New on Pinterest: Rain

Living in Seattle, it helps if you can come to an accomodation with rain.

We celebrate the beauty and creativity inherent in rain on Pinterest in our "Rain" board.

Check it out! And take your bumbershoot...

Source: lorilangille.blogspot.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: hikarinote.tumblr.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Pink Camellias

pink camellias, our garden at Greenlake, Seattle

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

~Hans Christian Andersen

Sneak Peek 2. New Vintage Inspired Designs at Bumbershoot Designs

The muse cannot be stopped!

I do create all the time. If I don't, I start to feel like I can't breathe.

However, a few times a year, the muse really gets going and I'm still in the midst of that experience.

In this blog post, I shared a first Sneak Peek at some of the new designs I have been busy creating for Bumbershoot Designs. I've put 20 of the new designs into Bumbershoot Designs so far, and I have many more to add (the muse prefers to create, it is a negotiation to get the paperwork and listing done).

Here is Sneak Peek 2, watch for these new designs to appear in Bumbershoot Designs. Feel free to ask about anything if you are interested and don't see it listed...

I think of this necklace as a Rainier raindrop. It is a great layering necklace, made from a vintage teardrop and a vintage pearl headpin. Those are pearl headpins adorning the stave-shaped floral earrings above, too.

This necklace matches the earrings shown in the first photo. I've used pear shaped montana sapphire rhinestones, Czech from the 1950's and stripped the foil backing off them (see this tutorial for how to do that). Then I set them in antiqued brass, but I set them in upside down in order to show off the lovely faceting on the back of the stone. I'm using a rose clasp on this necklace for a bit of pretty at the nape of the neck.

I wish I could find more of these settings because they are so graceful and work very well with vintage cabochons. These earrings feature vintage glass cabochons that are the turquoise-y blue of robin's eggs. I love the organic appearance of the mottling and how it works with the antiqued brass. Spring is coming!

This vintage envelope locket has sat on my worktable for a very long time. The color was rather unusual, and could not be used as it was. Finally I found the time to patina it and here it is, transformed. I wish I had taken a before picture. This one opens for a little note, or mantra, or inspirational phrase, or wish to be tucked inside.

Silvery springtime moonlight bathing Paris. I wonder if I will ever return to Paris. I wonder if it is still the same magical city I remember. I have a dream of returning there with our daugher Emma. Fingers crossed...

Coming next, designs featuring sterling silver and vintage components. Stay tuned...

Until then, wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Violets First Bloom

first bloom of our violets just beginning, our garden at Greenlake, Seattle, Feb 7, 2011

I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words,

half in signs, a question which meant

"Is love the sweetness of flowers?"

~Helen Keller

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Colorful Vintage Glass Teardrop Jewels

vintage 1960's West German transparent glass rainbow teardrop jewels on watercolor paper

Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty.

There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.

~Robert Motherwell

Monday in Seattle. Picture and Quote for the Week, Windswept Pines on the Pacific Coast

...windswept pines on the Pacific coast...

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Studio Snapshot. Packaging Tips, Use a Big Needle

Nestled in with the nature collection, hand crocheted flowers, bits of beautiful glass, is a very, very big needle. Easy to locate, I use this needle every day to package up jewelry for customers at Bumbershoot Designs.

I love to wrap packages and Bumbershoot Designs, being a boutique with unique and limited edition jewelry pieces, offers wrapping as special as the jewelry.  I use this very big needle to "sew" the tags, paper flowers, and vintage bead onto each package. Usually the bead is a vintage teardrop bead, or as I think of it, a Seattle raindrop.

Reduced Shipping Rates at Bumbershoot Supplies

I am THRILLED to announce new reduced shipping rates at Bumbershoot Supplies.  We've now completed our transition to an online postage system and that means lower shipping costs for all our customers, both US domestic and international.   Same great customer service, just lower costs - does it get any better than that?
Enjoy!

And since you can't have a blog post without a photo :) here is a picture of what the weather has looked like in Seattle for the last several days.  What to do on a rainy day(s)? Make art!

Our Valentine’s Day Jewelry Collection

Looking to add a little romance to your Valentine’s Day? Or any day for that matter! Here are our picks.

1. Rainer Raindrops in "Tea Rose", 2. Pearl Filigree, 3. Queen Anne (earrings), 4. Queen Anne (necklace), 5. Sheer Bliss, 6. Burgundy Rose, 7. Seattle Rain in Pink

For more selections, check out our designs shop.

Tempest

"All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for an instant from the routine of life and recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage." ~ The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I do think that a gale is a good time to create. Cosy up in your studio with a cup of tea and all of your lovely supplies and creative ideas and just make art.  Let the sound of the rain beating against the house inspire you.

Made it to the Front Page of Etsy!

Two items from Bumbershoot Designs made it to the front page of Etsy!

Rainier Raindrops. Vintage Aqua Rhinestone Earrings in Silver

Seattle Rain. Blue Rain Necklace with 1960s Faux Lapis Beads, Sterling Silver

Tell me how many beads there are

In a silver chain

Of evening rain,

Unravelled from the tumbling main...

~Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Lots of new and beautiful beads at Bumbershoot Supplies these days. We're now offering several choices of vintage 1950's West German beads. I'm showing the raindrop shaped ones in this post, but there are more, come on over and check it out!

A guide to Pacific Northwest pronunciation

Above, Rainier Raindrops. That's Ray-neer Raindrops.

And how about these Washington locations:

Sequim = Squim

Spokane = Spo-can

Puyallup = Pew-a-lup

And in Seattle, the original location of the first white settlement:

Alki = Alk-eye.

It is from the Chinook trading jargon, and correctly pronounced Alk-ee. It was changed to "eye" during prohibition because the locals did not like the alcoholic-sounding correct version.

Last, but not least, for now:

Geoduck = gooey duck. A very large saltwater clam, native to (primarily) Washington and British Columbia.

Do you have any more?

Quote the rain

I've located a fair number of quotes about rain, mentioning rain, or otherwise to do with rain. I'm going to post them at the top of the Bumbershoot Designs Etsy shop, and occasionally here. Let me know what you think. If you have any quotes you'd like to share, leave a comment.

Here's number 1:

Come on let it rain, let it rain down on me.
Let the rain touch my hands, let the rain set me free. ~Melissa Etheridge

And below: Natural Rain. It'll be posted in the shop Monday. And by the way, it's raining here in Seattle today....

Shop update

A short post today, just to touch base and show off some of the new items that have arrived and what we have done with them.

We got some vintage rhinestones on the weekend, in their original packaging.

There is this great anticipation as you open the crinkly, somewhat brittle paper, and unfold the tissue and sometimes the cotton that is inside. Like being the first person to open a treasure chest that has been sealed for a very long time... So exciting! Here is what we found in this treasure packet:

And here is what they turned into:

We have 24 jewelry designs uploaded to Etsy currently, with dozens more to go! Keep watching!