The Gift of Balance - Snowflake Obsidian

This is a necklace I've been wearing all month. It was a gift from a friend around the holidays. These nesting cages are perfect for carrying your favorite gemstones.

I received snowflake obsidian in mine. It is said to balance mind, body and spirit by drawing hidden imbalances to the surface so they can be released. Snowflake Obsidian can remove negativity from a space or person with ease. Ahh....doesn't that all sound wonderful?

This was exactly what I needed a couple weeks ago when I had jury duty. I did feel calm in such an unusual, awkward and stressful situation. 

If you know of any other little gemstone nests, please let me know. I'd love to find one that holds a stone and lays flat as a focal piece in a bracelet.

Thanks for your help! :)

In Love with Sparkly Chain

In love? Well, yeah! On a gray January day, I can easily say I'm in love with sparkle!

I'm also loving the Cousin Corporation for sending me all this happiness from sunny Florida! :)

Here's the whole stash. I haven't had a chance to get it all opened and organized, so this is the fun creative phase.
                                          

The possibilities are endless! I like to think of two different ways to design.

Something fairly conservative that I would feel comfortable wearing every day and something a little more fun, maybe a little more out there.

That makes me happy!! And, that is what creativity means to me...HAPPY!

How about you? When you get a new stash of sparkle, what do you do first? When do you begin creating in your head? Do you think conservative or fun?

I'd love to hear about your process!! Please share.

Happy Sparkly New Year!

Happy New Year! I wish you all the most fabulous and sparkly year ever!!

My New Year's necklace was finished just in time! Yay!!

I LOVE when things come together in an unplanned and perfect way. A great reminder that everything always works out. Especially when it comes to beads!

Back in an October post, It's okay to go crazy with sparkle, I mentioned I came across these SPARKLY pave connectors on the Primabead.com site.

I had been dreaming about how to use them in a New Year's necklace ever since. It turned out I was able to get them sent to me from the Cousin Corporation as one of their Ambassadors. Their sister company, PrimaBead.com is their retail site.

I also requested the silver plated open oval teardrops from the Cousin.com catalog.

Just after ordering these pieces, Cousin surprised all the Ambassadors by sending us each a giant box of Swarovski swag!!

It just so happened the box contained a bunch of these tiny little top drilled briolettes that fit perfectly in the open teardrop forms.

Ahh, what a great way to begin 2015!