i heart wedding rings.

i love making wedding ring sets - i sold another custom engagement ring set yesterday and it brought tears to my eye.  i have had the absolute honor of saying "yes" to so many couples (fantastically enough, both same and opposite-sex - hooray for marriage!) to make their wedding rings.  sometimes, a diamond just doesn't cut it - and really, it's all about the relationship, not about appearances.  etsy does a wonderful feature on their blog about weddings that i read quite religiously because it amazes me how much more beautiful and sentimental handmade celebrations are.

to be part of this handmade revolution just tickles me pink.  i love knowing that someone decided to pick my designs to wear on their fingers to represent their intense feelings for another human being.  YAY LOVE!

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lovely sunday morning.

this morning was almost luxurious - the mini was engrossed in her favorite breakfast (pancakes and maple syrup, yum) and i had some time to browse blogs.  i don't get to do it as often as i'd like, but i love the little glimpses into people - especially other crafters/artists.  i wandered along, bookmarking articles i loved and adding to my wish list. 

i'm drooling over moop's fantastic bag, pictured here:

and am so into this bandolier by cleverhands (i just can't find one to fit my tiny moleskine planner yet):

i also stumbled upon the fabulous blog of joanna goddard "cup of jo" and subsequently this lovely photostory about the legalization of gay marriage in NY.  (about time, people.)  seriously, i am a firm believer that you cannot help who you fall in love with (seriously, there were a few times where i was so in love but puzzled as to how it even came about) and really, a human being is a human being.  and doesn't the government know how much revenue, jobs and taxes can be generated just by legalizing something that shouldn't have even been unaccepted in the first place?  well, as i always say, you can't help stupid.

(that also being said, brad pitt famously said that he and angelina wouldn't get married until everyone in the world could. not that i'm a team jolie person, but live up to your word.)

i also found a similar version of my knotted up ring online (the vendor will remain unnamed) for $80.  seriously?  $80?  while lovely, so is mine.  and at $18 with free shipping, can you top that?  sometimes i wonder if i'm going about my pricing/markup/marketing all wrong.  but then again, i feel true to my handmade roots and wouldn't want it any other way. 

(think i'm going to go and make one for myself and revel in the fact that i didn't pay $80.)

 happy sunday. all!

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unexpected affection.

so L has been on the dating circuit lately, trying to move on from mr. robot. and she's been doing a great job and we've definitely been having fun with it - her in real life, and me vicariously. seriously, who breaks up with three - yes, THREE - guys in the span of just as many weeks. i think that each guy definitely had his own merits (but also no job, too churchy and too many moles that wiggled on their own - superficial i know but kind of deal breakers)- but just not the "spark" that she's been looking for. but i think it's been good for her self esteem, having survived mr. robot and his ego.

while she doesn't think that she has found her next true love yet, we've been texting about how sometimes love (or something quite close to it) finds you when you least expect it. kind of like the christina perri song "arms" says(see above) - about how she finds herself in love with someone at the most unexpected moment. love it when that happens. awesome.



i also feel that way about this song by she & him - i just had to investigate zooey deschanel's musical venture after finding out she is married to ben gibbard (i'm thinking - what does the guy behind death cab for cutie like from a musical standpoint? and she better be good if she's married to him). i find myself surprisingly falling for this song. smart, pop-y and sweet, i wasn't really sure of it at first... but now it's in heavy rotation.

love & affection really does find you when you least expect it. it kind of hits you like a runaway train and whisks you away. (even though it sometimes complicates things too.)

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in the land of chalk drawings...

we heart sidewalk chalk!

considering myself to be somewhat artsy, i try to give the mini pens, crayons, markers and clay as much as i can.  now that she doesn't try to EAT everything, it is a lot easier - and now that she knows she can make her mark on things, she is thrilled every time we do something crafty.  when i clean the house, i find a random colourful scribbling here and there, which i take as evidence that she has some artistic leanings.

the mini and my latest obsession is making chalk drawings.  i picked up a package of crayola sidewalk chalk and we let loose on the back patio.  she LOVED it - she took every colour and made her mark everywhere - on the patio stones, the back steps... even the fence was not spared.  even though we both ended up covered in multi-coloured chalk dust, the backyard felt like it was filled with joy and expression. 

having an artist and a musician as parents, i hope that some of that rubs off on my girl.  (so that she'll become famous.  well, i can wish, can't i????)

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knotted up in you - the duo ring design

i've been making these "knotted up" rings for some time now and recently, someone asked for a stacked, intertwined version in sterling.  after a couple of sketches and a little bit of thinking, the duo knot ring was born.  i've always liked the knot ring idea - the first one i made was for someone who wanted to use it as a wedding band.  romantic, much?  the trimetal stacking knot set was also chosen by the middle daughter of two amazing movie stars (not to name drop or anything - *ahem, demi and bruce*) - obviously she has great taste!

there is much symbolism behind the simple knot - the intertwining of wisdom and compassion, the binding of time and change, and the cycle of life, death and rebirth.  all a pretty hefty burden for such a small thing!  but if you think about it, the knot also ties together much in life, as does love.  the double knot just emphasizes it a little bit more, and makes it a little more complicated.  but then, isn't love itself just a little bit complicated???  (it is for me, but maybe i'm just like that?)

thank you to the lovely fnine for including the duo ring in this treasury!  lovely theme, and lovely picks!

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the legend of the puzzle ring.

for a while now, i have been making these intertwined rolling "puzzle" rings - in a combination of sterling, copper and brass.  my version is a simple one of course, but the history of these rings is rich, somewhat misogynistic, and skeweredly romantic.  and it was quite the puzzle on the manufacturing side of things to figure out how to solder the rings together in the right order so that they fit together properly.

all the legends imply that the ring originated long ago possibly somewhere in Turkey where a king or nobleman had it designed as a wedding ring for his beautiful wife (hence the term "turkish wedding ring") .  the ring itself was made up of many pieces and was so intricate that if she ever took the ring off (with the intention of being unfaithful to him while he was away slaying dragons or going to the office, i suppose) , it would be almost impossible for her to put it back together without him - because he was the one with the solution.  kind of romantic, i guess, but i really do hope that he had one made for himself so that she would have had a similar guarantee of fidelity.  and perhaps they could have also worked on their communication skills.  but that's another discussion altogether.

nowadays, puzzle rings are used as a symbol of love, usually given as a promise ring, wedding band, or token of affection.  the more intricate ones usually come with the "solution" so that if one does find themselves hopelessly befuddled, the ring can be put back together.  my version is (obviously) a more simple one - just three rings linked together, allowing the wearer to roll it back and forth over their finger, which is the perfect distraction during boring meetings or family reunions.  and while it is definitely not a guarantee of anyone's fidelity, i can pretty much guarantee that my rings will be cherished.

on that note - talking about love... nothing like a little pop song to start off the day.

the smittens.  100 roses.  because that's darn romantic.

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seaside.

alone together on the beach.  sunshine.  sand.  an escape from the mundane.

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don't make me fall in love with you.

sigh, it's too late - i'm in love with these.  some of my favorites.

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the joy of a mixed tape. (or CD. or playlist.)

i am a huge fan of the mixed tape. in my parents' basement, there are boxes of cassettes that i made by either taping off the radio, dubbing from other sources, or gotten from old boyfriends. i even love the way cassettes LOOK - now they are considered "retro" or "vintage" in the digital age (and yes, i am dating myself but i don't care.)

mixed CDs too are pretty fantastic - sometimes i load the mini into the car in the mornings and start the engine and the husband will have put a new mix into the CD player and off we go, dancing in our seats to some new band that he found while trolling music sites on the internet. thecharmlady on twitter tweets the BEST in music - i'm slowly compiling stuff from her playlists to make my own. my friend M from the office makes these epic mp3 mixes that we upload to our computers - we have very similar musical tastes - and we are always in competition to show each other something new. (it's quite disturbing to us that the order of the songs get mixed up when we import it into itunes - whatever happened to the sweet science of curating songs?) my ipod is just one big playlist of music that i use when i go running and i'm tempted to buy another one with more memory just so i can add more playlists to it. the mini knows that the ipod dock in the kitchen has her favorite They Might Be Giants song on it (the mesopotamians - go figure!)

it's funny how music - no matter what format it's in - still continues to MOVE us. i'm hoping that we are sharing the joy of music with the mini - who already has a fantastic sense of rhythm.

(the awesome cassette tape ring is made by CsCharms on etsy! rock on!)

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happy valentine's day

february 14th... my most favorite holiday of the year! who knew that a cruel world would still stop in it's tracks to celebrate a day full of love?

today is the 15th valentine's day that the husband and i will be celebrating together. and the 2nd with the mini. our little family.

happy valentine's day to you and yours! whoot whoot to love!

xoxooxox

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that old house.

for the first time since we moved, i drove by our old house. the husband has been dying to see what the new owners have done with it - why, i don't know, since he had mentally "moved" in his head a long time ago. i had kind of been putting it off since i was worried i'd get teary and miss it even more. he even found some pictures on the internet from when it was listed for sale (and staged to the nines, as you can see from the photos on the right)

so, day before yesterday, on my way back to the office from the bank, i did a drive by. and the house looks almost the same, at least from the outside. the surprising thing? i realized that i don't miss the house as much as i thought i would. it doesn't feel like our house anymore. and when i stepped over the threshold of the new house (and hugged by the mini) that evening, i realized that home really is where your heart is, and not where you used to pay your mortgage.

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And Our Winner is LAURIE!!!!

Laurie's song was "Just You and I" by Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle. And here is her story as posted on my blog:

"It was my wedding song to my first husband. I have been widowed twice and he was my daughters' father. I loved him for 17 years right up to the day I had to disconnect the machines and say goodbye. That was in 2005."

Laurie - wherever you are, i will put a listing in my etsy shop and you can "purchase" your earrings!

thanks everyone for sharing your story - and your songs - with me!!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxo

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