Super Rings

In honor of the Super Bowl and my ongoing diamond research, I dug around and found some interesting facts about the big rings the Super Bowl champs get to show off.

- The Super Bowl will pay for up to $5,000 for up to 150 rings.
- Some rings in years past have been appraised at over $20,000.
- Many rings have diamonds shaped like the Vince Lombardi trophy.
- The 2005 Patriots ring is said to be worth the most with 124 diamonds and 3 marquee diamonds all set in white gold.

Even with all those diamonds, the rings remind me of school class rings.

Mintd Fresh

www.Mintd.com

I just found a new site that looks very very promising! Mintd is a very Etsy esque beginner of a selling site for up and coming artisans of all kinds. It is by no means as user friendly as Etsy but it is much cheaper by comparison, it is only $50 a year to list 50 items or free for the first 3 items, and more respectably for more items. I was just looking and they seem to have a really good following so far and is something I will be joining in the next few months. It is very exciting to see new selling venues for artists! Too bad I can't buy stock in Mintd, I have a feeling it will be growing rapidly in the next few years!

...o by the way, check out my Etsy supply site for some exceptional gemstones:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5175001

Etsy Buy Handmade AppusDesign

Sparkling Sidetrack

Watched Blood Diamond again and I was researching more on Conflict diamonds when I sidetracked and ended up searching for the most diamond encrusted apparel. here is what I Found: 1) Victorias Secret Fantasy Bra 2006 worth $4.5 million 2) $1 million diamond shoes 3) A $1 million dress covered in natural color diamonds. All I can say is, it's gotta be heavy!

Mean Green Ideas!

After Watching and being throughly depressed by the End of Suburbia, I found some relief in these awesome innovative Green Ideas. First, a solar Powered Cell phone that is in the Works in Germany that only needs 2 hours of sunlight a day to charge. Or How about this awesome idea of sustainable local Urban farming grown right from your own backyard! Farmers help you and your family create sustainable vegetable and fruit gardens for truly local produce! There is also this amazing group of living spaces from Boutique apartments that are not only inspirational to look at, they are also committed to living Green, from wind power to how they build their buildings, this company really is amazing.

Here are the sites:

Urban Farming: http://www.yourbackyardfarmer.com/index.htm
Sustainable Green living spaces: www.boutiqueapartments.com

Diamonds that Hurt

Beginning Metalsmithing class this week and we are going to be doing a project on Blood Diamonds so I was researching and found this really striking poster that asks "What did you pay for those diamonds" and really juxtaposes the images of the beauty of the diamond and their meaning to the buyers as opposed to the image of what it took to acquire them.

The other photo is of the huge conflict free Lesotho Promise, a 603 carat white diamond that was found in this century and was just recently sold for 12.36 million.

Because we'll be studying conflict diamonds in class, I decided to rent Blood Diamond a second time. It's a very strong and emotional movie not to mention Leonardo Dicaprio has an amazing African accent as well.

New Goodies!

Went shopping this morning at the International foods market and picked up some cute Tea Cakes and Almond Sweet Tea! Can't wait to enjoy these little treats! Also was playing around with the Gocco last night and made a set of 100 cards and stationary and have been happily painting them with watercolors, they turned out nicely.

Working Hard

Some new designs in the making! I'm experimenting with new photo techniques that you can view in my Etsy Shop! Feathers, Flowers, and Rocks make really nice backdrops and props! Also I'm very excited about my new Flex Shaft I got for Christmas! It is so much fun!