A Few of My Favorite Pieces

Check out some of the latest and greatest! This is a brief slide show of some of the pieces that I've decided are my favorites... at least for today :)

Featured Artists at Gallery 141 in April!!!

This is exciting news for ZiZi Designs!


During the month of April, we will be the featured artists at Gallery 141, a hip and exciting gallery in downtown Lancaster, on Gallery Row (on Water Street). This is a great picture, which I borrowed from their blog, because it speaks of the energy and creativity that the artists at Gallery 141 bring to the artist' community in Lancaster.

This will include:

• First Friday (April 4th)


• Art Walk 2008 (April 18th-20th) http://www.lancasterartwalk.com/


• A Trunk Show (to be scheduled)


• And our jewelry on display and for sale at the Gallery all month long!

Check out Gallery 141's blog: http://www.gallery141.blogspot.com/



We are busy working on new designs and building up our stock. The workshop is chock-full of great supplies and positive energy.

Check out some of the latest pieces at our Etsy site: http://www.zizidesigns.etsy.com/

We are thrilled and honored to be heading into this phase of our endeavors! Thanks in advance to Alana and the rest of the folks at Gallery 141 for including us!


Also, MANY thanks to those who have made purchases on Etsy. We've sold 7 items so far! Very cool!!!

Jewelry Show at West End Mennonite Church

We recently had a small show of our jewelry at West End Mennonite Church in Lancaster as part of the fundraising dinner for our friend who's being supported through ZiZi Designs Jewelry. It was a good turn-out for the benefit dinner and the food was great - all Middle Eastern food - fabulous!

We have some new display strategies, which seem to be working out well. I also have recently seen some really cool picture frames converted into earring holders, so we might be branching out a bit to experiment with something like that.

We're hoping to have several shows this Spring, so we're working hard to build up our stock. After the holidays, we had gotten kind of low, but we're back on track -- now with new, fresh designs, materials, colors, shapes and sizes. You name it - we have something for everything! We love to see, from one day to the next, how our creativity juices change and evolve!

If you're interested in setting up a jewelry show at your home, church, club or elsewhere, let us know! E-mail us at zizidesigns@gmail.com. We have great jewelry, for a great cause!

My First (and Favored) Birthing Necklace

My dear friend Jennifer Gwen Jagger was graduating from University of Pennsylvania's Midwifery School on December 15th, 2007, so I thought "this woman who will help to bring new life into the world surely needs a birthing necklace!" and thus, went to my workshop to start the magnificent project. I had previously been asked to make a fertility bracelet for a friend of a friend who was trying to conceive, so while I was conjuring up ideas for the fertility bracelet, I knew that there was more out their that was related to some of the things I love most - women's health, childbirth and more! Those thoughts came flooding back into my brain as I sat down at my work table. I did a great deal of research about different stones, symbols, characteristics, etc. that were associated with birthing, fertility, strength of women, etc., and combined several of those components to create what I believed to be a stunning piece of work that Jennifer wears with elegance, charisma and flare! Just what those birthing moms need to see glistening on her neck whilst they're in their most difficult, painful, yet joyous moments of life...

Below is the description of the symbolism poured into her necklace that I presented to her along with the necklace on the day of her graduation:

Symbolic Birthing Necklace
Designed by ZiZi Designs Kirsten Hope especially for
Certified Nurse Midwife Jennifer Gwen Jagger

The materials used to create this necklace have the following significance:

SPIRAL:
The spiral symbolizes the great circle of life.

MOONSTONE:
Like the moon, moonstone is a symbol of feminine energy. The meaning of moonstone is for the balance of emotions: balancing, calming and healing. It helps the wearer bring their emotions under control. It helps balance the yin and yang.
Also like the moon, the meaning of moonstone is about cycles. For example, moonstone jewelry is helpful during a woman’s menstrual cycle. As with the moon, moonstone symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings. Arabian women, in tune with the feminine and fertile aspects of moonstone, would sew moonstone into their robes to be blessed with many children.

JADE:
Love, inner peace, harmony and balance…jade is also regarded as a symbol of the good, the beautiful and the precious. It embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage, yet it also symbolizes the female-erotic.

SILVER
The use of silver for its medical and therapeutic benefits dates back thousands of years. The Romans were of the first to document the "magical healing" powers of silver. New Age healers have taken silver’s conductive abilities and translated that into the belief that it can conduct the body’s energy. They believe it can remove negative energy from the body and channel the positive energy of other minerals into the patient.
In general, silver is believed to benefit circulation, help lungs and throat, and detoxify the blood, to aid in the treatment of degenerative brain diseases, balancing of hormones and chemicals and improvement of nerve impulse transmission. They also use it for treating hepatitis and detoxifying the body.
Healers recommend silver for hormonal and/or chemical imbalances and improving the transmission of nerve impulses, all of which can affect the patient’s mental state. They also ascribe powers for improving communications, reducing conflicts and increasing popularity, transforming energies and negativity and cleansing/balancing emotions.

Feel good about the jewelry you wear

The past two years have been amazing in terms of what ZiZi Designs Jewelry has become. What began as a bunch of girlfriends sitting around during a reunion weekend "crafting" has blossomed into a wonderful way to support a friend working in the Middle East as a missionary and also a way to relax, have fun, and use the creative portion of my brain. It also is a great way to connect with other friends, unwind and chat about the things of life.

Most of the sales of ZiZi Designs occurs through "trunk shows" or "jewelry parties" hosted by friends and family in their homes. Women love the opportunity to get together, enjoy great fellowship and some yummy treats AND shop for the perfect accessories to all their outfits. I'm incredibly grateful for those who have hosted shows.

Just last week, I started an etsy.com site -- www.zizidesigns.etsy.com. It's a whole new venue for me, but I'm hoping that it will grow in its own way. You can see pictures from some of my pieces at the side. I hope to be adding more in the near future and improve the photo quality of the pieces we have for sale.

ZiZi Designs wouldn't be possible as it is today without the incredible amount of help that my friends Heidi and Cristy have provided. Heidi continues to "bead" with me every Tuesday night, but sadly, Cristy has left the US and headed to Malawi, where she's serving as the Deputy Medical Director in a Seventh Day Adventist missionary hospital. More than her creative, funky style, we miss her presence, her smile, her encouragement and her wit! Interesting, we know, that a SDA gal was so skilled at making jewelry!

More to come as we bead our way to bringing the love and peace of Jesus to the people of the world!