How does YOUR garden grow?

Looking Glass

I made this necklace a couple weeks ago and just had time to load the photos and list it fresh in the shop!  It's made from an optical lens, chandelier crystal, and brass bird charm.  They all hang from a long 28" chain that can be slipped right over the head.   

Currently, it's a one of a kind.  I haven't decided yet whether or not to reproduce it.  We shall see.

The rest of the morning has been eggs, salami, and cheesy soap net movies.  I can admit it.

Homemade Pickles!

The last time I was in Virginia, I got to make some homemade pickles with my sweety!  I was so surprised at how simple it was once you have everything you need.  He picked up the pickles at a local farmer's stand and we went from there.  Washed, jarred, spiced, and left to ferment:

We had this recipe on hand from another fantastic food blog and had been saving it for the perfect day!  We let the cucumbers ferment for about 4 days before trying them and they were great!  Now I want to dry other kinds of pickles, jams, compotes, and other jarred goodies.

Got an itch to make some pickles?  Use this awesome recipe and find out how good mine were.

Help me break 2000!

I'm posting a special sale exclusively for you, my faithful blog readers today in order for you guys to help me jump over the 2000 sales milestone in my Etsy shop (and to give you all a little love).

So, be the person to purchase my 2000th piece of jewelry from the shop (even if it's with another item) and include the number 2000 anywhere in the message to seller and I'll give you your choice of any other 1 item in the shop you want absolutely for free.  No catches.  Easy as pie.

UPDATE: I made it to 2000!!  Thanks for your help!

Thanks for helping and yes, friends and family you can jump right in since I know many of you are my primary readers!

xoxo

Fact and Fancy opening

Last night the Fact and Fancy opening was great.  They were serving mint lemonade and cranberry mint ginger ale (both had fresh mint sprigs in the jugs.  I was just excited to have my earrings make the cut for the opening party invite, ha!  I can't get over how well the girls have put the boutique and gallery together in such a short amount of time.  It's definitely inspiring.  

In other news, it's been a very busy work week at Etsy and I was lucky enough to snag another wholesale order for Contrary.  So if you are in the area, you will be able to find some Contrary jewelry at:

Milk & Honey
232 Merrick Rd
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
516.608.0978
Tues-Sun
12-8

It'll be a while until they have a website up, but I'll try to keep you posted and definitely stop in if you find yourself in Rockville Centre!

xoxo

Femme

I'm pretty excited to introduce this new "mini line" for Contrary into the shop; I call it "Femme":

I was having a particularly difficult time trying to figure out what to do with these smaller smoky glass crystal chandelier components.  I use so many of the larger drop crystals in my work, but when I source the pieces they come attached with chandelier wire to these smaller crystals.  In the past, I have just detached them and set these little pieces aside.

So anyway, it was fun coming up with how to incorporate them into jewelry and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

It's often times incredible to me how piecing different components together can completely change the look and feel of a piece of jewelry.  For instance the earrings above have a clean, simple, and almost modern look...while the ones below have a much more ornate and aged look yet both pairs are comprised of the same key component.

What happens in Vegas...

Doesn't have to stay there!  Check out these little treasures:

I'm so excited about these little vintage copper and enameled gambling chips!  I scooped up a bunch of these little charms as soon as I laid eyes on them.  I love the way they have visible wear on them mixed with the clean enamel and flashy gold text...the perfect mix of what I envision an actual visit to Vegas might be like:  a little dirty with some glam and flashy distractions.  I've got em in the shop already, so take a peek over there if you want to see some more pics.

I hope you take a liking to them as much as I did!

Etsy Video

Check out this video of me that Etsy made for my installment of the "About Us" video series they have been running in the Storque:

They took film of all 62 employees and have been editing and releasing the series one by one in the Storque each week in an effort to help show the face behind the name or avatar and let the greater Etsy community feel like they can get to know who we are.  They are pretty silly, we all had to answer the same questions and were REQUIRED to do that 10 second dance break...how mortifying, haha!  I had fun with it and now you can see a little further into my world.

CooooooookkkkkkkkiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeessssssSSS!

Fact and Fancy

Yesterday I stopped by my friend's (and co-workers) brand new gallery/boutique "Fact and Fancy" for their grand opening. 



















They are located in a great spot in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn right off Atlantic Avenue where all the cute shops are.  My favorite part of the shop is the floors; the ladies got down on their hands and knees and painted a faux bois wood grained design on the floor of the space!  It's a teensy weensy tiny space, but it has big personality and tons of charm.



















The best part is, they asked to carry a collection of Contrary earrings in the shop!  One of my original goals in moving to NYC was to have Contrary in at least one local boutique....and boy does it feel good!


































I picked up a couple goodies while I was there and left a happy camper.  Check out the space if you are in the area, you won't be sorry you did.

Going too far?

I have no idea how it happened, but I woke up one day and was suddenly the type of person who would walk into the city on a mission...a mission for the best in food.  I bypassed the local grocery stores and headed straight for the farmers market to pick up some fresh herbs to plant, a few locally grown apples for the week, and then paid a whopping $9.00 for some bacon from a locally slaughtered pig.  Yes you heard me right, $9.00.  Any yes, it's some damn good bacon.  Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I toted it all back to the apartment in Brooklyn with my handy canvas market bag.














So yeah, I guess you could say I'm turning into one of those.....and I'm sort of liking it. 














I'm really excited about having the fresh herbs that I planted earlier this evening.  I scoured for the three I thought I might actually use the most in cooking.  Those being rosemary, basil, and cilantro....oh my beloved cilantro.















Now the true test will be seeing if my not so green thumb can keep these little lovelies alive and healthy. Wish me luck and I'm welcoming any tips for keeping plants happy and healthy from inside the window!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful long holiday weekend!  I have been relaxing and enjoying myself down South in Virginia.  This weekend we had a cookout at Beechwood, the farm plantation where my mom lives, and just hung out with family.
































Cooking out anytime soon this Summer?  If you're looking for a good way to so onions, check out this little video recipe tip:



I just took a large vidalia onion, sliced it into thick slices, put them in a foil pan and took them out to the man in charge who drizzled them with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  He stuck the foil pan right on the grill for about 20-30 minutes.  You can substitute plain foil for the foil tin and grill until desired tenderness, what a great burger topper!
















We also did hot dogs, and Mr. Foodie of course just placed an entire slice of pickle right on the dog and made just about the best looking hot dog I've ever laid eyes on.  He says that's how they do it in Chicago:




















Twas a wonderful weekend.