Groovy jewelry, for sure

Known for his chunky lucite baubles, Alexis Bittar is a jewelry designer inspired by the 70s and 80s who injects new life into those eras. He gave New York Magazine a peek into his Brooklyn studio.

Regardless what celebrities buy his stuff, I have to say that when there's an abundance of jewelry on display at a department store (even if it is Nordstrom), I assume it's mass-produced. Not so with Bittar's work - all of it is painstakingly crafted by hand. Dig the flower, man:

Alexis Bittar Large Lucite® Pin with Swarovski Crystals. Click photo to purchase.

I can't say I love it all, but I love some of it a lot! What's not to love about lucite and the two decades I remember the most fondly (if the least clearly)?

Pieces are sold at Nordstrom, among other venues. He also designs beautiful, drippy, semi-precious stone pieces, which can be found here.  And check out his groovy web site here, where you can enter to win FREE Alexis Bittar jewelry!

Back in the saddle

I have been out of commission when it comes to my blogging. Here's why:

My new web site! I've been working my little tush off on it since March. Why did it take me so long? Ha! Well, I'll start by pointing out that I now know why people who build websites for a living charge so much money. It's insanely complicated and mind-bogglingly frustrating. Now, I'm sure that people who've done it a few times are good and quick at it and it doesn't confound them like it did me, and dealing with the third incarnation of it (after I completely killed two previous incarnations - accidentally) has taught me a LOT about what not to do.

So, I'm back and I'll be working on the site more, getting descriptions in and tweaking the techie stuff. I hope to have it up and running within a few weeks (I tried for September 1, but didn't succeed). In the meantime, I'm going to try to get back to blogging about what I love - thank you for your patience with me and I hope I haven't alienated too many people.