La Petite Pearls

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Design of the Week #7

A little late this week so to be fair, free shipping will go through Monday! As many of you know, I live in Chicago, where (its rumored) the worst winter in recorded history is still gracing us with its presence even as we move into March! One of the lesser known side effects to this constant snow and ice, is potholes. My husband and I finally managed to hit one of those incredibly large ones on our way home last night and flattened our tire, so instead of posting design of the week, I was standing on the side of the road trying to figure out what we were going to do about getting a new tire! Ugh!

Back to the good stuff! This week I've chosen one of my favorite pairs of earrings, the Girls at the Piano in Pink and Blue.

I love these because of the way the soft pink rice pearls and the royal blue crystals go together. It's one of my favorite color combinations so far, and places in a simple design lets the beauty of the pearls really shine!

Remember if you would like the matching bracelet or necklace, shoot me a message and I'll make sure you gt free shipping on the entire order! See the whole set below as modeled by my good friend Caitlin!

Help me choose design of the week for next week! If you've had your eye on something, or have a favorite design, shoot me a message about it and I may choose it next week and you could have it shipped for free!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Design of the Week #6

"La Japonaise"

Design of the Week is back! Starting now and going through Sunday, my "La Japonaise" Necklace has free shipping on Etsy! This design was inspired by a design of mine that I did while working at the pearl shop last year, when I struck out on my own I found myself with a number of these peanut shaped pearls, the same shape I had used before. I love the way the white and red look together! So I created a variation of the design and named it after Claude Monet's painting of a woman in a gorgeous Japanese red dress!

Monet's "La Japonaise"

Remember to message me either on Facebook or Etsy if you would like matching earrings or bracelet, I want to be sure you get free shipping on those as well! Also, you will receive a packet of the cleaner I use to clean all my jewelry free with your purchase!

Check it out here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/171652843/white-and-red-pearl-necklace

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Now Free with Each Order!

I want to reiterate something I mentioned at the very end of my last post about a new thing that will be included with each purchase for here on out! I've talked some about how it can be very frustrating to have silver and pearl jewelry, if the silver tarnishes, you have to be very careful about how you clean it so the pearls are not damaged. I learned while I was working at the pearl shop in Chicago that non-bleach Tide will do the trick. So last time I was at the store I picked up a box, because I was bad and left some of my own jewelry out for far too long and the silver began to look a little iffy. With a bowl of hot water and a spoonful of the detergent, with the help of a q-tip, I was able to clean the silver and the pearls still look fabulous! So, from now on, I will include a small packet of the detergent with each order, so you don't have to purchase a huge box of the stuff to clean just a few pieces of jewelry like I did! If you do want to go get your own, any kind of non-bleach Tide will work, although I got the 'Free and Gentle' kind, it might not be as 'free and gentle' as it says but at least it makes me feel better about myself!

Monday, January 27, 2014

The Hiatus is Over!

Sorry about that unannounced hiatus! I'm back and ready to go! Just in time for La Petite Pearls' first birthday! I started this little business in my living room one year ago Saturday, February 1, 2013. I had just left a job where I constructed pearl jewelry for a shop in Chicago. I was a little sad to be going, as I wanted to continue making jewelry, but a little research told me that I could get my own raw pearls for a fraction of what I thought they would cost. With some Christmas money I bought all the tools, supplies, and a few strands of pearls that I needed to get started. In my living room, in my tiny apartment in Wrigleyville, I became an entrepreneur. Something I never though I would be, and to be honest, I didn't really ever want to own my own business, but here I am, doing it and loving it!

This is me, after receiving a rather large package of pearls purchased on ebay, the vast majority of the designs I have, are made with these pearls!

I'd like to say I've come a long way from this manic looking girl, but I don't really think I have, I still get this excited! I no longer run La Petite Pearls in my tiny living room in Wrigleyville, I now run it in my slightly larger but still very small living room in Andersonville! I've had the immense pleasure of doing 2 weddings, as seen here:

I absolutely loved going to the Kentucky Music Weekend, my home state!

To celebrate La Petite Pearls' very first birthday I'm offering some pretty sweet coupons for you, any purchase up to $75 is $5 off and anything over $75 is $10 off, on Etsy, using these coupons: BDAY5OFF, and BDAY10OFF. This special sale will only last until Saturday at midnight!
And here's the link to the store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaPetitePearlsandArt?ref=si_shop

To avoid making 2 posts in one day, remember my post a while ago about cleaning silver and pearl jewelry? I am now going to include a small packet of cleaner with every purchase, so you don't have to worry about the silver tarnishing, this stuff will do the trick!

Keep an eye out, more is yet to come!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Design of the Week #5

Happy New Year! Here in Chicago we have celebrated the new year by desperately trying to dig our way out of about a foot of snow! Thankfully I had enough Christmas money to purchase myself a new pair of snow boots to replace my pair that are really not made for this weather, as well as a new pair of thick wool socks! Just in time for the deepest snow I can remember! So this week I am writing from the comport of my (also new) electric blanket!

The first design of the week of 2014 will also be the first pair of earrings to be featured! My double drop rice pearl earrings!

These earrings have an 8mm and 2mm white rice pearl on a sterling silver leverback earring. I designed them to match any number of my designs, especially the Water Lilies designs that use the same pearls. They are a simple and elegant earring that will pretty well go with any white pearls you may have. To be honest I'm not sure there's much else to say about them, I think they speak for themselves!

Follow the link below to check out these earrings on Etsy, and remember order these on Etsy anytime Saturday or Sunday and get free shipping! If you'd like to order these as well as any other jewelry in my store, please message me to be sure you get the free shipping on your entire order, I'm not sure how Etsy will work out the shipping so I ask that you message me so I can be sure it works properly!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/169806428/white-rice-pearl-earrings?ref=shop_home_active

Stay warm everyone!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Woes of Silver and Pearl

I recently came across a thread somewhere in the black hole that is the internet where people were saying that they never ever get pearl jewelry with silver metal with it, because of how hard it is to clean the tarnishing silver without damaging the pearls. I was slightly taken aback, as the majority of my jewelry is made with some form of silver.

I use silver filled wire in all my designs, some designs use more than others but its needed in all of them. Even in my strung necklaces and bracelets, the pearl or crystal at the end of the extender chain is held on by wire. I have many designs made with sterling silver chain. Like these:

I do make a lot of designs with stainless steel chain instead of silver, like these:

The stainless steel chain is good for several reasons. For one, it's strong and low maintenance, it won't ever turn or tarnish, it's less expensive than silver or gold, by a lot, and it gives the jewelry a little edge! But, you can't wire wrap jewelry with stainless steel, the wire would be so strong that it wouldn't be workable. Pure silver wire is great, but its expensive and not as strong. That's why I use silver filled wire, the copper center give the wire added strength, but unlike silver plated wire, the silver coating is so thick that by the time it wore down to the copper center the wire would be so thin it would break. Plus filled wire is a lot less expensive and that helps keep prices down!

The truth is, you can clean silver without harming pearls! I read somewhere that baking soda would do it, I don't know about that, but I do know that non-bleach tide will do the trick! I used it a ton when I worked in a jewelry store. All it takes is some hot water and about a tablespoon of the tide, let the jewelry soak for a minute and its clean! If you keep the jewelry in a little plastic bag when you're not wearing it, the silver won't tarnish nearly as fast. It's really easy, you don't need to go buy special bags or expensive cleaners!

I do apologize if this post sounds 'salespersony' but I want to give you all more information about the materials I use and why I use them. That's it for today, pop back over on Thursday for this weeks 'Design of the Week'!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Last Day for Free Shipping!

Today is the last day to get free shipping on a few of my bracelets! You can find them all on my Etsy shop, follow any of the links below to enter the shop, these links are to the items that I'm offering the free shipping on. They all have matching earrings and necklaces, if you'd like one of those, please message me via etsy and I will make sure you get free shipping on those as well! If you don't see a matching pair of earrings or necklace that you'd like, again message me and I'll get one made asap just for you!

Peacock Pearls with Pink Crystals:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/172427888/peacock-pearl-and-pink-crystal-bracelet?ref=shop_home_active