Happy Birthday, My Love!

Today is my husband's birthday. We went to Old San Juan to celebrate with our two lovely sons: Luis Raúl and Juan Gabriel. We had lunch-dinner at Siglo XX Restaurant, a very nice an old restaurant that serves delicious Spanish and Puerto Rican food.

After that, we went to Paseo la Princesa. Emanating a rather distinctly European flavor, the Paseo de la Princesa is a 19th century esplanade situated just outside the city walls. Lined with antique street lamps, shade trees, statues, benches, fruit vendors carts, artisians, and street entertainers and musicians. This romantic walkway culminates at the magnificient Raíce Fountain, a stunning statue/water feature that depicts the Island's Taíno, African, and Spanish heritage. While we walked we had a breathtaking view of the San Juan Bay. We saw an impressive sunset and felt the romantic atmospher with the lights from the antique street lamps. We had a wonderful time!

Back home I made these beautiful earrings that are going to be on my Etsy Shop.

Pretty Flower and leaves...

I live in a Tropical Island. I find flowers and trees everywhere. We have dragonflies too especially at my garden!! That's why I made today these beautiful necklaces. I like them very much. Hope you like them too!!

Find these necklaces and my other jewelry at my Etsy Shop.

New Etsy Shop !!!

Today is the opening day of my brand -new Etsy Shop and the end of summer vacation in my Blog.

One of my new creations made with a natural beach coral.
You can find one similar to this one at my Etsy shop.


Last month I was quite busy looking for new materials for my jewelry, taking pictures, reading instructions from Etsy's website, organizing my creations and preparing them for my store, and at last, VOILA... My new Casa Doralba at Etsy! It was fun anyway, but it was lot of work too. I have just listed twelve items and I'm planning to continue adding new things next weekend.

A pendant made with a Crystal Quartz from Puerto Rico

Visit me at http://dorisrivera.etsy.com/

BUY HANDMADE

We had at home other projects besides my new Etsy Shop. We installed our solar energy system that is working great, and we continued working in our organic garden. Here I show you some pictures:

SOLAR SYSTEM

ORGANIC GARDEN AND GARDENER

MY NEW CATS: Panchita (2 months old) and her mother Umasi

New Pendants

Finally!.. My son arrived from his study trip to Europe, Africa and Asia (with a super nice sun tan). Here he is with professor Ana Georas at the airport. We missed him so much but we know he learned a lot and that all these experiences are part of his education and a way to fulfill his overall culture. Rauli brought so many artcrafts and lovely presents! I'm taking advantage of all these beautiful objects to display some of my new creations.

Against this Egyptian pipe are three ceramic heart pendants that I made last week. I still need more practice and to gain more experience specially with glazes and I need to get used to work with clay. This one is natural earthclay that comes from our Mother Earth. I didn't use molds, I shaped them with my hands and only used some rubber stamps. The more I practice, the more I like it. In following posts I will be showing more lovely objects and more ceramic jewelry.

Paella... Olé

I don't know why this necklace reminds me the Spanish dish paella. Maybe because it has a variety of colors and charms or maybe because Rauli is today in Madrid and when he called he told me he was eating a paella in a restaurant at Plaza Mayor. The necklace (or the paella?) is all handmade. I used copper wire for the chain and the clasp, both hadmade using more than 70 jump rings. For the charms I used cloisoné, crystals, ceramic, red coral, and pewter. It is very colorful, and instead of chicken and seafood it has butterflies, and an owl!

My first ceramic pendants!

Oh wow! Here they are... My first ceramic pendants. They came right out of the kiln last Friday. They have been fired twice. I am just learning this new art and for me it is fascinating. I hope you like them too.

I made some hearts and some butterflies. I glazed them with different colors. The colors are a big surprise. They look quite different from the colors I gave them originally. But, I like them any way.

My son Rauli arrived today at Athen (Greece). He is having a wonderful time. I'm dying to see him again and to see all the photos that he is taking from all these incredible places.