I’m back! I took an extended break from blogging for the Holidays but I am back and will try to post once each week.

I am still pregnant and we found out that it is a boy! Now we just wait and try to get prepared for May when he will hopefully decide to come without any complications!

Also, our installation at Birdhouse Collectible went in as planned as is still there for all to go and see! Their permanent hours are Wednesday 11-6 and Saturday 11-6 but you can also set up an appointment to see them if those times don’t work for you. Their website is http://birdhouseinteriors.com/collectible/ and all of their information is there.

And just in case you don’t live in Omaha or want to know why you should head downtown, here is the entire collection of our jewelry that is down there. If you have any questions about anything please feel free to contact me either via this website or at leah@leahashley.com.

Pendant: Marquise Apatite with 2 Round Aquamarines set in 18K White Gold with a 14K chain.

Pendant: Round Citrine set in 18K White and Yellow Gold with a 14K chain.

Earrings: 2 Round Diamonds set in 18K White Gold.

Pendant: 1 Round Diamond set in 18K White Gold with 14K chain.

Pendant: 3 large and 4 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver with Sterling Silver chain.

Pendant: 3 large and 8 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver with Sterling Silver chain.

Ring: 1 large and 3 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Ring: 1 large and 2 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Ring: 3 small Paua Shells set in Sterling Silver.

Pendant: Round Pink Tourmalines and Graduated Diamonds set in 18K White Gold with 14K chain.

Ring: Plain Sterling Silver.

Ring: Plain Sterling Silver.

Ring: Oval Cabochon Fire Opal and Diamonds set in Palladium and 14K Yellow Gold.

Ring: Trillion Fire Opal and Diamonds set in 14K Yellow and White Gold.

Ring: Round Yellow Sapphires and Diamonds set in 18K White Gold.

Diamonds are the things to have a lot of, especially in the US, but colored stones are my passion. There are so many of them and they are all so different with different qualities and colors!! Take a look at the pictures of (almost) all of the stones in my personal collection.

You know how I said I get requests for lot of really different things for wedding jewelry? Well here’s another one!

This particular piece is not different because the design is really crazy or anything, it is different because it is not what “traditional” brides want for a wedding band.

When this client came to me, she didn’t have a large budget, and she wanted a modern clean look for her wedding band. She also knew she wanted an aquamarine stone incorporated somehow.

As I usually do for clients that don’t have a lot of money but that I still want to help find the right jewelry for them, I broke out my catalogs of findings that I could buy and put together into the right piece for that person.

I found some wide silver bands that I thought were really neat and wanted to use those as a base and just add a stone on top. Whenever someone says they want something “streamline” I always think “bezel” because there are no prongs to catch on anything with a bezel setting. I found that I could get either a regular faceted Aquamarine or I could get a cabochon which means that the stone has a domed top. Cabochons are still made of natural stones, they just have a totally different look than the diamond cut stones most people are used to seeing.

I sent her a render with both faceted and cabochon stones so she could see the difference and also rendered the piece with the stone facing two different directions.

She decided on the cabochon stone (I was so excited since I don’t get to use cabs very often!) with the stone facing east-west. Here is the stone before being set in the piece:

All of the metal is sterling silver and the band has a brushed finish to give it a different look. I think the piece turned out amazing and I hope she loves it!

I know last weeks post was a pearl piece but I seem to be getting a lot of requests for pearls recently!

This week I have a pearl pendant for you to enjoy with sapphires and aquamarine.

When the client contacted me she had a pretty specific idea of what she wanted. She wanted a simple pendant with a fairly large pearl surrounded by sapphires. She also thought it would be neat to use slightly larger stones at the 4 cardinal points. I put together what I thought would fit with what she had described but to further accentuate the corners, I used nice dark sapphires for the larger stones and lighter aquamarine stones in between.

She loved the lighter stones with the sapphires! She decided to go with 14K white gold for the metal and all natural stones. Once the decision was made, I went ahead and got the casting done.

Once I had collected the pearl and all of the sapphires and aquamarines, I sent those and the casting to my jeweler.

The finished pieces was gorgeous! The light and dark stones really set each other off. I hope she loves it!