The people who own the gap live there!

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That is jello!!!

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Scenes from San fran

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Ga!

Why would they make this dog look so startled??


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Moo

Also, I made this cow.

I like how it looks like he's tip toeing. He's silver. and will soon be a necklace!

Please. say it looks like a cow!!

Tweet!

I have been yearning for this little pillow I found at a consignment store forever, but who needs one more little pillow?

With a beautiful bright green velvet back?

and colorful puffy birds?

Apparently I do. Only 2 buckaroos!!

New Cuff

First, there were druzy rings.

Now...druzy cuffs!!

do we love or do we love?

Movement!!

Let me get all you readers up to speed:

After working at the Museum of Science in Boston for a year, I moved home to make jewelry while Boyfriend Ben moved to DC for some work. Soon we will reunite, but not before a week long voyage to San Fran, followed by New Years seeing the Felice Brothers in Brooklyn, followed by a few days in DC moving Ben out.

And here I've been barely leaving my house after 5 pm for the past 5 months. How will I survive such activity? I've grown accustomed to sitting in a pink blanket (like now) wearing a felted hat and slippers (like now) watching Enchanted (like now) and waiting for my mom to make popcorn (like now).

But soon I'll be a real person again!! Interacting with the world! But what do I WEAR?? What do I PACK?? and most importantly, where should we go out to eat?

Any suggestions? San Fransisco? Good shopping places? I told Ben all I want is for him to buy me anything I want in SF. That's not so much to ask for, is it?

So, lay it on me, stringbeans.

PS. This is what I did last time when I was in SF with Ben's whole family. I'm so impressive.

Top photo taken by me on our epic roadtrip!!

By Our Hands We Live, Post the Sixth

I just checked my mail, only to find a note from one Tom Pande!

Tom writes, "I'm a London based Designer + Photographer . I'm the hands holding the model bike I made. Those hands took the photos of my friend [graphic designer who clicks at ther Mac all day]"

Thanks, Tom!! Here are the photos he sent me.


What a blast!!! Send me more!

By Our Hands We Live, Post the Fifth

I love getting photos of hands in the email!!! Please, keep em coming!!

These newest ones belong to Patricia Hecker of Tattoo Dreams. Her husband was kind enough to send them in, and they are perfect!!! Says husband Jon, "Patricia uses rubber stamps (she has thousands of them), and black paint. The effect is awesome. In the background you can see one of the boxes."

The effect is awesome, and I love them.

This hand:Made this box:

Bravo!! More, more!!

Sunny

There was a time in my life when I wanted to name my first child Tuxedo, and call him Tux for short.

I think that time is still happening.

Speaking of time, I got this exciting watch for the Jewish holiday known as Hanukkah.

It's big and clunky and flashy and bright and i love every minute of it!

Big Bad Floating Hoops

What do we think about these double hoops? the smaller circle is behind the ear lobe! magic.
mmmm dirty hair.

good gravy.

Jim in San Fransisco kindly let me know he received his hot dog necklace, and that the recipient loves it. He also sent me the puppy that inspired the purchase!!! How ADORABLE IS THAT LITTLE DOG IN A LITTLE CRATE.

Yum.

Happiness is a warm mocha.

Can we all agree?

By Our Hands We Live, Post the Fourth

My post yesterday over at 2 Modern was about my attempt at gathering photos for the Dirty Hands series. This morning I woke up to see an amazing photo in my inbox from one Javier Avendano. In the email he said, "This is the hand of my grandma, a cook, held by my sister on her deathbed. Arthritic, worn, beaten, but still holding tough and proud."

And I thought my hands had character! What an amazing and haunting picture.

fa la la la la

Today in the jewelry store, "Christmas Time is Here" (Charlie brown song) came on the radio and then it started to snow. I had never been in a more festive mood.

It got me thinking about tiaras.

Actually, Ben just asked me what I wanted for Hanukkah and I said a tiara. But that made for a better segue (maybe i want a segway?).

Anyway, a tiara. Can I make that hip?
I could pull this off, right?

This I like:
Hm. Ok. This search for tiaras wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Does anyone out there wear one? Is your life enriched by it?

Sigh. What do I wear for New Years?!

O. M. G. Now available for tots

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Photo Troubles

This is what happens when I try to take a picture of myself wearing a necklace.


A beautiful shot of my creased neck.

I kind of like it.

Owl!

How do we like this little guy?


This was how he was born..

Hot Dogs 4 Life

I mean, right?

Is it ok for me to want this?

I saw this a couple of weeks ago, and can't stop thinking about it. What's wrong with me? It's not that funny. But it looks like a piece of paper! Rolled up! Yes, I do like it indeed.

Via this place

Thank god we live in a Democracy...

...so we can vote for which dress I should get. I am officially calling it my Christmas San Fransisco dress. Because I'm going to San Fran on Christmas Eve for a week with Ben's family. And I need a new dress, obvi.

I narrowed it down to one dress, two colors. Please. I need serious help.

vs.
So... in green or gray? One or two? Leaning towards two, but also leaning towards one.

HELP.

PS they are from Boden.

By Our Hands We Live, Post the Third

Meet my dad's hands. He's a jeweler too! I can't wait to have permanent black lines embedded in my finger prints.

Also fun, this is what my little silver owls look like before they are cast in silver! I'll post the results tomorrow!

I so badly want to make a ring with a million little owls sprouting out of the top. Maybe a little impractical, though. And dangerous..

By Our Hands We Live, Post the Second

What a day! I just received another lovely photo of one of my personal finger looks, chipped nail polish! The darker the polish, the better, I always say.

These little hands belong to Kelly of Metallic Peach. She makes wonderful beaded jewelry which is insanely affordable and definitely worth taking a peek at.

These hands:
Made these earrings:
Coming up next: my jeweler of a father's !! ooooooh, get excited!

By Our Hands We Live, Post the First

Let's all give Gail and nice warm "Thank you!" and for sending me a photo of her delightfully gross looking hands!!

Gail is a wool dyer. Which is amazing. She has the most wonderful wools, which you can buy on Etsy!!
Which equals=

Thanks Kangaroo Dyer!!

I can't wait to see who will send in a picture next. Long live dirty hands!!

How magical is this cake ?

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Kate Spade

Every time I walk by a Kate Spade store (which is approx. twice a year) I need to go in and touch as many things as possible before the sleek haired girls behind the counter start giving me weird looks.

Everything is so pretty! With just enough quirk to make me love it.

I remember seeing these in Boston once and thinking they were the most darling things ever (Thanks Ms. Goddard for reminding me about my love of Kate Spade!)

That dress is on sale!! $249!!!! Woe is me.

Also love these biddy earrings:
Hm. It's too hard choosing things to post. It's kind of making me bitter.

I'm going to go eat cranberry cheese and peanut butter bumpers. Good?

Public Response: A Dirty Thumb

Oh hello, world. I didn't see you there. While I have your attention, I, Rachel, would like to talk about something. Something serious.

Why my finger nail is dirty in this infamous picture:


Sooo, my thumb nail is a little dirty. The nail is sort of nicked and discolored. I have torn cuticles.

Below you will find some highlights from comments on various websites. I would like to take this time to share my side of the dirty-tumb-debacle of 2009.

Via Tampa Bay.com:

"Couldn't they have found a hand model with clean fingernails? Eeeew."

Let's take a moment to educate. The dirt = polishing compound. It's dark, and stains your fingers. And without it, no jewelry would be shiny!

I especially like this conspiracy theory. This guy probably doesn't believe we landed on the moon either. From Geekologie:

"FAKE!!!!

This is a complete photoshop job. You can tell its a fake because the shadow's are all wrong.

It's like in the Super Mario Bros. movie when Mario finds a mushroom on a spider web."

Also from Geekologie:

"if that is your hand with those rings on it, you need to seriously consider having a manicure because that nail is messed up yo!"

Maybe if you bought my jewelry, I'd be able to afford a manicure.

And, one comment my boyfriend said that he saw on a website,

"look at that gangrenous thumb!!!"

I'm proud to say that my thumb is still as dirty as could be. Well, maybe a little cleaner than it was in the picture. I mean, I do wash my hands.

Some people, however are nice, and appreciate a well-worked finger nail:

Via Boing Boing:

"Heheh. Very neat. It looks like she was so excited to take a picture, that she didn't wash her hands after making them. That's cool. I suddenly want to see more dirty models."

He is so right. I WAS so excited! I DIDN'T wash my hands!!

And that's all I want to say.

Thank you.

Depressed.

This is how I feel:
It's hard to go from being internet famous for three days to not so internet famous. It's a blessing and a curse, I tells ya. I'm crashing hard.

At Long Last!

I got more druzy pieces!

What a ride.

What a wild, wild ride it's been. Internet fame isn't as easy and fun as you think! People make fun of your thumbs, say your jewelry looks like it was made from tin cans (ummm, hello, can't you read? It's silver!), and, again, make fun of your thumbs.

A dirty thumb means I'm working hard!!! Get on board!

Anyway, I made another possible combo of Pac Man Rings, this time Ms. Pacman with black onyx:

I chose someone with cleaner thumbs to model them. Even though my new best friend at the post office said my dirty fingers were "beautiful." So take that!


Aaaaand now it's definitely time for a bath and a trashy magazine.

What a doozy!

It's been quite a day of making things and fulfilling orders! I did manage to make a set of Ms. Pacman rings though...

Mother of Pearl rings that can also be worn along or as stackables, and Ms. Pacman has darling little eye lashes and a yellow brass bow!

best thing of my life

I was watching my millionth episode of how i met your mother online before going to sleep (i've become dependent on it, don't judge), which was something B and I would do constantly last year when we lived together in Boston. I've never laughed harder during one episode when they are talking about miracles and the guys are throwing pencils into the ceiling and then one falls and bounces on a table and go into barney's nose.

And then I watched that again last night and had to send ben a picture I took of the screen paused.

Lame? i think not!!
hahaha. in other iphone photo news, how do we feel about this dress? ignore the goofy smile. the pockets are located in unfortunate places right on the hips. Who would do that? But I might kind of love it. And it's $20.00. Sigh. What a hard life.

Shamed.

I submitted my paper christmas stockings (not that I have much experience with stockings, but they are so darn cute!) for Creature Comfort's Holiday Craft-a-Day spectacular (not its real name).

But my project pales in comparison to this beautiful free gift tag tutorial! The pictures! The steps! The tags!! I want to make it right now!! It also made me realize how empty my life is without a circular hole punch like the one she uses.


For all the instructions, go here!

A wee sleepy...

Wanted: One unpaid Intern.

I will buy you a mocha every day (it's expensive, with homemade chocolate milk!!)

I will talk about tv with you.

You will help me make sense of my life and all of my orders!

Who's in?

For visual pleasures:

I made these earrings recently which I'm in love with:

I'm seeing the Felice Brothers in Brooklyn New Years, and want a happy-go-lucky outfit to ring (bring?) in the new year. This shirt from Asos just screams, "I'm having so much fun and I'm so stylish I don't even care that this shirt is going to accentuate my hips!"

I think I need it.

Well, I never.

My big bro says that having haters means you're winning.

Take that, mean people who leave mean comments about my pacman rings on websites! Hah!

Anyway, I have more orders than I ever could imagine. And I have more druzy coming soon, so that's exciting!

OHMY how could I forget. I just got back seeing Coco Before Chanel. What. An. In.Spi.Ration. Sad and darling and pretty and snarky. I loved it.

Now you have to listen to this song:



It's how she came about the nick name coco. Now go see it!

??

I probably spend 96% of my day scanning referring sights on my google analytics, most of which don't make any sense whatsoever. I am glad though, because it allowed me to have this enter my life:

I'm not sure what it is because the website I found it on is in a language I am very very very not familiar with. But he's like a cube!

Heres the website, you can translate it if you want. I prefer the intrigue.

New Food Requirement

Ready for this?

English Muffin (toasted), cream cheese, honey, and pistachios.

I swear to god.

I'll take a picture of tomorrow's breakfast to prove how marvelous a thing it is.

But now, for your retail pleasure: some things I would want to buy if I wanted to buy things:

By Aspen Bottle Holders

By The Craft Pantry

Ben got me this card once, and I highly recommend it:
By Mean Cards

How do people put together gift guides? It's hard. But these things are nice things.