31 March 2012

Escape to New York, Part 3: Gems and more gems

My trip to New York has been filled with visits to galleries and museums and one of my highlights was seeing the gemstones and minerals at the American Museum of Natural History. My absolute favourite piece was a giant faceted morganite, a stone that was named after JP Morgan, but this giant labradorite was a close second:

28 March 2012

Escape to New York, Part 2: Whole Bead Show

In case you missed my previous post, I am in the Big Apple! My first stop after dropping my things off? Checking out the Whole Bead Show, which was in town for its semi annual extravaganza. I had been to the one in Vancouver for the past several years and was curious about the different vendors.

There were many more vendors and lots of pretty gemstones to gawk over. I stocked up on a few strands of pyrites, citrines, and London blue topazes as well as picked up some beautiful pairs of pink chalcedonies, Swiss blue topazes, and green amethysts. Here is a shot of a stranger checking out the show:

25 March 2012

Escape to New York, Part 1: Vacation sale!

I've escaped Vancouver and made my way to New York City to see the sites, shop the shops, and stock up on supplies. This means all purchases in my shop will ship on April 10th. In the meantime, there is a vacation sale - use the code SPRINGISSPRUNG at checkout to get 15% off everything in the shop (aileen.etsy.com)!

19 March 2012

Things are a-happening...

What's this? A preview? Yes! Twelve items are being prepped for the shop and these earrings are one of them. They are called Rollande and the name came from an oil-on-canvas painting I saw at the National Gallery of Canada in December. Here's a look at the smoky quartz and pearl combo: