Erin Jane Designs

Arizona!

Erin Jane — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:22:34 +0000

I am back from a fantastic buying trip in Tucson this year. It was warm, sunny and filled with family, friends, laughs and of course loads of gems! Such a great trip.

The sun was shining everyday and the sunsets in Arizona are hard to beat.

After long days of shopping, drinks outside by the fire were perfect.

Once my shopping was complete…

I had a couple days to enjoy the sunny Southwest.

Now I’m back and overflowing with inspiration and designs ideas. I dove right in and am in the very beginning of creating some new designs! Can’t wait to share! Geez, just look at those colors. Ahhhhh!

Off to Tucson

Erin Jane — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:45:13 +0000

I’m headed for Tucson for gem shopping tomorrow! I’m so, so excited and will definitely be sharing photos of my finds here and on my Flickr page as soon as I can. And, remember, without upgraded shipping, made to order Valentine’s Day items won’t make it in time since I won’t be back until Feb 6th, so get in touch if you need to have something in time for the BIG day and haven’t placed your order yet…I’ll see what I can do!

I’ll leave you with a custom wedding band I made for a really special couple. So happy how it turned out. White Sapphires flush set in a 14k yellow gold brushed band…

And a couple more that I will list when I get back from my trip…

A sweet chocolate diamond flush set in a hammered 14k gold band.

And, the middle ring below. It’s a 3mm Aquamarine set in a hand forged 14k gold setting and band. LOVE this ring. I’m so excited to get back from my trip all loaded up with stones and get working on some new designs. My head is about to explode. I love this time of year for that! It may be grey and cold, but my studio will be so colorful and full of inspiration in just one short week. Can’t wait to share!

Snow Day

Erin Jane — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:34:52 +0000

Well, us mild weather Pacific Northwesterners are never prepared for snow. An inch turns our world upside down. So imagine the state of panic we are in with several – that’s right – SEVERAL : ) inches of snow, plus freezing rain, plus more snow. The Minnesota girl in me wants to laugh, but 10 years in Seattle has turned me into a complain-y wimp and it is sort of a mess.

Ice is covering everything in sight! And it is just so pretty!

Well, anyway, we made quite the adventure of it today. It’s day 2 snow bound and the hubby and I got a bit of cabin fever. Plus, I had packages to send to my customers! Now I know the USPS is so very proud of making it through anything to deliver mail, but no one showed up yesterday and for me, the mailman also means mail pick up – which is way more important. I wasn’t willing to risk another day of not having packages picked up. So, a trip to the post office was in order. Our post office is normally about a 10 minute drive. Or today, a 35 minute walk, plus a 10 minute light rail ride, plus another 10 minute walk….that’s one way. I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Precious cargo ready to go…

Lots of ice covered trees on the way to the light rail station.

Train ride!

Made it to the post office.

Jewels safely in the mail drop.

Don’t worry. I rewarded myself for after my trek…

While Tom worked…

He’s had a lot on his mind lately.

Then, I saw THIS! So awesome! I should have take video. She was going ridiculously fast.

And, this is how I felt. Utterly content.

Then, it was time to head home in the ice covered neighborhood.

It was a beautiful day.

Valentine’s Day already??

Erin Jane — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:53:13 +0000

Geez, this year is already whizzing by! I’m gearing up for my annual gem shopping trip coming up at the end of this month. So, a little announcement is in order for Valentine’s Day orders. I’ll be out of town until February 5th, so please get your orders in by January 25th so I can make and ship custom designs before I leave.

OK, back to the studio! Working on a custom 14k gold wedding band with 12 flush set white sapphires. Whoa. It’s going to be gorgeous!

Happy New Year!

Erin Jane — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:55:29 +0000

Wow! What a week (or so)! I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful holiday week. It was super eventful here. I’ll show you in photos…Oh, yes, I replaced my stolen camera! Sad, but YAY! To make it less depressing, I allowed myself a slight lens upgrade from my last one and I also got another, super fun lens for Christmas from my Dad. Good stuff! So…

There was Christmas.

I got boots!

Lulu stared at her new monkey, which didn’t quite fit in her stocking, for at least an hour before we got to opening them…yes, our dogs get stockings too. We have an illness.

Kyra napped. Shocker.

There was this custom ring that I just had to share.

There was another custom ring.
…for my husband. He didn’t like his wedding ring all that much, so I made him a new one. Much better.

There was truffle popcorn and game night.
Bananagrams! And, yes, my husband really spelled Poindexter.

There was New Years Eve with great friends – which I don’t have photos of. But, it was one of the most fun New Year’s Eves I can think of. Such a great way to start off the New Year.

Then, yesterday, there was the hilarious and somewhat disastrous “family photo”. In the midst of the wonderful chaos my business brought me this season, I neglected to send out Christmas cards, so we decided to do New Years cards and add a family photo. The dogs were impossible and hilarious the whole time. Here is just a small, small sample of the many outtakes…So, here’s what happened. I got the camera all set up and I got all snuggly on the ground with the dogs and first watched the camera slowly droop on my tiny and junky tripod to chop off our heads, and then Kyra decided to sit ON TOP of me and Lulu was just being a huge baby. Which, all in all, created these ridiculous photos… and these are just a few of the worst ones from our “photo shoot”. I may have to rethink this for next year : ).

So, here we are now and I’m so excited about 2012. It’s going to be a good one! And, thank YOU for making 2011 such an amazing year. My customers, fans, and readers mean the world to me. Thanks for allowing me to make you jewelry. What a lucky gal I am! I couldn’t be more grateful! Here’s to 2012!

xo,
Erin

Happy Holidays!

Erin Jane — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:21:16 +0000

Wishing you a happy, happy holiday with lots of peace, love, joy and slobbery wet kisses…if you’re into that kind of thing.

xo,
Erin

In the weeds!

Erin Jane — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:30:54 +0000

Oh gosh! I’ve been in the weeds (in a good way), pumping out lots of jewelry Christmas gifties for everyone for the last couple weeks. So, that’s my excuse for being absent lately. Oh, and I had my handbag stolen…with my camera in it! So devastating. If you have ever had a wallet, etc stolen, you know what a giant pain it is. Such a time suck, so violating. Just generally yucky. And not having a camera is just plain weird for me. So, iPhone pictures will have to suffice for a while. Actually, they are pretty fun, but I miss my camera desperately…

A few more things to pack up…but I will be back soon!

Hope you are enjoying the season so far!

Thanksgiving in Arizona

Erin Jane — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:57:52 +0000

GAH! I meant to post this on Monday, but alas, I found it in my drafts today. Oh well. I still wish you had a happy holiday ; )…

______________________________________

Hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent it in Arizona with my family at my mom’s new winter home and it was wonderful. The food, the fun, the sun, the sunSETS, the laughs. It was great. I’m still feeling all warm and fuzzy. Thanksgiving should be everyday.

Stuffed Squash with Wild Rice, Orzo and Brown Butter

Erin Jane — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:32:39 +0000

We made the YUMMIEST dinner for Thanksgiving and I wanted to share this recipe. It was so, so good and the beautiful colors would perfect for a Christmas dinner table too. Adapted from Herbivoracious.

Now, you know me and recipes. My changes from the original are a guess, but I think it’s pretty dang close.

Winter Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Orzo and Brown Butter

Serves 4 as an entree

Preparation time: 45 minutes

- 2 delicata squash or 1 big winter squash (which is what we used)
- 8 T. unsalted butter
- 12 leaves fresh sage
- 4 oz. orzo pasta
- 4 oz. wild rice
- 1 T. lemon juice
- 1/2 c. dried cranberries
- 1/2 c. pepitas (green, hulled pumpkin seeds – or substitute chopped almonds)
- handful of fresh pomegranate seeds
- italian parsley
- salt
- pepper

Cook the wild rice according to the package.

Meanwhile, carefully halve the squash, remove the seeds (a tablespoon or ice cream scoop works well), rub with oil and roast in the oven at 375 degrees until thoroughly tender. When they come out, rub the inside with any leftover brown butter – see below).

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 8 T butter and allow it to keep cooking until it develops a nutty / caramel aroma and light brown color, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

While the butter is still hot, tear the sage leaves and add them in, allowing them to steep for awhile.

Boil the orzo according to package directions, being sure to leave it al dente.

Drain the orzo. Add the brown butter and crispy sage leaves, lemon juice, and toss with the orzo and wild rice. You may not need all of the butter. Put some on the inside of the squash.

Toast the pepitas in a skillet, toaster oven, or oven until slightly browned and smelling good.

Add the cranberries to the orzo.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mound the orzo into the squash.

At this point you can refrigerate them for later use, or serve immediately.

To serve, garnish with the parsley, pepitas and pomegranate seeds, a good finishing salt, and a grind of black pepper.

Black Friday Free Shipping and Holiday 2011 Shipping Dates!

Erin Jane — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:09:37 +0000

It’s almost Thanksgiving! I’m feeling oh, so thankful for my lovely, lovely customers. From now thru Monday, November 28th enter the coupon code”freeship2011″ for FREE shipping on all US orders!

And, the ever important HOLIDAY SHIPPING schedule!:

For IN STOCK items, please order by:
US: December 18
Everywhere else: December 1

For MADE TO ORDER items, please order by:
Continental US: December 12
Everywhere else: November 26

These dates are of course just recommendations as USPS First Class Mail is not guaranteed. I’m always happy to offer upgraded shipping (Priority or Overnight) if you want to be sure to get your items on time. Just let me know and I’ll send you an invoice for the upgrade. I’m here to help if you have any questions! Have a Happy Holiday!!