So I went to Los Angeles to my favorite Swarovski crystal jewelry store-Marianna's. They handcraft all their jewelry right there in the back of their store. Marianna designs jewelry for Disneyland and many celebrities.

Marianna had many new pieces since I was last there. Love the two gun pendant. It hangs on a short medium chunky chain. Great piece to throw on with just a v-neck t and your favorite jeans.

Cross cuff. It has a chain in the back to keep the cuff attached. This is a great chunky piece and the cross of course is embellished with swarovski crystals.

Gold heart and wing necklace. The gold swarovski crystals are so sparkly in this piece. The picture does not do it justice.

This cross is embellished with turquoise swarovski crystals. I think this piece is very western looking. Love the vibrant color on the vintage metal.

Big Black Pendant surrounded by swarovski crystals. My niece picked this piece out and it has gotten many compliments from friends. The cross on the right is embellished with amber swarovski crystals. This is a large cross and the metal is an antique gold.

Cross on the left is an iridescent black swarovski crystals on gun metal. Medium in size and hangs from a great choker-swarovski's all the way around. Stunning piece. The piece on the right is diamond in color swarovski crystal necklace on a gun meta.

Marianna had a bunch of new cameo styles it was hard to pick from their selection. Love their crowns. This crown is all done up in green swarovski crystals.

Came home from L.A. and there was my order from KBD Designs. KBD Deisgns handcrafts their jewelry and are out of Hollywood which makes it even more unique Above are two of their new designs the bird and the butterfly. Each piece is surrounded by swarovski crystals.

Love this new line a lot. It reminds me of the whole mechanical steam punk look. The piece above is called Members Only.

Two more from their new line. The necklace on the left is called Flights of Fancy and the necklace on the right is called Eagle Inspiration.

A couple more new pieces I picked up in LA by BB Simon. The keys are embellished with swarovski crystals and hang from a long sued cord.

These crowns are so cute. The are also embellished with swarovski crystals and hang from a short ball chain.

I finally received some of the new product I ordered at the LA Gift Show. I found this cute new paper line by My Favorite Things.

Loved the little houses. They are a kit that you build yourself. You can add your own personality and alter it up a bit once you've built the basics. Great gift for a special friend.

Great enclosure cards. Made by using vintage photo's. Use these cards with a gift or with your media art projects.

Each enclosure card is hand glittered to add that little glitzy touch.

Cake Toppers. Top off that cake with a cute vintage image. It looked so cute in their display at the show room so I just had to get some to share.

What a fun pumpkin for that Halloween party. There's only a few so make sure you stop by Ever After Scrapbook store.

So I just invisioned a tea party using these cupcake wrappers. Cupcakes are making a big comeback so get out your cake plates-stack them up and fill them with your favorite cupcakes. The wrappers will give your cupcake display that final touch to impress your friends.

Another style of the cup cake wrappers which are available. There are 12 in a pack.

Handcrafted round box with a swan on top. It came with candy coated almonds inside. Great little box to put a gift inside or just fill it up with more candy.

Here's a peak at the jewelry that I will be selling at Pangea Outpost in Pacific Beach, California. Pangea is located off of the 5 freeway going south. Take the Garnet exit and head toward the beach. Pangea Outpost was voted number 1 on the A list for top store in San Diego County. There are over 100 vendors there all different and unique merchandise. People from all over come there to shop.

This altered art piece is made by Miss Vicky of California. All my jewelry are handcrafted and designed by different artist in the USA. Most of them are made in California.

This jewelry line is by TWIGS of San Clemente, California. This designer takes vintage inspired charms and oxidizes them to give it an old antique look to them. She wires each bead by hand, using crystals and pearls.

I just love the sparrow on this piece with the added bling.

This piece is a vintage inspired metal bracelet. On the top of each bracelet is vintage embellishments. Each piece is a one of a kind.

Above is crystal chain bracelets with the vintage inspired charms. Great pieces to accessories with just a pair of jeans and top. Throw on those boots or Strappy sandals and there you go walking in style.



I fell in love with this line when I was at the fashion mart in LA. This line is by Original Sin of Arizona. This designer takes vintage keys and hand wraps them with sterling silver wire and then oxidizes them to give it that antique look.



The jewelry line below is by My Mothers Buttons of Edmonds, Washington. This designer uses vintage buttons dated as far back as the early 1900's. Each piece is unique.

Above is the triple chain vintage button bracelet.



Vintage button necklaces.

To the left is a vintage button watch pendant. What a great fashion piece and the watch does work. To the right is a Vintage Horse Brad. In the old days the old horse brads were mounted on the side of the horse's bridal so that you knew who the owners were. I have a piece and I get compliments all the time on it. A must have piece. Great to wear with anything.

Vintage button single chain bracelet.

I love this jewelry line. I purchased it when I went to the LA fashion mart. This jewelry line is by Mon Bijou of California. The designer is originally from France and moved to the USA, then starting her own jewelry line. What's great about her company is that a percentage of her sales she donates to Pablo's Friends. An organization which houses street orphans.

Each piece is made of metal which is lead free and never needs to be cleaned. It is a very modern artsy line. Lots of great detail.

I went to Denver, Colorado back in June. Reunited with some old high school friends I haven't seen in like 30 years. I must say that Denver was the most amazing city. I was so impressed, I've never been there so I didn't know what to expect. I am sharing photo's of my trip through my eye. I took photo's and just gave them my touch.

Life is Art...This journey with friends has been my inspiration.

So my friend Marlene is why we went to Colorado. She lives there. I took this photo of this biker bar in a little town just outside of Red Rock. Marlene by the way is the one on the Harley with her friend Mark. Our other friend Dave is on the bike. The rest of the crew in the photo are just random people who got lucky enough to be pasted in....

Denver has the coolest old buildings and architecture. The building in the background I believe is the capital. At least I think that's what my friend Marlene said. With me in this photo is my buddy Mark.

Whoever this artist was I just loved their paintings. We went and had dinner at this quaint little winery/restaurant. I loved it...you can just plop in a corner on a couch and just sit there and eat and drink. My kind of place. In the back there was all this really cool art and this is one of them. The photo of the girls and I was taken in Red Rock. Mark will you go out with me? Yes-No-Mabey. This totally reminded me of grade school and jr. high. Silly girls.

We had to stop at this bar-only because it is the only bar left in Denver where you can smoke(yes I know a bad habit I need to quit.) We also heard they made the best drinks. This one is a vodka shot(don't remember the fancy name) It has leamon, sugar, vodka, and mabey something else but it was delish..

The one think that I did notice in Denver was all the art and sculptures everywhere. I loved just walking around the city-taking photo's.

In this photo above is Marlene our hostess and her friend Mark. Our first night in town.

This is a photo of Mark at Red Rock. I have never seen so many big red rocks in my life. There was the most amazing amphitheater there surrounded with red rocks. I hope that the next time I'm there I have the opportunity to see a concert there. Dave Byrne from Talking Heads was playing there the night we were there, wished I could have went, that would have been a great concert.

Create your own reality.....This is a photo of Me, Karin, Mark, and Judi..We are all best of buds.

Here's a fun photo of my friend Sue. If you ever fly Southwest airline you might have seen her. She's a flight attendant.

This is Judi just stroolling down the streets of Denver.

In the background of this photo is another great piece of art which was hanging in the restaurant we had dinner at...Mark loved this piece also. Let your mind tale you there.... and again. That is one of Mark's sayings.

Here is Mark, Marlene, Mark and Judi sitting in front of our hotel. We were waiting for the other girls to get ready so that we could move on to our next destination.

I love hanging in alley's. Here we are Mark and I taking that opportunity to hang out in an alley.

There was the coolest stairs right downtown where an outdoor mall was. Mark was surfing the rails. California boy thing I guess.

Me just being silly...I like to Make Believe I am.......

Could you imagine living in this building. I would love too. Already getting decorating ideas in my head.

Another cool old brick building. Ya looks like we moved in....

Part of Charlie's(Mark) Angels-Marlene, Sue, and Karin

Taking time to enjoy the scenery. Colorado a place where friends reunited. Enjoying great food-many drinks-lots of laughter-new experiences and new friends. A destination where individuals enjoyed life....til next time.

My latest solder art creations. When I went to Colorado with friends I purchased these great old bottles. I used them in my latest solder art creations. These bottles are available for purchase at Ever After Scrapbook Store in Vista, California.

This creation is Love Art-Key to Life. I used old book pages, Artchix images (which I do sell at Ever After Scrapbook Store) Alcohol Inks, Crown Tickets(another great item I sell at Ever After Scrapbook Store), rubbons and stamps which I have found over the years.

This next Live Art-Key to Life, is Live Outside the Bubble. Always step out of the box and explore. Try new things-art is not perfect, it's the imperfection that makes it art. I've also used vintage chandeliere pieces which I find at estate sales and oblong glass. All soldering tools and glass are available at Ever After Scrapbook store. Try if you dare to create your own inspiration.

Modern Girl-art collage I created by using old book pages-rubons-alchohol ink-distressed ink-and artchix collage sheets, which I sell at Ever After Scrapbook Store. All soldering supplies are also available at Ever After Scrapbook Store.

Front Side is Modern Girl-Make Art and I used a vintage bottle as the base.

Close up of the front. I love to solder. It is actually alot easier then it looks. I've made some unique jewlry prieces using the soldering technique. The things you can do are endless. Step out of the box-heat up that gun-get your funk on.

Back side-Loves to Love-Create Art

Here are some photo's of some of my recent projects I have been working on. These items will be for sale at Ever After Scrapbook Store. Stop by and check it out.

Here I altered some old cigar boxes and covered them with fabric and did some of my vintage painting techniques to give it a dirty old look and embelished it with many of my found treasures.

Save everything never throw away-you never know when you might want to use it.

Below are some altered art collages I made using old books-the artchix collage sheets I sell at Ever After Scrapbook Store-alcohol ink-the solder supplies I also sell at Ever After Scrapbook Store. I still need to solder around the edges but this is what it looks like before I add the solder.

I also want to say that I just met the two nicest ladies today when I was putting out some new merchandise at Ever After Scrapbook Store. I just wanted to say it was great to meet Ruby and Bobbie hope to see you guys next time you're in town.