Sugarwings – Page 28 – Karla's Cottage

Bella Playdate in the Cottage

celebrations, collections, Food and Drink, Silver Bella, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 19, 2010

Yesterday was just the BEST. I had a roomful of Bellas here to get to know each other before the big event in November. It was a small group, but the attendees are so spread out across the country, that its not easy to get a lot together at once. Julie drove down from Chicago, and Lori came up from Arkansas, which really meant a lot to me, for them to make that much effort. Jamie, Carol, and Nora are all kinda local, they are from the Kansas City area.

The best part of the day? Being able to talk about Silver Bella all day long and not having anyone roll their eyes at me. All of these people are as excited to go as I am, and none of them are sick of hearing about it like everyone else around me is.

The cuffs I made were used as napkin holders, then were the party favors that I gave out as a thank you for them all coming to see me.

Lunch was a pitch in, and my husband grilled salmon for us, which was really sweet of him and kept it so simple for me. I wanted to relax and have fun with everyone and not spend all my time in the kitchen. It worked out great that way. I set the table and marinated the salmon the night before, so I didn't have much to do but enjoy my guests while they were here.

Carol came early with her super dooper camera and took photos of the table to send into Somerset. They had a call for dinner party ideas, and since I was serving artists, I decorated the table all in things from my studio- old lace, pearls, rhinestones, sheet music, and millinery flowers.

With Carol doing the photos, the editor will have to love it. Carol makes anything look good!

Plus, she is a hoot. This is a person that can really make you laugh.

There were laughs to be had all day. And since Silver Bella's theme this year is hats, we all played in my stash of millinery after working on projects and chatting.

Lori and I came up with the BEST plan for my own head for the event. It involves me foofing up one of her cast offs from the day. Which is perfect for me, I love to recycle things other people don't want, especially art by the talented, Lori Oles! I'll be thrilled to wear her "trash" on my head that night!

Its soooooo nice to have the studio all cleaned up and cleared out. I feel like I am getting over the nightmares I had after watching Hoarders. Now that the room isn't so cluttered, I'm recovering from the horror of that show.

I doubt if I'll ever watch it again, though!

At each person's place at the studio, I laid out some little treats and supplies for them. I found this great die cut of a little girl in a top hat, and copied it onto some of my favorite old wall paper. It went so well with the Silver Bella hat theme that I had to share it.

Now that the guests are gone, I need to fold up the extra tables and put them away before I fill them up with clutter. I've noticed that the more space I have the more I use. And having one or two tables filled with my crap is plenty. All extra tables need to be stored away until company comes again!!

But its so tempting to leave them up…. Think of how much I could spread out.

Here is one table that I wish was always in my studio! Sugarwing's Daddy, Mr Zen, came over the night before the party with his massage therapy table and gave me a treatment. No more back pain! That guy is really talented.

Sugarwings was here for the day while her parents worked, and she kept popping in to visit,and see what we were making, and visit the cookies in the treat cabinet. I promised her some craft time as soon as everyone left, and for a four year old, that is hard to wait for. Throughout the day, she came in to see if it was her turn yet.

So, at the end of the day, I took off my apron and let her wear it – not for crafting, this one is nicer than any dress I own! And it fit her for a dress, so she wanted to play Bride in it.

I won this gorgeous hunk of fabric as a door prize at Kim's event this summer.

Doesn't she look pretty in it?

She stayed for a sleepover and we did get some crafting time in. After removing the elegant apron, she got to be elbow deep into glitter and glue.

Yep, a great day, from beginning to end.

A FairyTaking flight

fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / September 13, 2010

We had such a blast last week at the Kansas City Renfest that we went back again for another day! And as I was going through the photos on my camera, I noticed that Sugarwings was so happy there with her own kind (fairies) that her feet barely touched the ground most of the day.

A pack of wandering fairies swooped her up and invited her to join their flock. She was thrilled to go off with them to dance around the Maypole.

So, she flew off with her new friends and we trailed along behind, walking on the ground like humans.

She fluttered over the ground as she danced with joy.

Another day filled with magic.

Like all my days spent with this little sprite.

Not a bad way to celebrate Grand Parent's Day!

A mini Cinderella

celebrations, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / September 5, 2010

I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend! Ours is jam packed with lots of Sugarwings time. Her poor Hippy Chick Mommy has strep throat, so she is staying with us. It works out well, because we have my sweet little mother-in-law here for a few days and these two have become buddies.

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. That place is beyond charming. Its tucked away into a hilly, shaded area that is a permanent location for the event, so lots of time and money have gone into the quaint little buildings. You really feel like you are in a fairy tale village when you go there.

And where else do you get to mingle with royalty?

There are stages all over the park with silly plays going on throughout the day. Sugarwings was picked from the audience to participate in one, and after that, she seemed to think that she was meant to be a star. That kid has some ham in her.

But at the end of the day, when I asked her what her favorite part of the festival was, she said, the play ground. There is a kid's area set up with a pirate ship, jungle gym, and lots of crafts. She would have sat and made magic wands all day if that had been an option.

Another favorite for both us us was this tent. It was such a simple thing, a floaty, diaphanous tent that hung from a tree. When you darted in and out of it, the whole thing would sway.

In past years, we have gone with big groups to the Ren Fest. This year, it was just my husband, his mom, our fairy baby, and me. We mostly followed the little one around and let her explore as she pleased. So, we were happy to sit and talk while she made friends with kids playing in the tent. She spent at about a half hour just hanging out there.

We've been to the park numerous times, so didn't feel the need to press on and fit the whole thing into the after noon. We paused to enjoy the little things and took our time watching a dragon fountain splashing against the rocks and contemplating some eggs that might just hatch into baby dragons.

The gown that she wore was just beautiful. It was a gift from a friend who shops estate and garage sales and found it for a couple dollars. The dress is vintage, and very nicely hand made, but since there wasn't a huge investment in it, I was comfortable in letting her run and play and get as dirty as she wanted.

Plus, why have nice things if you can't use and enjoy them?? "Use the good stuff" is my motto in life as well as in the studio with my supplies.

The festival has a different theme each year, this year it is Cinderella, so that is who Sugarwings pretended to be all day. And this gown was just perfect for it! Tiny girls all wanted to stop her and meet her, I think she made them think she was a real princess. She was Queen of the Toddlers that day.

Just the same way that she believed all the royalty that she met there was real.

This woman is my favorite, every year she has the most elaborate costume, and is so good natured and friendly to the little kids. For the Cinderella theme, she is playing Fairy Godmother this year, and is ideal for the part.

There are lots of games to play, too, including putting for unicorns. My husband works for a golf course company, but I'm afraid that Sugarwings and I just are not the Country Club types. I've never played a round in my life. But if we could find some courses that had horned Pan creatures as caddies and everyone dressed up like princesses, I might be able to get into the game.

And especially if country clubs awarded good putts with unicorns!

If you have a little princess or pirate in your life and live anywhere near KC, you really need to take them to this place. It goes on for 8 weekends every fall, and is $18.99 for adults, $9.99 for kids. But if you bring 5 canned goods to donate to a homeless shelter, you can buy one get one free.

The place is just too charming for words. Of course, you wouldn't know by these pictures, all I've shown you is my little obsession grandchild. The site is picturesque, and there is a lot to do besides follow a 4 year old around with a camera. There is jousting, games, elephant and camel rides, great food (beer and wine too), parades, fairy dances, shows, plays, comedians and magicians. You can be as silly as you want and dress up, or just go as yourself and enjoy seeing all the other people's crazy costumes. (wear comfy shoes, no matter how dressed up you get!!)

The hat whisperer doesn’t even need any skills in PA,OH, and IN!!!

celebrations, family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 29, 2010

What a wonderful trip! Its good to be home and we're exhausted from cramming so much into less than a week, but wow. It was the best. And not just because I return home with a bounty of blooms, it was all around, just a nice experience. We flew out to DC to pick up the car that my husband has had out there for a couple of years and drove it back, visiting friends and family along the way while my husband did some business here and there.

The states between Kansas and Virginia are so durned packed with pink and white hat bargains, that I had to be really picky about what I was buying or there wouldn't have been space in the car. There are BILLIONS of floral hat deals in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.

By the time I stopped in Missouri at an antique mall along I70, I was plain old burnt out and not even looking at hats any more.

At one little shop in Akron, I found boxes full of corsages. They were marked more per piece than I sell flowers for myself. So, I politely asked the store owner what her best price on a dozen would be and I was flabbergasted when she quoted me a little over a dollar each. I picked out some of the prettiest pink and white roses, some that still have the original tags on them.

While my husband worked a bit in each state we visited, I killed time at nearby antique malls, unless we were already checked into a hotel. If so, I sat in the room and glittered my Dorothy tags.

I also got in a lot of high quality nap time, plus got to visit my buddy, Heather while in the Pittsburgh area.

Since I had a few days to shop, I had to be really cheap to make my $150 last all week. And that part of the country seems to be THE place for stretching a dollar, I found some lovely things beyond the hats too.

For me, there is no better vacation than one where I get to visit people I care about, score deals on beautiful things, take naps, eat gourmet foods, PLUS get a load of work done. Ideal! Of course, I didn't get to turn on the TV at all this week and am wondering what happened on Top Chef and Runway, but hey, life was pretty close to perfect, so I am not complaining.

The highlight of the trip was our romantic dinner on Lake Eerie at the Shoreby Club. This Victorian stone mansion has been renovated and is now a dinner club with a spectacular view of the lake at sunset.

While sipping our wine and watching the sun sink into the lake, we misquoted Gordon Lightfoot and sang the Edmund Fitzgerald song. We didn't realize until afterward that the song was about Lake Superior, not Eerie.

We also discussed how much we missed Sugarwings. That is one of the reasons why we cut our trip short a day. No matter how great time away is, its still time away from Sugarwings too.

We are pathetic. We are so smitten by this little one, we couldn't stand to be away any longer.

So, bright and early on Sunday morning we scooped her up, and had a boating picnic on the lake.

There's no place like home….

Work was a secondary reason for getting back. Romantic Gothic Ghosts starts at midnight Sunday! I wanted to tweak some things and make it just right for you.

The first lesson is for 2 collages of my banner. The finish on this lady's portrait is one of the tips I'll be giving out on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday will be finishing the banner, and then Beth does one of her projects later in the week.

She and I are planning some extras too. A few giveaways of vintage supplies, some videos, etc.

We'll be working on some unique Halloween decor ideas, and ways to display some of the art you'll be making in our class.

The classes are $25 and will be left up as long as I have a Typepad blog. And I don't see an end to blogging anytime soon…

And don't forget- you can still enter the August Giveaway for one of my completed Romantic Ghost projects.

Pixies and Pixels

fairies, holiday decor, how-to projects, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2010

Getting ready for this online tutorial has kept me hoppin! But between counting pixels and trying learn how to make pdfs, I took some time off to make a pixie too.

This one is on its way to Somerset, but in it, you can see two tricks that will be taught in my Romantic Gothic Ghost class…. Actually, there are 4 separate things in this picture that I will be giving how-to's for.

The technique I used in this Sugarwings creation is one of them.

She is also going to Somerset Life today. I'm always honored to hear from them.

All of my projects for the class involve a Gothic arch, moody colors, and NO ORANGE! Oh, what a pretty Halloween it will be this year!

Okay, now back to the hard part. I can make things like crazy, I actually made a book, a tag book with 6 original tags, a wall hanging, and a banner with five 8-1/2 x 11 collages for the classes yesterday. Plus two collages to send to Somerset Life.

When I'm on a roll, I can whip stuff out.

Its the pixels that kill me. Everything I used in all the projects has to be available to the students to click on and print to use themselves. Now, that is a spooky Halloween for me.

Oh, the horror of it all!

Welcome to the Birthday Show- or how to throw a cheap birthday party that doesn’t look cheap

celebrations, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 16, 2010

The birthday girl had a great time at her party. Probably almost as much fun as I did!

At a glance, the party might have seemed over the top, but really, it was pretty simple.

I gathered up all the small tables and chairs I could find and set them up under my pop up tent that I have for art shows.

We decorated it all with the Little Mermaid stuff I got at the flea market, a huge bag full of mermaid paraphernalia for only 20 bucks. Including all the napkins, plates and table cloths. That was a giant cost saver there!

I hung up the disco ball that Beth gave to me for my birthday and pinned Ariel doodads from the never ending bag of Mermaid goodies to it.

Each table got a couple colors of glitter glue, a pile of sea shells to paint, hats and horns to decorate, and a few of my old, beat up paint brushes.

Foam and sparkly Princess crowns for the little girls were $4 a 6 pack, but pirate hats for the boys were that much a piece! So, I found black foam visors on sale for 66 cents at Michaels, turned them upside down, and cut them into pirate hat shapes.

There was a wading pool with floaty toys, and lots of bikes and trikes sitting in the yard for the little kids. The big kids played water balloons and football in the field.

Everywhere I shopped, summer things were on clearance. I was able to get 3 bags full of water balloons for a dollar each.

And they are biodegradable! I didn't even know there was such a thing.

The festive leis were on clearance too, 5 for a dollar.

To make the little sand box seem more special, I sat it in the gazebo and draped it in tropical fabric (that I had in my stash).

It was Sugarwings' idea to add water to the sand box to turn it into a "beach". I buried pirate treasure (from the dollar store) in the sand for kids to dig up.

Side walk chalk is always a hit with Sugarwings, and we had plenty of that on hand to set out.

We made a slip and slide from a big sheet of plastic drop cloth, and anchored it with sand bags. We had sand bags around for throwing in the back of the truck in the winter, and I'll reuse the plastic.

Sugarwings' Hippy Chick Mommy baked her an amazing mermaid cake! She found My Little Ponies that were mermaids. I think that makes them seahorses….

The paper clay mermaids that I made at Kim's event were ideal for table decor. And now, they will be gifts for my two sisters. I guess those clay sirens were the most expensive part of the day, I spent $500 on Kim's classes!! But I got all sorts of pretties to use all over the house and yard. Every gift that we got in our hostess bags and the door prize of some of Kim's shell art were all just great to have for this. Kim even gave me the bags of shells she had left over, and I used them for the kids to paint on.

One thing I always have here at the cottage is sprinkles and icing, so I made up a tray of pretties and I brought out some plain cupcakes for kids to decorate how ever they liked. (the cute little blue baskets are from the dollar store too, what a deal!)

This foam core board was about $5, and I painted it in about an hour. We used it to play "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid's Necklace". Every kid got to pick a prize from my bottomless bag of Little Mermaid treasures that I only paid $20 for at the flea market.

After our hats were decorated, we took the horns down the fairy trail for a birthday parade.

You might be able to tell that I was enjoying the day…

This little video shows just how much fun my little fairy grand baby was having. She decided to climb on the "stage" and put on a Birthday Show.

What joy on her face!

Here are my tips for saving money on a kid's birthday party:

1-Use what you have on hand- that is the big one. Look around your house to see what you can use.

2- Save your old paint brushes after they look like they aren't worth using any more, kids don't care!

3- For an outdoor party, sprinklers and water games go great with messy paint projects! Buy glitter glues at the dollar store, and shop around for clearance items. Kids love to glob paint and glitter onto stuff.

4- Make an area look special by draping fabric over it. You can use a light fixture, or tree branch to create a magical little area. Little ones love tents! Try using sheets, old fabric, or if you have to buy something, tulle is pretty cheap.

5- Have fun yourself! If you are playing along and enjoying the games, that makes it fun for the kids. They'd much rather have someone pay attention to them than have you rent them a jump house.

6- Parades are free. Get a conga line going, and have everyone sing. Or march and blow horns. Being encouraged to be loud is not something kids get everyday and they eat it up!

7- Bright leis can usually be found pretty cheap and add a lot of color to the area, and kids feel festive wearing them.

8- Shop around! Try a flea market or outlet clearance store for supplies.

9- Think about what kids like, not what adults think is pretty. Put your money where it counts and don't waste it on things that don't matter to the little ones. This party is for THEM!

Happy Birthday Sugarwings!

celebrations, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 15, 2010

We've had the best Mermaid Day for Sugarwing's birthday! I'm as tired as can be, but had to take a peek at my pictures from the day before I go and collapse in front of the TV and see how Sookie is doing this week.

This is my favorite, look at the amount of glitter that child poured onto her crown! I wonder where she gets that from?

Its the Process that Counts

antiques/junking, celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Hand Painted Furniture, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, swaps, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 7, 2010

Lately, one of Sugarwing's favorite games is playing bride. Today I was lucky to find a vintage dress up bridal gown at a flea market, still in its original box! She spied it in the studio immediately and had to marry her puppy as soon as she could shimmy into the dress.

The dress is about 10 sizes too big for her, and kind of fragile. I'm not sure if its the right outfit for my little wild child to play in. Plus, now that she and the dog are already married, she doesn't really need to wear it anymore. It was a quick ceremony, but lovely and heartfelt, so the dress has had its use.

And we have the wedding photos from the day. Of course, she might want to save the gown, hoping that her daughter (or puppy?) will someday want to wear it, but it seems to me that most daughters want to pick out their own gown, and rarely wear mom's.

I might hang on to it for a while, to see if she asks about it again. If she's forgotten about it in a week or so, I have a feeling it will end up in the Boutique.

Another game we had fun with today, was "Find the Picture". My copy of Somerset Home has arrived, and it has the article about my home in it (with photos by Carol Spinski). Sugarwings looked at the pictures in the book and then found the spot in the house where they were taken.

She is much better at that game than my husband is. One time, when his mom was visiting from out of state, he was proudly showing her an article that I had written for Country Victorian and talking about the house and how these photos were of the room upstairs, and those were of the kitchen before we remodeled. I looked over his shoulder and saw that the article wasn't even mine.

The photos weren't even of our own house.

That is why I can do anything at all to my cottage and foof it up any old way I please. My husband doesn't even notice! He could live in a pink cotton candy explosion of a doll house and not know the difference. That gives me full license to foof!

Of course, over the years, there have been a lot of changes and I can't blame him for not being able to keep up with what our house looks like. When I was in the furniture painting and antique biz, the look would change weekly sometimes. If I found something wonderful at a garage sale, it would go right into the house and the piece it replaced would go to the mall.

Now that I don't sell furniture, the revolving door has slowed down. But I do like a change now and then, and mostly get it by repainting and rearranging.

This photo is of my studio a few years back. I've added it and a few more pictures to the Where Bloggers Create Studio Tour (hosted by Karen Valentine) post I did a while back, and added a button to my side bar with a link to that posting, if anyone wants to see some of the past looks I've had in the room.

As a matter of fact, while out junking and scrounging today, I found a new glass door cabinet to fill with supplies, so my studio is getting another mini redo this week too. I'll have some more pictures to add in the next couple of days.

Since I don't have the antique business anymore, I try to keep myself entertained with smaller foofing projects. Gift wrapping has become a big hobby of mine. This is a package sent out this week, it was a Bible Quotes booklet, so I wrapped it in hymnal sheet music and tied a little cross to the ribbon.

No matter how big or small the project is, its "the process that counts". Beth and I quote Jenny Doh to each other with that line a lot since we heard her speak at Kim's event in California. That phrase struck us both, as good words to live by. As an artist, its not always the end product that counts, its the process and the love of creating.

So, if I can't remake a room on a monthly basis anymore (yes, I was pretty bad, Beth called me a serial painter), I can get my fix in the little things I do and love the process, no matter what I am spending my time on.

Simply being creative brings joy. To paraphrase Horton the Elephant, "A project's a project, no matter how small."

If you feel like being creative with me, I hope you'll join us for a small project. 6 tags with a Dorothy theme in a collaborative tag book swap. Email me if you want to join! Just click on the button on my sidebar for more info.

We have 40 some people entered to swap so far, and room for YOU too!

Pretty names

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, paintings, parties, Sugarwings, We're having a party, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 5, 2010

Thanks to all of you who signed up for our Dorothy Tag Book Swap! There is room for plenty more, if you haven't joined yet, please do.

I added pdfs of images from my 1920 Wizard of Oz book to the previous post, where you will find details about the swap. Even if you don't join in, please use and enjoy the images. I'll be posting more images in future posts as I get them scanned.

Maybe they will give you some ideas… I hope something gives me a few. I jumped into this swap without a single idea for a tag!

Maybe because I am still knee deep in mermaids, its hard for me to switch over to Oz.

This is for playing "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid" at Sugarwing's 4th birthday party. I painted it on foam core board, and added lots of glitter. (why doesn't glitter ever look glittery in photos??) We'll tie a bow on a shell and stick a thumb tack to the ribbon, then kids can try to get the shell on her necklace.

Today while looking over the list of kiddos attending, I was struck by how pretty all the names were.

Look at these unique names!

Leandra Joy

Gaea

Baila

Lillie

Madison

Sarah

Adeline Grace

Lizelle

Finn

Clover

Calliope

Amadeus

Cohen

Today, I also finished my air clay mermaid, to go with the ones I made in Jenny Hernadez's class. I'll use these fishy gals as decor on the buffet, not out with the kids' stuff.

There are some other shell decorations for the party, that I have a feeling the little ones won't appreciate as much. So I'll be using the shell art that I got from Kim on the grownups table. The kids get Ariel and pirates.

ttp://artisticbliss.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/a-few-spots-still-left-.html

Finally, I might be getting burnt out on making mermaids. When I got to the base of this, I was sick of it, and just glued wide satin ribbon around the box, with a smaller ribbon and a shell brooch over it. I'd spent enough time on it already, so finished it quickly. The boxes under the ones I did in Jenny's class were loving covered in vintage wallpaper and properly foofed. This one is just "completed" and that was enough!

There is still a banner to be painted for the party too. I want to do an under the sea themed canvas for Sugarwing's new room. She and her Hippy Chick Mommy just moved to a new place, and I wanted to do a painting for her as a gift. I'll nail it to the side of my house for the party, it will go with the theme.

My little fairy baby loves mermaids, even more than fairies. I nicknamed her Sugarwings before she was old enough to know what her likes and dislikes were going to be. But "Sugartail" just doesn't sound very wholesome, anyway.

That little girl loves to play in water, summertime and garden hoses are great for her. Poor Agnes Rosebud isn't as fond of watersports. You can tell by the look on her face that she knows that a cup of water is about to be poured on her again, and she is resigned to it. You can almost see the plan forming on Sugarwing's face too.

And its not such a bad thing on a hot day to be a bit wet.

By the way, have you seen "Dispicable Me" ? The cutest little orphan is named Agnes! Maybe this will become a trendy name. I hadn't heard that it was a popular one, have you? My dog is named after my grandma.

The little girl from the movie kind of looks like my Agnes Rosebud too. Here she is, its about 4 seconds, so look fast.

A silly way to spend a day

fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / July 21, 2010

Isn't this a gorgeous pendant? I liked it on this bust so much that I thought about keeping it there, but I took the listing photos anyway, and will add it to the Boutique.

Along with a few other trinkets.

Hmmm, odd picture? My son found these rocks out in Western Kansas, I'm not sure what they are, but they are unique. Some of them are large and have caves in them, others look like little peanuts. Or, to Sugarwings and I, they looked like people. So we drew faces on the peanutty little rocks with black markers.

Some of the little stones looked more like dogs than people.

Sugarwing's Daddy brought a pile of these rocks and left them heaped up by my garage last year. I don't know why. I figured he had some plan for them and just ignored them. But today my fairy grand baby and I sat down to look at them and realized just what a gold mine of fun they were.

It was her idea to add the glitter. A lot of glitter.

I tied ribbons to a stick to make a flag. We built our "castle" near a weed that was growing through the rocks so our people could have some shade.

Funny, that such a silly thing made such a fun morning for me. I hope it was for her too. And I'm glad that I didn't nag at my son to "do something with those durn rocks or get rid of them!" like I had been tempted to do a few times over the last year or so.

She and I might have some of the peanut people come and live in our mini fairy garden too.

I am in CA playing mermaid with my arty friends and spa-ing it up, so this was written before I left, and I will not be able to answer emails or ship purchases until I return.

Please do leave comments, though, I love reading them. And each is an entry for the July Giveaway, a pair of genuine pearl and sterling silver earrings.