Aloha from Hawaii! Collection on ArtFire

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

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!

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...

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

Important info on my website URL

For about a week my domain name forwarding will be down while it transfers to GoDaddy. So you will not be able to get through to my website with http://www.jonarablumaui.com instead you will need to use the actual address which is: http://www.rubylane.com/shops/jonarablu It should be working normally again in about a week.

To say I'm frustrated is an understatement :( I received some horrible customer service with Yahoo small business section this morning. I was needing to use my domain name service through GoDaddy instead of Yahoo this year since Yahoo pricing shot up from 9.95 a year last year to 34.95. I scheduled a service rep call (they do not provide a number you have to fill a form and get a call back) so that I did not make any mistakes. I told him what I needed to do and why. The rep seemed friendly and helpful only he left out a LOT Of very important information and to make a long story short he left me between a rock and a hard place with no way to get a hold of Yahoo again for help since my account had been 'canceled'. They would not schedule a call nor would they allow an email to them. GoDaddy's hands were tied and the only way to get a hold of Yahoo again would be to sign up and pay for another domain!

I ended up figuring something out to make the wait be only a week instead of 45 to 60 days ..however that still means that the website on all of my business cards, invoices and links all over the web will not be working.

I'm super sorry for the inconvenience to anyone who tried to get a hold of me..I'm still here!!! you can always email me at: jonarablumaui@hawaii.rr.com

Aloha!

More Maui Jewelry Coming soon!

This Tuesday is 10 cent Tuesday for us sellers at RubyLane. It's only 10c to upload a new item for sale rather then the usual 30c ...5c for charter shops. I've got a number of new pieces I've started already adding an more still to add so I think I am going to use until then to make some more and then get as much up on Tuesday as I can. (Hopefully life doesn't call my attention to elsewhere that day) I believe I am a charter shop so 5c an item is pretty cool. I'll take whatever savings I can get in this economy!

"Violet Butterfly Bracelet" coming Tuesday to Jonara Blu Maui

Published on Subearthan Cottage Blog

Charity of Subearthan Cottage has been kind enough to include Jonara Blu Maui in one of her Wednesday Etsy feature blog posts. You can read the article here: This Weeks Featured Artist: Jamee Jones Creator of Jonara Blu Maui

Charity's favorite piece in my Etsy shop:



Charity also has her own shop at etsy called SubEarthan Cottage for Handmade Soaps, Jewelry and More Her soaps look so yummy..chocolate, vanilla....mmm and they are wrapped up super cute! Please go and take a look at her shop.

A Jonara Blu Maui Giveaway!

Kim at CraftyMamaof4 has featured my Etsy shop on her blog! And we are having a give away!

Winner gets these earrings:




And the winner and 4 runners up each get a Jonara Blu Buck worth $5 to use in my shop. These are totally transferable..so they can also be given away as a nice gift :)

Here is the link to her blog post about the giveaway: Jonara Blu Maui - Etsy Showcase

CraftyMamaof4 does features on lots of Etsy shops and giveaways on her blog so keep and eye on her blog to join in the fun!

Wire Wrapped Rings

Some fun little rings....


Turquoise

Leopard Jasper

Crab Fire Agate

Purple Dyed Crazy Lace Agate



Available soon in my ArtFire and Etsy shops

Catching up and cleaning up...

I've been neglecting my blog again..I think it's because I've been a little preoccupied with Twitter. That thing is too much fun...not to mention I end up chatting w/ my bestest friend Tina at Belle Adorn on there every day. But not just that..I actually follow the news stations updates there(something I never did before..watch the news) and enjoy all sorts of tips and recommendations.

But seriously..I need to get focused here. Today I started cleaning up my studio/office..amazing how many bead supplies pile up and how many receipts and papers. Oh and the dust...ooops..it's been a while since I dusted this room..yikes! I'm not even near done but already it feels so much more inviting to work in. And I need to get this place ship shape because spring is always a busy time for me. For one it's wedding season!

Photograph by Aihara Visuals

Wedding season is a really fun time because I've usually got lots of wedding custom jewelry orders. It's doubly busy though because there is the not so fun compiling of the tax totals for both hubby's business and mine. I never learn my lesson either and I'm always behind on the bookkeeping. Waaaay behind. I'm hoping I did a little better this year though. Honestly I was doing okay the first part of the year..but when Cameron got sick I kinda lost track of it all. Some things are just more important..and that includes your kids.

Speaking of Cameron..he's definitely made progress. He's not 100% but he's definitely more his old self. He still deals w/ nausea every day and so doesn't really like to leave the house. But many of the other symptoms have gone away. Some have returned if he eats the wrong thing...like heart burn or being short of breath. It's all a trial..trying to figure out what food intollerances are causing his discomfort. He's gained back about 7 pounds from the 20 he lost. They came back quickly and he hasn't gained anymore back in over a month..but we are just happy he's not loosing.

And we got him out for an evening! He went to the big babyshower party my sister threw our brother and sister in law. Here he is w/ some friends and his cousin. He's the one in the hat.




The babyshower was a lot of fun...one of the first for our family that I was not involved in. It was nice and relaxing..but felt strange to not be involved in the planning and whatnot. My sister Kimberlee and her sis in law Raylene did a good job though! It was a surf theme...here are some of the decorations..





Here is yours truly w/ her new little nephew Hanalei..(it was a bad frizzy hair day..wish I could have borrowed his hat!)




And of course we have been working on puzzles for family time. I've missed taking pics of the last two we did..but here is the one before that.

Jonara Blu Maui 20% off Sale

All regular priced items 20% off through December at Jonara Blu Maui

Published by DIY Wedding Girl!

DIY Wedding Girl wrote such a nice article about my jewelry..I"m so excited! Go check it out and leave a comment if you have a chance! Here is the link to the post:Maui Jewelry

Siena has a really nice blog where she finds all sorts of cool finds and fun ideas for weddings and bridesmaid gifts. I know I have a lot of bridal customers so I suggest you go and check her out if you want to browse for some new ideas. Everyday she's got some new cool find up there from artisans who make things like well priced beautiful invitations, super cool custom wedding map and beautiful personalized retro lunchboxes full of spa goodies for your bridesmaids. So much fun!

Thank you DIY Wedding Girl!

New Beach Wedding Baby Coin Pearl Necklace

Baby white freshwater coin pearls measure about 9mm with white button pearls, tiny white semi round pearls and opal aurora borealis Swarovski crystals on white silk. Perfect for the beach bride and beyond! Will be posted in my shop very soon..beach bride pieces go fast so if interested please email me :)




And as a side note...we finished the puzzle! It was sad to take it apart and put it away..and now it's gonna be tough to find one as fun!



Beaded jewelry by:Jonara Blu Maui

Jonara Blu Maui on Athena Magazine Weblog

My dear friend Marjorie of Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry has been at it again. She writes for Athena Magazine Weblog and submitted her article on me. The post is intitled Indie Jewelry: Jonara Blu Maui ...click the link and check it out...don't forget to leave a comment and don't forget to check out Marjorie's spot on the web too!

Mahalo Marjorie!!

Jonara Blu Mention on Stylelist by Marjorie's Cracked Plate Jewelry

Marjorie of Marjories cracked plate jewelry was interviewed on Stylelist this week and the sweet person that she is mentioned me! Click the above link to read her interview and to see her Kudos to Jonara Blu Maui.

Thanks Marjorie!



Here's a picture of Marjorie at the Manasquan Craft/Antique Show in Manasquan, NJ