Inspire, Precious, Dream, Cherish

Introducing my two latest pieces! I know they aren't really my style, but they both kind of just came to me last night. I didn't even have a design drawn up or anything. I just started putting pieces together and creating. Check them out here. What do you think?

And...good news! I figured out why I couldn't upload the Oregon photos (too large). I made them smaller, so here they are:

See that area I circled? That's where we spontaneously decided to hike to. Pretty ambitious, for three little girls such as ourselves. :)

I snapped a photo of one of the views while we were hiking. It's not so great. I must have been getting tired :-P

And we finally reached our destination! If you think that looks big, you should take a look at the inside!

That is unfortunately all the photos I really have of Oregon. We were so busy having fun that we forgot to document our activities!

Accessories Galore!

These are just a few of the many new pieces I've been working on. Check out my store for everything that I've been adding. For some reason, I've been really inspired to create lately. I think it's the excitement of **hopefully** getting into the Art Institute of Portland and taking their Apparel Accessory Design program. I've been daydreaming A LOT lately of the sort of things I could do with what I learn there. Jewelry is just a small fraction of apparel accessories, and I'm so excited to learn the techniques and processes that go into designing and creating things like handbags, belts, scarves, ties, shoes, etc., etc., etc. I hope hope HOPE I make it in!

Also, I'm not sure if anyone cares or not, but I unfortunately could not upload my Oregon pictures as promised. Maybe they're too big? There weren't too many, anyway. We were so busy running around and having fun that most times, we forgot to take out our cameras and snap some photos. The only ones I have are from our hike to Pittock Mansion. They are beautiful though. I'll try to figure out why my photos aren't uploading so that I can get them on here and share with you the beauty.

I'm Back!

These are my two latest projects. They'll be in my store soon, so be sure to check it out.

I'm back from my vacation! It was so much fun, I really didn't even want to come back home. We walked around the Rose Garden (though there weren't too many roses out yet), hiked to Pittock Mansion, did some fondue, ate out at tons of neat restaurants, did "Happy Hour" almost every night, went to a bowling alley/bar, and shopped 'til we almost dropped at lots of cute little boutiques. I have pictures, but I haven't transferred them to my computer yet. I'll be sure to post them as soon as I do.

We also got to tour the Art Institute of Portland, where I'm considering enrolling in the Apparel Accessory Design program. It's such a tiny little school, but I loved everything about it. They have students' projects hanging on their walls, and it was really interesting looking at the kind of things I'd be doing in that school. I also got to see some students at work in the sewing rooms and draping room, and that was pretty cool! I still have a lot to think about, but I'm slowly leaning more toward moving back to Oregon for a few years to take this program. It's nice being at home, but home will always be here when I'm ready to come back. And taking this program would be such a wonderful experience for me, since this is really what I want to do with my life. So I think I'm going to have to take out my pen and paper (or my Microsoft Word) and list out my pros and cons.

But for now, back to the daily grind of things...

Earrings and Necklaces and Pendants, oh my! ;)

I don't know where I found the time to create two new pieces, but I was so inspired by the upcoming summer's bright and sunny weather and the green nature of Hilo that I got out my "designing hat" and out came these earrings and this necklace! Don't you think these colors are so bright and vibrant?

On to another topic; my trip to Oregon is approaching fast! The friend I'm going to visit wants me to come up with some ideas of things to do while I'm there. I haven't been there for such a long time that I don't even remember what kinds of activities there are to do at the end of May. Any ideas? I'm so excited for this trip! I'm much overdue for a nice vacation and some quality time with great friends.

Have a great weekend!

Busy Bee!

After a long awaited and planned for home "craft show", things are finally starting to settle down. And I can proudly say that I did a lot better than I thought I would. I'm working on a few custom orders and some new pieces, but I haven't gotten as much done as I hoped I would. I'm thinking that I just need a couple days of "rest", then I can get back to normal again.

I have a trip planned to Oregon at the end of this month. Hopefully I'll get some inspiration there. I haven't been to Oregon since I graduated from college almost 3 years ago. I'm also *hoping* to go to Japan with my parents toward the end of this year. That should be tons of fun, and give me lots of new ideas, too!

The pictures show some of the things I've been working on. Find them all at www.erintokuuke.etsy.com