It's a Terrific Tuesday featuring Lotus Mira

Happy Tuesday! After three straight days of rain, the sun made a brief appearance this morning. The clouds have rolled in again! It was refreshing to discover a new Etsy shop from beautiful Washington, DC, Lotus MiraGe Ephemera Handcrafted Jewelry. The shop owner, MiraGe, is a hard working Graduate student, wife, cat lover, and Boston native studying Law. How does she have time for creating?!? 

She has little pieces of art for your ears, neck, and wrists! Lotus Mira offers handcrafted jewelry and art, composed of found items, vintage artwork and images, and other ephemera. A girl after my own heart! She currently specializes in soldered art. Her future plans are to work with polymer clay and would love to learn lampworking!

I found a lot of information on the profile page of Lotus Mira about MiraGe and her future artistic journey. Something she quoted really stayed with me. "Many people think nothing of spending $100 on a dinner out, but wouldn't spend $100 on a piece of art that they could have forever. It's because they don't value it the same. It's not because they can't afford it."

(taken from http://www.thebeads.com/articles/pricing.phtml) This is so true! Next time you see a piece of art that you would love to own, think of this statement.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the fabulous shop, Lotus Mira. Take a little journey into her world...

Here are some of my favorites from her shop:

Vintage Faery Images One Inch Soldered Pendant (double sided) 

Alice in Wonderland Four Paneled Soldered Bracelet (double sided) 

 Vintage Malaysian Stamp Butterflies - World Postage Stamps Series - Soldered Pendant

 All of the pendants are made with lead-free solder.

GRAND OPENING SALE for Lotus Mira :: Be among the first to buy a four-paneled bracelet, join me on Facebook, or refer a friend -- you can get free items and/or to get up to 20% off! Check my Shop Policies to learn how!

Get to know Lotus Mira a little more and see her mini works of art through her links!

BLOG : http://LotusMira.blogspot.com/
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/LotusMira

ETSY SHOP: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lotusmira

FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lotus-MiraGe-Ephemera/330807772723

 Enjoy!!

 ------------

Leo and Junie
Jewelry Designs :: Nature & Vintage Inspired
By Christine Steckel

leoandjunie@yahoo.com

Contact Me

Leo and Junie Celebrate Earth Day with Aquarian Bath

BESTeam featured seller, Conduit Press

For those of you that don't know me that well, I love journals. In fact, my 5 year old daughter is completely addicted to journals, because she's following in my footsteps! I use journals for lists, drawing sketches of jewelry designs that pop into my head, good finds on Etsy and beyond...whatever's on my mind.

My fellow BESTeam member Talia from Indiana, owner of Conduit Press , makes journals, upcycled notebooks, scrapbooks, photo albums, and more.  She is a Mom, artist of various mediums, and has a love for books. She's been creating things since she was a young girl. She opened her Etsy shop almost two years ago and her customers love her careful, detailed work.

I love the idea that the leather she uses in her journals is recycled from a local leather shop. She is currently working on making library cards to put in old librabry books turned into blank notebooks as seen on her blog. That is so cool! It gives it a vintage vibe and also is good for the environment! Here are some of my picks from her shop:

 Maroon Leather with Green Orb - Unlined Journal

Edgar Allen Poe Hollowed Book Safe

Harpers Album Lined Journal

You can find more beautiful items and information about Conduit Press here:

Conduit Blog :  http://conduitpress.wordpress.com
Conduit Press on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/conduitpress
Conduit Press on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/conduitpress

Conduit Press on Etsy  

❤

Leo and Junie
Jewelry Designs :: Nature & Vintage Inspired
By Christine Steckel

leoandjunie@yahoo.com

Contact Me

Leo and Junie Things to pamper Mom for Mother's Day

Things to pamper Mom for Mother's Day

I just realized that Mother's Day is less than a month away. WHOA! This month is traveling fast! 

I love browsing through Etsy and finding new things. Here are some Mother's Day finds to oogle over! Each one represents a little piece of me and what I like. I'm sure you will as well! Enjoy...

Handmade Lilly Pulitzer Large Pouch Clutch

by
Hoganfe Handmade Handbags Originals

For the Mom that loves handbags. I love the bright colors and use of fabric in this bag!

I have bought 2 handbags from her in the past and let me just tell you they are well made bags!

Crochet Coasters Sunflower I Set of 4

by

MonikaDesign

These are perfect for a Mom who loves flowers! 

What's better than cheerful sunflowers?

Violet Purple Amethyst Stalactite Druzy Finger Focal Stone or Collectors Specimen

by

Glimmering Gems

This is for the Rockhound Mom who can't get enough of Mother Nature's creations!

Truly a beauty to display proudly!

American Kestrel (Falcon) Original Art Greeting Card

by

CatCanPaint

For the bird lover Mom

5% of all sales in this shop will be donated to the the Birds of Prey program. There are 15 raptors in the collection. They all have different injuries and circumstances that bring them to the program. They are non-releasable to the wild, and are housed and fed, and medical needs taken care of with donations from the public.

❤

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing these beauties. If you click on the name of the shop, it will take you right to their Etsy Stores!

Happy Monday!!

Leo and Junie
Jewelry Designs :: Nature & Vintage Inspired
By Christine Steckel

leoandjunie@yahoo.com

Contact Me

Leo and Junie The Sunshine Award

April Giveaway in honor of Earth Day this month

In honor of Earth Day this month and my Leo and Junie Facebook Fanpage reaching 100 fans, I will be hosting a giveaway to a lucky follower. It seemed fitting since I make nature inspired jewelry that I tie the Earth Day with it!! The giveaway fun will start on Sunday, April 4, 2010 through Friday, April 23, 2010.

Here's what you need to do to win:


1. Mandatory entry = Follow my blog.
2. One entry = Become a fan on my Facebook Fanpage.
3. One entry = Go to my Etsy shop and post a comment here on my blog with your favorite piece of jewelry you like and tell me why.
4. One entry = List one eco-friendly thing in your comment you are/or will be doing in honor of Earth Day this month and everyday!


Winner will be selected at 9:00 pm EST on 4/23/10 by Random.org and contacted for information. Winner will be announced Saturday, April 24, 2010. If there is no response within 48 hours another winner will be selected. 


This will be a fun experience for me, because this is my first giveaway! Are you ready for the prize?!?

Flirty Leaf and Flower Earrings

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=43164226

I have enough materials to make another pair exactly like this one in my shop! They are made with lead free/nickel free brass and glass flowers/leaves.

I will be announcing the winner on Saturday, April 24, 2010.

So, let's have fun with this! Good Luck!

Leo and Junie
Jewelry Designs :: Nature & Vintage Inspired
By Christine Steckel

leoandjunie@yahoo.com

Contact Me

Leo and Junie Featured BESTeam member, Darling Dande Designs

My Rain Vintage Moonglow Earrings are featured on an ETSY Treasury and byhand.me!

 Happy Birthday To Me, Etsy Treasury by WINTERGARDEN

Pinch me, I'm dreaming!

I am so excited! Yesterday, my Spring Butterfly Earrings were featured on the front page of Etsy.com!
Pinch me...this is a dream come true! I'm glad Facebook alerted me or I would not know I was on their front page! Etsy linked my featured item to my Facebook fan page though the My Etsy application. WoW! I'm learning something new everyday whether it's on Etsy, Twitter, or blogging! I'm glad I got a chance to snag this screen print! Enjoy all these spring beauties that were selected.

 

Resistance is Futile

My LOVE MY PUG bracelet is featured in this adorable PUG treasury on Etsy.com!

Click here to go to the treasury. 

Who are Leo and Junie?

Someone recently asked me, who are Leo and Junie? Are they your kids' names or pets? No, to both! I love my kids' names and dogs' names, but they didn't sound good together. I guess I  originally was not too unique with my list of names for my new Etsy jewlery shop. Everytime I would come up with something clever, I would get knocked down, because it was taken already. There are a lot of good shop names out there.  I thought that naming my designs, Christine's jewelry designs was a little too plain and boring. I always liked stores that had names like Lisa Rinna's store in California, Belle Gray (google it) or Dave & Buster's (restaurants located all over the U.S.). Then a light bulb went off in my head (it does everyday, but if I don't write it down it disappears)! My closest lovies are born in August and are so true to their Leo sign. My beautiful daughter was born in June. I would call her my June-bug. One night I had a dream that I owned a little brick and mortar gift shop with handmade items. Leo and Junie was on the front window. There goes the light bulb! The birth of Leo and Junie arrived! I think they sound pretty good together. Don't you think?