Dreaming of Swarovski crystals

Hi everyone! :)

I hope you all had a marvelous week! What took me so long to blog again you may say? Well, I'm still setting up the apartment and been busy rearranging my atelier, trying to figure out the best way to optimize this new space of mine. It's only the second time I've moved and, silly me, I thought this time I would be able to set up and feel at home in no time since I had everything planned ahead. I didn't took into account that we were moving in a bigger space, and that in this case it meant a few furniture and light purchases. But before I will go shopping for some new bookcases and shelves, I had a very important and exciting task to take care of : shopping for some new Swarovski elements!

Did your eyes got a bit bigger and brighter? Mine sure did! :) I ordered a few new pieces last January, but as much as I love the new colors, that supplies order was meant to continue the existing Crystal Dangle Earrings Collection.

My last order of Swarosvki crystals Elements 

As much as I'm beaming to have now 12 different colors in stock - even if I keep postponing my photoshoot these days since its always raining - I wanted to create something new and dazzling for my upcoming craft fairs. As you may say the concept I'm currently working on is not unique and quite simple, but it is the type of earrings I've been craving for the past few months. I found myself disappointed with the color selection I found in stores, so I decided to create my own serie of Swarosvki Rivoli Crystal Post Earrings. I'll be wearing a pair at a friends wedding this weekend and I can't wait to show you the pictures…! My large supply order is on its way and I simply can't wait! :) What I love most about this new line? Those dazzling earrings will go perfectly with the Berry necklace collection and with the upcoming new Bridal necklace series.

The always expanding Crystal Dabgle Earrings made with Swarovski Elements

On this my friend, I can't say more for now! Stay tuned for more details, sneak peeks and what's in store for the end of summer. I have to run for now, got to get ready for the wedding!!! :)
*M*

Goodbye Montreal, Bonjour Longueuil!

Hi everyone! :)

Wow, long time no see...! It's a bit sleepy and exhausted, but terribly happy that I write to you today! As you know, me and my marvelous boyfriend moved the first weekend of this month. We said goodbye to our tiny Montreal apartment to move into our luxurious and wide apartment in Longueuil...!

We still can't believe how lucky we were to be able to have put our hands on this lovely apartment! The place itself is very well located, peaceful, quiet and packed with trees, flowers and the cutest townhouses! :) We were sad to leave Montreal as it was where we both grew up and I don't think I'll ever be able to replace the special place Montreal has in my heart with its vibrant, colorful crowd and events. And its not as if I was saying goodbye forever since I'm still working in Montreal during the week. I'm glad to see her buzzing with life everyday; but coming home to some peace and quiet is really quite soothing and so very welcome.

The gorgeous peonies that are now growing in our backyard...!!

And as for the Kirameku side of things, you ask? I'm sad I wasn't able to reach my 100 items goal by the end of May. I must admit I miscalculated how much time it would take us to pack all our stuff. Agreed, I'm 70% responsible for this as my love for art and cooking translates into lots of mediums, different type of paints as well as specialized molds and cooking gadgets. So between work/packing/Etsy promoting I simply ran out of time and eventually out of sleep... :( I also made a few sales in between all this so some Berries have not been renewed just yet but not to worry, I will restock and post new items this very weekend! :)

As for the atelier, I won't be able to post pictures just yet. We focused on getting everything out of the boxes and will rearrange that room later. So the atelier is still at a rough state with a few boxes left to be unpacked.

But, I focused on the important part : my computer and Etsy shop are up and running!! All my jewelry supplies have been unpacked. So I'm ready to craft again! :) So yes, the long awaited Caribbean Blue Berry and custom Swarovski earrings will be available in a matter of days! :)

On this, I want to thank you all for your patience and I hope you will have a wonderful end of week!
* M *

White apartment inspiration

Hi everyone! :)

I hope you had a lovely last two weeks! Here in Montreal the gorgeous lilacs are finally in bloom! The air is smelling so lovely whenever I pass one of my neighbours tree! :) I'm sad that my parents moved out of their house before the lilacs season, I would have loved to have a bouquet on my diner table!

My apologies for this long delay between posts, I have been busy making boxes and wrapping up our precious possessions as moving day is now two weeks away... Yikes! No worries, I can still ship your Berry orders as my crafting supplies are the last things I'll be packing. I'll be posting soon in my shop announcement and on my FB page the few days were my shop will be closed so I'll have time to unpack everything.

Meanwhile; my boyfriend and I gave ourselves a new challenge for our new home. We won't be painting our apartment this time. Of course we will have some colors in our new love nest but we thought a few paint jobs on our furniture instead might do the trick and save us a couple of bucks. I have lots of student quality acrylic that I don't use anymore so I thought we could kill two birds with one stones. I'll leave these DIY furniture inspirations for another post, but here are my favorite white rooms on Pinterest. I thought it could inspire a few of you as well! :)

I simply love this blog post from Classic Chic Home,  so may pretty rooms in there, but this one is
clearly my favorite! :)

We won't have such a lovely staircase in our next apartment but I found the frame decoration in this post absolutely wonderful!

Love this gorgeous bedroom with soft grey accents....! From Unique Home Architecture post

Love the use of festive lights in this post from Home stories

I want one gorgeous dresser just like this...! Styling from Live Love DIY

Love the cozy and yet warm feeling of this all white room from Charm blog

And, the final one : love the shabby chic style in this living room from Digs Digs

On this everyone, have a wonderful weekend! :D
Don't hesitate to post your inspiration for an all white room!
* M *

Kirameku update

Hi everyone! :)

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and aren't buried in work! I just wanted to give you a quick update on Kirameku as I have finally reached 92 items in stock, yay! :)

Berry Necklaces : I have yet one more necklace to list. I find that my pictures from the last photoshoot were too dark and not bringing out the lovely details in the green shades of the Moss Berry Pendant Necklace. Although, I wanted to share with you my "coup de coeur" like we say in French, for this gorgeous new Silver & Green Berry Necklace. There's now 10 Berry Necklaces listed, yay! And don't worry, I'm still working on the Cobalt & Snow Bridal Necklace. My hope is to list it in May but we'll have to see how things goes with our moving schedule.

Love the Silver & Green Berry Necklace!

Kirameku 1000 heart shop giveaway : I have drawn a number and contacted the winner during the Easter weekend. I have unfortunately never heard back from the winner. It really saddens me and I tried giving the winner more time to claim their prize because of the Holidays, but it didin't work out. I will be drawing a new number and contacting the new winner in the following days, so please check your convos! And best luck to all! :)

Swarovski earrings : I jumped on my camera as soon as there was a beautiful sun outside and shot 4 different pair of Swarovski cristal earrings. You can now enjoy 2 pairs that were listed a few days ago. I hope you will love them! Don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the new Swarovski earrings collection or request a particular color, I would love to hear them! :)

The gorgeous Bermuda Blue Swarovski Dangle Earrings!

Craft fairs : I'm sending many applications before the month of April ends. I will keep you posted on witch show Kirameku will attend. Etsy local/Facebook events and blog posts will be created when I'll have my confirmations. I hope to be able to meet you in person this year as well and I'm aiming at least 3 craft shows for 2015. Stay posted and don't hesitate to subscribe to Kirameku's newsletter to get all the details in your inbox! :)

Like always, your feedback is very appreciated and custom orders are more than welcomed so please, don't be shy and leave me a comment! :) Have a great week everyone!
*M*

Workspace & atelier inspiration

Hi everyone! :)

Like I mentioned in my previous posts, my marvelous boyfriend and I will be moving soon. We finally found a lovely place and I was thinking of sharing with you my inspirations for my new - and all mine!!! - atelier!

I can't wait to have my gorgeous Italian easel set free of its box and use it in my new workspace under the sunlight....! I've scouted Pinterest in search of my favorite ideas and I hope it will inspire you too! :) Pictures of the actual atelier will be posted once it will be complete I promise! :)

Source : http://carlaaston.com/designed/crazy-cool-home-office

Love the light and optimization of space!! It might not be a craft room per say, but it could be a marvelous one!

Source : http://www.housebeautiful.com/room-decorating/kitchens/g1245/white-kitchen-decorating-ideas-1210/

Love this built in desk in front of the window. How marvelous would it be to paint under the sunlight with a hot cup of tea?!

Source : http://justbaustralia.com.au/be-creative/home-eleven-rooms-to-be-inspired-by-22526/gallery/image/home-eleven-rooms-to-be-inspired-by-9/

Wow, the use of contrast here is simply amazing! Don't you agree? :)

Source : http://www.fourgenerationsoneroof.com/2014/03/brass-gold-den-makeover.html

I'm personally not a big fan of gold, but in this case, it brings so much light plus a lovely touch of warmth and chic to this room, I just love the atmosphere!

Source : http://sarahmdorseydesigns.blogspot.ca/2013/07/eames-chairs-finished-finally-for-now.html?m=1

I can't really put my finger on the aspect of this room that makes me love it, but it has a lovely "je ne sais quoi" that makes me want to sit down and draw in this room...!

On this everyone, I hope you enjoyed my top 5! Tell me, what makes a craft room the perfect atelier for you? :)
*M*

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Weekend project no2 update

Hi everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful long Easter weekend. I was blessed with a four day vacation so I finished my latest watercolor for the upcoming craft shows.

Here is as promised the evolution of the artwork as well as the final product. I used some Opera Pink as the dominant color as well as a deep black India Ink to make the shades of pink pop out more. I really like the flow in the black ink, and I hope that you like the final results as well! :) A 90lbs paper was just enough to contain the amount of water required for this piece. I enjoyed creating a more fluid subject and adding a few precise touches to define the flower. How about you? What do you love about this watercolor? 

I also jumped on my camera last weekend and took out my Swarovki earring out for a photoshoot. We had real bad weather since the beginning of April, but this week, the sun is up and bright and it is such a pleasure! I'm hoping to create some more earring and take advantage of the beautiful days strike that we seem to be having. You will find some bright sunny yellow, feminine dark blues and vivid pink oranges crystals added to the new collection.

I haven't been quite as active in the past few days as I took two days to celebrate my birthday with my friends and my family.
No worries though, I still have 2 more new Berry necklaces in beautiful shades of green to be listed. And I will be back with another watercolor post as I'm missing one more new artwork to submit to the fairs.

I hope you are looking forward to the next artwork post! :)
On this everyone, have a wonderful day!
*M*

Weekend project 2

Hi everyone!

I hope you had all a marvelous week and enjoyed the Spring 2015 at Kirameku post! As you have read, it has been quite busy few days and after a long awaited Berry Necklace photoshoot, I decided last weekend to take two days off and retreat to a beautiful chalet in Magog to enjoy a few hours of peace and painting.

Why watercolours at this time of year and no more Berries? It's quite simple : the craft shows submissions for 2015 are slowly starting to fill my inbox. I have enough new Berry jewelry to show for these events and simply not enough new illustrations. So I packed my watercolors and my various inks in my luggage and hop, here I went.

No worries, I still have many new ideas for Kirameku's craft shows in 2015; but as our moving day is getting nearer every week, I thought it best to finish the projects I had already started before launching some new R&D.

But, wait a minute you might say; you spoke of another watercolour project a few posts ago, how did this one turned out? Well, my previous watercolor idea of fiery anemones bouquet was a total flop...! Despite all my efforts, the paper I had in stock could not carry the effects I had in mind. I have already mentioned the amazing Fabriano watercolor blocs on a previous post and as I resisted the temptation of buying a new bloc, I realized soon enough that my 90lbs cold press Winsor & Newton paper was not up to this anemone task.

Kirameku's latest illustration in progress, a mix of inks and watercolours.

On this, I decided to try a different approach and paint orchids with a mix of ink and watercolora. I painted for most of Saturday afternoon, also you can see the the sun slowly coming down on my artwork on the pictures. As the sun left to rest, so did my paintbrushes. The biggest part of this mixed media artwork was done in the space of a few hours and I'm counting on this Easter Holiday to be able to add the finishing touches to it! :) 

On this everyone I hope you have a great long weekend and I'll be back soon with some more updates and necklaces! :) Happy Easter to all! :)
*M*