Fall Daily: Designing with a Children's Toy?

It's always around this time of year, that knitting becomes a bit of an obsession of mine.There is something rather therapeutic about repetitive motions of needling soft yarn through my fingers while sipping a cup of hot tea. 

Currently, I discovered this children's toy that I purchased several years ago in Brussels. It creates a rope type effect, with selected yarn and currently my guilty pleasure. 

Ironically, my mom saw my toy and informed me that she also played with a similar toy when she was a child. It made me laugh, because here I thought it was new, and yet again, I have realized I was born in the wrong generation. 

Inspiring several accessories of my winter collection, here is one I recently finished. It is a black and gold, chain necklace adorned by two vintage pins, and currently my favorite. 

Currently I am working on this varying shade of moss green, and feeling rather inspired to adding some beading details. 

Will keep you posted!

xo,

Maya

Introducing Lisa Marie Jewelry: Interview with Lisa Rough

It is not often a jewelry brand gets me excited enough to request an interview with the designer; however, after discovering this beautiful turquoise pendant (above photo) from Lisa Marie Jewelry, I was curious to find out more. 

I was drawn to this necklace because of the large turquoise stone that spoke to me in a poetic way. If you look carefully you can notice the stone is cracked in the middle, and yet the beauty is somehow preserved by a golden crown that mends the two pieces together. It spoke to my current life situation,  and reminds me that "broken" is beautiful and giving up is never an option. 

"Each piece is uniquely designed by me with current, contemporary fashion in mind. It is made with the intention to remain a classic piece for years to come." -Lisa Rough

Lisa Marie Jewelry is created entirely by Orange County based designer, Lisa Rough. As a stay at home mom, she found it as an opportunity to be creative, while making a little extra money on the side. 

Her style is unique, contemporary and classic. You will notice almost all her designs are made of quality natural elements and all by hand. There is an earthy feeling to her collection, with whimsical touches of femininity and spirituality. 

Unlike mass produced factory accessories, there is something fulfilling about wearing jewelry made by a real person. I especially appreciate her "beachy" themes infused with positive messages and charms with words like, "love" or "believe". Her religious and spiritual background can also be spotted in her works.

"Well I would say I'm torn between Bohemian style and more elegant. It just depends on the outfit and mood. I tend to like simple, light layering for a more feminine look and more chunky for a casual look." -Lisa Rough

                                        Religious Influence 

" -it represents my spirituality, which infuses my creativity" -Lisa Rough

"I choose by quality, color, vibrancy and texture." -Lisa Rough

                                        Ocean Inspiration

Many pieces have strong influences from the beaches in California and Maui. 

"not just in California, but Maui where we spend as much time as possible." 

-Lisa Rough

Lisa Marie jewelry can be found at :

The Blue Eyed Girl

      San Juan Capistrano 

      Laguna Beach

      Laguna Niguel

      Newport Beach

Evas Trunk

      Costa Mesa

Twig and Willow

       Long Beach

Ruth Waters

       Long Beach

Reflections hair salon

       Dana Point

Day 4 of 5: A Bouquet of Insanity

Day 4 of 5:

Today was a day filled with sewing silk flowers to the lower half of the dress, and continuing with yesterdays beading. I am at full blown stress mode, and one more silk flower could cause my head to pop off. 

I am still horribly behind, and a miracle is some what needed if completion is at all possible for tomorrow. On a brighter note, I am quite pleased with the silk flowers that look like falling sakura flowers. They have the soft, light, texture that I was hoping for, and the effect is exactly what I had in mind. I debated quite a bit whether to keep the rosettes in the center, but in the end opted to take them out, since the dress is inspired by the "cherry blossom". 

xo,

Maya 

Day 3-5: More Beading, loosing my mind, and sneak peak of bottom half.

Day 3 of 5:

I am undeniably feeling the pressure, and quickly losing my mind. I am a perfectionist, and have no sense of time. In my head, my vision of 'the dress' is extremely intricate, whimsical, and full of unbelievable beadwork.  Unfortunately, I am not a magical elf with time defying sewing skills, and 5 days seems quite impossible. 

I wish I could dedicate 24 hrs/day to this dress, but with work, and life, it is not working out that way.

Leave it to me, to speak before thinking, but regardless, I am pushing myself to the brink of insanity to  somehow get this done by Friday. 

Overcome with huge stress that only two days remain, I surprisingly accomplished quite a bit today. This is off topic, but  isn't it amazing how much you can accomplish with deadlines and stress? Just when you think its impossible and can't be done, you somehow accomplish it,and surprise yourself. Of course it is probably at the cost of about a year of my life, but I do believe it is a sign of reaching a higher level of self achievement. 

xo,

❤

Maya

Day 2 of 5: Beaded Details and Mind Blocked

Day 2:

Today was a day spent on details. I beaded all day and I am still currently beading. Designing your own clothes is a crazy thing and 5 days to finish an evening gown, is an even crazier experience. 

 As fun as it is, the whole situation is rather unpredictable and chaotic. Part of my head thinks about the beading I am doing, and the other part of me is contemplating the bottom half, and what I will do. The creative process is never a smooth ride, and I have moments of complete mind blocks that leave me completely frustrated. However, other moments are filled with energetic bursts of ideas that make the whole chaotic mess worth it. 

Stay tuned....

xo,

Maya