Jonara Blu Maui in Cyberspace News.....

Jonara Blu Maui got a couple more mentions this week. Thanks to Siena Heart of DIY wedding girl for this write up at Wedding Fanatic entitled The Beauty of Maui in a Necklace I love that title..so cool!



Also a thank you to Cindy of Peacock Jewelry for including me in her treasury featuring the very beautiful paua abalone shell. My necklace is at the bottom right.



Here is a close up of the picture they used..



And yes! This little beauty is available for purchase: Abalone Island - Freshwater Pearl and Shell Necklace

New Bridal Pieces Listed Today

Ocean Petals Beach Bride Anklet




Beach Bride Dangles


Find more beach bride jewelry as well as pieces for every day wear at Jonara Blu Maui

Affordable Beach Wedding Accessories

Here are a couple sweet and simple beach wedding pieces I've just completed. An anklet and some earrings. These are very affordable pieces that can add just the right touch to a romantic beach wedding...will be priced and added to shop soon!

I get TWO Lemonades!

Good thing I love lemonade..especially lemon drop martinis ;-)

Thank you Elayne from ChezChani Unique Handcrafted Jewelry and Kokopelli Designs for my Lemonade awards!



I'm really touched that you guys thought of me especially because of what this award stands for:

The Lemonade Award is awarded to sites that show a positive attitude and gratitude.

Here are the rules for the award:

1.Put the logo on your blog or post
2.Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great Gratitude and/or Attitude.
3.Be sure to list and link your nominees within your post.
4.Let them know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.
5.Nominate your favorites and link to your post.

I now bestow this priceless award on the following truly marvelous bloggers:

BelleAdorn: Awesome jewelry designer, mom to 5 amazing kids and a great friend

This Girl Beads: Awesome jewelry designer and treasure hunter

Muddy's Stuff: Awesome jewelry designer and Mod buddy for Beadingaholics a very warm friendly and helpful beading group.

Simplicity: Talented budding photographer, awesome mommy to my little niece and nephew and a really cool sis-in-law :)

Wake Up and Live: Awesome Jewelry designer and talented photographer

Marjories Cracked Plate Jewelry: Awesome jewelry designer and recycler extraordinaire

Essence of Aloha: My new blog buddy w/ an awesome blog on all things Aloha!

And Another Thing: Awesome hand embroidered paper artist

Padaysia: Awesome jewelry designer and incredibly sweet gal

Kathy Four Dog Day: Lots of awesome things about this lady..she makes beaded jewelry, does beautiful photography that she creates so many fun things with and she recycles as well with her beautifully decoupaged refurbished home decor!

Enjoy your award! And if you don't like to put awards on your blog..that's okay..I understand..just know you were thought of :)

Wordless Wednesday

View other Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday HQ and 5 Minutes for Mom

Tahitian Black Pearl Jewelry: Wear a Piece of Paradise

It has been my pleasure to make friends through Twitter with Tahitian Pearl Jewels. They have some of the most scrumptious jewelry! There is no middleman. They farm their own pearls in Tahiti and send the pearls to their other base in Oahu, Hawaii where they assemble the jewelry. Because of this they are able to have very competitive pricing.



This bracelet caught my eye right away. I'm a big fan of organic looking pearls..so keshi pearls are a definite favorite of mine. I've never seen Tahitian keshi pearls before so I was really excited about this. It goes so well with the nugget shaped 14k gold spacer beads. This beauty is called "Cora" from the Ariitea Collection

Here is a little bit from their 'about' page:

Our journey in the Tahitian pearl business started in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia, specifically in the island of Ahe.

We come from a family rooted in the tradition and craft of Tahitian pearl farming, and our experience comes from generations of collective knowledge mixed with new technologies and techniques.

The color of Tahitian pearls are mesmerizing. I love the teal color this one named “Pehe” picks up. It looks amazing w/ the white gold and diamonds.



If you are in the market for some Tahitian pearl jewelry I suggest you check out Tahitian Pearl Jewels. You can even follow them tahitipearls on Twitter..they are often there hanging out with the rest of us and are available for questions and friendly service :)

Calm Before the Storm

I took this today just before the wind blew the dark clouds over and it started pouring. This rainbow disappeared so fast..it was so bright through the window but by the time I got my camera and ran outside it was disappearing. The clouds were moving so fast w/ our high winds.


In other news..I received a blog award back in august from Maricris of Zen Ventures that I never passed on. It was right when my son had started getting really sick with his condition so I was a bit preoccupied w/ mommy duties. I want to post it again and pass it on as I was supposed to so long ago!

The rules of this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog. 2. Link the person you received your award from. 3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4. Put links of those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated



And here are the people I have chosen to pass this award on to:

Photolooney
Craftymamaof4
Four Dog Day
A Road From Douglas County
Simplicity
Marjories Cracked Plate Jewelry
BelleAdorn

A Jonara Blu Maui Giveaway!

Kim at CraftyMamaof4 has featured my Etsy shop on her blog! And we are having a give away!

Winner gets these earrings:




And the winner and 4 runners up each get a Jonara Blu Buck worth $5 to use in my shop. These are totally transferable..so they can also be given away as a nice gift :)

Here is the link to her blog post about the giveaway: Jonara Blu Maui - Etsy Showcase

CraftyMamaof4 does features on lots of Etsy shops and giveaways on her blog so keep and eye on her blog to join in the fun!

Wordless Wednesday

I miss the Hot Wheels age



want to see more Wordless Wednesday? Visit 5 Minutes for Mom

My beading table misses me....and other tidbits

I miss my beading area :( I'm trying to get a head start on gathering my tax info though because I have two businesses to do it for and I"m so bad at keeping up all year. The biggest reason I'm behind is that I am sitting here at this desk too much instead of the one right next to it w/ my other more boring job. I'm hoping to spread it out more evenly this year so I don't neglect either and then don't have to stay away from the fun too long. This is what I say every year...so we will see!

Had my nephews over to spend the night Thursday night..it's been a while. Major lego action going on in the living room. I should have taken a picture after the war. This was the boundary set up to minimize fighting and the claims that "HEY I had that first!"... "no it was all the way on my side of the border so you couldn't have!" Worked pretty good for about an hour!



Koa and I made brownies.




...behind him on the table you can see the puzzle that drove us crazy! It's of Time Square in NY..many years ago because Jay Leno looks awfully thinner and there are advertisements up for the Flinestone movie and for Speed lol! Kana, Koa's brother helped us finish it..finally!!!





This one came in a box w/ about 7 other puzzles, so because of this shared space you only get a small picture on front and a small one inside. We had to use a magnifying glass to find where pieces went. Hard on the eyes..but kind of a fun challenge all in itself



Then Friday night we went to my brothers In'laws house..it was he and his wife Charme's 10th anniversary. Forgot to take my camera off macro so got some blurry pics :( Here are a bunch of us true local style Aloha Friday in the garage hanging out ;-)



and here is my brother Jay, his wife Charme and their oldest son Kila cutting the yummy anniversary cake. Charme is a preschool teacher and has many tips helping you to prepare your preschooler for kindergarten. She also sells educational toys online. Here is her website Ms. Charme's Educational Toys and Games for Children and here is her youtube channel w/ all of her helpful videos mscharme

Tagged again!

This time it's the 6 random things about me. Thank you to Kathy for this lovely honor..she has two etsy shops because she is one talented lady. First there is Four Dog Day with Handmade photo greeting cards, bookmarks, prints jewelry and beautiful keychains made w/ either beads or revamped vintage jewerly. Then she's got My Other Shop..yep! That's what it's called! cute huh? lol! Here she does home decor..lost of cool decopauge and these beautiful serving platters she makes w/ interesting plates atop things like candle sticks..or once she did one on a martini glass..it was really cool! Please visit her shops..she's got some great stuff! Here is her blog too Four Dog Day's Blog

Here are the rules of this tag game:

1) Link to the person who tagged you on your blog
2) Post the rules on your blog
3) Write 6 random things about yourself
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5) Let each person know they've been tagged

Here are 6 random things about me:

1) My husband and I met when we were 11, he's had a crush on me ever since :)

2) I love 80's alternative music and often dance around my office/studio..even try to bead standing up cuz I can't sit still in a chair when a good song is on.

3) I'm extremely shy..think I have social anxiety issues to some degree..it's why I love the internet so much.

4) I'm half Hungarian

5) I love chocolate and fruit together

6) Beading made me not have a favorite color anymore, I love them all!


Tag you're it!

1. DIY Wedding Girl
2. Lou's Addictions
3. PhotoLooney
4. And Another Thing
5. Muddy Stuff
6. A Road From Douglas County

Wire Wrapped Rings

Some fun little rings....


Turquoise

Leopard Jasper

Crab Fire Agate

Purple Dyed Crazy Lace Agate



Available soon in my ArtFire and Etsy shops

Beach Wedding Custom Order

This little starfish, along w/ her matching earrings, is getting ready to be shipped off to Georgia for her debut in a beach wedding.






Are you planning a beach wedding this year? Please stop by Jonara Blu Maui and check out my beach bride jewelry. If I don't have what you are looking for, feel free to request a custom designed piece just for you!

Click here to see past beach wedding pieces in my gallery:
Jonara Blu Maui Wedding Jewelry Gallery

The Photo Tag Game/Cat in the Box

I've been tagged w/ a really fun photo tag game..go to your picture folder, find the 6th folder and the the 6th picture. I have more folders w/ in folders because I break them up into years and then months so I just kept going in 6.

Anyways..thanks so much to Elayne at ChezChani for including me on this. Please visit ChezChani's blog and her Etsy shop ChezChani Unique Handcrafted Jewelry, she is a very accomplished beader along w/ her mom Roz. I have never heard of this game before and I think it's quite fun and it's quick..not like some of the others. Kinda scary though because you don't know what picture is going to show up when you follow the instructions and I'm sorry if it was me looking all haggy w/ no makeup I was not gonna post it!

I was fortunate though because this is what I got:



This is Dewey..he loves boxes..I think even a little more then the average cat. He doesn't care where you put it, he'll stay in it. He looks scared but actually he's quite content lol!

*Update: my son just pointed out to me that the shoe box Dewey is in says "Bitter & Twisted"...this cat is definitely Twisted lol! He looks bitter..but he's not.

I did the game twice...I have two places my pictures are... a family photo folder and a jewelry folder so here is the jewelry one that came up. This is a necklace that I made for my mom a couple of years ago..she loves kitties..so I made her one w/ a front clasping cat toggle clasp and a cat charm:



now for the rules and the list of people I'm going to tag:

1) Go to your picture folder, or wherever you store your photos on your computer
2) Go to the sixth folder and pick the sixth picture
3) Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes along with the picture
4) Tag five friends to do the same thing, and leave a message on their blog that they have been tagged~

Tag You're IT!

1) BelleAdorn A best friend and a wonderful jewelry designer
2) Aihara Visuals My extremely talented sister and an awesome photographer (check out her beach wedding pictures!..she beads too!)
3) Simplicity My sister-in-law, devoted mother and very talented budding photographer
4) Images by Desiree My cousin-in-law and extremely talented photographer (check out her adorable childrens photography)
5) Zen Ventures A fun colleague talented jewelry designer and friend

Have fun you guys! Can't wait to see what pictures show up for you!

Makua the Lost Kitty

It was a Thursday and I was sitting at my computer in my office/studio when suddenly I heard a desperate meowing right under my window. I got up to take a look and there was a calico tabby wandering around in my heliconia. She started to walk away before I meowed back at her..when I did, she immediately turned around and meowed back. We played this game for a few seconds and then I went to my front door and out to the front yard, meowing for her as I did. She came running and was so lovey and friendly. Acted as if she were my own cat and she missed me or something lol!

I hung out w/ her for about 5 min and then kindly told her that I enjoyed the visit but that I had to get back to work now. So off I went. Soon my son calls to me and tells me that she is crying in the garage. So I go out to see whats up and sure enough..she comes running out from under our car and will hardly let me walk she's rubbing against each leg. So I decide I could stay out for a bit with her because I should water the plants in back. She follows me, but when I turn on the water..she runs for her life. So I figure visit was over.

Nope..when I go out to take some jewelry pictures in my back yard..there she is again! So we had a little photo shoot. It was hard to photograph her though because she was so lovey that she could not stay back away from the camera...the only time she did was when she was crawling through potted plants and stuff checking things out. When I would call to her to get her to look at me she would run right up nose to the camera again. Here I had to sneak up on her and take a picture through some plants:





So after our photo shoot, I went back inside and didn't come out for a few more hours. When I did go out to the garage again..where she was sleeping on top of my car like she lives here!




After realizing I'd just been adopted as a new mommy I decided I'd better call the Maui Humane Society. I put her up on my husband's workbench and pet her for a bit first..then noticed she had a tattoo in her ear! I called the humane society and they looked it up..first they told me "You sure she's a cat?" I'm laughing "Yeah I know what a cat is!" the lady laughed and said that the number on her ear shows up a chihuahua in the computer. So she said she was gonna research and call me back. So I put a box up on the bench for the kitty and gave her some food and water and went inside.

About 1/2 an hour later I got a call from a possible owner of the kitty. She said she had been missing since Thanksgiving. I checked in the garage and sure enough the kitty was in her box sleeping. The woman wanted to come in a couple hours after work and hoped that I could keep her for her. I couldn't let her in because I have two kitties and she was growling at them through the screen door... but I said I would make her as comfy as possible and she would probably stick around since she had all day.

Happy ending to my little story...The owner came..the kitty was still there and it was her kitty! The owner had tears in her eyes and told me that the kitty's name is Makua and that today was the year anniversary since her husband gave her Makua as a present. Makua is the SWEETEST kitty..I can see why she'd been gone a month and looked healthy and fed. She probably made a lot of friends along her journey.

Etsy Treasuries!

How exciting.. I've been featured in a treasury two times this week! It's always such an honor!

Here is the treasury from Sunday the 28th of December entitled "Mahalo Maui" Click on it to see a bigger picture. I'm the bright blue sapphire coin and keshi pearl necklace at the bottom right:



And then here is the one from today called "Rainbows from the Sea" Here I'm the paua shell and Swarovski crystal starfish at the bottom middle



Both of these are thanks to Cindy of Peacock Jewellery who makes beautiful jewelry, much of it featuring the beautiful paua abalone shell. Please visit her shop!



thank you so much Cindy!

Catching up and cleaning up...

I've been neglecting my blog again..I think it's because I've been a little preoccupied with Twitter. That thing is too much fun...not to mention I end up chatting w/ my bestest friend Tina at Belle Adorn on there every day. But not just that..I actually follow the news stations updates there(something I never did before..watch the news) and enjoy all sorts of tips and recommendations.

But seriously..I need to get focused here. Today I started cleaning up my studio/office..amazing how many bead supplies pile up and how many receipts and papers. Oh and the dust...ooops..it's been a while since I dusted this room..yikes! I'm not even near done but already it feels so much more inviting to work in. And I need to get this place ship shape because spring is always a busy time for me. For one it's wedding season!

Photograph by Aihara Visuals

Wedding season is a really fun time because I've usually got lots of wedding custom jewelry orders. It's doubly busy though because there is the not so fun compiling of the tax totals for both hubby's business and mine. I never learn my lesson either and I'm always behind on the bookkeeping. Waaaay behind. I'm hoping I did a little better this year though. Honestly I was doing okay the first part of the year..but when Cameron got sick I kinda lost track of it all. Some things are just more important..and that includes your kids.

Speaking of Cameron..he's definitely made progress. He's not 100% but he's definitely more his old self. He still deals w/ nausea every day and so doesn't really like to leave the house. But many of the other symptoms have gone away. Some have returned if he eats the wrong thing...like heart burn or being short of breath. It's all a trial..trying to figure out what food intollerances are causing his discomfort. He's gained back about 7 pounds from the 20 he lost. They came back quickly and he hasn't gained anymore back in over a month..but we are just happy he's not loosing.

And we got him out for an evening! He went to the big babyshower party my sister threw our brother and sister in law. Here he is w/ some friends and his cousin. He's the one in the hat.




The babyshower was a lot of fun...one of the first for our family that I was not involved in. It was nice and relaxing..but felt strange to not be involved in the planning and whatnot. My sister Kimberlee and her sis in law Raylene did a good job though! It was a surf theme...here are some of the decorations..





Here is yours truly w/ her new little nephew Hanalei..(it was a bad frizzy hair day..wish I could have borrowed his hat!)




And of course we have been working on puzzles for family time. I've missed taking pics of the last two we did..but here is the one before that.