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Posts Tagged ‘birthstone’

Suzanne’s pre-Mother’s Day trunk show at Talulah Cooper in Providence went really well. It didn’t hurt that the weather was gorgeous and everyone wanted to be out walking around. I went down to help Erik with the kids. He bought two pints of ice cream for his 3-year-old, having learned that less ice cream gets eaten when it looks like too much.

Hayley at Talulah had a free penny candy corner to attract shoppers who have little kids — and to let the world know that she likes having children in the Traverse Street store and doesn’t care about things like fingerprints on glass cases.

A young woman whose navy-veteran dad had died recently decided to give the Luna & Stella anchor charm to her mother next Sunday on Mother’s Day That’s the charm that sends five dollars to the Rhode Island Foundation. Many people bought birthstone charms.

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trunk show

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talulah-cooper-boutique-providenceNew followers can be forgiven for not knowing that this is a blog for Luna & Stella, the contemporary birthstone jewelry company. The company owner is my daughter, Suzanne, and she lets me blog about anything that interests me. So I do go off on tangents.

But today what interests me is the Luna & Stella trunk show, scheduled to take place Saturday, May 2, 12 to 5, in Providence, Rhode Island, at the Talulah Cooper Boutique on Traverse Street (left).

I really love the new Luna & Stella charms, including the Blixt lightning bolt (which has a special association with Suzanne’s electrifying son), the delicate cross, and the anchor that is based on the Rhode Island state flag. And because I am pretty familiar with the great work of the folks at the Rhode Island Foundation, I’m also tickled that Suzanne is sending them $5 of every anchor charm purchased.

She writes, “Our Hope Anchor Charm Necklace is inspired by the anchor on the Rhode Island state flag. $5 of every Anchor charm ordered goes to The Rhode Island Foundation’s Fund for Rhode Island, serving the state’s most critical needs since 1916.”

Oh. Did I mention that Mother’s Day is really soon, May 10? I myself have been dropping broad hints about needing my new granddaughter’s birthstone.

hope anchor birthstone charm necklace

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Talulah Cooper jewelry boutique in Providence 

Suzanne is partnering with Providence jewelry boutique Talulah Cooper to present Luna & Stella jewelry at a trunk show starting at noon, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014. If you are in Rhode Island and have the time, do stop by and see the modern birthstone designs that led to this blog. One more sign that Rhode Island’s reputation for innovation in jewelry continues.

You can read about the trunk show on Luna & Stella’s Facebook page, here. Learn more about Talulah Cooper here (5 Traverse Street, off Wickenden Street in the Fox Point area).

P.S. If you happen to be clicking around the Luna & Stella website, there’s a goofy childhood picture of Suzanne’s Mom with her “cowboy” brother, here — on the page that showcases birthstone charms.

Below, Luna & Stella star birthstone earrings

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And speaking of slate, Suzanne’s company, Luna & Stella, displayed birthstone jewelry on slate brought from Wales by Erik’s family and got a lot of compliments at New York’s Playtime trade show. In fact, one store asked if they could buy some for display!

Suzanne was not up for selling the slates, however. After all, she asked Erik’s sister and brother-in-law to cart them home to Denmark after a joint visit to Wales and then bring them to the US on their vacation. I’m not sure they would do that twice. As a bemused Klaus recounted after his son’s luggage failed to materialize, “We got to the US with no clothes for Axel, but the bag of rocks made it through just fine.”

Suzanne and Luna & Stella will be at the giant NY Now trade show in the next few days (Javits Center, August 16-20). Stop in at her booth if you are there. And you may very well be there as it seems like half the world goes.

From the NY Now website: “2,800 exhibitors and thousands of lines across 400 categories; 35,000 buyers representing 20,000 companies; they travel from all 50 states and 85 foreign countries; 98% place orders based on what they see at the Show; 78% write orders on the Show floor; 38% are new buyers.” More here.

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I am utterly tickled with the updated website for Suzanne’s birthstone-jewelry company Luna & Stella, the company that is behind this blog.

I really hope you will take a look — both for new products like stacking rings and a star pendant and for the wonderful pictures customers submitted showing warm  family and friend relationships.

Suzanne says, “We had so much fun with this contest we decided to keep it going. Send black & white vintage or recent family photos to contest@lunaandstella.com and you could win a $100 gift certificate if we use your photo on the site!”

Suzanne has given me such a free rein with this blog that it’s possible some readers don’t realize it’s a Luna & Stella blog. So I’m thrilled that the new website is up today. It gives me the opportunity to remind everyone that Mother’s Day is the second Sunday in May.

(One of the many perks of being a grandma is that I get a new Luna & Stella charm or ring every Mother’s Day that there’s a new baby in the family.)

 

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Speaking of forebears, I interrupt this program to ask, Do you have something for your grandfather or father on June 16? Luna & Stella has unusual locket cufflinks into which you can put tiny mementos or birthstones of family members.

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Today’s mild weather reminds me that May Day and Mother’s Day aren’t far off. Mother’s Day is a highlight of the year at Luna & Stella, Suzanne’s lovely birthstone jewelry company, for which Suzanne’s Mom blogs.

I hope you know about May Day, too. I’d like to see it revived, the ancient custom of leaving flowers at people’s doors in honor of spring. (I don’t begrudge the workers of the world their version of May Day, but they shouldn’t hog the whole thing.)

Why don’t Girl Scout troops do May Day? Why don’t florists? It mystifies me.

I still remember a May basket I made as a kid from a punch-out book. I thought it was a thing of beauty and kept asking my mother to get me another book like that. But they stopped making them.

Now I work from scratch if I have time. Last year I blogged about one kind of a homemade basket, here.

It’s always a surprise to see what flowers are available on May 1 any given year. Since these are in my yard now, I suspect there will be different ones by  May.

small rhodadendron

blue scylla

andromeda

forsythia

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Getting in the spirit: listening to carols on the radio, decorating the fat tree my husband found, attending my friend Alden’s holiday concert at the Melrose Symphony (a whole post on that to come), and baking cookies.

Even though I try new recipes, I find the sugar cookie recipe John got in nursery school to be the most reliable, and I love the worn cookbook he made, held together by yarn, and his scribbles on the cover.

I especially love this line in recipe: “use good-sized cookie cutters so children can be successful in handling shapes.”

Here I am working away. Please note my five golden rings, Suzanne’s creation.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Here’s another nice lead from the Christian Science Monitor, which highlights a cool story by Rachel Signer of Dowser.org (a media organization that reports on social innovation).

The article is about Ethikus, which “provides vouchers for small businesses whose practices embody principles of sustainability.”

Writes Signer, “From May 3-10, hundreds of New Yorkers will participate in the first Shop Your Values Week, a project of the New York City-based startup Ethikus. The aim of Ethikus is to generate more business for small enterprises whose practices embody certain principles of sustainability in the realms of product-sourcing, employee relations, community engagement, and environmental impact or mitigation efforts. By looking at those four criteria, Ethikus identifies businesses they want to invite into their network, which functions as a sort of ethics-focused Groupon by providing consumers with vouchers to use in those businesses.” Read more.

Even though small businesses have all they can do to keep their heads above water right now, I think this idea has legs. Should be a great way for those already incorporating the Ethikus ideals to get visibility with the customers they want to reach. I’m spreading the word.

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We are gearing up for Mother’s Day around here. It’s an important time of the year for Luna & Stella. For one thing, it gives us a chance to share our enthusiasm for all those who take on the role of mother — whether or not they are actual mothers.

The nurturing person, the rock in someone’s life could be an aunt or a big sister. I have heard of a neighbor playing a mother role for a lonely kid. What about a loving grandpa?

Luna & Stella, as you know, has many birthstone-jewelry offerings, and not just for women. Check out L&S cufflinks if your grandpa was like a mother to you. Why not? Suzanne and Erik may think I’m crazy to suggest cufflinks for May 13, but hey, I’m just the blogger!

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Does anyone do May baskets any more? It’s such a lovely custom, and it’s always surprising to me that florists don’t promote it. How difficult could it be to partner with a Girl Scout troop or something?

On the first of May, you fill home-made paper baskets with spring flowers, place them at the door of, say, a neighbor, an elderly person, or a teacher and run. As kids, we used to knock and go hide in the bushes to see the look of surprise on the neighbor’s face. With fewer neighbors at home during the day now, the surprise is for the person who gets home from work first.

When Suzanne and John were small, they did May Baskets every year. I remember one neighbor (who had figured out where the basket came from) telling me, “Oh, I’m going to be so sad when your children grow up!” Of course, part of the drill is to pretend you have no idea what your neighbor is talking about.

There is a really simple way to make baskets from pages of discontinued wallpaper books. I’ll tell you if you ask. Here is another way.

(P.S. The birthstone rings are from Luna & Stella.)

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Dirk-Jan Visser for The New York Times

I’m a sucker for any story about an angel because it gives me a chance to mention that Suzanne’s birthstone-jewelry company, Luna & Stella, has a lovely angel charm.

That is why I zeroed in on this article.

John Tagliabue writes in today’s NY Times, “The statue of an angel outside St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in ‘s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, holds a cellphone, which has two numbers.

“That is because, shortly after the statue was unveiled last April, a local couple, the parents of two children, set up a number so people could call the angel. Business cards soon appeared in pubs, restaurants and hotels with a picture of the angel and the number. So successful was the line that the couple opened a Twitter account, @ut_engelke, managed by the husband, which now has about 2,700 followers.”

Then the church, not amused by @ut_engelke, set up its own number. It charges for calls, and people get to hear recorded messages about the church.

The woman who answers the original phone number doesn’t charge. She answers with “Hello, this is the Little Angel,” and she just sees where it leads.

“ ‘In most cases there is laughter, but there are callers who have no faith in friends or relatives, so they would like to talk to someone they have some kind of faith in,’ she said. A widow in her 80s called from Amsterdam to complain of loneliness …

“ ‘She said she’d lost faith in humanity, in her own family,’ said the woman who lends the angel a voice. Two weeks later the elderly woman called again, to thank the angel. Things had gotten better.” Read more.

I would be interested in your angel stories.

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I must have spaced out in the ’80s because I had no idea that Suzanne loved watching a cartoon show called “Jem and the Holograms.” The TV was in the basement, but still …

What’s really interesting is that when Jem tapped her star earrings she activated special powers. I leave it to you whether that explains these earrings at Suzanne’s business, Luna & Stella.

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I have always liked reading poetry, but there is something extra delightful about actually knowing people who write good poetry.

Nancy Greenaway is a friend I see summers in Rhode Island. I learned last weekend that among other output, she recently published this poem at the Texas Observer site. It begins:

Salaam.

You write ghazals under shade of an acacia,

speak Farsi or Pashto,

eat qurmas, sabzi, lamb kebabs,

wear burqas and hijabs.

I write free verse under shade of a maple,

speak English,

eat pizza, cod, corn on the cob,

wear jeans and t-shirts. 

Read it here. 

Francesca Forrest has several online poetry outlets. In the tantalizing “Temptation,” an internal voice whispers,

Throw yourself down from here; try!

This is a dream, and you will fly.

Read “Temptation” here, published at the Linnet’s Wings. Two other poems by Francesca are “Songs Were Washing Up,” in the publication Scheherzade’s Bequest, and “Old Clothes Golem,”  at the site Stone Telling.

When Suzanne was getting ready to launch Luna & Stella, she came to the conclusion that a poet should write the descriptions of the birthstones, because only a poet would have the right artistic sensibility. As it happened, she knew a poet who also did copywriting, Providence-based poet Kate Colby. Here is what Kate wrote about the gems for Luna & Stella.

You might also like to read one of Kate’s poems, “A Body Drawn By Its Own Memory.” It begins :

Certain labels are impervious

to solvents, impermeable

as drawn bridges. …

I will post poems from time to time. Perhaps you will let me know what you like. Try the comments feature. Or e-mail me at suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com.

Nancy writes: 
“Thought you might be one of the few who would appreciate our adventures in Boston/Cambridge on Sunday and Monday. Malcolm and I had a one-night vacation by driving to Cambridge on Sunday, staying at the Marlowe Hotel (with a view of the Charles) and hearing Naomi Shihab Nye read and then receive the Golden Rose Award from the Poetry Club of New England. She concluded with her poem about the Block Island ferry (which will appear in her new book of poems to be released by BOA Editions in September.) Before the reading, to the amazement of all in the audience, she rushed up the center aisle directly to me and gave me a wonderful hug.”

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Birthday Week

Not to give away anyone’s exact birthday or age, I just want to say that Birthday Week in our family is fast approaching for Suzanne, John, and me and is associated with the ruby birthstone. Both Suzanne and I wear Luna & Stella jewelry items that include a ruby.

Some years ago, before Suzanne knew about birthstones, her dad took this birthday picture on our front steps in upstate New York.

She had just turned two. The T-shirt is French.

Please note that you can comment on this blog by sending e-mail to suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com. I will post comments.

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