New Jewelry Uploaded Today!

We uploaded a couple new pieces today...


"Maui Rainy Days Necklace" 
This piece was inspired by all the rain and gray skies we've been having lately!
It's available for purchase here


"Koa"
Named after my nephew "Nakoa" ... 'Koa' means 'strong' and 'bold' I thought it fitting for this boldly colored necklace.
Available here

The Funk Farm...

I'm waaay too tired to post what I've made today, but found something you definitely need to check out. It's a fellow Deviant Art member's house..which has become her canvas. Year's ago when I first joined, I saw just the beginings of her work on her house..and now she has completed so many things. She's defintely a character...one who loves color and to be bold. I believe I saw in one of her sigs "I always let my kids draw on the walls!" And you will believe it after you check out her house. I can't imagine her children not turning out to be creative growing up with such inspiration!:

http://thefunkfarm.deviantart.com/gallery/

I Flunked Ceramics

If they were passing out grades I'm sure I would have failed...thankfully they weren't..they were all too happy with the 300 bucks I gave them! lol! Part of my problem is that I didn't think it through and took the class at the worse time possible...right during tax season. With my jewelry business having growing pains and me having way too much on my plate between all that and homeschooling my son..I just didn't have the type of time I would have liked to put into this experience.

Oh well... So here is what I ended up with at the end of a 9 week course... one 2 1/2" tall 3 1/2 wide bead bowl and another tiny little pinch pot I"ve yet to pick up from class yet. I don't even know if it turned out. Pretty sad lol!




I must also say in my defense though..that it was only a 7 week course for me, one week my son had a visit to the emergency room and another, my wisdom tooth decided it needed to be pulled NOW!

This is my first thrown piece..and the only one I saved. We were told to cut some of the ones we made in half to see how even we were getting the sides. I wish I'd saved some intead..since I didn't realize I wouldn't be there enough to do more. (students were allowed to use the studio mon through fri 8 a.m. - 10p.m.) I didn't trim enough off the bottom foot part..it's really bottom heavy and thick. And the top part inside has kind of a sharp lip. But still I like :)... it's special...I keep beads in it of course! and I like how the colors turned out. We didn't have many colors to choose from that I liked and these turned out better and brighter then the samples showed.

I have done just a little with ceramics in the past. Not with pottery though. I used to work with an artist here who made ceramic jewelry. We did low fire clay and glazes which I found out is much different then the high fire stuff we used in my class. With the low fire glazes I was able to paint designs on the beads we hand rolled. But the high fire glazes..you aren't able to control them..they run a lot..so it's more of a dipping into the paint to glaze your piece rather then painting it on.

Here is a necklace created with some of the ceramic beads I used to make. I have no idea if I personally painted these exact ones..as both of our beads would get put together in kits when they were completed....but I wouldn't doubt if I painted a lot of them as I worked my little patooty off for her.


necklace with handpainted ceramic flower beads

Some of my other art...

I used to dabble in a little more traditional type of art work. Mostly as a teenager. I was in oil painting classes and liked to sketch and do pen inkings. When I joined Deviant art a few years ago I was inspired to try it out again. I wish I still had time cuz it's a lot of fun. Here are the pieces I completed a couple of years ago:



I think the last time I actually sketched was when I was around 16 yrs old. It was fun to try again, but I was very rusty! It's supposed to be Rogue from the X-men...I spent too much time on her nose and gave her a cold..and her ear is just a bit too small! lol!


This one turned out much better and was lots of fun.
Source material was a Bebe ad in a magazine

Next I got back into my second fav type of art next to beading, and that is inking:


entitled: "Le Retour"


and the very last one I did before I called it quits again:



My version of 'Venus'

Artsy Discoveries..

One of my old stomping grounds is a place called
Deviant Art. It's sort of like a personal virtual art gallery/blog. You can post your art, keep a journal and view and comment on other works of art while you're works are viewed and commented on as well. It's good fun and very inspiring.

I used to be really active there, but it started taking up too much of my time. While it was nice to be inspired again to do other types of art I did years ago, I just didn't have enough time with trying to run my jewelry business. Recently I've been visiting there again and was so happy to find that they started a jewlers club. When I originally joined I was like 1 out of 3 jewelry artists...now there are tons! There are so many talented artists there it's just amazing. So I plan on sharing now and then some of the awesome works of arts I find there (with the artist permission of course) and link to the artist's gallery. Here is the first that really caught my eye and actually gave me the idea to do this. I found it so beautiful and different that I just had to share:


"Meeting with a Skyfish" by rah-bop
Here is a link to the artists gallery 


Isn't it cool?!

Some more 'Thank you's'!

Here are the most recent thank you emails we've gotten..Mahalo you guys!

Dear Jamee: Just a quick note to let you know that I just received my wonderful necklace and earrings. The pieces are even more stunning than in the pictures. It's such a pleasure to own your lovely works of art. Thank you again and I look forward to purchasing again from you in the near future.

Ada
Miami, FL


"Jme,
That was so quick!!!!! The pictures that you sent me did not in even justify its beauty....WOW!!!! I cannot believe that it is more beautiful than its pictures. Thank you again and again. I can't wait to give the bracelets to the girls. Also I love how you packaged everything up....you definitely take pride in your work. Thanks for that cute anklet...the colors are very vibrant. Keep up the good craftsmanship!!!!"

Colleen
Stevensville, MD

Wait a minute!?

It's raining... AGAIN! Do I live on Maui? I don't know..maybe the island floated off course. And I'm stuck doing paperwork..bookkeeping...bill paying (quick before the mail lady gets here!..*whew* made it!)...and I'm super slow at it all cuz inbetween Quickbook entries I keep looking at all these crafty sites like: the Craftster forum, Girl is Crafty, Love's Endless Possibilities,and Make Me

I'm feeling frustrated at the desire I have to try new crafts and the lack of time I have on my hands to do so. I just can't get past the part where I need to figure out all the supplies I need and how to track them down on this little island I live on. I'm embarrassed to say that I tried to comfort myself with the thought that I'll be able to spend more time doing these crafts when I'm done homeschooling my son. Thats when I wanted slap myself! Why the heck would I wait until I'm done homeschooling my son? He may not want to learn to knit or to make greeting cards or soaps...but I'm sure being able to experience all the above and more will make his life richer and definitley make school more fun. I KNOW that..so what the heck is wrong with me? I realize I'm probably guilty of putting him in this box because he's a young teenage boy I assume he only likes sports and video games and sketching his video game characters. Shame on me :( I did way better with the craft thing when he was younger...but now that he's older we mostly draw and write fan stories together. I'm really going to work on trying out other things with him. I've seen craft kits at Ben Franklin's and entertain buying it for he and I and then talk myself out of it, saying he will think it's lame. But I'm gonna try to not do that anymore. He thinks math is lame and I still make him do it! I'm sure he'd have a much better time if I insisted on him trying out a new craft. (he still has to do math of course ;-))

In a Purple Mood

Hot off the beading table:


Necklace available here earrings available here


available for purchase here


available for purchase here

Craft Fairs and Cooties

Well..it's time again to prepare for another craft fair. The busy shopping season last year wiped me out good and I wasn't wanting to do another for a while..but I'm excited about May 1st's Ben Franklin Craft Fair. I've got a booth right next to my bud Pink Plumeria and I'm excited to see the crafty items she's been making in person! Plus it just makes it that much more fun to go to. My cousin Dinah and freind Lana will also be there..they make BEAUTIFUL painted glass items. They paint the most gorgeous tropical flowers on them..they are so colorful! I keep encouraging them to get a website so that the rest of the world can have access to their creations...but so far they are just doing the craft fairs..and are doing well I might add!

So my sister Kim and I will just do the Ben Franklin one and have decided not to try for the juried Seabury Hall one this year. Thats a big one..and probably would be an awesome one to get into...however we both have very sick kids and just can't get in there to drop off our items with the jury panel. It's past the deadline and they were going to make an allowance for us since they have a couple of booths left..but with the kids this sick..we just decided to wait until next year.

Here are some pics of us at a craft fair last year:


My sister Kim and I at the Upcountry Craft Fair June of 2004. We do look tired, but I promise we were having fun! Behind us in the white T and mini-skirt is Pink Plumeria


working away...

Today's Creations

Ginko Leaf Mother of Pearl Cord Necklace in Purples
available here


"Twilight"
available here


Pink Sea Petal Cord Necklace
available here

More wedding pictures and more wonderful people!

This is my freind Melissa and her new hubby Craig. I tell you I have been so blessed to have the privilege to work with so many awesome people! Melissa is yet another wonderful person who was a complete joy to make jewelry for. She's continued to keep in touch and I have fun as we share our 'work week' together...passing along short little emails here and there...with little funnies throughout the day and talking about how we need to get away from our desks and excersize!


Craig and Melissa Knight
August 14, 2004


Here is Melissa with her brides maids and her adorable little flower girl..her niece Jules..AKA 'Julie-bean' I have a have a little bean in my life as well...my nephew Nakoa who for some reason became 'jelly-bean' and now just 'bean' We will definitely have to change that as he gets older lol! But Melissa and I have fun swapping pics of the little 'beans' in our lives :)

Now for the jewelry...


I did not make the brides jewelry this time...but I made the jewelry for her brides maids. Here is what Melissa picked out... deep purple amethysts in ovals and cubes hand-knotted on olive green silk cord and accented by green flourite roundels. As you can see this matches the deep purple of the brides maids dresses. Now..I didn't get to see it up close but evidently the corset part of Melissa's beautiful gown was beaded with purples and greens! Must have been stunning!

Just made this today! :) 

Latest Creations

Just made these pieces yesterday for one of my wholesale accounts, a shop in Waikiki called Natural Hawaiian. They do have a website you can check out, though you won't see any of my jewelry on their website. If you happen to be in Waikiki and would like to see some of my pieces in person, know that the Natural Hawaiian has 3 store. The shop that carries my jewelry in in thePacific Beach Hotelat: 2490 Kalakaua


The tear drop pendants on this necklace are Paua shell which is the most colorful kind of abalone shell..it's found in New Zealand. They are hand-knotted on black silk cord with dark purple peacock freshwater nugget pearls and soft black tiny round freshwater pearls. Matching earrings are on sterling silver.


My Hawaiian winter bracelet...the second of this kind..though I usually change things out a bit so they are different. This one I added the opalite to the mix of pearls and labradorite.


This one was fun, I love these rich olivine tones. Moss green coin pearls with Swarovski crystals, other freshwater pearls and Hill Tribe silver.

Kay..it's time for me to go to bed..night night for now :)

Hawaiian wedding pictures and a very dear friend...

I'm so excited to share these pictures...Kathy and I have become great freinds after I made her wedding jewelry last year... so these pictures are very special to my heart. She got married here on Maui, though she lives far far away on the mainland..east coast mainland that is. She is just the sweetest little thing and a joy to have in my life :)


Kathy Kipke-Judy


Kathy's cousin Diane


Kathy and Mark Judy with their wedding party at the Heritage Gardens in Iao Valley Maui, Hawaii.
December 3, 2005


Both Kathy and Diane's dresses looked beautiful in the tropical garden the wedding was held at. Kathy's with just a hint of pink and Diane's a deep rich purple. The bottom half of both of the dresses had soft layered material that as you can see flowed beautifully the Maui trade winds :)

Now for some closeup's on the jewelry:

This is Kathy's Necklace...she requested that I make matching earrings and a bracelet for her. I'll post them next, but I apologize for the picture not being the greatest quality.


The complete set


And here is Diane's jewelry.


Kathy also requested a bracelet for Diane's set and later as a present she requested a matching anklet. This is a picture of the anklet..the bracelet was just the same only smaller of course :)


And this one's 'just because'...don't they make a great couple?

Eyelash Leis and Grandma's

That may sound funny, but they are beatiful! Knowing how to crochet since I was like 5 years old or younger even...I've always wanted to try making one..even bought a book on it, but haven't touched it. I'm so excited though, my freind Rhonda is teaching herself how...go check out her blog Love's Endless Possibilities to see her work in progress :)

And how did I learn to crochet at such a young age you might ask? Well I spent a lot of time on my grandmothers lap holding her hands while she crocheted blankets for the family. I just picked it up! Pretty cool! I love my grandma :)


Me and my grandma Cleo, July 04

Pink Plumeria

Isn't that the cutest name ever? It belongs to the sweetest little bubbly freind of mine that lives here on Maui too. Her name is Rhonda...aka 'Pink Plumeria' and she has the most adorable online boutique. She just started her own blog ..so go check that out as well as her very cool very posh website Love's Endless Possibilities She's really great at finding interesting stuff for her shop...she carries those cell phone bags in the cutest styles and actually had them waaaay before you were seeing them at other places. She also carries handcrafted items and the cutest bags. Great prices for way cool stuff! She's starting to get into crafting herself...so with her great taste I can't wait to see what she comes up with :)

Washington weather on Maui

This is the type of weather we have seen a lot this winter. I'm loving it :) It's so nice to be able to wear socks to bed and sweats all day. I so totally miss this cozy weather. But I have to say that I am greatful for the breaks in between storms when the sun pops out with a vengance and warms everything up. I can't imagine going through 2 months solid of this and worse.


my backyard

So this is the view from my backyard. I live down in a gulch so no great ocean views from my house. I used to have an awesome ocean view of both sides of the island from my old house. We would get the greatest sunsets. I'll have to see if I saved any pics of that because about a year ago my hard drive crashed and ate all my family pics :(

Wedding Pictures!

Chris and Brooke Lovas
August 14, 2004
South Pine Creek Beach, Southport Connecticut



Here's Brooke and her bride's maids....aren't they lovely? And what another beautiful setting! I just love the periwinkle blue of the dresses and neat layers of material. They look great with the contrasting greenish hue on the boquets!



And she finished off a simple classic look with the perfect little fancy beaded slippahs (thats Hawaiian for flip flops ;-)) How perfect for a beach wedding!



Here's a picture of the wedding jewelry



The brides maids necklaces were faceted iolite and peridot buttons with black lip shell carved flower pendants. There were 6 but one was ordered early so the bride could make sure they would match the dresses.



The earrings were adorable peridot set in silver filagree ear posts.



And finally the bride's necklace...beatiful all mother of pearl. The beads were faceted so they really sparkle!
 

Defeating the Paperwork Monster...

I'm definetly making progress...just finished my tax totals for my CPA yesterday...YAY! However I've got to get my butt in gear and be more organized this coming year so it doesn't all hit me so hard again next tax season. I do think I deserve a good break though and will start getting some jewelry up very soon :)

I had a slight set-back this week..emergency wisdom tooth pulled :\ The pain was excrutiating...so actually getting it out was a relief! It gave me a pretty massive headache for two days though and those drugs they gave me made me quite loopy. I stayed home from ceramics class today cuz I'm just not feeling up to driving yet, especially in this major Kona storm we are having. On days like today, I feel very sorry for our tourists here :( I'm pretty sure the whole island must be socked in with this storm.

I received some lovely pictures from one of my brides recently...her wedding was on the beach and it was the largest wedding party I've done so far (though not the largest order). I did necklace and earring sets for 6 bride's maids plus I did the brides necklace as well. The earrings are impossible to see in the pictures so I will upload a picture I took of the whole set. I think her pictures turned out wonderful and the ones on the beach in black and white are just stunning. Her's will be the first I share with you, as I'm working on getting the okay to use others I've recieved.

New Jewelry Soon!

I apologize for not adding many new things to my shop. I do have quite a few pieces here waiting in line to be photographed and uploaded. The problem is I neglected to keep up on my bookkeeping chores this year...not only for Jonara Blu Maui but also for our window tinting buisess. So now instead of sitting in the middle of a beautiful pile of beads..I'm sitting in the middle of a pile of ugly receipts with my ugly Quickbooks program on the computer. It's so depressing...I feel like I've been banished to the dungeon :( I"m working away though, and hope to be done with this boring stuff some time next week.

So hopefully by the end of next week I will be able to make and upload some new items..I can't wait! I just got word from my sister Kim, that she's finished with a beautiful pink ruby and labradorite cord necklace. It has a rubylite pendant which is ruby dyed quartz. Actually this particular one is more of a raspberry...it's opaque and very pretty! So keep your eyes open for it...I"ll post it as soon as I can!

Customer Thank you :)

At the begining of the year we filled an order for 35 double stranded pearl and abalone shell necklace and earring sets for Relational LLC's company trip here to Maui. Yesterday I just received this wonderful thank you letter! Thank you so much for this Liz!

Just click on the image to bring up a larger size if you want to read it.



An awesome thank you letter from Liz at Relational LLC! 

Pink Shell Teardrop Bracelet

Recent weeks addition:



Mix of mother of pearl, pink shell, Swarovski crystals, sea urchin and pearls with sterling silver accents
 

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/jonarablu/item/B-158

Purple Stick pearls

Recent week's addition:


Dark purple peacock stick pearls with moss green freshwater pearls. 
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/jonarablu/item/N-316