Christmas in July Sale

Our annual Christmas in July Sale begins today! Shop now for the best selection in unique, handmade necklaces, bracelets, earrings and more.

About Pearls...

I’ve never met anyone who does not admire pearls.

Pearls are calcified objects made by shellfish from the same material that they use to form their shells. Sand or some other foreign material gets under the skin of an oyster and irritates its skin. In response, the oyster coats the offending grain over a period of time with layers of pearly smooth calcium. The result is a pearl. Pearls are the product of both salt and freshwater oysters. Colors range from silver, cream, gold, green, blue, black and can be dyed. Pearls are found in the Persian Gulf, coasts of Central America and north Australia and Japan.

Pearls have been worn in jewelry by kings and emperors for thousands of years and can be admired in museums all over the world. The pearl jewelry of the Queen of Sheba is legendary. Lucifer is said to have broken his teeth because of his craving for pearls.

Pearls can stabilize the production of hormones. They are also used to alleviate chronic headaches and migraines.
Oysters are feminine in nature - they contain an embryonic object within them - and become tuned to the phases of the moon, which control tidal changes. Pearls are in tune with women, especially pregnant women. Long the symbol of woman’s perfect beauty, pearls also symbolize modesty and purity. A soothing influence, pearls bring feelings of peace and reduces over-sensitivity.

With zodiacal affinity for Cancer, Pearls are also important for all the zodiac signs. Often used as the birthstone for June.

Another Stormy Day plus New Jewelry

It's another stormy day here at Bittersweet Ridge. We seem to be stuck in a pattern of wicked thunderstorm punctuated by tornadoes. Not my favorite gift from Mother Nature.

In between storms I've been adding some new jewelry to my shop. Lots of new copper ankle bracelets, including some with the cutest mother of pearl flowers. Perfect for those beach vacations! There are also some that definitely are unisex and could be a perfect gift for Father's Day. Gary swears by his copper bracelet for "tennis elbow."

New Jewelry

I've added quite a bit of new jewelry to the shop in the past day or two.

The necklace shown above is simply lovely with its rhubarb - raspberry pink peacock freshwater pearls and carved mother of pearl rose. So feminine! There are even coordinating earrings with the same waterfall cluster of pearls and roses. Gorgeous!

You'll also find a couple of chunky necklaces. One combines huge faceted blue sodalite and white jade; the other is a necklace and earring set of rare forest jasper rectangles and Russian jade.

And don't miss all the new copper anklets and bracelets - copper combined with carnelian, lapis, clear quartz, turquoise, jade and lots more!

Spring Fever

It is an absolutely glorious day! A perfect spring day, in fact. I've been busy in the studio this week and have some new things I need to list on my web site, but Mother Nature has lured me outdoors for most of the day.

Great smells... my iris and roses seem to be in a fragrant competition, plus our neighbor is mowing his hay field today. Great sights... not only all my flowers blooming their hearts out, but also all the emerald green after so much rain... wow! Beautiful sunshine! I'm drunk with it all!

I'm playing at Scarlett O'Hara... tomorrow is another day and that's when I'll actually get some work done. Looking forward to showing you some photos of some new necklaces then.

Happy Spring!

Bird Song

It has finally stopped raining! We'd begun to think we should make like Noah and build an ark. Now we need a bit of sun to bring out the peony blossoms to join the roses, iris, hydrangia and other pretty rain-soaked flowers. In the meantime the birds are singing, both a coyote and great heron have visited one of our spring ponds, and all does seem pretty right in our little corner of the world.

I'm planning to spend the afternoon in the studio. Have some custom work to do, plus have a couple of ideas I want to play with. Just finished putting some darling little lampwork bird earrings on sale and am comtemplating more spring cleaning of my online shop. (That's a heads up to all you bargain hunters! And, these days, who doesn't like a good bargain?!)

Spring Cleaning!

I've begun to do some spring cleaning and that means there are quite a few new additions to our Bargain Bling / Clearance! True bargains, so you owe it to yourself to check it out!