Thank you to Beading Gem's Journal!

I was given this lovely award by The Beading Gem's Journal and told that my jewelry pics with the beachy backrounds kept her warn through a Canadian winter! Wow! I love it lol! I'm so glad I could do that for you Pearl (gotta love her name!)

Please check out her blog..it's very active (way more then mine) she always got something new and interesting jewelry related..whether it's a jewelry artists work or a tutorial you are sure to be entertained. I found her latest post about an anti-theft jewlery safe for the beach pretty darn cool!

I have been out of the blog mode ever since we moved in May..trying to get my act back together. I know that I have given this very award to all my blog buddies not too long ago..so until I get back to blogging and make some new blog friends to share this with... for now I will just say thank you so much for thinking of me! :D

Green Coin Pearl and Paua Abalone Shell Necklace

I finally got pictures taken of my latest necklace..it seems that morning time is very sunny up here on the volcano..too sunny for pics..then the clouds collect up at the top and start inching their way over. As they cover the sun that is the best difused light for me to take pics. Then they get too thick and dark and it often rains and is foggy up here for the rest of the day..so I've got a little window and really need to pay attention better.



This beauty is made with dark olive green peacock coin pearls and colorful paua abalone shell on tan silk cord. It will be priced and put up in my shop Jonara Blu Maui soon!

Monday at the Beach

We had a really nice day off at the beach last Monday. A huge group of friends and family met at one of our favorite beaches in front of Serentos in Kihei. We had two tents up as well as another on the beach below for those that preferred to be closer to the water to watch their kiddos play.






We arrived for lunch and stayed until after dinner..lots of yummy food and fun conversation. It was awesome to get our own kiddo out of the house..he has been couped up for so long. He actually swam and had a lot of fun just hanging out with some friends.



It's been really hazy here again from the vog..everyones alergies are going nuts. The views were not as nice so I didn't get any great pics. But the sun still was hot and water was so warm! We swam for a couple of hours it was so nice!




We stayed to watch the sunset..the sun was incredible..bright orange. for some reason my camera wouldn't pick it up though. This doesn't show it at all..it was a huge orange fireball.



In the way of jewelry..I've completed a new silk corded necklace with green coin pearls and abalone. I was going to get pictures done today but it's been foggy and pouring rain outside..so pics will have to wait. Hopefully tomorrow!

Morning Visitors - Ring Necked Pheasants

The last time we spoke to our new landlord...right before he took his red eye flight off to the mainland for a new life of traveling in his 5th wheel... he warned us very sternly "..and do not shoot the pheasants!"

Well I have to admit I have not completely honored my promise...I sure hope shooting with my camera doesn't count! We've had them visit much closer then these pictures..but they probably would have flown away had I opened the sliding door to 'shoot' them. So here are some shots from this morning..a male was taking in some morning sun as he sat on one of the fence posts across the street. I took these from my deck.





The Ring necked pheasant was introduced to the Hawaiian islands in the 19th century for sport. What makes me sad is that I've talked to some that say they don't do it for the meat but for the pelt(?). I see so many that have the taxidermist do whatever it is they do to it so that they can set up somewhere for show. It really is an amazingly beautiful bird and to see those feathers close up is a neat experience. But I am completely happy observing them from a distance... alive and walking around... and will continue to shoot them but only with my Canon Rebel ;-)

Funny Coffee Stories...

I needed some lighthearted fun this morning..so decided to get in on a silly little discussion over at Mama C's blog The 5 C Family she's got some funny stories about drinking coffee and has encouraged others to post theirs.

here is mine:

When I was in 5th grade I used to go to my friends house..her parents were never home. We would get dressed up in her moms full skirts that we would pull up under our arms and wear them like dresses and play 'coffee house'. We made pot after pot of coffee ..loaded it up with tons of milk and sugar and all the neighbor kids would come over and buy a cup for 5 cents..we would serve it in paper cups from the kitchen window in front of the sink. Her brothers went out and got customers by telling neighborhood kids..then word got around and we had a pretty good line going at times. When the supplies started running out her parents found out and put a stop to it!

For more fun coffee stories go check out Mama C's post: Coffee Talk and feel free to add your own there and here if you like :)

Medical issues...

Aloha everyone....I'm just checking in to let you all know that I have not disappeared. We are going through some medical issues in the family right now so I do not have as much time to be online as I did before. I put my shops on vacation for about a week and as of this morning I have opened them up again as things start to calm down a little. I am online for a bit each morning and more as time allows. I am able to take orders and will hopefully be creating more jewelry soon..jewelry making has always been great therapy!

Getting hit with a couple of life's whammys kinda knocked me on my butt and out of my usual routine for a while..but I'm hoping to recover soon and get back to a normal routine.

For now here are a couple of pictures..my first morning of getting back to work here at our new house. My beading room is not organized enough to work out of yet..so I had two custom orders to do and set myself up at our dinning room table to do them.



The view is so pretty..it was a nice place to get some work done. The bush with the yellow flowers you see is a pin cushion protea plant. It's blooming like crazy right now.



Here is a pic from our front deck..in the evening. We were above the clouds! This volcano I live on gives us such a spectacular view..I just hope it stays dormant!

Moving....be back soon!

I've closed up the shop for a few days while we make our move to the new house. I'll be checking my email one more time in the morning..and then will get the computers packed up and brought up to the new place in wait for the cable/internet service Friday.

Can't wait for this to finally be over and I can get a bit organized again.

Be back soon!!!

New Baby Plumeria Dangles!

Brand New Item! I picked up these teeny little sweet mother of pearl carved plumerias at the bead show here on Maui a couple of weeks ago. They measure just 10mm across from petal tip to petal tip and are so cute!




Both colors hang from ear posts either in sterling silver or 14k gold fill and are accompanied by matching freshwater pearls.

Available soon at Jonara Blu Maui

Interviewed by Lahaina.com

I was super excited last week to be interviewed by Jaime of Lahaina.com and to have it posted on their blog. Please check it out and leave a comment if you can!

5 Questions with Jamee Jones of Jonara Blu Maui

Sparkling Beachy and Pink

New in the shop today...



Sparkling Beachy Pink Shell Bracelet
available now at
Jonara Blu Maui

Vicky Dianes 'Exposed' Etsy Treausury

I seem to have done a disappearing act again...me and the fam have been quite busy packing to move into our new house about 3 miles up the volcano. And then there are the moving sales that need to happen to get rid of all the things you don't want to pack. It is a lot of work but it's a form of recycling and it helps fund all the new little household items you want like fresh paint, new toilet scrubbers and shower curtains ;-)

I have some fun news though that I just had to take the time to blog about...
I have been honored to be chosen to be part of a Vicky Diane Exposed Treasury. From what I have learned she will do this for different Etsy teams and she just did a second one for the CreateAbility Team...this is a team for Etsy artists who have disabilities or care for someone that has disabilities. As many of you know, my 17 year old son has been chronically ill since April of 08. We still have hopes that he will recover, but for now I am happy to be part of this loving, hardworking group of talented people.

Please check out Vicky Diane's Designs they are definitely 'Sexy and Unique' just like her tag line says!

Also visit the CreateAbility Exposed Treasury created by Vicky while it's still up and active and please leave a comment and visit the shops of the wonderful people in it.

Wordless Wednesday - Hello Spring

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordless Wednesday

NEW! Hammered Hill Tribe Silver Circle Necklace with Irregular Pearls

Very sweet and organic...sterling silver chain w/ hand wire wrapped link of a hammered Hill Tribe silver circle and hand wire wrapped dangles of organically beautiful irregular coin pearl and petal keshi pearl. Fun and chic..I plan to do more of these in different colors so stay tuned!



Available here: Hill Tribe Silver Circle and Freshwater Pearl Necklace

Wordless Wednesday - Diaper Change w/ a View

My friends sweet little boy...what a place to have your diaper changed ;-)

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordless Wednesday

Wedding commission for a Hawaiian style wedding...

Almost done with my 3rd wedding commission this month. Still waiting for the brides anklet size and will finish that up for her. Then I've got a bead show to go to at the end of the month and will hopefully be able to to pick up some of the mother of pearl starfish for a different brides beach bride earrings. She knows that the supplier is out of the white ones..and is hoping to check out the ones that are gold lip shell..so a yellowy color on the back and cream on the front. She's thinking it might work better with her dress anyways. We are hoping! That will make 4 weddings this month.

Here are the completed pieces so far though for the New York bride having a Hawaiian style wedding:



and here is the anklet waiting to be clasped:



I think these are going to look so nice w/ her Hawaiian style wedding dress!

Wedding season is blooming...

image by Aihara Visuals
Wedding season seems to be blooming suddenly. I managed to get a number of jewelry pieces completed before I had to get serious about pulling my tax stuff together and now I will be able to work on some more. We have a bead show coming up at the end of March here on Maui..so I"m hoping to find more of my favorite mother of pearl carved plumerias and starfish as well as some new pearls.

I've recently been working on 4 bridal custom orders...shipped off two sets today. This first set is for a beach bride. She had me remake her the same matching earrings that had sold already. The necklace was one I had made and put up in the shop:



This next set developed out of needing the same thing..a pair of earrings that had sold that matched a necklace she wanted in my shop. She was going to get the Champagne Sands necklace to match her champagne gold adorable modern short wedding dress.



I was able to remake the matching earrings (and still will)..but then she changed her mind and decided she wanted a contrasting color. She wanted purple and these pearls were perfect because they have a peacock effect that also shows a tannish brown in some lights. Here are the same pearls in two different lightings. She chose the light Colorado topaz Swarovski crystals w/ double aurora borealis coating to go with them..a very interesting mix!





So now I"m waiting for materials to finish a full set of jewelry (necklace, anklet, bracelet and earrings) for an adorable Japanese bride living in New York who is having a Hawaiian themed wedding. As well as I'm trying to solve a delema for a bride wanting the white mother of pearl starfish I get a hold of once in a great while. My supplier is here on the island a few times a year and is often out of the white ones..so I've offered an alternative and am waiting to hear back from her. I always feel so badly when a bride gets her heart set on something that has already sold and I have no more of.

Wedding season is always an adventure!

No recent posts..but I promise I haven't been lazy...

Last blog post was Determined not to get lazy... so I just wanted to make clear that even though I haven't been here for a bit again..I have not fallen into lazy mode. Granted this cold weather really makes me want to do nothing but curl up in my jammies and read or watch TV...I have been actually keeping a list of things to do each day for a little over a week and getting most done on it each day..except for my blog lately lol! But it's been great help w/ focusing. (a BIG problem for me)

I will admit though that Cameron and I finally did a walk today for the first time in a couple of weeks. So I have been slacking in that department as well.

Picture: a cute little lawn gnome we caught wandering around a neighbors front yard during one of our walks last fall ;-)


What have I been up to? Well...lots of spring cleaning! I was stuck doing taxes for a couple of months so did minimal cleaning. Taxes are so boring that even cleaning feels good! Cameron's room really needed to be gutted out and have all it's nooks and cranny's vacuumed because of his allergies. We are finding all sorts of things we want to get rid of so will do a garage sale here in a couple of weeks.

Things are starting to pick up a little in the jewelry shop...I recently sold these fun pieces:






Also I'm currently working on a wedding commission for a bride in New York having a Hawaiian themed wedding. Once that is completed I will post pictures.

Hope you are all doing well! I've been trying to visit everyone's blogs..some I have gotten too and some I haven't. It's always fun to read your blogs more then it is to make my own though ;-)

Determined not to get lazy...

Now that I'm done w/ my yearly hell of bookkeeping catchup and compiling tax totals..I'm determined to stay focused and not get lazy..

(my fat cat Crash in the laundry room)



Sure I said the same thing last year and the year before..but I think I've tortured myself enough to mean it this time. This year wasn't really fair though, with Cameron getting so ill it really left me devastated and nothing else really mattered other then taking care of him and trying to find out what could heal him.

And well we did spend a LOT of time puzzling!



Here are some finished products!



This one was donated to Cameron by Maui's woman's Harley Davidson club. Dallas, the president answer a craigs list request for cheap puzzles I could purchase to keep my sick kiddo busy. The guys loved it but it was a freaking nightmare! It was so hard! I've done hard puzzles but this one took us a couple of months. We had to take a break after cuz we were so fried. We've only done a couple tiny ones since like the done in 1/2 hour kind like the froggy below.

A Sneek Peek at some New Summer Fun Bracelet Additions

Coming soon to Jonara Blu Maui

Same Hotel...All Grown up

Well..sort of all grown up..heheh



For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordless Wednesday