Thumbtack.com - new venue to list your online shop!

The other day I received and email from a nice gal named Heather asking about my wedding planning services and if I'd like to list them on their new website. I kindly let her know I was not a wedding planner..but that in looking at Thumbtack.com it looked like a really cool new place to list my jewelry website and would I still be able to. She said yes to go ahead and tell others. Here is my listing:

Beach Bride Jewelry made on Maui

The difference in this site is that it's made so you can find certain services in your own area. It's also got some extras..so far I see that I can add some pictures and it has a feature to help list your services on Craigslist. It all appears to be free as well. I have not delved far into it yet..but so far it's pretty simple and helpful as it even suggests you put the link to your listing on your website. It lets you know that to do this helps your ranking in Google. By completing different things you also get points..however I have not figured out what the points are for yet ;-)

Hanging out with Sea Turtles!

Want a nice way to spend an evening? How about heading out to the beach at Sunset...watching the sun slowly go down...watch the surfers come in...



And then watch the turtles come in!








Hawaii state law prohibits touching these beautiful creatures..and believe me it's hard not to...they come up so close to you! But you also want to think about keeping all your digits..they have sharp beaks for mouths and could probably snap a finger right off! Plus we don't want to add to any difficulties they are having as an endangered species so we don't touch..have a quick photo shoot and then sit back and watch as they nap in the moonlight. Not really sure what they are doing but they definitely want out of the water by sunset. And no they are not laying eggs. I imagine they are really smart and do that somewhere where people can't come to watch and take pictures with them (^-^)




Here is a video of one of the turtles that I posted on YouTube
sea turtle coming to shore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZXSfXQGH5w

Aloha from Hawaii! Collection on ArtFire

Today my Black Lip Shell Hibiscus Earrings made it on the Aloha from Hawaii Collection on ArtFire :)

Beaded Bracelets

Jonara Blu Maui

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Double Stranded Beaded Bracelets by Jonara Blu Maui!

I have a few in my shop right now..these double strand beaded bracelets are so much fun to wear..I really need to make more!

A whimsical mix of stabilized turquoise shapes, buri nut, tiger ebony wood, snowflake brown jasper, and coconut shell beads along with brown glass seed beads.
Double Strand Stabilized Turquoise and Wood Bracelet




An island mix of ocean themed beads including swirly squares of ground down white sea shell middles, mother of pearl, sea urchin, abalone shell, aquamarine and amazonite for some ocean blue accents along with sandy colored glass seed beads.
Sandy Beach Retreat Double Strand Bracelet



A brightly colored mix of dyed stabilized turquoise in different shades, lime chalk turquoise, lime dyed howlite, spring green dyed jade, dyed freshwater pearls, glass seed beads in bright turquoise and lime green, peridot and paua abalone shell with accents of sterling silver and cute charms..one a Hill Tribe silver turtle and the other a silverized pewter leaf.
Turtle Rainforest - Double Strand Asymmetrical Beaded Bracelet




Island Themed Beaded Jewelry Created on Maui, Hawaii

Spring Cleaning Sale...Ebay Auctions!

I've got a few items up for auction through Ebay..really I planned on putting more up..but as I"m looking at the pieces I'm realizing how much Hill Tribe Silver is on them...with the price of silver sky-rocketed and climbing daily..I think it's more worthwhile for me to take the jewelry apart and give the beads new design and new life.
Here are the pieces I've still got up. A couple have sold already.



Pink Peruvian Opal, Amazonite and Pearl Earrings
Faceted pink Peruvian opal coins dangle from faceted amazonite, mauve freshwater button pearls and Hill Tribe silver accents. Hand wire wrapped with sterling silver wire. Earrings hang from handcrafted sterling silver ear wires. Earrings hang 1 1/4" past the bottom of the ear wires.



Mother of Pearl Pendant and Light Pink Pearl NecklaceSquares of shimmering mother of pearl shell have been set in this oval shaped pendant with a resin background. Matching square mother of pearl beads and very light pink pearls are hand wire wrapped with 14k gold fill wire to 14k gold fill chain.



Periwinkle and Lime Green Multi Gem Beaded Necklace
A Mix of dream like colored gemstones, crystals and pearls with glass seed beads lining the back. Front clasping with sterling silver closure and chain. Beads include: blue dyed quartz, lime dyed chalk turquoise, gaspeite, dyed chalcedony, green pearls, Bali sterling silver daisy spacers, Hill Tribe silver nugget beads and Swarovski crystals.



Copper Seashell Earrings with Turquoise Drops
Antiqued copper seashell beads with turquoise drop beads on over sized antiqued copper ear wires. Earrings hang 1 1/2" past the bottom of the ear wires.


Wanna see the rest of my jewelry up for sale? You can check it out here:

Jonara Blu Maui
and here:
Jonara Blu on Etsy

Mahalo!

Fun with Beads! Danielle Walker's "Queen Bee Jewel Gallery"

I had the pleasure of recently meeting Danielle Walker via facebook...a very friendly creative gal whom I am happy to be a colleague of. She's the proud owner of not only Queen Bee Nail Gallery but an online jewelry shop called none other then.. The Queen Bee Jewel Gallery. As I browsed her jewelry shop on Etsy it's easy to see that she is over flowing with ideas. I'm always a bit jealous of those who can really get their hands in there and be creative with all sorts of medium.


Like this super cute and crafty multi-coloured button bracelet, she's given vintage plastic buttons new life.


And this very interesting ring..being a pearl gal I noticed this right away..as well as my love for sci fi..this ring called the "Orbit Ring" looks like so much fun!



Here is a recent piece Danielle was most proud of..and I would be too with all that bead work!

Keep up the creativity Danielle and continue to grow..it's an inspiration to everyone in the craft world!

Our experience with the Maui, Hawaii Tsunami from the Japan Earthquake - March 2011

It was Thursday night when my mom called and told us there was a Tsunami warning for the state of Hawaii from the Japan quake. This has happened to us many times over the years and usually it ends up being nothing on our end. Last year we had a good surge..but I believe no damage. I was shocked by her call though and thought it was a bit late for the tsunami because the only earthquake I had heard about was on Wed and it was something like a 7.8 (can't remember exact measurement) I had checked online for that and was so happy to find out that Japan was safe and didn't even loose power. I also tried to check for tsunami warnings but found none. No she said..there was another one today....8.9 (now upgraded to a 9.0) My heart sunk.. I turned on the news and oh those poor people! It looked like a bomb had gone off :(

We kept one eye on the news as we prepared on our end...for us since we live so high up the mountain we were safe from any threat of water..so this meant mostly calling friends and relatives in the flood zone making sure that they had a place to go "Bring your pets too!" I insisted..I hate to hear stories of animals getting hurt and lost in these disasters. I was on the phone a lot at first trying to find out if my aunt in Kihei was going to go up to my moms..she waited last minute until the cops came to her road telling everyone to get to higher ground! I found that out later because after just a little bit of time the phones stopped working..I could receive txts for a while but could not call or txt anyone back. Most people I talked to lost the use of their phones as well.

We also turned up our refrigerators and freezers as suggested on the news in case of a power outage and we filled up some containers for drinking water and some buckets for flushing the toilets and for the pets. I washed a bunch of clothes and we all took showers just in case we would not be able to later. On line it seemed a lot of friends and family were doing the same.

The tsunami was due to hit Hawaii around 2:50...something a.m....then changed to 3:07 a.m. I believe. We tried to stay up to watch on the news as we did last year when one happened in the middle of the day. We couldn't make it though and went to bed around 1:30 a.m. Then just after 3:00 a.m. I got woken up by multiple txts from friends and family from the mainland asking if we were okay. My mom said she even got one telling her she better wake up a tsunami was going to hit! Like we wouldn't know? lol! The state of Hawaii gave us ample warning..they said they even started the warning sirens 2 hours earlier then they normally would. I'd heard that the sirens started going off around midnight..we could hear them over the news when they show news journalists trying to report in Honolulu. Family here heard the sirens down a bit farther from us..but up here high on our volcano (in our little area called Olinda) it's nice and quiet. My brother just 5 min down the hill from me in Makawao was woken up by them.

At that point we tried to turn on the news again and see if we could watch the tsunami live on tv. Our son had already gotten up and turned on the news in the living room..so he came and hopped on the end our our bed to watch in our room. The news had the camera on the water..and it looked like it had some sort of enfrared (sp?) lights so we could see..but not sure if thats what it was. My eyes would just not stay awake though..so I fell asleep and the guys said they turned it off before they could see anything happen.

Morning came and thankfully it was not such bad news for Hawaii..The Big Island was hit the hardest..I believe a few homes were carried out to sea. No deaths though. For Maui the worse part was up Puunene Ave. in Kahului. The water went up as far as Walgreens. My bank on the corner of Puunene and Kamehameha was flooded. My husband, Paul, waited at home Friday..not going to work until the afternoon because roads to his shop were closed. On this video below of some Aerial Reconnaissance on Maui... near the beginning it mentions Kahului Beach road and how all the cement barriers from the harbor are all over the road..that is the road he takes to work.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRZvK7FG020

We could see the traffic and how bad it was using binoculars from our deck. There was another way around that Paul could have taken to work..but it looked really traffic-y and the news kept urging people to stay home and let the city clean up the roads. He had to get down there eventually though because we had a customers car in our shop and they were needing it back. So when he saw the roads seemed clearer..he left. Once down there he decided to at least try the usual road which was said to still be closed on the Maui County update page..but it was open when he got down there and looked fine. We spoke to others with businesses nearby who came down but closed up shop because there were no customers. Also everyone was dead tired! Most on Maui had stayed up most the night..and many of those who had to evacuate either spent the night on a road somewhere trying to sleep in their cars.

As for my aunt..like I said..she eventually came up to stay with my mom after being warned by the police! Then she left my moms house super early going back way before the all clear was given. She said the road by her condo was full of mud and fish and smelled bad! Then when she got to her place someone yelled to her that it was not over yet..a huge wave just came over South Kihei road! She kept her stuff packed in her car and thought about coming back up the hill to us..but ended up staying there and is fine thankfully!

Just yesterday my husband had to go check out a car at one of the car lots we do work for and they showed him a car that had been parked at the harbor having just arrived for them to pick up. The water line can clearly be seen on it..here are pictures my husband took:





Here is a clip from Maui County showing the rescue of a turtle that was washed up from the Tsunami. The Hawaiian sea turtle is an endangered species and in normal circumstances not to be touched..however this was a special circumstance and I'm glad they helped him back out to the ocean.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMZiIR-YEM

I'm sure a lot of people around the shore have had to do much clean up and I read that it caused tens of millions of dollars in damage..but other then that we are very fortunate. Especially compared to those in Japan. I was able to contact a friend I had met from Japan in 2009 and find out that her and her family were safe and farther away from the damage. However every day we think of and pray that others in Japan find their loved ones safe and sound.

New Pearl and Hand Knotted Silk Necklaces...

Fresh new pieces just added to the shop :D



Purple Plumeria - Freshwater Pearl and Paua Shell Silk Knotted Necklace



Mysterious Blue - Freshwater Pearl and Swarovski Crystal Silk Knotted Necklace

New ArtFire Collection - So Soft and Dreamy

One of my favorite pieces designed by my sister Kimberlee Aihara of Aihara Visuals was chosen for the dreamiest ArtFire Collection today..its the second necklace on the second row.



Here is a close up picture


Thank you to Phyllis from Gold Bracelets at ArtFire for creating this dreamlike collection and including Jonara Blu Maui :)

If you are interested in the necklace, it's entitled "Dream Garden" and is on sale! You can find it here Dream Garden Beaded Necklace in my shop at ArtFire

or here Dream Garden Beaded Necklace in my shop at RubyLane


or here Dream Garden Beaded Necklace in my shop at Etsy

Long overdue thank you's

I was both over-joyed and mortiphied this morning as I realized my FaceBook page for my jewelry shop was auto-hiding all the wonderful comments people were leaving there. So it appeared that I was ignoring everyone and not saying thank you! Why was I over joyed though you ask? Because what a nice thing to wake up to..to comments like these:

I'm almost thankful that the jewelry designer whose work I loved on Oahu vanished into thin air because that's when I discovered Jonara Blu! I will be in touch with you soon with a new order!

Marlene Schulz

Love, love, love my new pieces.... and thanks for the Jonara Blu bucks! You'll be hearing from me again sooooooooon, Jamee!

Marlene Schulz

I'm not just a fan, I'm an adoring fan! Jamee made the most perfect and beautiful jewerly for me so I could wear on my beach wedding. I just cant stop raving on what a superb job she did. It is truly gorgeous jewelry. Thanks again Jamee!

Omayra Miranda

Jamee, I love your jewellry as it's absolutely beautifull and I can feel the Island feel to all of it just by looking at the photo's.

Lisa Smith-Rutherford

Jamee, your jewellery is so beautiful, I love how your photograph it!

Pamela Davies

You have such beautiful jewelry! Classic and timeless... :) I definitely know where I'll go when I'm in the market.

Jessica Seng Jensen

Hi from your newest fan - greetings from Melbourne :D!

Val Zdero

I can totally feel the LUV! A very belated thank you to everyone!

If you'd like to link to my facebook page here I am --->Jonara Blu Maui's FaceBook page

Etsy Treasury - The Aloha Way of Life

Thats me down in the bottom right corner. you can visit the the actual treasury here Thanks so much SurfhoundSoapCompany

Hamoa Beach

A quick peek at the beautiful Hamoa Beach in Hana Maui. We took our yearly camping trip to Hana and enjoyed a beautiful day w/ calm waves at Hamoa.

New Jewelry

Two newest pieces just added to the shop:


White Ginkgo Leaf Beach Bride Necklace


Lustrous white mother of pearl shell pendant cut into a shape that resembles the ginkgo leaf along w/ shimmering white petal keshi freshwater pearls, white nugget freshwater pearls and opal Swarovski crystals. All are hand knotted on white silk cord.



Black Lip Shell Hibiscus Earrings

Beautiful high quality black lip mother of pearl shell carved hibiscus flowers with faceted black lip shell rectangle beads hand wire wrapped w/ sterling silver wire.

Find more island inspired jewelry hand-crafted on Maui, Hawaii at Jonara Blu Maui

Bridal Season 2010

Bridal season is quickly approaching and I'm so behind! Finally made a couple of necklaces w/ matching earrings and already sold one of the necklaces days after I listed it...I've got to stop playing w/ these cute baby goats and get to work!



Here is the necklace that I made that sold so quickly..it featured oval pearls and an oval mother of pearl pendant



and here is the other new one w/ a touch up blue for the brides looking for 'something blue'..I often make 'something blue' anklets and they seem to be very popular :)



These are new beach bride earrings just listed...



Available here:
Freshwater Oval Coin Pearl Beach Bride Earrings

Note from a bride...

I just received a wonderful thank you note from a bridal customer...makes me remember why I like making jewelry so much..especially when it gets to be part of such special a occasion :)

Jamee,

Aloha! I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I received my new anklet in the mail today. It's absolutely gorgeous! The anklet looks even better than how I envisioned it looking in my head! I am planning on wearing it on my left foot where I got a sea turtle tattoo from the Chrome Lotus Tattoo shop in Maui during our 2008 Christmas vacation.

Thank you so very much for adding a little something special to my wedding day. The anklet will go great with my wedding dress!

Sincerely,

Angela
Baltimore, MD

here is the anklet she purchased for her wedding day:


Mahalo Angela!

Spring time and more new babies!

It's warming up here finally...way up here on the side of the volcano I call home. It was our first winter at our new place and we loved it! The wood stove was awesome and kept our house nice and toasty. The kitties learned quick were the best place to sleep was!



Taxes are done..the yellow pin coushin protea are blooming like crazy outside my window..peaches are covering the peach tree out back..and more baby goats are here! I do believe springtime has sprung :)

Friday March 19th this little guy was born on our hillside. The owners daughter donned him Chip. (If I haven't explained before..these goats are on the 6 acres of property I live on. Our landlord gave them to a local vet and her fam since he moved away to the mainland. I have become quite close w/ them..the humans and the goats lol! ..helping them out when I can since I'm here all the time. I have kinda been thrown into a situation that I didn't expect and it's been the coolest experience ever!)




Then we had the twins 2 days later Sunday March 21st..their momma Cocoa gave birth to them right at my gate to the pasture by my drive way. She's wild like most of the herd but super used to me..I'm still really suprised she had them right there rather then the bluffs out back like the rest usually do. These two boys have to be the cutest most strangest looking goats ever. The mom is a lamancha (they have super tiny ears) and the dad a nanny..however they pulled all lamancha only one got black and white on it's head from it's black and white daddy:

(you can even see one of the placenta's left by my gate..these cuties were JUST hatched here!)




These baby boys look like wookies or ewoks to me lol! I would have loved to name one Wookie and one Chewy Chewbaka..but they have been donned Splash and Rusty by their little owner..cute names too :) They were a bit weaker then the other goats at first..not sure if it's because of the breed or that they were twins. We think she had them late according to our calculations. I had to watch them closer then the others for about a week. They even fell into a hole we did not know existed on the property. I could not find them anywhere for 2 days. Finally the vets came out (both husband and wife are vets) and the husband found them in a hole covered by a carpet of grass. We were sure to cover it so no more could fall down there..but makes me wonder what other perils exist on this 6 acres of land. Today they are doing very well though and are finally able to keep up with mom who brings them down to visit me by the gate :)

Here's a vid of the 3 new kids from the other day. We have 4 others..had 6 others but lost two. I'll have to tell their stories another time..very sad and very sweet goats.

We have also been helping to raise an orphaned male goat named Mana...the vet kept him in a kennel at her house for the first month..bottle feedings needed through the night. Then once that was done she brought him up here and we kept him in the bigger cage dog kennel at night w/ his blankie in the little dog house attached..he would sleep in that to stay warm since he has no momma to cuddle up to at night. I had to feed him 3 times a day..morning time I had to wake up for 6:30 a.m. feedings..did that a little while then learned to jam my earplugs down farther so I could ignore his cries until about 7:30ish. Now it's warmer so he we leave the kennel door open for his choice of sleeping in there or not. He doesn't yell for me every morning now..yay! and I mean YELL..this goat has a crazy loud voice that sounds like he's saying "HAAAYYY!! HAAYYY!" not the cute little "BAAAA" like the others lol!

Here is Mana having a snack of wild olive bush and hibiscus leaves before bed. He will eventually replace the billy goat fathering all the babies right now so that some new blood can be brought into the herd.



In other news...the human kid is doing much better. He'd been sick for about a year and a half..many of you were following my updates during that time. He's much better but it really put him through the ringer emotionally. He still gets bouts of what he had before off and on..and of course I say if he didn't eat like a teenager he'd have less of them..but he's a teenager and not much I can do about that! He's happy to be out and about again though and having fun w/ his friends :)(my Cameron is the guy in the hat hiding his face w/ his hands..)




And last but not least..our orphaned chicks we raised got a new home..a totally 'green' home...all parts were found and/or donated used parts. Hubby has never built anything before..he's more a car guy then a builder...but I think he did pretty good! It's gonna get some more trim and a coat of paint. He's put in some other fun windows since..I'll take another pic when it's all done.








And yes I have been making jewelry..not as often as in the past since I'm enjoying such wonderful new things w/ the animals..but I still love making jewelry and selling it online. I'll be posting new pieces soon...

Double Strand Bracelet - New! Just added!

Taxes are finally done and I am on the jewelry path once again! Right now I am mostly trying to go through my 3 shops and organize..however I did make a few pieces right before I started working on my taxes and this is one of them:

Turtle Rainforest - Double Strand Asymmetrical Beaded Bracelet

A whimsical mix of dyed stabilized turquoise in different shades, lime chalk turquoise, lime dyed howlite, spring green dyed jade, dyed freshwater pearls, glass seed beads in bright turquoise and lime green, peridot and paua abalone shell with accents of sterling silver and cute charms..one a Hill Tribe silver turtle and the other a silverized pewter leaf.

available here

What's been going on?

Looks like my blog got away from me again! That happens every so often...so many things to keep up on..sometimes something has got to give. I must admit though..I have fallen in love and am allowing it to steal up a lot of my time.

I mean who can resist cuties like this?



We have 5 new babies..all about 3 weeks to a month old. And we are expecting more very soon! I've also become momma to some orphaned chicks..



They were only a couple of weeks in the picture..now they are about 2 1/2 months old. Super fun and friendly though. If you sit on our deck..they will end up in your lap. Here they are greeting us in the morning the other day..I'm sure they would love nothing more then to come into the house lol!



It's cold at our new place..got down to 48 one night...but only once so far. Usually it's around 53 or 54 on a cold night. Looks like spring outside though with all the new babies around us and our Japanese peach tree in bloom:



And of course I am still creating jewelry. Though not at the same pace as I would like to. I have so many new supplies to work with, I can't wait until tax season is over so I will have more time to play. It's that time of year again to catch up on my very neglected bookkeeping for both my business and my husbands business so that I can gather all the info for the CPA. Here are some of the new Hawaiian leaf shells..just love them! Can't wait to incorporate them into more pieces ;)



Well that's a super quick update..hope that everyone is doing well. I miss reading all of your blogs and hope to get back to it soon!

Jonara Blu Maui