Monthly Wedding Guide

Wonderful Monthly Wedding Guide by Anna has arrived! It has beautiful colors and looks just like my autumn mornings now :) Enjoy!

Discover the featured shops if you are interested in what you see here!

Giveaway of 100% Natural Facial Serum

Today I am happy to announce a fabulous Giveaway! Irina of RillVeda is giving away a 100% Natural Facial Serum that she produces for her Etsy shop. 

You have lots of options to participate in this giveaway to win the prize. There are a couple of options for you to participate every day to increase your chances!

Irina also answered a few question about her product. You will find her answers below the Rafflecopter form. 

Good luck to all!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tell us a little bit about your product.

I make creams, soup, deodorants, serum, balms, lotions, tooth paste and more. Everything is made with natural ingredients, most of which are also organic. I sell all my products in my Etsy shop RillVeda.


Why did you start making your own product?

At the beginning I was fascinated that you would mix transparent no color water and oil and get a cream or a soap that is not transparent! Then I started learning more of the production... and found out what they added to make mass produced creams and soaps. I realized that I did not wish to use that product on my skin anymore. Instead I mastered my own recipes. My family members and then my friends liked what I was making and kept asking for more.

Well... maybe it all really started as long as 20 years ago... At that time the birth of my first son brought me a disappointment in the provided medical treatments. I felt the need to take responsibility for the health of my family members and my own.

Now this is one of the biggest passions in my life! I love the feeling the preparation of the product gives me. I feel myself being closer to nature just like an ancient wise woman who mixed the ingredients to create a medicine :)

How long have you been making it for?
I have been doing it for 5 years.

Where do you find you ingredients?

Some of them I buy from the reliable sellers, some I gather in a forest, other I grow myself in my own garden.

What have you always wanted? Did you get it?

I always wanted to feel that there was a good reason for me to be born and live. I wanted to learn how I could be helpful to people and to find my place in this world. Did I get it? Maybe... and still looking for more :) I hope I will have more opportunities in my life for my self-fulfillment.

I also wanted to meet the love of my life. Luckily enough I did get that :)

Best compliment you have received?

Somebody (I won't tell you who!) told me: "I wish to sit beside you in peace and serenity for hours with no words pronounced".

What is your greatest strength?

Sense of humor, I hope :)

What is your perfect pizza?

For the last 8 years I am on a rawism diet. My pizza is not really a pizza :) However, I am good at making fantastic vegan pizza for my friends. They absolutely love it! (I used to be a vegan before I got into rawism). When people do not know what is in my vegan recipe, they cannot even guess that there is no cheese in it! By the way, my second son started translating my recipes into English. He publishes them in his new blog. There is my pizza recipe there already! ;)

If you could have one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?

Fruit.

Are you still learning who you are?

Yes, I am... Humans are complicated creatures, I am still learning why we are needed by the planet.

What is your favorite breakfast food?

Different fruit, depending on the season.

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TOP 10 Most Weird Jewelry that you can buy

I love browsing trough Etsy in search of cool artistic things that people from all over the world sell there. I myself have a couple of items in my shop that I call "weird"; so what other weird jewelry can be found there? I've found a lot! Here is my personal choice of top 10 most weird jewelry of Etsy. They are still for sale by the artists, so feel free to follow the links under the pictures if there is anything here you wish to get!    

# 1

Beast Buckle 2 by dogzillalives

# 2

e.t.'s rainbow fiesta necklace by elfmadchen

# 3

Steampunk necklace by TheCreativeBlock

# 4

Levitation by venussoberanes

# 5

Denture cuff bracelet by ConcaveOblivion

# 6

Nutty mad ring by hioctanejewelry

# 7

"Dance-berry"necklace by DearPrudenceBERLIN

# 8

Mushroom wooden pendant by MonkEyGstudio

# 9

Furtune Teller necklace by dolldisasterdesign

# 10

Eye Eye by laurajbrannon

See more weird jewelry that you can actually buy on my board at Pinterest

If you would like to share this list you may tweet it or pin the picture below:

Q & A

This flower is in my porch basket. I love it, but I do not know what it is. A friend of mine is asking as she wants it too. If anybody knows, let us know, please!

Friday Gift Guide

Summer is on its way out and starting to miss many flowers... New collection of floral gift ideas by Irina will help to deal with the loss :) 

There are only few samples of what you can fin in our new Gift Guide. Visit it to discover more ideas!

My gems. Enameled "stone" that a friend of mine gave me

When my virtual friend Irina Belinskaya sent me a gift that she made for me (you can read here about it), she also included this enameled piece. This is something very Russian that people buy when they go there as tourists. Russian people themselves also like it and wear filigree jewelry with enamel a lot. 

When I unpackaged my gift, some packaging paper fell out and was picked up by my dog. I am glad Irina mentioned that there was something for me for jewelry making! I started searching and found this:

New jewelry in my online shop

Cute dainty necklace with a natural pearl

Maple leaf pendant necklace

Fluorite flower earrings

Maple leaf donat necklace, sterling silver, 24k, pearls

Copper bracelet with a white bronze maple leaf charm

How to clean your jewelry at home and save money

When we buy jewelry it is all shiny and sparkly. Then time passes by and we realize that it needs cleaning. What should we do? Maybe take it to a jeweler? This is an option. However, there are a few ways that you can try at home, so you do not have to go anywhere and spend your time and money.

Lucky charm bracelet, sterling silver

Make sure you are keeping your jewelry in a jewelry box. The pieces should not touch each other to avoid scratching. Scratches cannot always be removed easily (you might be surprised how much it could cost you, depending on the job!) Keeping jewelry in Ziploc bags is maybe not fancy, but that protects your silver jewelry from tarnishing. (This is how I keep jewelry that I make for sale).

If you have silver without stones or silver with hard stones (agate, jasper, garnet, diamond, ruby, topaz, sapphire, quartz - to name most common), the best way to clean it as follows:

Take a china, a plastic or a glass bowl and line it with a piece of aluminum foil. Put your jewelry in, add some baking soda (not too little) and pour boiling water over it. Leave it there for 30 seconds. Then get rid of water and look at your jewelry. Do it again if needed, then rinse.

I would not do it if my jewelry had pearls, coral, turquoise, amber, glass stones (crystals, rhinestones, etc.)  or other soft or porous stones in it. Instead do it a little bit differently. Mix baking soda and toothpaste 50/50. Apply the mixture onto your piece, avoiding touching the stones and leave it over night. Then use soft toothbrush to clean it and then rinse it. 

Diamonds can be cleaned with ammonia. Just let them soak in 4 parts of water + 1 part of ammonia for 15 minutes. Then use a soft toothbrush if needed.

Gold jewelry can be cleaned with the white vinegar if the stones are hard. Soak it in the white vinegar for 15 minutes, then use a soft toothbrush if needed and then rinse.

Pearls, turquoise, coral and glass stones can be washed with a piece of damp soft cloth and soap. Do not soak them!

There is also a type of jewelry that cannot be cleaned by brushing or soaking at all. I give this ring as a sample. It is inlaid with cold enamel. For jewelry like this you may use only jewelry polishing cloth that you can purchase at a jewelry supply store (it is inexpensive and you will use for a long time for any of your jewelry, gold or silver)

Wide sterling silver ring with a squirrel ornament and black enamel

I hope these simple tips will help you to keep most of your jewelry clean without spending any money!

Monday Jewelry Quote

Australian opalised fossil shell necklace, sterling silver

Home Decoration Ideas

I have not looked outside today yet, but I do not need to do it anymore to know that it is fresh August morning, just like in new Anna's collection. It gave me the exact feeling that I got yesterday when I went out to water my flower baskets... cool morning. Autumn is on its way...

To discover what else the featured shops have, visit the Guide's interactive page.