Published - Ceremony Magazine 2011

The Huntley Santa Monica wedding published in 2011 Ceremony Magzine, LA

2011 has started with a BANG. It just keeps getting better. Last year I had the pleasure of designing and planning the wedding of Adam and Monique. They live in New York, and wanted to marry in Santa Monica. More specifically at The Huntley Hotel. It's where they fell in love.

This chic and modern couple trusted Wedding Jeannie to bring together a dream team. And what a team it was. The wedding was contemporary, crisp, and according to Ceremony Magazine, a "wedding of distinction".

Thanks to our award winning photographer, Marianne Lozano of Studio Lozano, the images were stunning. She documented all of the fine details, that went into making this celebration a reflection of Monique and Adam, as a couple. I pride myself on listenting to my couples. Discovering who makes them tick is a gift that I've been blessed with. Three photographers came to mind immediately for this couple. Marianne was the first they met. After she left, they cancelled the remaining meetings, and hired her immediately!

My team of wedding professionals made this entire day everything the couple dreamed of. I'd like to recognize them for their hard work and dedication:

Photography - Studio Lozano
Ceremony & Reception - The Huntley Hotel
Floral Design - Paradise Delight Floral & Event Styling
DJ - Music On The Move http://www.musiconthemove.biz/
Ceremony Musicians - Del Lago Trio
Officiant - Rev. Clint Hufft
Linens - Glow Concepts Fine Linens
And of course the Wedding Jeannie Team...Veronica Medrano and Mitch Ward, I'm nothing without you.

Things Organized Neatly

{Blove}

Hello, friends.  I've missed you.  Our week has been busy, but good.  Since we've last spoke, I've had an emergency root canal...woot, woot!  My dad (Papa) came in from out of town, my dear Abuelo is in the hospital, and the audiologist found fluid in my little man's ears.  Praise God they're not infected as he already has hearing loss - have I mentioned that before?  It doesn't sound like great things happened, but we've had some invaluable family moments that I wouldn't trade.  To mark the end of our week (and the beautiful day today), we took a family picture...

Now on to Blove!

BLOG + LOVE = BLOVE

This week's featured blog is called Smile Monsters (cute, right?).  No matter your crafting background or experience, you are going to love BLOVE this one.  Priding her projects as being simple and economical, you are sure to find something to top your to-do list!  

 As I navigate my way around Smile Monsters I think, "she makes it look so easy!"  Mother of three (two boys and a girl) and creator of a well established blog with followers, advertisers, and a killer tutorial and recipe list, Jo does it all.  Stop by and currently you'll find a great round up of Valentine ideas like these:

tic-tac Valentines

 Valentine cards

Valentine book marks

just to name a few.  

Stop by any other time and you'll find things like...

a really great behavior chart idea

this sooo cute rosey ring

toothbrush bracelet... that's right, bracelets made from toothbrushes

up-cyclers eat your heart out!

and these are just a few of the super creative ideas she comes up with!

Please stop by and show some Blove.  You will make her day, and she will definitely make yours!

Happy Monday!

White By Vera Wang

"White by Vera Wang"

The name "Vera Wang" is synonymous with "Wedding Gowns". I can't tell you how often our brides dream of a Vera for their wedding day. Luxury is the key word in describing a Vera Wang gown. Known as the celebrity wedding gown designer of the rich and famous, it seems Vera has shifted her sensibilities.

Ms. Wang has partnered with David's Bridal to launch an exclusive line for their stores, called "White By Vera Wang". The full line will be available for purchase on February 11, 2011. You can see a collection of photographs and videos at The David's Bridal website. The gowns and accessories are priced from $600 - $1400.

Wedding Jeannie finds them to be very haute couture and modern. The designs are soft, flirty and feminine. The Vera Wang brand is represented beautifully. Each on of these gowns says luxury and timeless style.

We look forward to seeing them in person. I'm sure you're excited about it too!

Lonny

www.rivermarketeventplace.com

www.rivermarketeventplace.com

My Scandinavian Retreat

Ready For Spring

The cold weather continues. Not the intense freeze that we had last month but generally, it's still cold and water temperatures are still hovering around the point where water turns hard. I'm a bit fed up of it now and ready for Spring but I'm still getting out and more importantly, still catching.

I had a day on the syndicate lake this week. I only caught one pike, a fish of 9lb 14oz which I thought might be my first double from the water but it wasn't to be. I got it on the bank and then realised I'd made a stupid mistake in leaving my forceps at home. Fortunately the hooks were right on the edge of the mouth so I was able to unhook it with my fingers but that was the end of my day's fishing. You just can't fish for pike without adequate unhooking gear so i packed up early and went home.

It was particularly disappointing since I had just discovered where the pike were. They had herded thousands of roach into a large reedbed and were sitting at the edge of the reeds making occasional forays into the vegetation, ploughing into the bait fish and taking a mouthful. I was astonished at how many roach were there, packed like sardines in a can in just a few inches of water. They went berserk every time a predator attacked, making quite a noise, which is how I discovered where they were. Look at the short film and you'll know what I mean.


After that it was out with the boat for a couple of days. Denis joined me but we found it quite tough, as did all the others fishing the lake at the time. To cut a long story short we had just nine pike between us with the biggest one weighing 19lbs 1oz. I caught this on a legered sardine in quite deep water very late in the day. Indeed a pattern is forming with regard to times of captures. We're getting very few runs in the middle part of the day just now, almost everything is coming in the first and last hours of daylight. That's the behaviour I expect later in the year, after the start of March, the pike can usually be caught all day long in January but then, this is no ordinary winter.



I had three doubles in all and one of them, an eleven pounder, was quite spectacular in that it was almost pure white. It wasn't an albino, just very very pale. Fish sometimes turn pale like this if they're living in very coloured water but of course this one was in very clear water so there must be some other reason for this phenomenon. Perhaps the fish was blind, although it's eyes looked clear enough.



That's 31 doubles since the start of the pike season but another week without a twenty pounder. Just where are those big fish right now?

Pre-order Wire Art Jewelry Workshop!

I just received word from Interweave Press today that Wire Art Jewelry Workshop is available for pre-order! They sent me an email with lots of beautiful pictures from the book and a great description.
WAJWorkshop is the book I sold to Interweave Press when I realized that publishing a how-to jewelry making book in black and white (Wire Art Jewelry) was a big mistake. Others have self-published similar books in b&w, so I never anticipated that it would pose a problem. However, I do listen to my readers and appreciate the comments posted and emailed by my customers, so I got the message loud and clear when they told me how disappointed they were in the b&w version of Wire Art Jewelry.
The projects in this book are some of my favorites, and, although I am biased, I have to say that I think they're gorgeous. I certainly would want to learn how to make them if I had not designed them myself! So, I sold the book—including text and photos that I took myself—to Interweave Press. They used my text and step-by-step photos, and took new "beauty shots" of the finished pieces. They redesigned the entire book so that it is beautifully laid out, inspirational, and easy to read. Last summer I went out to Loveland, Colorado to tape an hour-long DVD to accompany the WAJWorkshop book, and soon the book-with-DVD package will be available to everyone.
The best news (to me) is that although this book is stuffed with projects and technique, the editors were able to work with the designers to include every single project! Not one thing is missing from the original book, and I'm thrilled with that.
WAJWorkshop's release date is in April, but you can pre-order it now by clicking here.
I hope you like it.
Happy wrapping,
Sharilyn

Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles

I like tulle.

New shades... new loves...

The Yvestown Blog

Illustrations

I haven't updated in a while so I thought I would post some of my recent work:

(click on images for bigger size)

Original photo here

Drawing I did of Marion Cotillard, the quote is from Inception.

Art Meets Fashion in San Diego

One of the events going on in my life, is involvement with "Art Meets Fashion" here in San Diego. This is the brainchild and project of the San Diego Visual Arts Network
http://www.ArtMeetsFashion.org.

Teams consisting of an artist, a fashion designer, a documenter and an educator have been formed, and are in the process of creating wearable art that will be displayed in a fashion show as well as a gallery exhibit in various venues of San Diego.

I am the documentation person, and have been taking photos and videos of our team.

The team consists of
Osbaldo Ahumada, Fashion Designer
Duke Windsor, Artist
Andrea Marx, Educator
and my self, Susan (as the person who documents the process)

Here is a you-tube video where you can learn more about our project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjs8R4WJnTE

Busy, busy...

I'm so sorry for not posting anything for so long! It has been so busy over here with so many big projects in the works. I finished two huge projects this past week and am gearing up for another one next week. I will have much more news in the next month... so many exciting things. But on a completely random note, I really like this dress and wish it was in stock in my size! Hopefully soon...

Valentine's Day Jewelry Contest




Wedding Jeannie announces Adorn Brides CONTEST!

 Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. Wedding Jeannie gets happy about the thought of pretty little cards, with cherubs and hearts. Oh and heart shaped boxes of candy...I wish I could have them all year long. As a little girl, I looked forward to shopping for the perfect valentine cards to give to all of my friends, and of course my secret crush. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE VALENTINE MEMORY? If you tell me, you could be wearing DIAMOND JEWELRY on your wedding day!

If you're a faithful reader of my blog, you'll remember that I posted about an amazing jewelry rental company called Adorn Brides. They rent diamond jewelry for your wedding day. Adorn asked me if I'd like to help them in spreading the word about an exciting CONTEST in honor of Valentine's Day. Diamonds? Valentine's Day? Of course I had to oblige.

Adorn is giving the lucky WINNER  a GIFT CARD in the amount of $225.00, towards the rental of ANY JEWELRY found on http://www.adorn.com/! The photos above are only a small sample of what can be found on their amazing website.

How can you be the winner? Here's the skinny:

• Leave a COMMENT on this blog post about your favorite Valentine's Day memory, along with your email address, by February 10, 2011.
• Winner will be chosen in a random drawing..
• Wedding Jeannie will contact the winner on that beloved day, FEBRUARY 14, 2011

Disclaimer:  Winner of the contest will receive a gift card in the amount of $225 towards the rental of any jewelry found on Adorn.com.  Jewelry is subject to availability, we cannot guarantee that all pieces will be available on the date of your choose.  Winner will be responsible for shipping costs and any sales tax.  In addition, winner will be required to pass Adorn's background/credit check and place a security deposit (fully refundable if returned within Adorn's guidelines).  For complete rental details, please read Adorn's Terms and Conditions at  http://www.adorn.com/legal.aspx.

Want to be the lucky DIAMOND WEARING winner. Let the commenting begin. We wish you luck.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Wedding Jeannie Awarded 2011 Bride's Choice Award



Los Angeles, California – January 26, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled  to announce Wedding Jeannie has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Planning! Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire,  the largest wedding review site in the nation. Wedding Jeannie stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year. “WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Wedding Jeannie for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.” We are happy to announce that Wedding Jeannie is among the very best Wedding Planner within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011. For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/wedding-jeannie-downey/dc07cafb35dacc7d.html For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com. About WeddingWire, Inc. WeddingWire.com, the nation's leading technology company serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 local wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives local businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. Businesses that join the WeddingWire Network appear on WeddingWire.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), ProjectWedding.com and Weddingbee.com (both part of eHarmony), and Celebrations.com (part of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, NASDAQ: FLWS).

Traditional Home

Copper Swirl Stick-Pin last Thursday

I'm finally able to upload some photos from the class I taught last Thursday at Monica's Quilt & Bead Creations in Palm Desert! It's been super-busy here since then, because I'm working on some new jewelry projects that I hope to include in a new book to be published sometime in the future...
Anyway, my finished pin is pictured above, after I got it home and antiqued it in LOS.

Here are a couple of happy students, snowbirds from Canada...

And here are two more happy students! We had a very enjoyable day at Monica's, and surrounded by the beautiful quilts in the classroom we could not help but be inspired.

As you can see, lots of color and student bling-bling was on display...

I love this finished pin as well, especially the use of flower-shaped beads and green leaves, which I would not have thought of using myself. Lovely!
I also showed the students how to alter the basic stick-pin design and turn it into a necklace. Nobody finished that in class; it's a bit complex and we didn't have time for two complete projects. But later on I'll photograph my sample necklace and show it here on the blog.
In other news, I now have FOUR students signed up for my Cortona Wire-Art Adventure in Italy! The tour organizer is offering $100 discount to everyone who signs up with a deposit by January 31, so if you're on the fence, I encourage you to enroll right away. We have lots of fun excursions planned as well as some beautiful jewelry to make that will forever remind us of our adventures in Italy. For information, click here.
Happy wrapping,
Sharilyn

Waking Wednesday #10

Well, hello there!  Welcome to the tenth edition of the Waking Wednesday link party!  Due to my desperate need to spend time with my family...and sleep, I do not have any featured links today, but you can check out the great entries from last week {here}.  I apologize to everyone who participated.  Next week I will post features from last and this week's party.  

Ok, 'nuff chit-chat.  Let's get this party started!

Here's what you do:

1.  Become a follower

2.  Post your great ideas

3.  Visit someone else's great idea

4.  Grab a button!

Thanks for stopping by, I'm so glad that you did!

Traditional Home