SO GLAM!

so the life of a jeweler sound fancy right? all diamonds and gold?  really it's dirty and gross and sometimes smelly (cleaning products).  Here's a glam shot of my hand after a few hours of cutting ... I'm not sure if you can tell by the pic but it's pretty sparkly, covered with a layer of fine silver dust. 



I always think of that scene in Frida when Salma Hayek has gold leaf dust all over her bloody self after the bus accident:



sorry for the graphic pic, it's fake people, focus on the gold not the blood. But what a great movie ... here's another glitter rain scene from Velvet Goldmine, this time on shirtless Ewan MacGregor:



nice. and let's not forget a scene with Jonathon Rhys Meyers, he always brings the drama (have you seen the Tudors? holy drama!)



and lastly, while we're talking glitter and glam, here's a trailer for a movie that I'm so excited for I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I watch it! Here's a little secret about myself that I'll only reveal to my bloggy friends, I'm OBSESSED with Johnny Weir.



This kid grew up in Quarryville, PA, my husband's hometown. Now this is serious hick country - atv's, rebel flags, camaros, rodeos, rifles on the gun rack in the Ford pickup in the high school parking lot hick-ness. I'm talking serious "country".

Any kid who has the confidence to wear glitter face paint and skate to Lady Gaga after growing up in that town, DAMN do you ever deserve your own movie! and he learned to skate in a corn field - come on!

going international

These dramatic beauties were a custom order from France. very exciting!  I'm officially internationally represented!  My last 4 orders have been from Australia, Sweden, UK, and France, respectively.  That's weird - maybe no big bad recession over there? 



I'm hoping she'll take a pic of herself in front of something very French like this:


or this:



or this!



these pics are from Pia Jane Bijkerk's new book Paris: Made by Hand. (via the amazing sfgirlbybay)

On to my Australia buyer, she was the sister of a friend and she literally bought the earrings out of my ears. AND she's a crafter herself (as well as an "featured" extra in the new bad Nicholas Cage movie!)



She was featured in this great book on up-and-coming Melbourne designers, Handmade Melbourne.

Her hats totally remind me of these guys:



and these awesome rugs.



I love that a lehigh valley girl is making Incan and Persian inspired crafts in Australia and I'm blogging about it in Virginville. small world!

Field trip!

So here are some pics from my most recent trip to my crazy jewelry supplier in Bethlehem, PA - Lost River Caverns. Yes, it's a cave - stalactites, stalagmites and all that. This place is truly weird, you must go!!

it's a mix of weird cave-y geode type stuff, pirates, antique guns, taxidermy and silver supplies - I guess that all makes sense together. Pirates fought off wild animals with antique guns to steal precious crystals then hid in caves?


the ubiquitous pirate.


I'm pretty sure bears and dinosaurs never met but it's fun to pretend! ....

here's some history on the cave if you are curious -- it seems like fun things happen down there, some weddings and they even have music concerts!


Yet another of PA's great weird local attractions that hasn't been updated in 50 years ... I'll feature Crystal Cave next, and maybe Roadside America if you're lucky!

(model of Crystal Cave at Roadside America. Intrigued yet?)

wow. you don't live that far from me!

here are some blog props to  Allen Company Inc from Allentown.  She makes THE coolest silk floral bouquets.  

These are such a cool original idea, I wish I would have thought of that for my wedding. I would do it all so different - a short gauzy white polka dot dress , yellow shoes, these grey flowers ... maybe we'll just do it again!

She also has an amazing vintage selection on her etsy site. Open a store in the Lehigh Valley already!!

hey, that's us!

a big bloggy thanks to Tara from HandmadeinPa for her first feature for the TryHandmade blog - it's on us! our z-town made craft collective! PA is where it's at. right?

happy belated fasnacht day!

I can't believe I missed the fasnacht drive thru window! I had no idea that these donuts actually had a story. So these were traditionally made the day before ash wednesday to get rid of all the lard, sugar, fat and butter in the pantry (the only way to get through the fasting of lent I suppose, zero temptation. where's the strength in that?). Gotta love the PA Dutch.

Maybe I can get some stale ones on special ... mmmm.

large enough to matter, small enough to impact

Those are the words of the mayor of Braddock, PA. Here's Mayor John Fetterman with his deputy mayor, Jeb Feldman. 


yep. that's the mayor. and his ride. This town outside of Pittsburgh has a wild story - it was once a booming steel town of over 20,000, now the population is around 2,000. It's a city of decay and crime, so much so that the gang members call it Bradocc (changing the last "k" to a "c" because of the amount of crip gang members). The mayor, a Harvard grad with a degree in public policy, tattoos the date of every murder on his forearm. BUT this town is fascinating! This mayor has dedicated his life to turning this "city" around. Look at the potential:


It seems like the set of one of those doomsday movies - like where you wake up and you're the only one left, and you're wandering down the main street with tigers ... it's full of AMAZING old (run down) architecture. It's the home of the first Carnegie Library, still in use thank goodness.  The library used to have an entry into the mines in the basement, complete with a bath so the men could enter into the the library all clean. pretty amazing, here's the library:


Mayor Fetterman does seem to be doing well, calling in big name artists to do installations, trying to get creative types to move there for the low prices and big studio space. interested?? Here's a recent street work by SWOON, a nyc based artist:


He has a master plan to turn the old furnaces into a steel heritage site modeled on the Sloss Furnaces of Alabama.  and his plans for urban gardening just make me giddy!

All in all I can't tell if I'm inspired or depressed. Being smack between Bethlehem and Reading this all hits so close to home.  and with the all the economic drama going on right now (NPR is basically declaring the end of the world!) I fear for re-emerging towns like these, especially when a proposed highway wants to wipe them out. arggg.   BUT, I think I'm inspired. and challenged. and humbled.  (let's go! grassroots, handmade, indie, locally grown, etc, etc.)


Look at this place. 2000 people. that's like the number of people in Ikea right now, at 10am on a Thursday. It's got to be do-able, right?

taking over the top row

Z town represent! 4 members of our fledging craft collective are dominating this gift guide. yea! The most lovely Tara has put together a quite amazing website featuring artists and crafters from Pennsylvania, it's called Handmade in PA. She's a marketing master and it looks like this is ready to take off. Can't wait to collaborate in the future ...

buy local, buy handmade. of course.