Vienna wearing Piece by PEACE Designs

My friend Vienna showing off her Piece by PEACE Designs necklace!

This year I got the opportunity to go to the Golden Globes! It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life! These are just a few people I got to meet!

Good Cause!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recently started on Crowdrise. This is a great site for fundraising and getting your friends and family involved. Right now, if you donate just $10 to my project you will have a chance to win a pair of great very expensive earrings that I have made. Please feel free to sign up and start your own page while you're there!

http://crowdrise.com/piecebypeacedesigns

My husband and I

Wow, I guess it's been a while!

So, here's what I've been up to....

Lord Jagged

My new favorite character!! Lord Jagged of Canaria

Christmas in July!!

From now until July 25th come celebrate Christmas in July with a BOGO half off sale at my Etsy shop! I don't run this sale very often so now is a great time to get some great gifts at great prices! All pieces are one of a kind and handmade by me. Please see my shop home for details on the sale.

http://piecebypeacedesigns.etsy.com

Prince Elric

Auction for Breast Cancer

Please check out the Beautiful Grim art auction. These are just a few of the beautiful pieces you will find. All of the pieces depict the theme "beautiful grim". There are many great pieces at really great prices! Proceeds benefit breast cancer patients. This is a wonderful cause and a great way to get beautiful art!
You can read the beautiful grim story, read about all of the artists that have contributed, meet the beautiful woman who inspired this benefit or make a donation on the beautiful grim website.

http://shop.ebay.com/beautifulgrimart/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_ipg&_trksid=p3686

Happy Mother's Day

Mothers make our lives better. These mothers are some of the best out there. They work hard everyday to make sure their kids are loved and taken care of. They are unselfish and serve their families with kindness and patience (most of the time).

In honor of Mother's Day, Piece by PEACE Designs will be donating 50% of all sales to The Red Cross toward Haiti Relief. Please take advantage of this great opportunity to not only get a great handmade gift for the special woman in your life but to help the women of Haiti.Free worldwide shipping is offered everyday and all gifts come hand wrapped ready for giving!
http://piecebypeacedesigns.etsy.com

I found this really great vintage key chain at a yard sale over the weekend. The woman who sold it to me said that her dad brought it home from France. I fell in love and had to use it in some way. This necklace is what it became. I didn't want to take away from the piece so I simply added a great faceted piece of labradorite and a sea glass bead between a couple of swarovski crystals. I think it came out perfect and this one, I'm keeping for myself! Please check out my other creations on Etsy and on Zibbet.

Wonderful Alice

I love this dress! Alice is one of my favorite characters and Tim Burton's was just perfect! The costuming in the whole movie was outstanding but I especially loved this dress of Alice's. Oh how I wish I could pull off the whole Helena Bonham Carter look. Anyway, I would highly recommend this movie, even if you can't take Tim Burton and his madness, (I happen to love it) it is worth it just to see the costumes!

Where Will I Find You

Where Will I Find You
Originally uploaded by piecebypeacedesigns

I have been very hesitant to use keys in my jewelry. I know, they are the new thing and all but I just didn't want to use cheap, cookie cutter keys that had no personality. I saw this REAL, antique, copper key and had to use it! It is perfect for what I wanted to do. I did not want to take away from the style or authenticity of this key so The only thing I added were these green recycled beads. This necklace is organic, earthy and had a great indie feel.

This handmade necklace can be found in my Etsy shop.

I LOVE this picture

I LOVE this picture
Originally uploaded by piecebypeacedesigns

This picture is beautiful! It is taken by my good friend Aaryn from Aaryn James Photography. It shows my "Love Me" bridal earrings. These handmade earrings have sold already but you can check my Etsy shop or my Flickr page to see more of the Bridal Jewelry I've done. And be sure to check out Aaryn James Photography for gorgeous wedding photos.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

I made this the other day and just had to share it. It turned out so good, my family loved it! I am on a low fat diet and can easily adjust as needed by using low fat or fat free cream cheese and low fat cream soup. I also ALWAYS use cream of mushroom in place of cream of chicken because cream of chicken just grosses me out...I did not cut up the chicken but just threw it in and shredded it after it was cooked, a lot easier I think. If you try it, let me know what you thought:) Just follow this link for the recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Stroganoff/Detail.aspx

I am very honored that Vicki at LOC Design Studio chose my Royal Rendering earrings to feature in her March Green blog. These earrings are featured along side some other great handmade items. Vicki is a needlework and beaded jewelry designer. She has an Etsy shop and a Zibbet shop in addition to her wonderful blog. You can visit Vicki at:

http://www.zibbet.com/LOCDesignStudio
http://www.etsy.com/shop/locdesigner

New Zibbet Shop

I just opened a new shop on Zibbet. I really like it a lot. I am able to link my Etsy shop, Flickr and Facebook to the shop. They do not take anything to list or from my sales. I can have unlimited listings and have 4 pictures per listing. It is a really great place to sell. If you are thinking about a new marketplace to sell, check them out. You can visit my shop at http://zibbet.com/piecebypeacedesigns

50% of all sales to Haiti Relief

I am going to continue to, through the month of February, give 50% of my sales to The Red Cross Haiti Relief. This country is still in such need. Please visit one of my shop. This Valentine's Day is a perfect time to order and also help someone in need.

http://piecebypeacedesigns.etsy.com

http://zibbet.com/piecebypeacedesigns

Beautiful Grim

This is the piece I made for Beautiful Grim. Beautiful Grim is a auction benefit that will be held this spring. It is being put on by Daarken and Leif Jeffers. Daarken's girlfriend Cat was diagnosed at the age of 25 with breast cancer. The proceeds of this benefit will go towards Cat's medical bills as well as to other breast cancer charities.

You can read about Cat's amazing journey at beautifulgrim.com/blog She is a really incredible person!

There are about 200 artists involved with the event. Most of the artists donating are real, true artists, something I just try to be. I was thrilled when Daarken accepted my offer to donate a piece of jewelry. It took me a while to come up with an idea to represent beautiful grim (the theme of the event). This isn't even what I had in mind but I think it came out quite good. I love the chaos of it with all the strands each made with different materials. I think it represents how chaotic our own journeys can be, messy and a wreck. But sometimes when you hold it all up in front of you, it can be beautiful.

For more info on the benefit and other artists donating their work, please visit http://beautifulgrim.com

Hawkmoon

One of my favorite books The Jewel In The Skull has been republished! This is the first in Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon series. The second book in the series The Mad God's Amulet is due out in April. I am thrilled to read these books again and I highly recommend them! I also recommend reading The Elric Saga.