soZealous for Vi Bella Giveaway!!

Happy Giveaway Day!! I know I've been hyping this up all week, but I'm pretty excited about it! As I mentioned before, the lovely folks from Vi Bella Jewelry provided some beautiful, hand-crafted baubles for me to style in a blog post. With our Black Hills vacation set and cluster of gorgeous ladies at my disposal, I knew the wooded landscapes would provide the perfect backdrop for our shoot.

Vi Bella Jewelry is an organization that seeks to transform the lives at at-risk women in Haiti & Mexico by providing sustainable jobs and share the love of Christ with them. Each piece is assembled by a special woman who otherwise might not be able to earn an income in a safe environment to provide for her & her family. Vi Bella is also making a positive impact on the environment by having their artisans use discarded plastic and glass bottles, metal bottle caps, old paper and even oil drums to craft unique handmade pieces.

I am SO inspired by the work that Vi Bella is doing and am honored to share their products & mission with my readers:) You can read the full Vi Bella story here.

Penelope necklace & earring set. 

Korie Bracelet. 

Vi Bella even has a line for little girls! Here Ruby is wearing the Emery necklace & bracelet.

Kristen, my sister, is wearing the necklace, earrings, & bracelet from the Jennifer Lee collection. 

Kira, my soon to be sister-in-law, is wearing the Olive necklace and Jovie earrings. The Olive necklace, one of Vi Bella's signature recycled pieces, is constructed from old newspaper. 

Mary, my beautiful 89 years young Grandmother, is wearing the Mayla necklace & bracelet. The Mayla necklace is also constructed from recycled newspaper.

My sister, Amy, is wearing the necklace, earrings, & bracelet from the Willow collection. 

Kaliko necklace & earring set.  

You ready for it?? I'm giving away this beautiful Kaliko necklace to one lucky reader! And each person has up to 3 chances to win. To enter, you can do one (or all) of the following:

1) Leave a me a blog comment stating what your favorite piece of jewelry from the Vi Bella website is.

2) Tweet about this giveaway using the hashtag #soZealousforViBella

3) Instagram about this giveaway using the hashtag #soZealousforViBella

Contest ends Wednesday, June 25th, at midnight. Winner will be announced here on Friday, June 27th.

Thanks again to Vi Bella and may the odds be ever in your favor:)

**This is a sponsored post brought to you by Vi Bella. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience. 

soZealous for: CHRISTINA HENDRICKS

The Mad Men beauty is a vision in these headshots snapped for the LA Times Magazine.

BLOG GIVEAWAY: Heads Twogether

Our first October giveaway is brought to you by HEADS TWOGETHER, the identical twin crafting duo that is Dena & Maren.

Specializing in repurposed vintage jewelry creations, the shop also features a Glee-inspired Emma Pillsbury line.

Want to win these BEAUTIFUL sweater clips? IT'S SIMPLE:

Visit the Heads Twogether Etsy Shop and post a comment here as to which item is your favorite.

Winner will be announced this Friday, 8th October. Best of luck!!

[Contest is open to U.S. blog readers only.]

Labor Day Thrift Review

This past Labor Day weekend was spent in every type of second-hand outlet from thrift stores to the great Trader's Market in Elko, MN.

Making it even more enjoyable was spending it with two of my favorite ladies, Dena & Maren of Heads Twogether.

The bi-annual Trader's Market boasted 300+ antique/ flea market vendors. Needless to say, we didn't leave the grounds empty handed...

In addition to the two Kodak Brownies I scored (a No.2 & a Six-20), I thought this Mercury Satellite 127 would fit well in the vintage camera collection.

Pretty little flower pendant.
And I couldn't resist this hot pink Ambush powder box. It definitely looks at home on my bookshelf (which I'll have to share sometime in another blog post).

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend!

D.I.Y. Louis Vuitton Daisy Necklace

Today's fashionable tutorial comes from Le Perla. All you need is glue, scissors, & foam strips (which can easily be substituted).

Add a chain lock to replicate the real thing.

soZealous for: COSTUME JEWELRY

[Image credits: 1.Tatielle. 2.Atoms Tumblr. 3.pinkamby. 4.This is Glamorous. 5.weheartit. 6.kjsdesign blog. 7.Lobster and Swan. 8.All The Pretty Things Tumblr. 9.Amy Simons Flickr. 10.Diorette Jewelry. 11.bardotinblue. 12.dethjunkie.]

HeadsTwogether & Emily Steffen Photography

The ladies of HeadsTwogether coordinated this beautiful shoot to promote their new line of jewelry, just in time for wedding season.

As you can probably tell, I was more than happy to participate as a gem model!

All photography by the amazingly talented Emily Steffen.

Best of the Week Vol.17

1. Stunning couture wallpaper from Bond Harrington.
2. If you have ever wondered what a Hello Kitty/MAC Cosmetics fusion would look like, here it is. The Alice in Wonderland inspired trailer is visualicious!
3. These girly tools are hot.
4. Gorgeous threads (and photos) from Oscar Winner Penelope Cruz and sister Monica for Mango.
5. Kyle Ng jewelry featured on Art Monster.
6. The mod offices of Chandelier Creative. Somebody hire me.

D.I.Y. Twine Rings

Sarah Kate Burgess has a gorgeous little line of D.I.Y. rings on her website. Each one has it's own PDF template you can download and create with.