Mocha Latte - Chocolate - Love - Inspired Jewelry to Last a Lifetime

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, it's time we talk a little about LOVE!  Personally, I show my love for all those I care about every.single.day!  Yes, in DawnVille, it's always Valentine's Day!  However some people need subtle reminders or gentle nudges about how to show their love and appreciation to those that matter.

This month, our assignment from Cousin Corporation was to design something that is Valentine's Day inspired.  My interpretation is your everyday Valentine.  

For my inspiration in my design, I think back to my first day with my sweetie!  We had a date at a coffee shop on a chilly fall night.  Drank mochas, watched the stars come out... until we saw floating orange orbs silently moving across the sky but those are for discussion on a different forum. ;)  I talked, he listened.  We shared stories until the frothy whip cream was long gone and the coffee shop was closing up for the night... so in honor of my first date with my love, this necklace is called Mocha Love!

For this necklace, I used a lampwork heart designed by Juli Cannon - Studio Juls and created the necklace with a mix of beads from Cousin Corporation.  The necklace has pearls, glass crystals, mirror beads, oval gemstone beads and copper accents. 

Every love is different, special and unique.  Meant to help us learn and grow.  Meant to cherish and represent a place & time in our lives.  Just like no two pieces of jewelry I design are the same.  Beadwork, stitching, accent beads... there will never be a necklace just like this!

If you are looking to celebrate your love with a one of a kind piece of legacy jewelry, apply for a free design session to work with me! http://bit.ly/DesignWithDawn2014  Not everybody appreciates art or celebrates love like I do.  But if this piece speaks to you and you'd like something original designed exclusively for you, I'd love to have a personal conversation!

For more pieces of legacy jewelry, follow Bella Amore on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Matchy Matchy Necklace to go with my cuff

While this week is UBER-busy, I'm having a blast balancing it all... that is if you consider a blast looking like a circus clown, riding a unicycle, juggling bowling pins while trying to walk the dog. 

Now that's a picture... and since I'm so short on time (getting ready for my sister's wedding and will post pics after this weekend) I'll just give you a pretty picture to look at.  I made the cuff that was for the EBEG Beadfest that I was going to sell, but then it adopted me and now it's MINE!  So I thought it would like to have a playmate in the jewelry box... enter a pendant I started EONS ago... seriously, it was soooooo 2010 when I started this pendant (said while rolling eyes like a valley girl). 

Anyhoo, I didn't like how the bezel came out and I didn't like how the white background popped (this was one of my early, early attempts at bead embroidery and I had not yet discovered the joy of colored Nicoles Beadbacking).  So I tossed it in the fugly drawer and said "hasta la vista you ugly thing."

Now you see, the lampwork heart wasn't ugly... it was and is really quite stunning (lampwork bead designed by my favorite glass artist Juli Cannon, Studio Juls), but I had done such a crappy bezel around it (before I discovered how important it is to bezel with all the same variety (sort of) of seed beads.  So I had some delicas, some tohos, some czech and thought no problem.  Seriously, we all learn from our mistakes.

So when I felt the need to have a complimentary necklace for that droolworthy cuff (yes, the one with the orange accents) I pulled out the fugly thing determined to turn that Caterpillar into a butterfly.  Bring in some crystal bicone spikes out the top, a pearl and hang it on a ribbon and viola... fugly goes butterfly in a nano-second!

Why do I share this?  Because we all learn from our fugly mistakes and grow... or let them fester in the fugly drawer... either way, we keep on smiling and trying new things!
{Hugs!}
Dawn