Want to be an Angel?

A cause near and dear to my heart is Soldiers’ Angels www.soldiersangels.org. In essence, you are adopting a soldier while they are serving and “each Angel who adopts a soldier commits to sending at least one letter a week and at least one care package a month.” I had the pleasure of adopting a young woman in the Navy – what a treat it was to receive her emails and updates of what she was doing to serve our country. The website has many ways you can show your support of these young men and women who are fighting for us overseas if “adopting” does not appeal to you.

In addition, there is a woman here in Charlottesville who works tirelessly to aid our soldiers in combat situations. Her website is www.fromustoyou.us.

OR you can simply send a veteran an e-card www.pva.org and let them know that they are not forgotten.

So many of our troops will need assistance once they have finished their tour of duty; www.welcomebackveterans.org helps with that process.

I feel guilty because I do not have a loved one serving and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for those families. I do know several young men who are my sons' contemporaries who are overseas and I am eternally grateful for their service.

These are just a few of the many, many ways we can give back to these soldiers who have sacrificed so much for this country.

“May no soldier go unloved”....

Sparkle for the Holidays….

My new weakness is vintage rhinestones. As in a lot of my designs, I love to use antique findings – whether they are beads or clasps or pendants. The craftsmanship is unusually good and, for the most part, they are one-of-a-kind. The rhinestones give a subtle glitz to my jewelry …. just enough to make a sparkling, and affordable, statement.

It has always been my goal to, whenever possible, use a clasp that is a focal point. This is a vintage rhinestone clasp; you can’t even see where it closes.

Here are a pair of earrings that I bought to dismantle and use in several other pieces, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. They are perfect just as they are. I simply put them on sterling silver levers so that they couldn’t be lost.



Here’s another clasp – the coloring coordinated perfectly with these delicate creamy pearls…simply elegant.


I wanted to create distinctive look with this vintage necklace so I paired it with my favorite little egg-shell colored pearls. The antique coloring of the pearls suited the shimmering rhinestones so well. It is my goal to give my customers the most value possible and, in this case, here are three different “looks” – wearing them together or each separately. I am so pleased with how it turned out.