July birthstone - ruby

The ruby is a stone of nobility. The energy of the ruby is intense and vivid and encourages one to follow one's bliss. It strengthens both the physical and emotional heart.

Ruby brings love, confidence, loyalty, and courage. It instills stamina, vitality and strength. A good stone for removing blocked energies in the reproductive system, it re-energizes one after exhaustion and is good for balancing the blood's sugar. 

Ruby allows you to love your self and your spirit.

This is a stone that all those who are in service to others should have upon them. it helps you feel more like giving to others and doing so with love and joy in your heart. There is no room for resentment in ones heart who is being of service to others and this stone does not allow that to be a part of your heart. it helps you relax as you caretake others because you can trust you will not be trapped in any way in that role. it helps all to be warm and caring. 

It's already the end of June and we're in full swing of summer at the shop. We have the summer teen jewelry camp this week and the girls are having a blast! 

The camps are just as much fun for us at SemiPrecious as for the girls! I love watching young designers in training as they learn different techniques as well as their own sense of style, color and proportion. It's amazing to see a young girl just on the verge of womanhood as she becomes more confident in her skills and, subsequently herself. I'm honored and grateful to be a part of that beautiful process!

We're looking at dates for another session later this summer. Let us know if you have a request.

amy@semipreciousbeadsalon.com

the old and the new

So my computer died a sad death the other day. I decided to switch from a PC to  Mac and wow! I think I'm going to love it but it seems like what was left is now right and what was up is now down.

It made me think about the humble beginnings of SemiPrecious 5 years ago. I opened the shop in a veritable shack-really!!! A shack! The ceiling was almost nonexistent. When it rained outside, it rained inside SemiPrecious. I remember dumping water from the tiny little dishes. It was an amazing time because it was the beginning of what has been-and still is-an amazing journey!
The shop continues to evolve and hopefully, so do I. As I continue to look for beauty in every day of my life, I'm also searching for beautiful elements to become part of even more beautiful jewelry.

anyone who knows me knows Ruby-my dog.

one of the best days of my life was the day I adopted her!

I'm so grateful for the many wonderful shelters out there that take in dogs and cats and give them another chance at a happy, healthy life.

if it weren't for the shelters, I wouldn't have Ruby!!!!

one way to help the shelters is to go to  http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/ 

there's a tab near the top that says "visit the Animal Rescue Site and click to fund food". it's easy and free and you're helping the shelters get food for the animals. once you sign up you'll get a daily email. all you have to do is click! I do it every day and it feels great!!!

some days are better than others. some days we need a little encouragement. a friend turned me on to a new site that does just this-it's called http://www.momentary.org/

I signed up the other day and now I'm getting 1 or 2 emails per day that are short, sweet and have that one line that helps me remember the things that are important in life. It's great because in the midst of all of the emails that are nothing but sales calls, this is different-it's just for me!!!!

it's normally $20 a year but if you enter "lucky" in the promotional code it's free!!

what's better than chocolate???
chocolate that's handmade, raw, sugar free and deee-licious!!!!

my friend Liz Marx has been perfecting her recipe (I'm one of her lucky tasters) for months now and
Sweet Nuit is here!
Sweet Nuit ...handcrafted chocolates are Vegan, Raw, Low Glycemic, Organic, All Natural and Exquisite !!!

boxes are $15 and up...... assorted sets are available.... shipping available upon request......


call 310.535.1606 to place an order.....
http://www.sweetnuit.com/
I'm hoping to carry them at SemiPrecious soon-I'm addicted to them!
they're perfect as gifts for friends, family or that much needed gift for yourself!

Saturdays at SemiPrecious are always fun!!! Our customers come from every walk of life-every age. The beautiful thing is that no matter how "uncreative" someone feels when they walk in, they walk out a "designer"!

I just finished submitting some jewelry for a movie. It's so strange when you don't know exactly what the movie is-they just give a little description of what they're looking for-current but not trendy,hipster high school. You should have seen me taking pictures on the cement floor at the shop-hilarious!

Hope they like it!!!

awesome photos!

The beautiful space that SemiPrecious occupies was a gallery before we moved in, so we're fortunate to have artists approach us to show their work. We've had some amazing artists but right now we are awestruck by the incredible underwater photography of Gisele Lubsen. She is a true artist!
Gisele's underwater work pushes her explorations of the mystery of the portrait where the surreal leads to existential questions and timelessness.
Gisele investigates the strange, the wonderful and the uncanny.

If you're in Santa Monica you must come check them out!!

SemiPrecious is located at 1028 Montana Aveue, Santa Monica, CA
310-899-0910
http://www.semipreciousbeadsalon.com/

It's wedding season!

ok-I know I haven't blogged in-well, forever but I'm back now.
We've got all kinds of exciting things happening at the shop-not the least of which is that Jennie is engaged!!! It made me think about all of the beautiful wedding and bridesmaid's jewelry we've made. It's so fun because the bride gets to decide if she wants all of her bridesmaids to have the same jewelry or if she'd prefer each girl have something that reflects her own personality. Some brides send each bridesmaid in to design their own jewelry which is nice because it takes that off the bride's already very loaded plate and each bridesmaid gets something she loves!
We've got stones in every color, shape and size so we can design the perfect thing-come in and see!!!