Shades of white

One of the styles that will be posted in the next week or two is the Shefali. It has tiny faceted crystal quartzes and morganite plus two types of rainbow moonstones. The overall colour is white, but there are some beautiful blue and yellow flashes when light hits the rainbow moonstones at the right angle.

Triple threat

Today is the last day of the necklace sale so don't miss out!

Here is a special preview of three upcoming pieces... From left to right is the Ceili (pronounced KAY-lee), the Nala, and the April:

EotW: Lorna

It's Sunday, which means a new pair of earrings is being featured for the EotW promotion. This week's special is the Lorna and it has beautiful colours inspired by fall foliage. The stones are spessartite, a variety of garnet, and graduated shades of brown tourmaline.


I have been busy in the workshop lately and have several creations finished. One of them is a pair of earrings for a friend's birthday - the Zadie has a small cluster of iolite, hematite, smoky quartz, and champagne diamonds dangling on a fancy chain. The other creations will be posted in the shop in the next few weeks and include the April (pink topaz, peridot, amethyst, and smoky quartz) and the Celeste (aquamarine and pearls). I had plans to make something with my mystic pink quartzes, to be named Monique after my friend's baby daughter, but got sidetracked by some green tourmalines yesterday.

Easter sale and EotW: Ivana

There is a surprise Easter sale at the shop and it is only from Friday (today) until Monday. All of the necklaces are $10 off for a short amount of time so if you have had your eye on something for a while, now is the time to get it! All necklaces purchased during this period will earn two entries in the gift certificate draw at the end of the year so why not check out the Dagmara, the Heather, or one of the others?

Meanwhile, it is almost the end of the week, which means a new pair of earrings will be announced as the EotW in two days. Before that happens, the currently featured pair, the Ivana, will also earn double the entries in the gift certificate draw:

Hard at work

Although nine items were posted just two days ago, I am very happy to report that the workshop is already busy again! One earring has been finished for the Shefali design, which has rainbow moonstone, crystal quartz, and morganite for a translucent white look. Next in line will be the Ceili earrings, which I briefly wrote about on April 2nd.

After that, I am uncertain what pieces I will work on despite having several design ideas in my head. There may be a simple lariat (stones to be determined) and/or a necklace of andalusite, garnet, iolite, and smoky quartz.

Icicle jewellery

A selection of earrings, plus a necklace and a bracelet, have been added to the shop just this afternoon. These are the Isis earrings, which were inspired by icicles.

Colours: blues, greens, and greys

The Lenya earrings are finally finished and will probably be posted in the shop at aileen.etsy.com this weekend along with all the other pieces. The actual act of posting isn't that easy however since it involves taking countless photos (and picking three good ones), writing the description, and then posting. But I don't have a lot of activities planned for this weekend aside from picking up the Ikea jansjö lamp for my new beading space so there is a good chance I might get this done.

In other news, I find this combination of blue topaz, kyanite, labradorite, and green garnet absolutely stunning and can't wait to put it together. There is a possibility I will skip the green and use a large labradorite briolette I have been saving for a while.

Something blue

I was rifling through my box of small beads last night and came across several possible bead combinations for future pieces. My favourite is the pairing of apatite with turquoise since both are the same blue, but one is opaque while the other is clear. I even have briolettes in matching sizes to pull off the design, which I will likely start working on in the next day or two.

Vanessa is Lenya

The name Lenya has been rolling around my brain for the last two days and I have decided the earrings I had temporarily named Vanessa will actually be called Lenya now. I'm not sure where the name came from, but it sounds a lot like Enya and is the actual lastname of Lotte Lenya, the woman who played SMERSH operative Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love.

New supplies

I am super excited to report that a new shipment of beads will be arriving at my doorstep in the next few weeks. Among my purchases include some faceted blue topaz coins, a long narrow chrysoprase briolette, and a marquise beer quartz bead. I already have plans to use the beer quartz with garnet and smoky quartz marquises in a simple drop necklace and can't wait to put it together!

There has finally been progress with the Vanessa earrings - one of them is finished, in fact. Hopefully there will be a little time to work on the other one over the next two days since there aren't going to be new episodes of Ugly Betty or Grey's Anatomy this week =)