Oooookaaaayyyy...

...so I checked out all the other jewelry entries at the Fair when I dropped my stuff off on Friday.

I am SOOOO not going to win anything LOL! There was some AMAZING stuff there! Ah well, it's been a goal of mine to get something entered for about the past 3 years so at least I can say I finally got THAT done.

Good thing I never made it a goal to WIN anything ;-)

KJ

Are you going to the Orange County Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme...

(sing title to tune of "Scarborough Faire" by Simon & Garfunkel to get the full effect).

Well, this is it – Fair entry day. Seems like I’ve been thinking about this forever (well, okay, since January) and I can’t believe it’s finally here. I’ve got everything packaged up and ready to go and will be heading over to the fairgrounds after work to turn my entries in.

Here’s what I decided to enter:

"Winter Serenity"

"Nights in Black Onyx" (submitted w/o the earrings due to display space issues)

Antique Smoke

(Antique Smoke is a “maybe” assuming they let me change categories on my pre-entry form that I filled out back in April when I didn’t know for sure what items I was going to have finished.)

Frosted Fantasy (I think this one represents my best hope of winning a ribbon)

So, if you live in the OC area, stop by the Orange County Fair starting on July 11th and check out my entries along with all the other beautiful jewelry I’m sure will be there.

And if you don’t live in the area…at least wish me luck.

Who knows, I might even win something ;-)

Happy weekend, everyone!

KJ

Birthday Shoes!

Haven’t written about shoes for a while, but since I’ve now seen the “Sex & the City” movie and I have birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, it seems like a good time to re-visit my favorite obsession. Y’see I just love the way shoes can be so expressive. There’s a shoe out there for every personality and every mood.

Don’t believe me? Just take a stroll through the zappos.com website like I just did in search of the perfect summer sandal. Lots of great choices, but I’m down to these:

Or, I can go with this pair if I want to be more impractical (and really, should practicality EVER enter into the selection of a great pair of shoes? Carrie Bradshaw and I both say “NO” to that).

Don’t these just look like a hot summer day on vacation in Greece or some tropical island? Where’s my umbrella drink?!

I have a new sundress with touches of pink and green in it so I thought these might be a good choice:

Plus, they’ll also go with jeans or with my other dress that’s black and white – as an alternative to red shoes. I think pink patent leather is also the perfect antidote to the “I just broke up with my boyfriend blues.” Not that I have those (any more).

But wait, there’s more…because when I said EVERY personality, I meant it.

Like for when you want to channel your inner hooker:

These shoes are called “Lustful” and are made by a company called “Promiscuous” (and no, I'm not making that up). Gee, wonder what market they’re targeting?

And, of course, you don’t have to stop there. You can also channel your inner drag queen:

I’m not sure what’s more disturbing – that these boots actually exist (in two colors no less) or that both colors are out of stock…scary.

Of course, it IS possible to be sexy and hot without slipping over the edge into "trashtastic" as these amazing shoes by Guess clearly indicate:

These are definitely in the running as contenders for "best use of Kelly's birthday money."

Then there’s simply the “I’ve lost my damn mind” shoe:

Because these lovelies by Guiseppe Zanotti cost almost $1,000. Even Carrie Bradshaw might be taken aback by that price. Unless she was too busy whispering “Hello, lover” to the shoes to notice the price tag.

But then again, NYC has public transportation. I need that $1000 to put gas in my car for the next two days.

Stupid high gas prices!

KJ

Music: “Bring Me Some Water” by Melissa Etheridge

Happy Birthday...

...to me!

And, in honor of my birthday (and, let's face it, old people everywhere), I'm offering a 1 day only, people-who-read-the-blog-only birthday discount!

Anyone who orders between now and midnight tonight will get an extra 10 % off anything on the site! Just remember to put "birthday discount" in the memo section of your order. The discount will be applied when I ship the order (so the initial order confirmation you get will not reflect the discount, but be patient, grasshopper, and you will be rewarded).

Okay, go shop!

And wish me a Happy Birthday!

KJ

Pictures are...

...the lazy blogger's best friend.

The cab on this is dichroic glass. I added bead embroidery with seed beads, Czech firepolish crystals and a twisted edge stitch. The necklace features Czech glass rondelles and faceted green fluorite "coins."

KJ

Latest and greatest

...or not. You be the judge ;-)

This is that beautiful strand of snakeskin jasper that I picked up at the Rings & Things show a couple of months ago. I added faceted smokey quartz rondelles, some Thai silver spacers and stunning Thai silver flower pendant. The clasp is also Thai silver. It's an S-hook style with a starflower on top.

Another Thai silver pendant - this one is a fish. I've added some Thai silver sea snail charms to keep the "ocean" theme alive and then I wire-wrapped an assortment of Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls and Czech faceted glass as accents. The clasp is another S-hook. This one is accented with a snail design.

Both are available for sale on the website as of this morning.

KJ

Music: The lovely sounds of the drywall guy sawing my dining room ceiling apart.