New Summer Designs

I spent some of my baby's nap time photographing some new designs for summer. They are made with white Swarovski Crystal Pearls and these beautiful white gold plated flower pieces.

The center of each flower has a sparkle with a little cubic zirconia, added elegance for sure! I can't wait to get them up on the site! I'm also working on a bracelet that matches all three pieces, as well as a necklace. What do you think?

New Online Store!

Sahara Amaya Designs are now available in another online venue, Zibbet! Zibbet is a fairly new online handmade marketplace and is very cool. Click on the title above to check it out.

As an added bonus the first person to use coupon code H4J8TB will save 25% off an order of $20.00 or more! This coupon is automatic and will be taken off your total before paying (love this feature!).

Spring Cleaning

I have a confession to make, I hardly ever vaccuum my studio! I vaccuum the whole house 2-3 times a week thanks to my 3 1/2 year old and 2 year old but I rarely vaccuum the studio. Little pieces of sterling silver, beads, crimps, pieces of chain are hiding all over and even if I get down on my hands and knees I still miss some! Don't get me started on how much I don't like the sound they make getting sucked up into the vaccuum, yuck!

Flower Girl Feature

Click on the title above to view a beautiful Treasury created by Etsy seller JustScrapsNThings featuring my Flower Girl Cross Necklace as part of a beautiful selection of special things for a flower girl.

Colors - What's Hot for 2010

I spent some time today online looking up color trends for weddings this year and it is amazing what I found. There doesn't seem to be a really popular color for the year, rather, brides are choosing bold, bright, fun colors and mixing it up this year.

I found one really interesting part of market research that talks about blues being big this year: Wedding Color Trends 2010 Report
"This report provides a look at color themes, color tones, color shade with tones, and color parings demand for 2010 to be married couples." Very formal, exact research, I had no idea this type of information existed!

Wedding Style says that purple is really big this year, as well as a bold blue, ruby, coral, and light grey.

After looking at a ton of sites (okay, really more like 10) I decided I liked what The Knot had to say and the way they presented it the best. They show bold, bright, primary colors and also have great color combo ideas: Blue and Yellow, Black and White, and Pink and Yellow. Check out their slide show at the link above, it's beautiful.

After looking at all the color ideas for the upcoming wedding season, bridesmaid jewelry is on my mind and I have a couple of new ideas for bridesmaid gifts. Keeping it affordable is always a top concern so I have been exploring simple, elegant, fun and bold pieces. Check the store for new listings this week!

Sahara Amaya on Etsy Has a New Look!

I finally spent some time last night and redesigned my shop banner and avatar! I have been meaning to get to it for months and months but finally found the motivation (or call it avoiding taxes) last night. What do you think? I'm really loving it but already have a few new ideas I might try out in a week or two. Do you like it? Do me a super huge favor and answer the quiz on the side menu! Thanks and happy day after Valentine's!

New Feature! Ordering from the blog!

An amazing site has provided a widget to order more quickly from my Etsy site. Simply click on the "Buy" word in the window at the right and the item is placed directly into the shopping cart on Etsy! It's a very easy way to order! Let me know if you have any questions, post a comment or e-mail me at amayasahara@gmail.com.