I love wood. and I love things that sparkle. so naturally I had to combine the two in my newest collection, which I'm busy putting together. even though it won't debut until early next year, I thought I'd give everyone a sneak peak :)
multi strand wood and silver sparkle necklace
wood and gold sparkle necklaces
I was really excited to see that Lucky Magazine featured NEST Interiors as the "best home accessories" store in the magazine's december nyc shopping guide . located in chelsea, NEST Interiors carries fabulous home decor and accessories...and jewelry (mine!)! NEST carries about twenty of my one-of-a-kind pieces that I design especially for the store. if you are brunching near the high line or exploring chelsea market, you must make sure to pop into NEST.
some of my pieces on display at NEST!
when deciding what nail polish to wear to thanksgiving dinner (my outfits always begin with my necklace and nail polish, then the rest falls into place), I did some online browsing for ideas. I ultimately decided to go with Little Brown Dress from Essie, which I will pair with my carnelian necklace. but, in my search I came across this really creative idea for a festive manicure on refinery29.com:
for the full how-to guide, click here
I named my blog "passports and pearls" because a lot of my inspiration has come from my travels (the first necklace I ever made was inspired by gemstones I purchased in Barcelona). I absolutely love traveling and my bucket list is comprised mainly of international adventures. one of the countries I have always wanted to go to is India so when the opportunity recently presented itself, I jumped and I am now in the process of planning my adventure (if you have any advice, suggestions, etc for traveling to India, please email me at katie@katiebartels.com)!!!
It's going to be an amazing way to kick off 2012 and I cannot contain my excitement for the gemstone buying portion of my trip :)
last Saturday over brunch at Sarabeth's [sidenote: Joe Biden was there--so cool!] my friend Courtney and I discussed all things fashion and the latest nail polish collections. Courtney mentioned that she's never able to finish a full bottle of polish so her solution is to buy Essie minis. I had no idea you could purchase a mini version of the latest Essie collection! these mini polishes are the perfect stocking stuffers and I will definitely purchase a few packs and pair the colors with earrings, necklaces, and bracelets from my holiday and winter collections gifts to friends this year!
purchase essie winter collection mini pack here
on tuesday as I walked through manhattan's flatiron district, the amazingly colorful window display at kate spade caught my eye. I went into the store and was blown away by their colorful handbags and accessories this season. as a color lover, I was in complete heaven and basically everything in the store will be going on my christmas list for santa. one thing I couldn't wait until christmas morning to get was the Kate Spade for Strand canvas tote. I mentioned in a previous post that I love canvas totes because they are super lightweight and are really useful on my gemstone buying trips and other errand endeavors in nyc. this colorful tote is definitely my favorite thing of the week!
Kate Spade New York for Strand canvas tote
most adorable wrapping paper ever!
I refuse to buy a kindle and I refuse to download any books onto my iPad. I love the feeling of holding a book in my hand, flipping actual pages, and highlighting passages that strike my fancy. I also have a life goal of having a sizable mahogany wood library in my future house and thus need to work on my collection. this week I added two books to my collection and they have totally captivated me: "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson and "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" by Mindy Kaling.
I started reading mindy kaling's book on tuesday night and required an extra shot of espresso on wednesday morning because I could not put the book down because I was laughing so hard. its absolutely hysterical. I have always been a huge fan of mindy and love her work as a writer and actress on "the office". I almost cried from laughter when I read the chapter "I am not an athlete" and how much she hates when friends try to get her into frisbee. she writes:unlike other athletes, frisbee people won't let it go. my theory is that this is because there's a huge overlap between people who are good at frisbee and people who do teach for america. the same instinct to make at-risk kids learn, which I admire so much, becomes deadly when turned on friends trying to relax on a sunday afternoon in the park. they feel they have to corral me into learning this useless sport. the afternoon becomes 'unlocking mindy's passion for frisbee', instead of letting me lie on the grass reading my chick lit book. how dare you? if I had thought learning frisbee was a valuable thing to do, I would've done it. I don't want to learn! I don't want to learn! let me read shopaholic runs for congress in peace."
brilliant.
a member of the quartz family (other members: amethyst, smoky quartz, rose quartz), citrine is known as the "healing quartz" and is said to improve vitality & health and encourage hope & energy.
sharon khazzam citrine and sapphire bee earrings
tiffany sparklers citrine cocktail ring
citrine is typically pale yellow to orange and occasionally high-quality citrine comes in orange-brown or red-brown. the citrine crystals can form together with amethyst and produce ametrine (pictured below).
as I mentioned in a previous post, I was myself for halloween--but with a sweet twist. I decided to make all candy jewelry to wear! I sported my delicious sparkle on saturday in the west village (confession: the twizzler necklace was going to be more of a statement piece but I sampled a lot during the construction process...). happy halloween!
sporting my twizzler necklace!
lifesaver earrings!
another shot of the twizzler necklace!
