Once a month we’re launching a “Pick Your Favorite Nina Designs Jewelry Findings” Giveaway. Simply leave a comment telling us what your favorite Nina Designs style is & why, and you’ll be entered into a drawing. This month’s prize is great pair of summery earrings featuring little silver bees and colorful gemstones.
For a chance to win these adorable earrings, leave your comment before 5 p.m. PST on August 4th. We’ll announce the lucky winner on our blog on August 6th.
You get a bonus entry for this giveaway if you let us know in the comments that you have posted a link to this post on your blog, Twitter or FB page. Your comment should contain where you posted your link.
PRIZE EARRINGS
We thought we’d join in the fun too. Here are our Favorites for August. Enjoy!
Stephanie: These Bali Sterling Silver Earrings have 5 holes to make it easy to embellish. They have a beautiful shiny hammered finish and with some wire wrapped black garnets (or any stone/pearl of your choice) they’re ready to wear, dressed up or down! Love ‘em!
Clara:The design for this Sterling Silver Hook and Eye clasp is so simple. Combine some sensuous curving lines with the traditional Bali flattened granulation and you get this modern classic that is bold enough to use with your chunkiest beads. Wouldn’t it look great with coral nuggets?
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Vicki Gentry won this necklace!
We have hundreds of
Free Design Ideas that feature many of our silver beads, clasps, charms, and jewelry findings. Last week we asked you to browse our Design Ideas and choose a favorite to be entered into a Prize Drawing. We randomly selected a winner this morning. Congratulations to Vicki Gentry! You are the winner.
Vicki, please email me at juanita(at)ninadesigns(dot)com with your address so I can send out your necklace.
Thanks to everyone who participated in our contest.
Silver Pendants are beautiful and they can change a life! Sales from our silver jewelry making supplies helped fund a micro loan to Nyoman Sukartini, who I introduced in an earlier blog post. Leah and I went to visit her this week to learn more about her story and how she used the loan. We drove to one of the most beautiful areas in Bali where we were met by the vibrant and gracious Nyoman and her friendly family. As we sat in her family compound enjoying fresh coconuts and fried bananas, Nyoman explained that she used the loan to get back on her feet after being hospitalized for six months with a serious illness. In a twist that women in any culture could relate to, she explained that her husband had left her for another woman, forcing her to return to her parents’ home. She is very grateful to have her silver business as a means of financial support.
After the refreshments, we toured the area in a “Box Car” and visited a sacred spring flanked by an enormous banyan tree. Before we left, Nyoman introduced us to the women silversmiths working on her designs and gave us each a pair of delicate citrine earrings. Her jewelry is available for sale through NOVICA.
I love Nyoman because she makes me look tall!
We recently completed work on several new silver charms that celebrate the crafty side of life. A ball of yarn, a pair of scissors and a spool of thread join our collection of lifestyle charms. These charms have complete detail on both the front and back and are so cute in person! We imagined a necklace that combines the ball of yarn with our happy cat charm – how darling. We should have these charms in stock by mid-August. Click here if you’d like to watch a slide show illustrating the many steps involved in casting these charms.
Sing it loud and clear: I'm a crafty lady!
Anna and Joey
This year I got engaged and with the date is fast approaching, I have started working on my gold vermeil wedding jewelry. It has been difficult to decide just what it is I want to adorn myself with, on one of the most memorable days of my life. I want my jewelry to not only reflect myself, but also the theme and attitude of the event: relaxed, organic, playful. For my palette, I chose our warm gold vermeil coupled with forest greens, smoky browns, and champagne pearls. My challenge was to make something that was at once simple, and yet special and extra-ordinary.
I chose a simple gold ear wire with small granulation on the end that looks, to me, like a little bud about to bloom. From the earwire hangs a tiny vermeil half hammered circle link. A circle is a great classic design element as it helps to center and ground the eye. From the circle falls a cascade of minuscule burnt-orange tourmalines, button shaped champagne pearls, and warm, whiskey quartz briolettes.
To complete the look I made an accompanying necklace. Crafted from the same elements but interpreted in a different manner to keep the look fresh. The circle links sit right at the collar bone, with the pearls and tourmalines alternating between them. A small, but very secure gold vermeil clasp holds it all together. From this delicate clasp a smoky quartz briolette tear drop drapes down the back, a little extra flair.
What jewelry have you made for special events in your life?
My Wedding Jewelry
My Wedding Dress
Prize: Lily of the Valley Necklace
Did you know that we catalogue hundreds of FREE design ideas for anyone to use? Feel free to make exact replicas or to use our designs as a jumping off point for your own inspirations. Sometimes it helps just to look at many different designs to get your creative juices flowing or to see how someone else used a part you really like. We encourage you to play, have fun and create awesome jewelry!
And now . . . when you participate, you can win fabulous jewelry. Just browse through our design ideas and share your favorite with everyone to enter our PRIZE drawing. In your comment tell us which design you like best and why, and this Lily of the Valley necklace could be yours. Over $100 Retail Value. We’ll randomly select a winner next Monday, July 26th.
To join in the fun, we thought we’d pick out some of our favorites too!
Stephanie’s Pick: Anna’s Desert Green Necklace. I love the heaviness of the chain and large stones in combination with the soft deer hide lace and subtle colors. I made a duplicate for myself!
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Bali is a land filled with sensory pleasures, as beautiful a place as you’ll ever find and full of inspiration for designing silver charms. From the sweet scent of the ylang ylang flowers, to the soothing sounds of Gamelon music, there is always something to appreciate. Inspiration is in the vibrant colors of the kingfisher birds, with their bright red beaks, deep indigo bodies and tails of brilliant turquoise; in the soft breeze caressing the tender sprouts in the rice fields; in the spicy sauces and fresh grilled fish; in the sing-song greetings and friendly giggles of the children.
Everywhere Nina and I go, we see something else to admire. “Oh, look at the curve of that lotus leaf!… Wouldn’t this frangipani flower make a great pendant? … Wow – can you believe the curls in this wood carving?… Look at how the dancer’s golden head dress quivers with each movement!…What do you think of the shape of the mandala on this offering?” Our creative wells have been filled to overflowing! Where do you look for inspiration?
Lotus blossoms along the rice terraces.
Tiny pebbles create a mosaic tree in the walkway.
We think it’s wonderful that silver jewelry findings can help support the efforts to restore the Gulf Coast. Thanks so much to all you Nina Designs fans for inviting your friends to join us on Facebook and supporting the Environmental Defense Fund. We added almost 1000 new friends and fellow designers to our community as a result of your efforts. In return, Nina Designs is sending a check for $1000 to help support the Environmental Defense Fund and their team of wetlands experts in the Gulf Coast who are working so hard to repair the damage and restore coastal Louisiana.
Hello, we may have discussed jewelry findings on the phone or sorted through silver charms at a tradeshow together, but this is our first meeting via the Nina Designs blog. As a new addition to the Nina Designs team and as a jewelry making novice, it’s been an exciting few months. From the basics of beading to the the history of the Bali bead, I’ve learned much from both my coworkers and our wonderful customers.
I’ve recently developed a greater appreciation for our Arang wood pendants. While I love the pretty Thai charms and the
delicate Javanese filigree, the depth and detail of these hand carved pieces really appeal to me. I’m especially fond of our new bear claw pendant. With such a strong, elemental centerpiece I can look as ready for an adventure as I feel!
Marisa in Japan
Some of my fondest memories from when I was a kid involve wandering busy street fairs, maybe with some garlic fries or a lemonade slushee in hand, and looking at all the jewelry stalls. I liked to see how the theme and style would change from table to table, from artisan to artisan. I got a thrill from seeing the old hippie craftsman with his pewter and glass dragons. Or the sharply dressed mom with her silver and gemstones. Even the young metal smith with wild hair and steel and leather work. It was the most eclectic band of personalities and backgrounds united by one commonality – the desire to make beautiful things.
Now, working at Nina Designs, I love the idea that I am part of the background workings for that community. Allowing others to express themselves in beautiful and creative ways always leaves me with a good feeling.
Sterling Silver Pendants are the focus of our design session this week. Leah and I are in Bali working hard with breaks to walk in the rice fields. There is a gaggle of ducks just off our porch that quack just like Donald Duck and sound like they are laughing at our efforts, but they are super cute and funny, so we laugh too.
Bali is a very inspiring place to work. Everywhere we go, from the garden to the temples, there are shapes and textures that spark new ideas. Ancient stone walls are covered in frothy green moss, orange lichen and tiny orchids. Vines that look like braids climb rock enclosures. Paths are paved in small black and white stones, arranged in patterns of flowers, fish, and soaring birds. Even the enormous spiders have orange and yellow mandalas on their backs!
We are creating new filigree, mother of pearl and hammer finish pendants. Any suggestions?
