UWIB Chat - Surviving the Holidays

Join us for our first twitter UWIB chat by using the #UWIBCHAT hashtag on Tuesday November 8, at 8 PM EST @7PM CST and @5 PST. We will Tweet Chat about tips to be less overwhelmed with the holidays, favorite holiday cheer and ways to relax with treats for ourselves, family and guests.

How do you join us? At the above time just tweet #UWIBCHAT and when you click on the hashtag #UWIBCHAT you will see the chat stream in progress when you respond use the #UWIBCHAT hashtag in your tweet response so all will be a part of the chat. Feel free to Retweet responses with all the great tips we will be sharing. It's going to be great fun!

DATE: Tuesday November 8
TIME: PM EST @7PM CST and @5 PST

In the meantime, you can check out the UWIB gift guide! The left column lists a category for all those hard to buy for holiday gift recipients (and something for yourself, too)!

Treasury - DNA; The Building Blocks of Life

Woke up to find my DNA earrings in this fun treasury! It just appeals to the science geek in me!

Treasury - Modern Gray and Blue

Cool blues and grays in this elegant treasury; a portent of cooler weather to come.

Treasury - What Women Want? Oh Yeah!

I love the title of this treasury, "What Women Want", Rendachs on Etsy.(I liked the movie, too!) I just had to share. What do you think?

Charoite -- Lavender Purple and Pearly -- What's Not to Like?

Charoite is a lavender purple stone with a pearlescent white that is unique to the Charo River Valley in Siberia, Russia. I fell in love with this stone early in my stone collecting career. That was a lucky thing, too, as the quality available now is not nearly as good as it was when I collected my pieces. ...And with the decrease in quality of the cabs, there has been a 400% increase in price!

This kite-shaped cabochon was one of the first pieces I discovered. My source for this stone lived in St. Petersburg, would travel up to Siberia to collect the stones, and then ship them to me from Finland. The rich purple, large areas of pearly lavender and the hint of black contrast make this a lovely specimen piece. This special stone deserved a special setting, so I designed this unique geometric wrap specifically for it.

Some time later, I stumbled upon these torpedo-shaped charoite at a gem show. What I liked about this piece was the gradation from the darkest purple down to the pale lavender to the pearlescent bottom...and the shape! The deep grapey purple is a real treat in this specimen stone. This is a drilled bead and, fortunately, the stones were very reasonably priced (for a rare stone). I had fun capping this off with a heavy sterling silver cap and a matching sterling heishe on the bottom.

Much more recently, I was able to find these smaller stones, perfect for earrings. I hadn't seen the stone cut in such small pieces, probably because they are trying to use up smaller caches or perhaps just find a more affordable size. Another possibility, is that these are not from Siberia, but from a newer mine, recently discovered in China. The charoite from this mine is typically a paler purple and lacks the pearly quality of its Siberian cousin.

However you look at it, it you love purple and are intrigued by rarity, charoite is a stone to consider. With its variety of purple to lavender and the amazing pearly quality, it will always attract admiring comments and definitely falls into the "family heirloom" category!

Treasury - White, Brown, and Silver

Check out this stunning treasury. She has chosen a beautiful palette of colors and painted this treasury with items stunningly photographed. I'm flattered my asymmetric cuff was included!

UWIB Blog Hop - Red White and Blue !!!

The school year has ended and summer is in full swing. Grades and graduations are momentarily forgotten and the sweating of the last few weeks of school but a dim memory. When this month's blog hop theme of "Red, White and Blue" was announced, little did I realize it would create a flashback to the last days of school!

Ever get a grade you didn't agree with? Ever get it successfully changed? One young man did! His name was Robert G. Heft. At 17, he designed an art project for which he received a B-. He discussed the disappointing grade with his teacher who jokingly told him "If your design is accepted by Congress, we'll reconsider". Unfortunately, no photo exists of his teacher's face when his flag design was accepted by the U.S. Congress in 1959, becoming the 50-star United States flag flying proudly on thousands of flagpoles across the country today!

The teacher did reconsider the grade and Robert got an A, especially deserved as his mother had insisted he do all the work himself! He carefully picked off the 48 stars on their flag and created his own design over it. How appropriate that our flag should be originally created from recycled material!

So celebrate the Fourth of July in style! Pull out the red, white and blue and remember Robert for his creativity, his spunk, and the great symbol he created!

Please visit the blogs of the other UWIB blog hop participants to see what interesting blogs they have written on this patriotic subject!

Rita Wetzel http://HandmadeBits4u.blogspot.com
Linda Stranger http://capecodjewel.blogspot.com
Trudy Miller http://MommaGoddessTreasures.blogspot.com
Wendy Kelly http://blog.vintageday.com
Ann Rinkenberger http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com
Miriam Nelken http://goldcrestbags.blogspot.com
Robin Koehler http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com
Cory Trusty http://store.aquarianbath.com/index.php/blog
Audrey Fetterhoff http://AudreyGardenLady.blogspot.com
Janet Bocciardi http://thehoneyfromthebee.blogspot.com
UWIB http://uniquewomeninbusiness.blogspot.com