New Beads for Spring Line!

Here are some pictures of new beads! I can't wait to get them counted and catalogued into my pricing/inventory program. It's always so tempting to use them first :oP

Beautiful stick biwa pearls






My special find this bead shopping trip was the beautiful white petal keishi pearls. I've taken their picture with some smaller pink ones..the white ones are so big and beautiful, I can't wait to use them!



Fun and bright!



These were a good find too..as I love to use these for pendants in my beach bridal jewlery. They are the top part of a very large shell with super lustrous mother of pearl. Usually the shape resembles a ginko leaf...however these have had the corner rounded..they are very pretty like this



And of course I have to restock my purple supplies ;-)

A cute little visitor in my backyard

This little zebra finch decided to visit us the other day. He just hung out for a couple of hours while my husband was weeding. We thought maybe he was a baby, or he was sick. But you could just get out of reach to him and then he would fly up quickly and land not too far away. Then he would find his way back.



I think he liked our little garden and the seed that were growing on the grass weeds..he was eating and eating away.



He also liked the shade cuz he hung our here for a while..can you see him? He's playing hide-in-go-seek ;)




He was such a pretty little bird..walking around like he owned the place. He totally didn't mind my photo taking. It was cool to get to see him close up. Zebra finches are not native to the Hawaiian islands, the story is that a pet shop brought some over and they escaped. If thats the case..they did really well here because they are thriving...we see them everywhere. But then who wouldn't want to live on Maui?

Champagne Sands - Beach Bride Necklace and Earrings

These are the cutest little coin pearls...usually coin pearls are at least 10mm but often 12mm. These are about 8.5mm I've never come across such small ones. And the color is called sand..but they are so shimmery they need to sound more fancy then just sand..so I named them champagne sand :)



I've put them with golden shadow Swarovski crystals and some semi round pearls called light champagne. They are all hand knotted on tan silk cord. The front pendants are hand wire wrapped with gold filled wire. More information and more pictures can be found here at Jonara Blu Maui

And of course we need some matching earrings



These are available for purchase here at Jonara Blu Maui

I've been published at AisleDash!

I'm so excited..I've been published for my very first time at a wonderful wedding themed e-zine called AisleDash



This wedding blog has so many fun articles posted each day from all sorts of tips to celebrity wedding gossip to interesting finds like superhero cuff links (I need some of those..I love superheros :)) It really makes for some fun reading for anyone, not only brides to be.

AisleDash writes different articles each day as you would see in a regular blog. You can have fun just reading what neat finds they've made each day, or you can click on catagories and suddenly you have a whole bunch of wonderful articles and pictures in that catagory to choose from. They also have a clickable image on the right side of a womans hand holding a manilla envelope and on it, it says "The Organized Bride - tips and tricks for the big day" and then once you click on that, there are catagories of tips and tricks to help you out like beauty and fashion, favors, DIY, the ceremony...etc.



Here is the article they posted about my jewelry with links back to both my shop and my blog:



They made a gallery of a whole bunch of my wedding themed jewelry even....it looks like they have galleries for everyone they write articles for. Thats so nice of them!


Mahalo Nui Loa AisleDash!

Jake Shimabukuro - Awesome Ukulele Player from Hawaii

Jake Shimabukuro (pronounced she-ma-BOO- koo-row) is a very talented ukulele player from Hawaii...I'm not personally into ukulele music..but living here for so long I hear it all the time and appreciate
it ;-) Jake Shimabukuro really caught my attention as he plays it differently then I've ever heard before...very unconventional. Here is a video of him playing and making his ukuklele sound like a spanish guitar..




If you interested in learning more about Jake..here's a link to his official website:

Jake Shimabukuro

Mermaid's Tear - Beaded Necklace

A shimmering mother of pearl tigers eye shell teardrop pendant with faceted amazonite, white top drilled freshwater pearls, opal and pacific opal aurora borealis Swarovski crystals and tiny aurora borealis glass beads.



the back side of the pendant is just as beautiful and quite interesting with the swirling ridges of mother of pearl. Many have told us they like to wear these pendants both ways!


Available here at Jonara Blu Maui

Wedding Waterfall and day at the beach....

I'm so excited...I finally found some really nice off-white/cream colored pearls. I guess you would call it a true antique ivory color. Not the whites that are called ivory or cream..but they still appear white. These are beautiful. The smaller ones are a slight bit darker then the bigger ones..but hardly..and they are the same tone so they match so well....plus it gives a little more interest in the necklace I created with them.



For more information on this necklace check it out here at Jonara Blu Maui

Yesterday my son and I played hookie from all of our responsibilities and took off to the beach. We went with my parents and my sister and nephews. The weather was too chilly for me to get in the water..but I'm a wimp and need it HOT to actually get in. The tourists were just fine as everyone was swimming and having a good time. I'm sure they have come from much colder climates so it was perfect for them. Our boys had a blast too..and it was good excersize for them. I really need to get to the beach more often.



At this particular beach..we call it Maui Prince Beach because that is the closest big hotel...there is not a lot of action for boogie boarding..so it's great for snorkling. However on the left hand side you can catch some fun little waves. That is the side we always sit under..it has a really big tree for shade too.



and this tree has on it a rope swing so it's double the fun for the kids when they are tired of the water.

Hiking a Rainforest on Maui

Sunday my husband, son and myself took a little trip to Iao Valley.






We hadn't been for a quite a number of years even though it's only 1/2 an hour away. It's a great place for a picnic and there is a paved hiking trail for an easy hike...or you can go off the path and hike along the creek.



I didn't remember these signs we saw posted along the stream...



I guess I never paid attention to them...beacause Iao valley is an actual rain forest, seeing these signs now made me wonder what this area got like during the huge storm we had Dec of 2005. That storm caused so much damage. A house was even washed off it's foundation. Here's a car that got taken by a flash flood caused by that storm..it's unrecognizable



This day we took the easy way and stayed on the trail..my son is just recooping from that flu so was not feeling too strong..he just needed some fresh air. I took it as an opportunity to bring my camera since I normally wouldn't want to be burdened down with it on a more intense hike. We went to the part where I used to take my son swimming when he was little..it seemed so big to him then ;-)



The air was cool and there was a slight breeze...it was perfect



Sadly my battery was getting weak so my camera lost the ability to auto focus..it took me a while to figure out how to do it on my own. But I did end up with some awesome pictures. This is just off the path..in amongst the trees are tons of ginger plants. They weren't blooming yet..usually they have white flowers and smell so sweet as you walk through...





After the Iao we went down the hill just a little bit to Heritage Gardens where we layed out a blanket and had a picnic. In this park there are monuments and different types of houses to show how the different races that came to Hawaii lived. They are fun to check out and look so pretty in the park

this is my favorite snapshot of the day:









There gardens are beautiful





and there is even a little bamboo forest to walk through





Good thing it's small and has a path..that stuff grows so thick!

New Unconventional Bridal Necklace

I have wanted to make some bridal jewelry using more of an off white colored pearl for some time, however I have had a problem finding that color of pearl..esp in coin pearls. Any ivory color I get in other shapes is so similar to white and with how small they are it's hard to tell a difference. Ivory is hard to find to in the all the shapes and sizes I want to work with. It's nice to have different shapes and sizes to add texture and design to a pieces. So I decided to mix some white and ivory and to put them with some tan silk cord and some golden shadow colored Swarovski crystals. It may not be for the conventional bride..but then most of my bridal jewelry isn't.

Here is the result..the little bit of tan coloring mixed it helps to take away from that conventional 'all white' look...perfect for a beach wedding...




This necklace is available here

Visit Jonara Blu Maui for more beach wedding jewelry.

Monarch Butterfly Coming in for a Landing!

Every morning we get monarchs and white butterfies flying around our grass..we aren't sure why...but guess that they are drinking the dew. Between the butterflies, the skinks crawling around our sandstone stepping stones and the cardinals...it's a fun little coreographed dance to watch while hubby and I drink our morning coffee. This monarch pic was snapped a couple of days ago while I was out taking pics of jewelry...



It's definitely warming up here (I know, I know...it was always warm compared to everyone else...but remember we had SNOW! ) Some days I'm hating how hot it's getting already..my bead room gets about 10 degrees hotter then the rest of the house..but most days it's still cool enough to be completely comfortable. Nights are still cool too..so right now the weather is pretty much perfect in my book ;-)

Flowers from my garden:

Green Pearls and Paua Abalone Shell

I made this necklace a couple of months ago to match the bracelet you see below and completely forgot to put it in my shop. So here it is...


Available here


Available here

Sapphire Dreams

I have finally escaped my tax prep prison and am back with some new jewelry to offer. I am in love with these new sapphire blue pearls..they are so lustrous as they shimmer blue with a hint of purple. I bought the petal keshi shapes about a year ago and had nothing to match them until recently when I came across some coin pearls and fat rice pearls at two different vendors. They all match perfectly. I'll be sad when I'm out of them. Coin pearls are becoming harder and harder to come by..esp nice ones like these.


available here


available here