Top

A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.

You are here: Home / Archives for Jewelry

Non-jewelry gifts for jewelry lovers.

When your love is a jewelry lover, gift-giving holidays can get expensive. So what’s a boo to do?

Don’t worry – I’ve got you.

Here are some ideas of non-jewelry gifts sure to delight the jewelry lovers in your life. (Or to buy for yourself, because they’re cheaper than jewelry so it’s basically like you’re saving money, right?)

A beautiful velvet jewelry box by The Mrs Box and some fabulous ceramic crystal ring holders by Modern Mud.The Mrs Box / Modern Mud

If you’re not going to buy a jewelry lover jewelry, it’s always a good bet to buy them something fancy to put their jewelry inside of when it’s not on their bodies. Delicate jewels need to be kept safe, and even hardy favorites deserve to rest in style.

Here are two examples of that category: one beautiful box and one lovely ring holder. Also consider going for the luxury option.

A unicorn made of gemstones! This is an art print of Hannah Becker's original gemstone art, as seen on her popular Instagram account, DiamonDoodles.Art prints by Hannah Becker (aka DiamonDoodles).

If you follow Hannah on Instagram, you already know she’s a gemologist and her work features REAL gemstones. The high quality art prints Hannah is now offering are gorgeous. I mean, can you even with this unicorn?

If you don’t fall in love with any of the existing prints, Hannah is currently taking a limited number of custom commissions.

Two pouches from the Jane Tayor Jewelry x Paige Gamble collab.

Paige Gamble x Jane Taylor Jewelry

We’ve looked at some of the Jane Taylor Jewelry x Paige Gamble collab before, but they’re too perfect not to mention again. (Full article here.)

If you want all the extra bonus points, put a wrapped gift box containing actual jewelry inside one of these pouches. A beautiful leather pouch with a surprise inside…and the surprise is JEWELRY? Only use this technique if you want to win utterly at gift giving.

Read More

Little h: exclusive discount on my favorite pearls!

We’re going to talk about my very favorite pearl designer, little h. If you stick with me through the end, you’ll find out how you can score little h pearls of your very own for a special price.

I’ve admired little h’s work for years, but since I finally met the designer and saw her full collection this past July, I’ve been utterly hooked.

Three pieces of stunning pearl jewelry by little h! I love her work.Pearls are objectively beautiful: that’s why they’ve been prized in jewelry for hundreds of years.

Hisano Shepherd of little h doesn’t just showcase the beauty of pearls, she disrupts them. She turns them into something completely new; adding texture, color, dimension in a way that elevates the entire object into a different form.

Her designs are a subtle rebellion: they’re still classic enough to wear every day, but anyone who takes the time to look at them closely will realize they’re something truly out of the ordinary.

This beauty is from the little h Finestrino collection: doesn’t it look like a tiny, magical cave? Every time I look at a piece by little h, I’m surprised and delighted. I don’t know what higher compliment I could give a jewelry line.

With her art, Hisano explodes pearls and gives them new life. She adds jagged angles to soft curves, takes smooth surfaces and pebbles them with a microcosm of the larger shell that contains them.

Tahitian keshi pearl earrings carved and filled with 1.20 carats of reclaimed rubies in 14k yellow gold. By little h.Look at these Tahitian pearls with ruby shards bursting out of them – they look like some kind of beautiful, flash-frozen science experiment. I can’t get enough.

There are five pieces pictured in this blog post, and this curated selection is now on sale just for you, with my exclusive discount code, starting now!

The code is “LIBRARY,” so get on over to little h’s website and start deciding which pearls you’re going to choose! You have until December 18th, which is the last day for pre-Christmas orders, and the 15% off applies to any of these five designs.

My curated selection of little h pearl jewelry! You can take 15% off of these beauties for a limited time with my exclusive coupon code.

Any one of these stunners would make an incredible gift, by the way, in case you’re still looking for something truly unique to make your someone special happy this holiday season.

You can scoop them up here – and don’t forget, use “LIBRARY” to get your 15% until December 18th!

Disclosure: if you decide to buy one of these jewels using this coupon code, I will get a small commission. little h was also kind enough to gift me a piece of her beautiful jewelry. As always, my opinions remain my own. 

A lavender freshwater souffle pearl is carved and lined with genuine amethyst stones and set in 14K gold bale. What a wonderful pearl necklace by little h!!A lavender freshwater souffle pearl is carved and lined with genuine amethyst stones and set in 14K gold bale. What a wonderful pearl necklace by little h! These amazing pearl earrings by little h feature white freshwater souffle pearls sliced and lined with tiny seed pearls, set in 14k gold. Tahitian keshi pearl earrings carved and filled with 1.20 carats of reclaimed rubies in 14k yellow gold. By little h. Pink freshwater souffle pearl is carved and filled with reclaimed rubies set on 14K gold. This beautiful pearl ring is by little h. A three pearl ring with sliced Tahitian pearls, black diamonds, rubies, and a golden South sea keshi pearl. By little h. A pink freshwater souffle pearl is carved and filled with reclaimed rubies set on 14K gold. This beautiful pearl ring is by little h. A lovely pink freshwater souffle pearl is carved and filled with reclaimed rubies set on 14K gold. This beautiful pearl ring is by little h.

Even more jewels from Joden!

I have a treat for you today, my darlings. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you all about Joden and then left you hanging, promising more photos at a to-be-determined time?

That time is now.

Here I am with the lovely Shelly of Joden, frolicking around Gove City wearing a truly staggering amount of Art Deco diamonds and pearls.

That’s a great advantage of visiting jewelry stores in tiny towns: it’s reasonably safe if you decide to put on all their inventory and go run around outside. Definitely bring a friend, though. It’s (probably) safer and definitely more fun that way.

Vintage Art Deco bracelets from Joden! Platinum, gold, diamonds, and sapphires - all the good stuff! I love antique jewelry. .As we discussed last time, Joden is a world-class jewelry store tucked away in an unassuming little town in rural Pennsylvania. I spent a whole day there, having my mind blown by incredible treasures from the obscure and antique to the innovative and brand new.

The charismatic owner, Joe Murawski, told me before I visited that Joden has the best of everything from $5 to $500,000 and oh, my darlings, they truly do. (They also love to buy jewelry, so if you have treasures to sell, give them a call!)

We saw quite a good sampling before, but there’s still more where that came from. Hold on to your hats.

An exceptional antique Art Nouveau brooch from Joden. Look at that dreamy plique-a-jour enamel!Did you enjoy that giant stack of Art Deco diamonds bracelets up above?? I definitely had fun wearing them. Or draping them on myself, at least. It takes a while to fasten that many bracelets.

This brooch is a slightly earlier piece, a daydream-worthy example of the Art Nouveau style. It’s gold with plique-a-jour enamel: that’s the colorful parts that look like stained glass.

This is a signed piece by notable French jeweler and sculptor Joë Descomps. It shows a delicately detailed couple relaxing in front of the ocean and bears a French assay mark that dates to the year 1900.

Read More

Follow along with me on Instagram