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