Vintage Treasure Necklaces

I love vintage earrings and pins and have a hard time parting with them. I have a stash that keeps on growing, so I decided to make some necklaces to supply the stores that I sell in locally.

I buy quite a bit of my vintage pieces from a local antique store, Westerville Antiques - it's so fun haggling with Mike over the price of the pieces!

Here are a couple of the necklaces I made - I kept them simple to highlight the beautiful vintage piece.

10 Golden Rules of Successful Aging

I saw this list in a Martha Stewart magazine - with all of the lists and sound bites of what we have to do or take to live a longer life, it can get pretty overwhelming. What's good-for-you-one-day, isn't good-for-you-the-next-day, and the billion dollar industry from all the must-have vitamins and supplements ..... don't get me started!!

This list makes the most sense because it's all common sense!

1.  Eat well
2.  Maintain a healthy weight
3.  Stay physically active
4.  Get quality sleep
5.  Wear sunscreen
6.  Collaborate with a good primary-care doctor regularly
7.  Find your passion
8.  Connect with others
9.  Stop complaining - change what you can, and accept what you cannot
10. Stay curious

7000 Bracelets for Hope

ZnetShows offered their design team the opportunity to contribute bracelets for The Global Genes Project, a patient advocacy organization that supports those who are affected with rare and unusual genes.

Their symbol is a blue jean ribbon, so we were asked to pick two different sea glass, crystal or pearl beads and make bracelets.

I picked cultured sea glass oval ring beads in light sapphire and Chinese crystal octagon beads in light sapphire.

I chose the sea glass oval bead so I could use it as the toggle, and added Chinese crystal rondelles and brass beads as charms.

For the second bracelet, I used the lovely light sapphire faceted octagon beads, Thai silver puff beads and a small Hope charm.

 I'll be mailing these bracelets out to:
Global Genes
c/o 7000 Bracelets of Hope
28 Argonaut, Suite 150
Aliso Viejo, CA  92656 

Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

Thai Basil Chicken

A good friend of mine is from Thailand and she introduced me to Thai food a few years ago. One of my favorites is Gai Pad Krapow, so I had to find a recipe - this is the first one I tried and my son and I love it!!

2 Tbsp sesame oil
10 (or more) cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup ginger, thinly sliced OR 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 lb. chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup mirin (rice wine) OR 1/4 cup white cooking wine + 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
3-4 Tbsp sugar
1 cup basil leaves
red chilies

Heat 1 Tbsp sesame oil in a skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and onbion - cook 5 min. Add the chicken thigh pieces, mirin (or substitute), soy sauce, sugar and 1 Tbsp sesame oil - bring to a boil and simmer until chicken is cooked and the liquid is almost absorbed - about 15 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves. Serve over rice.

                                                                                   ENJOY

* 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic from a jar = 1 crushed clove
* Add red pepper flakes or dried jalapenos for extra spice
* Try to find Thai Holy Basil at your local Asian Store, it gives it more of an authentic flavor.
* I don't like fish or oyster sauce (I tend to use way too much) - this is a great recipe that uses neither!

Creative Spark Magazine ~ Premier Issue

ZnetShows Design Team members were asked to pick out items with the challenge theme "Rings and Bling" and design jewelry. Once our jewelry was created and photographed, Hope Smitherman, put together a fabulous Glossi magazine.

I'm one of the featured designers (pages 29-32) and my earrings are on the cover! Thanks, Hope!!

Click to view Fall 2013 Creative Spark on GLOSSI.COM

I love fall, so I started with the beautiful Chinese crystal teardrops-Autumn leaves (ZMX-04-06) and found a green Aqua Terra Jasper stone in the shape of a leaf, for the pendant. Then, I used copper leaf chain, green sari silk, a flower toggle and a leaf charm to finish it.

I used the ringy antique brass chain (M0478-AB) and went blingy with the pinks from the Chinese crystal teardrops-Autumn leaves. I had the pink Chinese crystal pendant in my stash - it matched perfectly!

I had to have the beautiful Chinese crystal teardrops-transparent gold (RS257-124) and made earrings with faceted Chinese crystal glass coins-peridot and Chinese crystal rondelles-Metallic gold (RT138-103).

For this pair of earrings, I used my "signature crown" as a base for the beautiful Chinese crystal rondelles and teardrops.

Check out Creative Spark to see all of the beautiful "Rings and Bling" designs from the Premier Issue - there are so many beautiful jewelry designs and designers!!

Erica's Run 2013

The 4th Annual Erica's Run/Walk  is on Sept. 21 in Merrimack, NH - you can read the story of my nieces journey with cancer here. The money raised during this wonderful and fun event is donated to local families fighting cancer. This year, I'm a sponsor and I'm giving half of the sale of anything in my etsy shop with my signature crown to the Erica Pombrio Foundation.

If you happen to live in the area and want to join the run or want to donate to a great cause, click on any of the links.

C. Joybell C.

No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!