Talismans

One of the things I love about adornment is how one piece of jewelry can become your favorite. You love it because of who gave it to you, the occasion, or how it makes you feel when you wear it. Select pieces can even serve as talismans in your life, something that makes you feel more powerful when you have it on.

This story about Madeline Albright was a cool example that I came across recently about how the power inherent in jewelry. Albright explains how she uses her pin collection as tools of diplomacy. One of my favorites out of her collection is this bee pin. She would wear it at her meetings when she wanted to wanted to "do a little stinging and deliver a tough message."

I have an ongoing fascination with the lotus flower. In it's lifespan it starts at the bottom of the pond, in the mud and muck, and then later in it's life blossoms into it's full beauty. It is such a inspiring symbol of triumph over adversity.

So I am doing a little giveaway through November 16th. When you place your order you get your choice of a free sterling lotus or heart disc. (Just tell me which one you want in the special instructions box at checkout.)

Maybe you'll put your lotus on when you are having a hard day. Or you'll add your heart onto the necklace you already have because you want to create more compassion in your life.

They are subtle and small. Kind of a secret symbol just for you.


And that's the beauty of talismans.
You get to create your own meaning around them.
What will it mean for you?

Snowy Sunday

It's a snowy Sunday in my backyard today.
Feels a little early since the leaves are still changing.


A nice day for:
yoga class (I'm such a novice!)
baking this plum crumble from Orangette
giving baby Elias a bath in the sink
watching Lino do a "hip hop dance show" in the kitchen
getting ready for a week of Halloween festivities

Look for some holiday Hot Mama specials soon.
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Sign up to see the pretty things we are making in the studio!

More Transition

Here are a few more photos of the studio that I promised a while back.

The truth is the studio is so small that I can barely crouch myself back far enough in the corner to get a decent shot. I need to get some of my photographer friends over here to help me.

Lately I'm convinced that if I feel like I have it all figured out, then that is just a bunch of malarkey. Life's going to change probably just when I start feeling like I have a handle on things, so I might as just well go with the flow.

I don't have to know what I am doing all the time. And the studio is the prime example of this. We're constantly moving stuff around, re-organizing, needing new shelves to be built, cussing at the things that still need to be moved from downstairs, bumping into each other, etc.

So I am taking time to also focus on small pieces of beauty, like sparkly stones ready to be made into something alluring.

Finished orders, ready to be shipped.


My trusty old vintage stamps.

Chaos will always be around.

But so is contentment. So is inspiration. Which will you focus on today?

Oh! I almost forgot. Thank you to everyone for entering the giveaway. The winners who are both coincidentally named Tara: Tarrabyte@yahoo.com and taracolleen@live.com. Please notify me via email your choices and we will ship your jewelry right away to you.

Finally Friday

This week kicked my butt.

Both boys have had the flu, and I mean all week.

My new little studio is all ready, but I've barely been in it!

So I had to pull out some photos that make me very happy.

Just for a short little escape while the baby is sleeping.

They're from a shoot with my friend and brilliant photographer Julie Afflerbaugh.

It's Lino, my nieces and my sis-in-law Brandi from a year ago last summer.

My brother tells me his girls are down with the flu too.

So I am sending loving thoughts their way in the form of these photos.



I love this one of Ava.
She looks so much like my mom here.

We never did get a good one with all of us.
But these shots still crack me up.



This is one of my favorites.
I am pregnant here, but still had not realized it.



Ahh. That was a nice diversion.
I really hope everyone, including me, feels better tomorrow.

Opal Necklace Giveaway

October's birthstone has always been a favorite of mine. My parents gave me opal jewelry to wear when I was a little girl. I remember feeling then that there is something intriguing and mysterious about opals, and I still feel the same way now.

The stones I use for the Hot Mama Jewelry birthstones are very feminine and dainty. But the opals are so fiery they still manage to jump out at you with their green/orange hues that glow through the iridescent white.

So we're celebrating fall and the move into the new studio space for Hot Mama Designs this month by giving away two one-disc necklaces with attached opals as pictured above. Of course you get to choose from our options what disc size, lettering size and word/name/initial you want us to stamp on the sterling to personalize it just for you or a loved one.

To win, post a comment here telling me how you are celebrating fall, and/or why you would love to win. I'll choose two winners at random by mid-October and notify you via email, so be sure to leave your email in your post so I can get in touch with you.

A New Season

We've got a new Friday night routine and it has been so fun.
Soccer for five year olds is pretty hilarious.
Here is Lino with two of his favorite buddies Quincy and Desmond.


I was born and raised in Oklahoma, with flat farm-like landscapes.
Farms and waving wheat have their own beauty,
but the mountains still wow me in contrast.
This soccer field where we play every week is literally
a five minute walk from our house
and the views never cease to astound me.

Here are all my boys (Elias all wrapped up on Papa's chest)
on the way home.

Yeah, this is a great way to end the week.

I Dwell In Possibility

Sahra and I went to the gem show in Denver this weekend with Elias in my carrier, asleep on my chest. I get so excited at these shows I feel like I might just explode.
It's like an impatient yearning when I first arrive. I see all these sumptuous gems and I want to design a million new pieces. NOW.

Later I calmed down a bit and the poem by Emily Dickinson crossed my mind. Do you know it? It's the one that starts with "I dwell in possibility."

I love this concept: to dwell in possibility. For me it means giving myself permission to have new inspirations. To affirm that there will be new designs, and the time to make them.

Lately time in the studio has felt scarce. And when I am there it has been feeling a little too "nose to the grindstone," (ah what a horrible saying). So I was thankful to think of Ms. Dickinson, buy a bunch of inspiring gems, and know that fall will bring some new revelations.