Happy Thanksgiving!!! and A SALE!!!

Thanksgiving signals the beginning of my FAVORITE time of year!!!  Tomorrow I get to share the most AMAZING meal with my family, and then I can finally start to play CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!  I can't say my husband loves the drive back home from Massachusetts because it has become tradition for me to play all kinds of Christmas songs on the way home. he he he.  Next comes all the present buying, wrapping and decorating... (oh yea, and snow...) :-)  I love nothing more than buying present, decorating the tree and drinking hot cocoa as I stare at the snow falling outside.  Yay!!!

I just wanted to wish you all Happy Thanksgiving!  Whether you're here in the United States or elsewhere, know that you all share a special little place in my heart!

Now onto the sale!!!!  Now through Cyber Monday, November 29th, I'm offering 10% off on everything in my Etsy Store!  Hop on over there and take a look!  Use the following code upon check out to receive the discount.  Coupon Code: BlackFriday2010

Enjoy the holidays!

New Pieces

So, I've been trying to create some new designs for the upcoming holidays.  I wanted to share them with you, so take a look and let me know what you think!  I hope you like them!

Cranberry Zig Zag Pearl Bracelet

Silver & Labradorite Lotus Necklace

Gold & Amethyst Tree of Life Necklace

Winter Wonderland Snowflake Necklace

Gold & Amethyst Tumbling Leaves Necklace

Recent Treasury Features

Akula Hope Designs has been featured in several treasuries recently!  Here they are.  Take a look at the treasuries by clicking on the title links and feel free to comment!

Yellow and Gray on a Summer Day 

Blue Belle

Eat Pray Love

It's all about Chrysanthemums

IndieSpotting Jewelry Giveaway!

I very happy to say that IndieSpotting (a really cool blog about handmade goods) is doing a giveaway featuring my jewelry!  I am offering a pair of my adorable rhodolite garnet twist earrings to the lucky winner.  Please take a look at IndieSpotting's fabulous blog and enter to win my garnet earrings!  Good luck!

Jewelry Updates

The past couple of weeks have been soooo busy!  I had a wonderful time on Sunday at The Elephants Trunk in New Milford, CT.  It was my first time having a booth there, and I was a bit scared that I wouldn't sell a thing.  Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised!  It went really well, and I had a wonderful time meeting some fabulous people.  I can't wait for this Sunday!

I've created a bunch of really cute new designs, so I'd like to share them with you!  I'd love to know what you think.  You can find them all in my Etsy shop.  I'm always trying out new ideas, and really want to give my customers styles and designs that they love.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment!

 Garnet Bar Necklace

Garnet Bar Bracelet

Pearl Bar Necklace

Pearl Bar Bracelet

 

 Moonstone Bar Necklace

Moonstone Bar Bracelet

Garnet Drop Earrings

Bird in Flight Charm Necklace

Tree of Life Charm Necklace

I've also made some cute vintage inspired hair pins!  These were a huge hit at The Elephants Trunk.

4th of July is coming!!!

In honor of the upcoming Independence Day holiday, I have put together a new Etsy Treasury that features our wonderful Red, White & Blue! It really is a beautiful assortment of items.  Click here to visit this treasury on Etsy.  I'd love your opinions!

Please also take a moment to browse the shops of these featured items, and give them some love!

Retro Nautical Bobby Pins:  ReneeLoughlin
Handmade Fold Art, House No. 2: mooshoopork
Striped Pillowcase Dress: The Trendy Baby
Coral, Pottery & Crystal Necklace: magnolia62
Birds Gone Patriotic: P.S. It's in the Details
Tattoo Sparrow Heart Necklace: Wicked Minky
Garden on Mars: Bit o' Whimsy
Recycled Tin Earrings: fluxplay
Independence Day Pinwheel: rule42
Retro Apron: HeatherBays
Star Charm Bracelet: cuteandfun
Red, White & Blue Circle Headband: Eski Divine
Red, White & Blue Rosette Clip: elemedey
Fabric Flower Cluster Pin: gogalmade
Blue Gingham Box: ThePoshEvent
Embossed Stars: papertreats

HK Photography

I have to tell you all about our wedding photographers HK Photography.  We absolutely loved working with Hubert and Alka.  I was really drawn to their photojournalistic style, professionalism and laid back personalities.  Once we met them in person, we knew that they were a great fit for us.

Last June we did an engagement session with them at Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford, CT.  It's soooo hard to just choose a few photos to show you, but here are some of our favorites from that day.  Even when we had to hold a smooch for 20 seconds, they made us feel completely at ease.  It was actually so much fun!.... not just the smooching, but also the picture taking. :-)

Hubert and Alka just sent us some teaser pics from our wedding. (Note: Their blog page views best for me in Firefox versus Internet Explorer.  It does load in IE, but it takes a bit of time... views best in compatibility mode too.)  I think the photos are fabulous!  Now that the wedding is over, and it's really just a memory, we have realized how important it is to have truly talented photographers.  They have not only captured these priceless moments for us on film, but they were able to get the emotion and love that we were feeling on that day. I feel so lucky that we will have these pictures to remember our wonderful and special day by.

If you're local to the CT, NY and RI area, I highly recommend HK Photography to capture your special day!

New Jewelry Designs

I really wanted to post on my blog more often, but I've been busy!!!  I've been making lots of jewelry, so here's a quick peek at some of what I've been up to.  I hope you like the new pieces!  You can find them on my Etsy site.

This first necklace was a custom order for my friend Mukta.  It features a lotus charm, dream charm and wire wrapped Madeira citrine rondelles.

These are rhodolite garnet earrings on a silver twist ring.

I made this chalcedony necklace for my Chinese tea ceremony attendants at my wedding.  They loved the necklaces.

 
These rhodolite garnet cluster earrings were originally made for my bridesmaids.  So cute!

Etsy Seller Daniel M... review!

 It's time for another Etsy seller review!  In continuation of my wedding theme, I purchased the necklaces for my bridesmaids from Daniel M (danielmjewelry on Etsy).  Being a jewelry maker myself, I knew I wanted to have some input in the design of the necklaces.  I don't have a bench set up in my workspace right now, so I knew that I needed to find someone else that would be willing to make something custom for me.  Of course my first choice was to find someone on Etsy.

I contacted Daniel M Jewelry because some of their jewelry contained design elements that I had envisioned for my necklaces.  Caren responded that they were totally open to tailoring a design that fit exactly what I was looking for.  We came up with a beaded bezel set pendant on a rolo chain.  The pendants were set with BEAUTIFUL rhodolite garnets.  I knew the necklaces would turn out fabulous, so I couldn't resist ordering one for myself too!  I opted to get a deep purple amethyst to match the purple in our wedding colors.

I have nothing but amazing things to say about Daniel M.  Their workmanship is top notch, and Caren was an absolutely delight to correspond with.  I highly recommend them!

Find Daniel M at....
Daniel M on Etsy
Daniel M on Blogger
Daniel M on Twitter

Rave Review for Digital Media Odyssey (and a Sneak Peek of our wedding video!)

When I first started planning our wedding, I knew that I wanted a photographer to capture the day.  One of my very good friends asked me if I was also going to have a videographer.  I told her that I thought that was one of the places we could save some money, so we weren't going to.  She then proceeded to tell me how happy she was that she had gotten a videographer for her wedding.  Even though she tried to savor every moment of the day, it flew by so fast.  She loved being able to watch the video and take the time to really relive her wedding AND there were so many moments that she would have never seen if it weren't for the video.  Okay.... she convinced me.  I would probably regret it if I didn't have a video of our wedding.

So, then began my search for the perfect videographer.  I scoured the wedding websites for recommendations and did tons of my own searches online.  I have to admit that many of the videographers that I came across were... less than stellar.  The number of wedding clips that I saw that contained Celine Dion songs and questionable editing was staggering!  Did these people have their 5 year old nephew shoot the footage?

THEN... I hit the jackpot.  I happened upon the website of Digital Media Odyssey.  Owner Matt Fink blew my mind away with his portfolio.  I can honestly say that Matt has a divine gift for filming and editing the special moments in people's lives.  Here I was watching clips of strangers' weddings and getting teary-eyed!  It truly was beauty in motion.  I could feel the happiness and love that those people were experiencing... and the music!  Matt just knows how to set life to music.  It was truly touching.  I was sold.

Jumping ahead, Matt was wonderful on the day of our wedding.  He's just one of those people that makes you smile.  He's completely professional and at the same time makes you feel like it's your best buddy filming you.  He made me feel comfortable and even brought me a few chuckles after my near 'trip' down the stairs.... yes, I admit it!  I almost took a nose dive down the stairs during the bridal party introductions at our reception, but that's a story for another blog post!

Matt sent me an email the other day to let me know that he had posted a Sneak Peek video of our wedding on DMO's blog.  What a wonderful surprise to get only a few weeks after our wedding!  I did not anticipate seeing any footage until well after the wedding.  Okay, I have another admission to make.  I think I've watched that video a good.... umm... ten times in the past two days and had tears brought to my eyes quite a few of those times!  The Sneak Peek is beautiful.  I can't thank Matt enough, and I can't wait to see the full one!  I know it will be amazing.

If you happen to live in the Connecticut or New York area and are looking for a videographer, I highly recommend Digital Media Odyssey.  There is no doubt in my mind that they will fulfill all your expectations and create you the perfect keepsake from your special day.

http://www.dmodyssey.com/
http://www.dmodyssey.com/blog/2010/5/26/carrie-and-jeremy-sneak-peek.html

I'm Married!!!

I know it's been a while since I was last here, but I'm back AND I'm married!!!! After more than a year of planning, planning and more planning our big day finally came.  We had a beautiful wedding.  It was really such a wonderful and special day.

In the morning my soon-to-be husband and I went to Bulls Bridge in Kent, CT.  We wanted to have a little morning ceremony, just the two of us.  During our engagement we contemplated what marriage meant to us and what qualities we wanted our marriage to embody.  We created offerings that we would make to the river that represented those qualities.  It was a bit chilly out, but we had so much fun!  I can't wait to see the pro pics that our photographers HK Photography took there.  Here's one that my friend Beth took.

You can't tell from the picture, but I'm wearing the FABULOUS headband that KimArt made for me.  I mentioned it in my previous post.

After our hiking trail fun, it was time for our wedding ceremony and reception.  We held both at the beautiful Lounsbury House in Ridgefield, CT.

Thank you to everyone that helped make our day a special one! I couldn't have asked for a day that was more perfect (aside from the cold and wind, but we braved it like troopers!!!)

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts!  Now that the wedding is over, I'm going to fill you in on the rest of my DIY projects and introduce you to some of my AMAZING vendors.  First up will be our videographer Matt Fink of Digital Media Odyssey.  He's truly gifted.