The Perfect Start to Fall!

  This past weekend Matt and I took a little road trip. It all started with a conferenec he was presenting at in West Plains, Missouri. We left Norman on Thursday evening, stopped in Fayetteville for dinner with the brother and his lovely girlfriend then headed to the parents to get a few hours of shut eye before continuing on to the conference. As we were driving into West Plains I spotted a flea market and said I'm gonna go there! So I did... and inside (and outside) I found a lot of lovely items.

Full of GOOD STUFF I tell ya!

My finds... Wooden boxes for Bela Vita displays at shows, ribbon, vintage pyrex for me, the window pane will be incorporated into some kind of display just not sure how yet, and some vintage chain is always good and a must buy!

The awesome ribbon/trim and chains.

  From here I met Matt for his presentation and then sat in on another presentation on Noodling... if you don't know what that is I highly recommend you google it. It is ridiculous and huge in the state of Oklahoma but banned in many other states such as Missouri. After the conference we headed North and East and made our way to the suburbs of St. Louis. 

  A few months ago, before we were even engaged, we were offered tickets to a Cardinals game and we just couldn't turn that down. And I am so glad we didnt! It was a fabulous time with a fabulous group of friends. 

  Matt and I arrived in the city early and got to watch this flag being raised by two fire trucks right outside our hotel. They were preparing for a parade that was about to take place. The UA Pine Bluff band was even playing in it. They are awesome if you don't know that! I was blown a-w-a-y!

Preparing for the parade.

The view from our hotel rooms.

  Shortly after the parade our friends started arriving and then it was baseball time! This day was so great, the weather was just perfect and it was so nice to be around old friends and the Cardinals WON!

Representing Arkansas at the game ;)

  We packed up and headed home on Sunday. It was a long journey, about 7 hours back to Norman. We started off by stopping in Websters Grove, a favorite suburb of ours, for some breakfast. I don't remember the name of the restaurant but the food was so YUM!

Flowers in Websters Grove.

Matt and I got home Sunday night to this happy fella!

  Now we are both working hard to catch up from all the fun we have been having. I have a big show this weekend in Tulsa called Indie Emporium. I highly reccomend you check it out. For all you Northwest Arkansans that arent into Bikes Blues and BBQ, take a road trip to Tulsa for the day.

I'll have a full recap of this weekend when I get home next Sunday. Until then, enjoy this ah-mazin weather!

Things going on...

  I just noticed it has been a month since I wrote a blog. I hate that! I am always thinking of things to blog about it is just being able to devote time to write about them on here. Especially when writing a blog is a hobby and makes no income... whereas jewelry designing does ;)

  I have been rather pre-occupied as of late. I started a part time job a couple of months ago. I am working a few lunch shifts at a local reastaurant, Coriander Cafe. It is Vietnamese and so YUM!

I really love the job, it is very fast paced and the customers are very friendly and pleasant (for the most part). It is located on campus corner (which is like Dickson St. in Fayetteville for my Arkansas friends). I am able to ride my bike to work and the owner is very flexible with me and my schedule which really means a lot to me. It is really hard to find a job when you own a small business and travel often. It is also really hard to support yourself when you are trying to grow your small business. So, all that being said, my new job came at just the right time and I am really enjoying it. If you are ever in the area make sure you stop by the Cafe for lunch (or dinner).

  Other things keeping me busy...

Matt and celebrated our marriage with our family Saturday, Sept. 10th. You can read up on the details of that on our blog.

I spent about 11 days in Harrison, my home town, working on all of the details. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. I am so sad that it is all over... We had such a good time being with our old friends and our lovely families. 

  I am working hard this week so we can leave town on Thursday. Matt is presenting a paper at a conference in Missouri on Friday. Then we are headed to St. Louis on Saturday to watch the Cardinals and the Cubs game. SO EXCITED! I <3 St. Louis!!

  We will drive home on Sunday and then I'll start frantically preparing for Indie Emporium in Tulsa which starts on Sept. 30th. I am double booked for The Plaza Fest and Indie on that Saturday. Matt has offered to run my booth at The Plaza but I am not sure if I'll have him do that or not.
He is actually a great seller of Bella Vita Jewelry!

  After Indie, I might head to Fayetteville for 1st Thursday and a little trunk show for Good Things Boutique's 3rd anniversary. I am kind of holding out to see what the weather does that week.
I have made the drive back to Arkansas so much lately and a weekend at home sounds sooo wonderful. 

On Oct. 15th I will be in Little Rock for Harvestfest, to teach classes and then the 3rd Friday Art Walk the next week in North Little Rock. I am also planning to shoot down to Louisiana for a trunk show at my good pal Leila's boutique. 

  WHEW! Now do you understand why I am crazy?!

My goal this week and next is to restock my consignment stores and to hopefully come up with some beautiful new designs! Thanks to all my loyal customers for your patience. I couldn't imagine executing all this wedding stuff if I worked full time for someone. I am lucky to have a very flexible schedule that has allowed me to take all this time off. Again, thanks!

Pinterest

  I just jumped on the Pinterest boat. I've heard about it for a while but hesitated to become a part of another web based social circuit. 

  My username is bvjewelry. I look forward to following you so share your username in the comments below.

Antiques Roadshow Recap

   Sorry it has taken me so long to report back about the Roadshow experience. 

I picked up a part time job waiting tables and a couple of shifts at the Wild Hare Beadery this week so I have been swamped with "other work."

   The Roadshow was a lot of fun and it was also a lot of waiting, about 2 1/2 hours.

We arrived at 9:30 and stood in one line then got into the area where you talk to the appraisers and had to stand in two separate lines. One for jewelry and one for "military and militia."

   The necklace I took wasn't of much value and the appraiser didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I was hoping they would be able to tell me where it came from or at least what part of the country they thought it came from. He said it might be worth $100 depending on the market I sold it in. 

All that being said, I have decided to take the chain off and make it a beaded necklace to add some "oomph" to the piece. That would make it worth more too... but value doesn't matter because this piece is staying with me in and my jewelry collection ; )

   The whole experience was fun. There were some very interesting people and items at the show. Seeing the set and meeting the appraisers was really cool too. I keep pointing out which ones I met when Matt and I watch the shows that are airing on PBS right now.

After we returned to our hotel I learned that the highest appraisal for Antiques Roadshow was given at the Tulsa show. You can read more about it in the Tulsa World.

   I haven't shared the story of how we got the tickets to the show. Matt, my husband, is supposed to write about it on the blog I started for our wedding. So if you are interested in hearing it you might check our blog later today or this week.
UPDATE: August 10th, Matt finally wrote the story. It is awesome and it is on our personal blog... see links above!

This is me sporting my special piece for a Bella Vita event, you can kind of see it behind my hair. Photo by Abraham Savyong

Guess Where I AM GOING??!!!???!!

 

and I'm taking this...

 

If you (or someone you know) knows anthing about this wonderful necklace feel free to share. 

I thought it might be Native American but am not so sure about that anymore. I feel like it is an "artist" piece. I do know that it is from some people from the West and that they also had some turquoise jewelry... that is all.

I think it is a jasper stone and I am sure it is sterling silver.

I'll be sure to tell you what I find out!

Feathers

While on vacation I ran across some beautiful feathers. I think they are probably from the 70's, judging by the dust on the boxes they were stored in!

All these pieces are designed exclusively for Ultra Studios in Fayetteville, Arkansas and should arrive there next week. If you are interested in a pair contact me or the store. I can also make custom feather jewelry... I have a ton of feathers now!

$100 Bella Vita Gift Certificate Giveaway

  
For the month of July I will be hosting a giveaway on my social media sites (facebook, blog, twitter). The giveaway is for a $100 Bella Vita gift certificate.
 
You can enter the contest several ways:
-become a fan of Bella Vita on Facebook (1 entry)
-after you are a fan, share my page with all your friends. (1 entry) 
-follow Bella Vita on Twitter (1 entry)
-once you become a follower, tweet about Bella Vita. (1 entry)
-follow the Bella Vita Blog (1 entry)
      -comment on blog posts (1 entry per comment)
 
Each time you share, tweet or comment make sure you send an email to: brandy.elizabeth@gmail.com. This is very important so I know to enter your name the appropriate amount of times. I will hold the drawing on July 31st.