fresh Water Pearl Studs, with a matching single strand bracelet and a necklace that can be worn doubled up (as shown) or as one long strand.

 

 

 

 

***I do apologize for the quality of some of my photos. They’re taken with my iPhone because my other camera died while we were in Panama on our honeymoon.

*****The good news is that I finally bought a new, used camera from my good friends, Dan and Mark. So eventually when I’m all caught up with my blogging, my photos will be a lot prettier. Maybe even one day they will be almost as pretty as these or these.

Bright and cheerful

Catherine’s niece got married this summer and thoughtfully, she wanted to buy the bridesmaid jewellery as her wedding gift. Through emails and exchanging photos, we worked together to come up with something the whole wedding party would like. The dresses were a light purple, short and cute for a summer wedding.

The bracelet to the left is something she already had that we used as colour inspiration. She wanted a piece like my peacock bracelet with more purples and pinks.

This is what we came up with and I’m looking forward to seeing some photos of the jewellery at the wedding itself.

It’s also nice hearing back from clients, here’s a lovely little note from Catherine after her niece received her package of goodies.

Hi Heather,

I wanted to tell you my niece received the jewellery last week and LOVES it all.   She is so excited to give it to her bridesmaids.
Thanks again, I’ll send pictures in the fall after the wedding end of Aug.

Have a great long weekend
Catherine

Long, long time.

There’s no sense apologizing for not writing because that would assume that you missed the posts and who knows whether they’re even that great yet!

It has been awhile though and I have a lot to catch up on. I worked on some great weddings this summer and even a couple from summer 2010, so I’m going to add some photos, write some snippets and hopefully give you some eye candy to help you procrastinate whatever it is that you’re putting off while looking through the internet;)

Thank you for visiting after all this time. And if this is your first visit, welcome to Ecstatic’s blog. I’m Heather. I make jewellery and love to promote talented people running small businesses. I hope you enjoy.

 

Over the years, as my jewellery collection gets bigger and bigger, it’s been a little challenging to keep it all organized, easy to see… and not scattered around my bedroom, bathroom, coffee table, desk…. I think you know what I’m talking about. Some of you have asked me to sell some of my jewellery displays, others ask how I keep things organized. I thought I would share with you a sale that my best friend sent me today.

Umbra Jewellery Displays are on sale for 20% off at Kitchen Stuff Plus. I like their stands because they’re clean lined, modern and keep necklaces upright and untangled. It’s worth checking out, and it’s also a great idea for gifts. Mother’s day is coming up, so you could buy yo’mama a bracelet and jewellery stand- and she would love you even more than she already does.

Everyone loves chocolate…

Welcome back after a little blog hiatus. I hope you’ve been keeping well. It’s so nice seeing the first signs of spring come to bloom. Snow Drops and Crocus are my favourite.

Dessert is also my favourite, so I was pleased when I saw this chocolate treasury with one of my bracelets included. Have a peek:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d9dd445668d8eef7047433b/chocolat?ref=pr_treasury

Chocolat

Enjoy the rest of your week;)