The Grande Dame of gem shows

The International Gem and Jewelry Show will be coming to a convention center near you (it won't be in KC till May, sniff!). This is the best place to find beads and gems (oh, yeah, and jewelry) ever.

If you have a tax ID number and can buy wholesale, you're even more in luck.

Check out the schedule here to find out when it'll be near you and print off a coupon for $1 off the $7 admission price: International Gem and Jewelry Show.

Divine Designs

Eni Oken is a native of Brazil, but lives in Los Angeles. Her jewelry designs are so intricate, so delicate and so amazingly detailed that I bookmarked her site the first time I came across it a few years ago. I still go back and look at her new designs, which I find consistently astonishing. Here is just one example of her mind boggling work! "Goldfilled citrine and jasper necklace," pictured above, whose title doesn't sound anywhere near as regal as it is. Read about and see more of this beautiful necklace here.

Her custom work is also astonishing, as in this fantastic aquamarine heart she designed for a special customer:More of this necklace and Eni's thoughts on making it can be found here. She journals and even features many tutorials on how to make jewelry like hers. I find that very generous.

I'm not a wire-wrapper, but I can appreciate the kind of work that goes into each of her pieces, and considering the amount of work, her prices are very reasonable.

See hundreds more gorgeous pieces of her work at her site, enioken.com.