04.10.23 I love diamonds...even, or maybe especially, tiny ones.

I sometimes wish I could be one of those people who eschews the material world...

I definitely don't need ALL THE THINGS, in fact over the last year I'm proud to say I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff.

Lost wax pendant before the diamonds were set

I don't even need MOST of the things...but I do love the shiny things...and I have a special weakness for tiny diamonds.

Eight years ago, when I started on my creative journey with jewelry I signed up for a lost wax casting class, and my design included tiny diamonds that were left over from resetting jewelry from my Mom and grandmothers.

I went in thinking I could simply cast the stones in place - but turns out, that's a little complicated for a beginner (however, my friend Zanny who is a a very experienced jeweler does beautiful cast in place pieces) - so I simply made the pendant and set the stones later.

Pieces Jewelry by Cari and Corey Egan

The three diamonds in the pendant represent my children, and the idea that even though we aren't together as often as I would like when we look up, we all see the same moon and stars.  I wear that pendant a lot, and recently I've been pairing it with my family charm necklace and a great new pair of earrings.

The silver earrings are actually the second pair of this design that I purchased from Berkeley based jeweler, Corey Egan.  I bought a gold pair last summer to wear to our son's wedding.  I loved them, but realized I just don't wear yellow gold very often...so I splurged and bought them twice!

I hemmed and hawed before I bought them - I mean I have other pairs of earrings with tiny diamonds. My husband asked why I will still pining for them, rolled his eyes and said "just order them already", so I did...and I've been wearing them almost daily every since.  They were the only earrings I took with me on our trip to DC last month.

Charms from Bamboo Jewelry, SJVI

Another current favorite necklace - which I mentioned in my first post of the year - checks two important boxes for me when I'm buying jewelry...it is a souvenir (of my great trip to St. Thomas and returning to travel) and it has tiny diamonds.

It was love at first sight for the "Eye of the Hurricane" pendant in Bamboo Jewelry's beautiful studio in St. John - and I couldn't resist the double entendre, pairing it with their "KEEP LEFT" charm.  It was the tiny blue diamond that did it for me - because it looks like a blue wave - and my friends loved that I had found a souvenir that made a political statement, too.

Then late last year, just before I was planning three trips in three months, Bamboo posted some new charms, including the compass rose...which I added to my necklace, with a tiny diamond.

Yellow gold Corey Egan earrings,

and my new Elisa Solomon charm

There's a reason they call it "retail therapy"...at least for me, buying something that I know I'll enjoy wearing because it brings back happy memories, makes me feel better.  When the need to shop strikes, I try to seek small, women owned business to support, because that makes me feel good, too.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I very recently acquired another special piece with tiny diamonds from Elisa Solomon...and when I shared, I promised you a blog post - so, promise kept.

Until next time.