One minute you are living one life and the next, a new chapter of life has begun.

I found Heart and Stone at a time when I was looking to grow my heart, throw out some stones and make some changes my life. While searching for unique forms of employment, I came across the beautiful jewelry and sent an email to Julie… I think it went a little like this… “I am writing to you in hopes that at this very moment you are looking for an apprentice…?” Turns out she was….literally, at that moment, writing a job posting. I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to work within my craft of metalsmithing and use the degree from UMASS Dartmouth I had worked so hard for.

Since my cosmic start at Heart and Stone Jewelry in June I have been part of unbelievable opportunities and experiences. For starters some of the Heart and Stone family took a cross country trip to the west coast! While I am do not consider myself the screaming celeb fan, I have to admit that being amongst the stars was quite a bit dreamy. The photo above, with teen star Ashley Argota,  is from an Emmy gifting event that was held at the Sportsman’s Lodge in Studio City, California. It was almost as if we were in a time warp. The autographed portraits of performers like Clark Gabel, Humphery Bogart, Betty Davis and John Wayne, in black and white, hung in the hotel lobby. Almost surreal that they walked down the same halls as me. I had an amazing time! I even saw a dinosaur sized leaf! I was very happy about this… :)

After the gift event I was able to spend a few hours mingling around the area…. and look who I bumped into! Mr. Mark Margolis, of the popular show Breaking Bad. He and I had bumped into one another a few times and got talking so I was more than excited to pose for a photo. Guess I am not as above the whole celebrity thing as I thought! I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. As his autograph card states he is …not just another pretty face. So true.

Now to the highlights…

We met about 30 celebrities through out the day. It was kind of like a garden party. just with security. And many of the celebs where friends which made it more fun.

Me touching Joe Mantegna! I have been a fan of his ever since I saw him in the cult classic “House of Games.” He chose a Yin Yang charm from our Men’s Collection.

One of the highlights for me was meeting Jeff Nordling of Desperate Housewives. Ladies, all I can say is TV does not do this man justice. He is handsome with a capitol ‘H”. He was so nice and his daughter was so sweet. He chose the Om Charm from our men’s collection. As they were leaving we couldn’t help but give his daughter the white topaz flower birthstone charm she was eying but was way too polite to ask for. She was elated and it looked so precious on her. I wish I had a photo. Darn.

With Eriq La Salle. We was cool and intense in person, kind of like he seems on TV. He is wearing our Feel The Love Necklace and he wears it well.

It was great to meet Kym Whitley. She was excited about the jewelry. She quickly honed in on the Love, Hope, Faith Necklace from our “Giving is Good” Collection. She also told us about her new show Animal Practice which would be premiering the following week. It made it so much fun to sit down and watch the premiere with my kids. My daughter Ada, 7, was most impressed that I had actually met people on TV!

Breaking Bad’s, Christopher Cousins and his lovely wife Lori, they were so cool and hung out for a while.

Lori really loved our new affirmation necklaces! It looks great on her. I am loving the look of a couple of charms on a long chain.

This is the necklace Lori choose. It’s inspirational message to the wearer – “I Dwell in Possibilities” – a line from an Emily Dickinson Poem. It it hangs with emeralds. It is definitely one of my favorites.

If these were superlatives, Big Time Rush’s Stephen Kramer Glickman would get Most Fun. Another taker for the Feel the Love necklace!

Stephen and his girl seemed to be having a great time. How cute are they?

I had such a great time with Yvette Nicole Brown. I don’t watch a ton of TV these days but I do like Community!

I loved chatting with Yvette. She asked a ton of questions and really had a hard time choosing! She loved the Love, Hope, Faith Necklace but once I showed her the new affirmation necklaces that was it:)

She choose a two charm necklace.  An angel wing and little tag that reads “A life lived in fear, is a life half lived.” I’m not sure where it came from originally but I first heard in one of my all time favorite  movies, ever, “Strictly Ballroom”. If you have not seen in it, I highly recommend it! It’s kind of quirky and campy but also very inspirational. When you need of a little lift to your spirits it’s a good one to watch.

One of the great thing about personalization is it was something we could offer everyone. And that we did. And we had quite a few takers which was so fun because we got to design something just for them. One of my favorites of the day was Gage Golightly. She was just as nice as could be and both Nicole and I had a great time chatting with her.

We tried on a several different things to see what she liked. With a name like Gage Golightly a G charm was definitely in order!

So we went back to the shop and kind of had free reign to make what we wanted. And here it is!  I love the G of our handwriting font on a mini tag. We added a little diamond. So pretty! I’d like to put a diamond in everything! We added her sapphire birthstone drop. Then an affirmation tag that says “I dwell in possibility” and an angel wing.

I love it and Gage did too. She sent us the nicest email:) More to come!

Truthfully, the day was a bit of a blur. It was non stop meeting and chatting with the celebs.  Some of whom we recognized right off the bat and others not so much. But, everyone was incredibly nice and super easy to talk to and they did not seem at all offended if you asked them what shows they’re on. After all, it’s not like I would know that Gage Go Lightly is really the notorious Teen Wolf, Erica Reyes. But now I do.

Oh, and it was HOT! Really hot. And my boots were high. Really high. Well, for me anyway. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Here is a cute shot of Nicole setting up that morning. She is was a trooper through out the whole very long weekend.

The amazing Nicole Malinosky!

What you don’t know is everyone else is already completely set up and we only have about 30 minutes to go. I had to go back to the room and change and when I got back….

Viola!

Next up, what you’ve been waiting for…..

So, it was few days before the Emmy’s and I still wasn’t 100% sure what I was bringing for “ready to wear” charm necklaces. My work tends to mostly be personalized and we wanted something the celebs would fall in love with on the spot. Plus, I was itching to do something  new.

I decided to resurrect an old project. Something I’ve wanted to do since pretty much the inception of Heart and Stone – I wanted to be able to inscribe in really tiny handwriting. So you can put a short message on a little tiny tag. More than just a word or two. I’ve tried may different techniques and I’ve been working towards it over time but getting it really small and have it still be legible was a huge challenge. I was close but no cigar. I hadn’t focused on it in a while. It was time to try again.

Well, I am pleased to say “Mission Accomplished”.

“I dwell in Possibility” from an Emily Dickinson poem. Hanging with Emeralds.

A few months back I got a call. It was Nancee Borgnine, she explained that she and her father, “the” Ernest Borgnine host celebrity gifting events prior to all the big awards, Emmy’s, Oscars, Golden Globes etc. She told me she found my Men’s Collection is LA magazine and she wanted us to come to her Emmy gifting event.

No. That was my first thought. All the reasons running through my head of why I should not do it. And without going into all the tedious details let’s just say…

1) my family – it was gonna be a minimum 4 day trip – Leaving hubby, 2 kids and 3 dogs that kind of count on me for a whole bunch of things. not gonna be easy.

2) The logistics of getting out there and bringing a person or two with me. I didn’t think I could pull it off alone. (boy was I right. the number of people that helped make this trip happen is pretty long – more on that in another post.)

3) Cha-ching! This was gonna cost me. You have to be prepared to gift a lot of people plus all the travel and display costs.

4) fear – not exactly sure of what but it was definitely fear.

I have to thank Nancee for convincing me otherwise. After I said a polite “it’s not for me” we got to talking further. I felt like I was talking to someone I’d known forever. She has a really fun way about her. We discussed my collection of pieces that raise funds for various causes. Each one has it’s own unique story and the collection developed naturally.

Here it is…

This is a postcard we created for the Event to show the collection as a whole.

So, after a few calls back and forth, and lots of mulling it over on my part. I decided if nothing else it would  be great or at least an interesting experience. You only live once, what the heck! I’m in:)