Trendy Cinco de Mayo Celebrator!

I met this trendy gal on the bus to the Steeplechase a couple weekends ago. After seeing tons of girls in simple jeans and tank tops all Cinco de Mayo night long, I was so happy to see this girl wearing a funky and unique outfit:


Since the neckline isn't too high, and the outfit isn't, itself, too flashy, I'd love to see this look topped off with a unique necklace to continue the base theme. How about the Ios Necklace? A light green stone won't distract too much from the outfit as far as color goes, while the funky design of the piece will match the outfit well!

Great Shirt for a Great Cause

So, I was out for Cinco de Mayo at La Paz, a restaurant in town, when I saw these 2 girls walking around collecting money for some sort of breast cancer awareness event. When I saw the shirts they were wearing, I knew I just had to post them! Their shirts read, "Great Breasts are worth fighting for":


For these shirts, I recommend (obviously) my breast cancer awareness necklace. No further explanation really necessary, but you should know that I can make some super cute matching earrings and really fun bracelet!

For info on how to support their cause, go to www.The3Day.org In fact, they gave me a little info sheet after I took their picture, and here's what it said:

I'm walking 60 miles over three days to fight breast cancer.

The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a remarkable journey designed to raise funds and awareness for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breat Cancer Fund. I must raise at least $2,200 in order to participate, but I hope to raise much more! I invite you to support me and join the fight against breast cancer.

Register to walk or donate today:

www.The3Day.org
(800) 996-3DAY

To donate, go to www.The3Day.org, select my 3-Day location, and click "donate" to search for my fundraising webpage. Or call (800) 996-3DAY.

Name: Laura LaPaglia
3-Day Location: Boston, MA
Supporter ID: 119016407

I took the liberty of looking up Laura's personal donation site, so you can go directly there by clicking here. As of today, she has raised $645, so help her out, donate a little, and support a good cause! Donations start at a mere $5!

I'm baaaaaaack!

Ok....sorry for the very long and very frustrating delay. I mean, it was only one day that my site was down, but boy did it seem like an eternity! The good news is that I think I've fixed it. I tried to go through all my pages to make sure that everything's working ok, but if any of you kind folks out there see any blatant (or not so blatant) errors, please do let me know at info@dcelestine.com.

Thanks again for your patience. I have a lot of new pictures to upload, so be on the lookout for lots of fun new stuff!

:) Diana

Web Site Down

Unfortunately, my web site will be down for just a bit. I'm not really sure what happened this morning when I was working on it, but apparently some wires were crossed, and now my site is down. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thank you for your patience...I'll let you guys know when it's back up.

Thanks,

Diana

Necklace for Designer Dress

I saw a fun graphic dress on the blog Snob in the City and realized that one of my necklaces would go great with it! The dress features a graphic pattern with pink, white, and black (maybe navy...hard to tell from the photo, but I'm going with black). The "Dressy Doll" necklace is my recommendation for this dress:

"Dressy Doll" features sterling hoops with a large, faceted onyx briolette. Simple, but very fun - certainly a versatile design if you're interested in matching with multiple outfits! Check out the dress on Snob in the City by clicking here.

Adelaide in Action

I caught one of my friends and favorite clients, Ellen, on her morning shift at Barnes and Noble. I love to stop in to say hey to her, not only because of her cheerfulness, but because she almost always has one of my designs on, and I love to see what outfit she's paired with the jewelry. She has great fashion sense and always looks so well put together! On this day, she was sporting the lovely Adelaide earrings:


The Adelaide earrings are made with mother of pearl with a delicate aqua color, which is pulled out well with Ellen's fun turquoise top. The earrings also feature Swarovski crystals in pacific opal and black agate (reclaimed). No suggestion necessary here - outfit & jewelry combo happily approved!

Little Black Dress

I first noticed this young lady's T-strap, round-toe heels. She also had on a cute little black dress, which made me think she was surely about to go on a hot date. However, she had actually just left work! Nice to have a job that lets you dress fab!


Usually, on halter tops, I like to skip the necklace and just do a catchy pair of earrings...maybe chandeliers. In fact, I have a cute pair of chandeliers that would look great. Check out Ebis in black (see photo to right). A fun drop necklace would also look good, and even though I recommended black earrings, don't be afraid to experiment with color!

Padparadscha Pretty

I wanted to post the outfit I had on yesterday, because I thought it was very cute and comfortable.

The cropped pants are by Banana Republic, The top and belt are by The Limited, and I just wore Rainbows to top the outfit off. I'm sure it would have looked better with my gold wedges, but I didn't feel like wearing them yesterday. Anywho, for this outfit, I suggest the Valencia earrings:

The top I'm wearing above is very detailed with many fine stripes in orange, green, and even gold! I chose earrings that would compliment the top without distracting too much. The earrings feature simple Swarovski crystal drops in padparadscha (yes, that's the color) which match the orange tone of the top perfectly!

Casual Done Right

Now, this is casual done right! I spotted this cute girl leaving Gap today, and wouldn't you know it, I had just posted my nautical jewelry, Ships Ahoy (see post below)! I liked how the outfit was casual, but still well put together. She has a cute navy and white polka dot top with jeans and a simple white hoodie. What impressed me the most about her outfit was the fact that she actually cut her jeans herself - they're so inline with the popular cropped pants look!

For this outfit, I recommend the jewelry from the post below, especially my latest "Ships Ahoy." I think those little anchor earrings are absolutely adorable and would work well with this cute outfit.

Ships Ahoy (in case you don't feel like scrolling down)

Ships Ahoy! Fun Earrings for Summer!

So, I've been meaning to do some nautical themed jewelry, but other stuff keeps getting in my way - so much work to do and so little time! I made some really cute earrings last night, though, using some fun sterling anchor. As soon as I saw these charms, I knew I had to have them and make something cool out of them.

Ships Ahoy Earrings
Aren't they cute? I love how comfortable all the nautical clothing is now too - the soft cottons and loose cuts! I love this top by Faconnable:

Get Nautical!
I have some other designs that would go great with the nautical thing, but they belong to some of my upcoming collections, so I can't share them quiiiite yet. Sorry, you'll just have to wait. In the meantime, however, here are a few other designs that would look great with your latest nautical outfit:

Sasha Necklace	Voice Earrings
Shelly Earrings

Check out this outfit on The Fashion Musings of Brittany Ancell (click here) - this outfit would go great with these earrings!

Happy nautical shopping!

:) Diana

FGBG Magazine

Check out one of the newest teen magazines - FGBG (For Girls by Girls) - an online magazine where real girls like you or your children "can promote your talents, share your stories, become our fashion models, writers, volunteer staff and so much more!" One of my favorite parts of this magazine is the section where girls share their personal stories - check out the "Your Friends" page and scroll to the bottom to read real girls' real life stories. I've read through a couple already and have been really touched by some of the hard times these girls have been through and how they've overcome their problems - very inspirational!

Check out FGBG magazine today. They have a ton of interesting articles, stories, and tips from real girls! http://www.fgbgmagazine.com

Ciao!
Diana

Sasha Bracelet - so versatile!

So, I wanted to do something a little more simple and in all sterling, so as to create a very versatile piece for anyone's jewel box. I carefully chose three types of chain that caught my eye - each a different size and style - and put them all together for this bad boy.....

Sasha Bracelet
The beauty of this design is both in the eye-catching sterling chains themselves, and in the unusual combination of them all. Of course, there's a matching necklace and earrings, which you can see on the "Jewelry Sets" page.

Pretty in Purple (for Cezi)

This one's for Cezi.... :-)

I got a request for some detailed photos of my jewelry, and while reviewing my blog, I realized that I haven't posted any pictures or information about my jewelry in quite some time. I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to my blog readers, because in the midst of trying to expand the content of my blog and include information about other things I thought you'd all find interesting, I seem to have forgotten the original purpose of my blogging - to write about my jewelry....doh!

So, here's one of my latest designs, which I call "Pretty in Purple."



This bright and cheerful design is made with jade (radiated), freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and sterling silver components. The beads were hand-wirewrapped onto sterling silver chain, and this design is available on my web site, as well as, at Maddi's Gallery in Charlotte, NC. I'd love to see someone where this necklace with a light purple or white dress or top to contrast the deep purple in the larger stones. The purple of the jade is a vibrant purple - so pretty in person! This necklace is best worn with a low, v-neck top or a high, round-neck top - wear over skin with the v-neck and over the shirt with the round. The bottom 2 of the 4 pictures above are of my newest concept - the "cluster." A cluster is made of one or more beads that are wire-wrapped onto a spring clasp, which can be attached to a simple sterling bracelet. The cluster gives you more versatility because you can wear any cluster on the same bracelet or just wear the sterling bracelet alone. Detailed pictures are available for each design on my web site - just click their pictures, but for those who don't feel like clicking through right now, here's a more detailed photo of the earrings:

Happy summer shopping!

:-) Diana

...And Things Were Going So Well

Well, after several posts of awesome news...I have some bad news. I applied for a craft show in Atlanta, GA called the Indie Craft Experience, but I just got word today that I didn't get in....sad face. *sniffle*

It's all good though...I will keep applying to craft shows and one of them will recognize my talent! (This is optimistic Diana writing now...hehe) Guess I need to work on my photography skills and descriptions of my products and business.

Anyways....quotes always make me feel better, so here's one that I think is fitting of the news today:

"That's what learning is, after all: not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it, and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning."
- Richard Bach

So, to all you guys out there who are working towards fulfilling your dreams....remember to make the best out of your down times. In every experience, even the bad ones, you grow as a person and learn something new. Keep fighting and keep dreaming!

:-) Diana

DCL Jewelry now at Boutique Jonquille

DCL is moving north! I've been doing tons of research, looking for hip, new boutiques to carry my latest jewelry designs. Recently, a new boutique has decided to start selling my jewelry...yay! I sent several designs to Boutique Jonquille, located in New York, NY this weekend. Their web site says, "Boutique Jonquille started out of a passion to bring tasteful and elegant accessories to women in an industry crowded with mass produced and ordinary."


Inside shot of the boutique - cute, huh?

A couple designs the boutique requested are one-offs, so those will now only be available via their web site or their brick and mortar store...unless I can get some more beads to remake them, but many of my beads/components are limited edition or one-of-a-kind. For designs that are marked "sold" on the web site, check the description area to see if a boutique has the item for purchase (if no boutique carries the item you desire, please contact me about designing something similar - I love doing custom work). Here are a couple designs that Boutique Jonquille will be carrying:

Aquatic Aquamarine	Limu Moui
Hanalei	Dreamcatcher

Live in NY? Boutique Jonquille will be selling some of my designs at art & craft shows (see their web site for details). Or, just stop by their boutique:


Outside shot of the boutique

Check out my "Stores" page on my web site for details!

:-) Diana

Quote - Dreams

I found an awesome quote when I was at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago (I should have posted it sooner...sorry!). It was on one of those mini-notebooks in one of those little "impulse buy stands" near the registers. Anywho, here's the quote:

"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream"
~James Allen

This is so true for so many people. I'm sure a lot of your best ideas started out as mere dreams. Maybe these ideas were dreams for a short time...maybe longer...maybe they still are. At some point, you decide to see where you can go with your dream! Hey, if you have a dream that's close to your heart today, you should go for it! Maybe start out with small steps and ease your way to success! ;-)


Inside shot of Maddi's Gallery at Birkdale Village

One of my dreams is to be a famous jewelry designer...now that my designs are at Maddi's Gallery, I am (hopefully) taking a step in the right direction!

Diana

DCL Jewelry Designs now at Maddi's Gallery

Guess what? DCL jewelry designs are now available at Maddi's Gallery in Charlotte & Huntersville, NC. I dropped off several designs last week, and they're already on display and going fast! They even put my "Pretty in Purple" necklace/earring set in the main window display!


One of my necklaces is in the front window!

The purple cascade necklace is my design (sort of middle leftish)

Since Maddi's Gallery has 2 locations, Birkdale Village and Dilworth, my jewelry is available at both locations. They were pretty full on jewelry when I first approached them with my designs, so they were only able to take about 20 designs. However, I have high hopes that some more space will clear up so I can bring more designs to the store!


Some of my jewelry on display!

In addition to having an awesome selection of jewelry, Maddi's Gallery also offers a superb collection of fun items, such as purses, scarves, picture frames, metal work, fancy glass vases, and much more! You can get all their contact information from the new "Stores" section of my web site. Look for the link "stores" in the upper right links section of my web site, or click here to go directly to the page.


The front of the Birkdale Village store

Stop by today and let them know that you're a D Celestine Limited jewelry fan!

Thanks!

Diana

Megan's Wedding

I had the pleasure of not only being a bridesmaid in the wedding of my good friend, Megan Dowdy (now Mueller), but of also getting to design the wedding jewelry. I made the earrings for the bridesmaids and the earrings for the bride herself! Click on any 3 of the pictures below to learn more about Megan's wedding on my web site and access larger photos...

Megan and her Bridesmaids
Megan sent me a photo of the bridesmaid dress she picked out. I could tell from the photo that I wanted to incorporate white and turquoise/aqua colors into the earring design. Megan told me that the wedding would be at the beach, so I wanted to keep the overall design simple to stay in line with the semi-casual theme of the wedding. I decided to make stiletto or simple drop earrings with Swarovski crystal teardrop pearls in white and SC bicones in aquamarine. The bridesmaids got their earrings at the bridal luncheon, and they were a big hit!

Closer Photo of the Bridesmaids
Megan asked me to design her bridal earrings to match her grandmother's lavaliere, which she was given to wear on her wedding day. I noticed that the lavaliere had pearls and either crystals or diamonds, so I decided to do earrings with the same basic design as the one for the bridesmaid earrings, but with a little something extra. I added a "rondelle" to the design, in between the SC teardrop pearl and the bicone to add some extra bling. A "rondelle" is a disk/circular shaped bead with small crystals going around the edge of the bead - I like to use them to dress up my bridal designs!

The Beautiful Bride
Check out my the newest section of my web site for all my wedding designs. Okay, okay....right now, I only have Megan's wedding page up, but I'll be adding a couple more soon! Click here to go to the wedding page on DCL.

:-) Diana

All About Treating Yourself!

Do you Squidoo?

There's a new web site out there called Squidoo, where a person can create a "lens," which is like a mini-site, about a subject that they're passionate about. Well, surprise, surprise....I created a lens about "Treating Yourself and Those You Care About." You can check it out here: http://www.squidoo.com/treatyourself.

If you'll notice, I even added a handy dandy little list you can use to make up excuses to treat yourself! If you happen to come up with or know of any ways to treat yourself that aren't on the list, then shoot me an email, and I'll try to add your reason to the list.

I'll also be adding fun links with other great products to this page, so check back often for updates! And remember to treat yourself with one of DCL's latest designs!

Check out my cute new banner about treating yourself...I'm hoping to get this banner shown on a few fun web sites:

Cheers!

Diana

IndieFinds.com Member!

Hellllllooooooo!



I joined IndieFinds.com yesterday! Indie Finds is a group of independent artists & designers who team up to support each other against the bigger companies out there. Members are allowed to feature one design and can also particpate in some of the advertising opportunities they provide. I can't wait to get more involved! I'll let you know when I get one of my designs on the site, so you can check it out!

Cheers!

Diana

Check me out on CraftRevolution!

Hey all!



Check me out on CraftRevolution.com! Not only am I in the IndieFriendly directory...I'm, also, in the CR Blogs! Click here to see my post! (This should take you to all the April posts, so you may have to scroll down a bit if anyone else has posted something newer than mine.)

Cheers,

Diana

Hoop de Loop is here!

Hey guys!

I'm finally ready to debut my latest collection - Hoop de Loop. The new Hoop de Loop collection features fun, hoop-shaped beads and sterling components paired with my latest find in gemstones, pearls, and spring-toned Swarovski crystals. These fun designs are light and flirty - perfect for spring and summer. You gotta check out the Ios Earrings – these are definitely an eye-catching design sure to bring you plenty of compliments! Pictured below is the "Dreamcatcher in Aqua." A hand-wire-wrapped pendant with a medley of blue peruvian opal, freshwater pearls, and Swarovski crystals. Each of the dreamcatchers are one-of-a-kind - due to the random pattern in the wire-wrapped and selection of beads - so fun!


Dreamcather in Aqua

Need a present for Mother’s Day? All DCL purchases come with free gift wrapping and free shipping in the US (USPS First Class). Get your mom a sweet treat for Mother’s Day from DCL – choose a fun and funky design from the latest Hoop de Loop collection. Are you a mom? If so, send a hint to someone using the “Send page to a friend” feature at the bottom of every “Design Detail” web page.

D Celestine Limited – a new way to treat yourself (or someone you care about)!

:-) Diana

Vote For Me, Pretty Please!

Hey guys!

I have a chance to be voted as the Readers' Choice on StyleBakery.com. All I need is a bit of your help. Just click on the banner in this post, or in the link bar to the right, and vote for my web site (you can vote until June 1st, 2006). As a bonus for voting, you get entered into a contect to win a shopping spree with a hot online boutique - GirlShop.com. I really appreciate all your support and any votes you send my way. Thanks for choosing me as your jewelry designer!



:-) Diana

IndieShopping.com - Spring Guide!

Hello All!



D Celestine is proud to be featured in the IndieShopping.com Spring Gift Guide. Check out the "Fresh Fashion" section for a sweet deal you can use through June 30th, 2006. This is a great way to get a special treat for your mom and a discount....heck, with the discount, you may have some extra spending money to get a little somethin' for yourself! If you're a mom, take advantage of the DCL web site and send a hint to your SO by using the "Send page to a friend" link on every "Design Detail" web page. Check it out today!


Ios Earrings - Featured in the Spring Gift Guide

Happy Shopping!

:-) Diana

New Shopping Cart

Hiyas!

Just wanted to send out a quick note to let everyone know that I've set up a new shopping cart for DCL online. You can still make payments with Paypal at the checkout section, but this cart has a lot more functionality that the paypal cart just didn't have. I hope you like it! Please feel free to email me or comment the blog to let me know how the new cart works out!







Thanks!

:-) Diana