The Perfect Baby Shower gift! August 18, 2007

Today, I’m going to talk about something a little different and off-topic. No handmade jewelry for today.

I have a baby shower coming up for a friend, and I always agonize over the gift. I LOVE gift-giving, picking out that favorite gift that is a perfect match for the recipient. I guess that’s part of the reason I started making handmade jewelry, I wanted to create a perfect, personalized gift for my friends and family! If I saw something at a store, it was either the wrong color, outrageously overpriced or somehow just not right.

Little Angel Cakes Jungle-theme Diaper Cake – how cute is this!?

I have, however, found THE perfect baby shower gift. You’ve seen these endlessly, on Sex in the City, in magazines and at high end stores. But what sets LaDiDaBaby Little Angel Cakes apart from the regular diaper cakes is the attention to detail and the level of personalization available! Traci, who creates the Little Angel Cakes, first asked a series of questions to determine the colors and design of the diaper cake, much like the questions I usually ask when creating custom jewelry for someone. For example, is it a boy or girl, what colors will the nursery and/or baby shower feature, is there a particular design motif you’d like to follow, etc. Based on my answers, Traci was able to source the perfect little accessories for my cake!

My friend Aleyda is due in October with a little baby boy, and she and her husband LOVE the ocean! They live in San Diego and try to hit the beach whenever they can. They are also focusing on the colors yellow, green and baby blue for the nursery, and the shower. Traci found the cutest little painted wood shapes featuring beach-related items like flipflops, a sun, a beach umbrella, a sandpail and a beach pail – fortunately all within the chosen color scheme! To set off the color scheme, Traci picked out yellow and green gingham ribbon.

It all looks fabulous, it’s useful AND it’s original! I know that Aleyda and Jack will appreciate the time I took to find a gift with some meaning to them. Best of all, since Traci only uses rubber bands to construct the cakes, all of the diapers are immediately useable! Check out LaDiDaBaby at www.ladidababy.com.

What jewelry to wear with a Sundress August 11, 2007

Barbeques, flipflops and sundresses are all quintessentially summer things! They’re just so easy – throw one on and you’re done! It’s an entire outfit in one – timesaving AND cute! So what jewelry do I wear with a sundress? A long necklace! It’s a perfect, modern and polished look. Best of all, it’s so easy to wear! I love the look of a cute black sundress with a long gold necklace, it’s just the perfect thing to set off your sun-kissed look.

In these dog days of summer, the last thing you want to do is spend hours getting dressed. Throw on a sundress and pull that long necklace over your head, and you instantly have an easy and put-together outfit! My favorite necklace right now is my long tassel necklace in both sterling silver and gold-fill. I rotate them depending on what I’m wearing that day. The necklaces have a casual feel that’s perfect for summer, yet have this glorious touch of sparkle! Each necklace is 36″ long, so they look great even if your dress has a deep Vee neck. Take a look at more handmade necklaces!

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What is Swarovski crystal? August 5, 2007

That’s a very good question, and one I get quite often from customers. The most common questions are : what is it made of, and why does it increase the cost of handmade jewelry.

Swarovski crystal is Austrian cut crystal produced by the Swarovski company, which was started in 1895. If you have seen high-end chandeliers, chances are that the crystals are Swarovski crystal. The difference betweeen a Swarovski crystal and regular cut crystal is instantly evident upon viewing them. The brilliance is like none other – it reflects light in a million different ways. If you like sparkly, this is definitely the way to go. The quality of Swarovski crystal beads is unmatched in terms of cut, finish and brilliance. If you view a Czech crystal bead, it looks rather “flat” by comparison. Cut is as important to crystal as it is to diamonds. A better cut diamond will always cost more – the same goes for a crystal bead.

There are many different colors and shapes of Swarovski crystal beads. One of the most recognizable colors is called Crystal AB or Crystal Aurora Borealis – which shines in many different colors of the rainbow. This effective is produced by a coating that Daniel Swarovski invented in 1956. In recent years, Swarovski has produced new coatings to achieve a similar effect – adding an irridescent silver, gold or rainbow coating to crystals. The earrings pictures below using the new Swarovski “Golden Crystal Shadow” color – which has an irridescent gold coating on a taupe-colored crystal. The crystal bead used in these earring is also one of the new Swarovski shapes introduced in the past couple of years.

Swarovski continously updates their crystal bead selection, add new colors, limited edition colors and shapes. Sadly, some of the limited edition and older items are no longer available for sale – and are relegated to the “vintage Swarovski” realm. For example, the below necklace was crafted using a vintage Swarovski teardrop-shaped foil-back pendant, sadly discontinued many years ago. I only have a few left of these crystals.

For more Swarovski crystal handmade jewelry, visit Romeo & Jewels Handmade Jewelry

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Environmentally-friendly ways to clean Jewelry August 1, 2007

Ahhhhhhh…you buy the jewelry because it’s so fabulously sparkly and shiny! You wear it, you admire it in the mirror, you sneak peeks at it in those little halogen lights in the elevators, in the sunlight… Then one day, the sparkle is gone.

Don’t dispair! Help is on the way! I’ve cleaned hundreds, nay, thousands of pieces of jewelry over the years - especially handmade jewelry. Some pieces are so incredibly delicate that rubbing with a jewelry cleaning cloth would bend or distort them. Others have stones that are not meant to be immersed in a hard cleaning solution.

Throughout the years, I’ve developed an easy, inexpensive and environmentally-friendly way to clean my jewelry. I even make it part of my morning routine before work, ensuring that the handmade custom jewelry I make is shown off to perfection! This applies to all kinds of jewelry – sterling silver jewelry, gold jewelry, platinum jewelry, goldfill jewelry, gemstone-filled jewelry and more.

Jewelry Cleaning Instructions:

 1. Plug sink drain. This is very important  - you don’t want to lose those cute earrings, do you? For extra measure, close the bathroom toilet lid if you’re doing this in the bathroom.

 2. Turn on hot water until it runs fairly hot yet comfortable enough to run your hands under.

3. Take some gentle handsoap and lather up one of your hands.

4. Gently rub the jewelry into the lathered-up hand.

5. Rinse with hot water and gently place onto terry cloth face cloth. Allow to air-dry.

This keeps all of my jewelry pieces sparkling with the need for harsh and toxic chemicals. I will occasionally use a soft toothbrush on some stones, taking care not to loosen any settings. If the silver or goldfill jewelry is still a bit dark after this washing, take a soft polishing cloth such as the Sunshine Cloth and polish the metal parts of your jewelry in a gentle manner. Romeo & Jewels includes a Sunshine Cloth in every order over $75.

Just a quick caveat: not all gemstones are created equal and you’ll want to keep some out of the water. For example, you may not want to immerse any jewelry knotted with silk or other thread into water. It will weaken the thread, and your necklace will eventually fray and break.

As well, pearls, coral, turquoise, lapis lazuli, opal and amber are porous gemstones and should only be wiped off briefly with a damp cloth and allowed to air-dry. Make sure to wipe these clean after each wearing.

To keep your jewelry from needing a deep cleaning, make sure it’s the last thing you add to your outfit after using perfume and hairspray. Also take it off before swimming, gardening and housecleaning. Lastly, keep it in the little air-tight plastic jewelry baggie in between wearings – which will ensure it stays clean and bright!

All of my Romeo & Jewels handmade jewelry  is created with your busy lifestyle in mind. I create a prototype of all of my pieces and wear it to ensure that it will be comfortable, attractive, strong and durable. As well, I take into account the wear the piece will get, and ensure that I only sell handcrafted jewelry that stand the test of time – because I know that it’s so beautiful you’ll want to wear it every day. View more of my handmade jewelry.

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