We Can Keep A Secret

But boy do you make it hard!

You finally escaped the paparazzi. It took a few hundred miles on the 101 and a narrow passage through a redwood tree in your porsche to do it but now you're free.


OK, so maybe it wasn't a Porsche. All the better this way, so as not to attract any unwanted attention.

And where are you now? What is this quaint little town? And this glorious little jewelry boutique? Ah yes, The Crown Jewel in Ashland, Oregon. But what if they recognize me? You keep your sunglasses on and pretend to sip your latte.

And let's pretend that we did recognize you. We would never tell. So let's pretend that we didn't.

Feeling Koi

There are some animals that inspire art. But when you come to think of it, there aren't a lot of fish that do. Of course there is Dr. Suess's Flower Fish (which would make a marvelous pair of earrings to be sure),

and perhaps Matisse's The Goldfish comes to mind.

But Koi-- for their color, movement, and for the placid tranquility of a Japanese garden that they conjure-- are surely among the most artful.

A few of our newest arrivals-- a keepsake box and some art glass earrings by artist Linda Bolhuis-- both feature wonderful koi.


Although, I must add that our resident artist Katrina-Elise has taken the trout


to new heights.

What is with the cute babies?

We have had so many cute babies (and their beautiful moms) come into the shop lately. I know we have the cutest baby spoons on the planet but does word really spread that quickly amongst the under 3 set? Perhaps that generation has bypassed text messaging and gone straight to telepathic messages.

Forget Hoops

The other day a woman came into the shop looking for a gift for a friend. "I am thinking: earrings," she said. "Do you know what style she likes?" I innocently inquired. "She likes big studs."



Before I could show her these Oregon Sunstone earrings, an older woman across the store perked up. She set down the pearls she was looking at and said, "Don't we all, darling?"

We didn't have what she was looking for, but she did pick this up instead:

Lovie Dovie

In addition to the lovely new peace dove necklace and earrings by Precila G. we just got in some peace symbol necklaces from Nepal and sterling peace rings.












Did you know that the peace symbol comes from semaphore for the letters N (nuclear) and D (disarmament)? For better or for worse, some things never go out of style.


I have been learning to say peace in other languages. One of the most inspiring bracelets we have is a simple sterling cuff engraved with the words "shanti shanti shanti". This is less of a political mantra than a personal one and means "inner peace" in Sanskrit.

Can you name these languages?

Where the sidewalk sale ends...

Thanks to everyone who stopped by this weekend at the sidewalk sale. It was a blast! We had several of our resident artists out on the sidewalk showing their latest jewelry and making some too. It is so neat when people can actually meet the artist who made that special pair of earrings or necklace. We are definitely doing that again in the spring! And you can come in year-round and see the wonderful work of our local and regional artists.

In the meantime, look forward to the incredible jewelry that is coming in over the next week as we restock. We are reinvesting our sale proceeds in some very exiting new things.

Here is a sneak peek (and if anyone asks where you heard about it, tell them a little bird told you).

New Fringe Studio vases and trays.

They're here!
The newest designs by renowned Fringe Studio are in the shop. I can't get over how gorgeous they are. The owl is certainly a hoot (forgive the pun :).

In case you are wondering how they get these amazing images on the glass, they are actually fired onto the glass at high temperature using a proprietary technique. In other words, I have no idea!

The vases are nicely weighted to allow for a taller floral arrangement. Something we have taken advantage of in our displays at the shop.

These remind me of our local studio: Papaya! and their papayaliscious designs. Wouldn't it be cool if Anahata started doing some of her designs on glass like Fringe? I'll have to write that thought down in my small journal (retail $12.95). ;)