Designing the New Packaging!

Hundreds of color swatches, hundreds of materials! Overwhelming, but so exciting! We're designing the greatest little ring boxes and the greatest wedding band boxes. We'll keep you posted!

A History of Love

My grandparents, a history of love, and happily married until the day they died. How we all loved you!

Love Letter #3

Love Letter #3, no date, but my grandfather references being married for over a year, and he references the end of the war. He says that he'll be coming home soon to that Pennsylvania town (New Kensington, which is just outside of Pittsburgh) to raise some kids, five, ten or more!

Love Letter #2

Love Letter #2 dated August 17th, 1945. My grandfather mentions their marriage, and how he'll always love her. He ends it by saying that to others his poem may "sound a little queer, but after all, Mamie, they don't know you dear."

Love Letter #1

The first love letter dated August 1, 1945. My grandfather mentions meeting my grandmother at Walzer's and that he knew she was the girl of his dreams.

Old Love Letters

Melvin Eugene and Mamie Fennell

June 26th will mark what would have been my grandparents' 68th wedding anniversary. When looking through some old photos that belonged to my grandmother, we came across a series of old love letters that my grandfather wrote to her at the end of World War II. They are so adorable and charming, I had to share them!

Ring Pillows

I've never been a fan of ring pillows. I usually find them too frilly and tacky, but I figured there have to be some tasteful options out there, and I did in fact find a few. I'm especially liking what appears to be a trend, these little porcelain ring bowls. Check out some of my favorites that I found on etsy.

Personalized Ring Bowl by Elm Studio Online.

Lacy Porcelain Ring Plate by: Sumiko

A 3 inch mini by: Wise Impressions

Love this one! Damask Ring Bearer Dish by : Dawn Dalto

And, the only pillow I found that I really like. It's bright and modern! By: 789 Design

Fishes Eddy Mugs

I love these "We Do" mugs by Fishes Eddy!

Tobias Wong

I've always had a lot of respect and a fascination with Tobias Wong. His work commenting on post 9-11 American stuck with me, having been living in New York at that time, and having seen the second tower fall. And, then of course his "The Diamond Project" grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, the tragedy that is his untimely death on June 2, has prompted me to mention Tobi here, so some of you that may be unfamiliar with him can enjoy his albeit brief, but exceptional talent.

Tobias Wong

The Diamond Project

Naming the rings...

There has been much discussion in the past few months of how we were going to name all of the new rings. Style numbers are so boring, and probably because we've spent so much time with each ring, we really love them! They're dear to our hearts, and we just felt that they deserved some personality.

Here are some of my favorites:

www.ringfingerstudio.com

Clarity

The GIA clarity scale includes eleven clarity grades ranging from Flawless to Included 3. Diamonds occur naturally and are formed under the Earth's crust, so it is extremely rare to find a diamond that lacks internal inclusions and external clarity characteristics. These byproducts of their formation help gemologists separate natural diamonds from synthetics and simulants. They are also used to identify individual stones. (They're like a diamond's fingerprint)

The fewer inclusions in a diamond, the more rare and therefore the more valuable the diamond. However, diamonds with a clarity grade of SI1 (Slightly Included 1) and above have inclusions that are nearly impossible to detect without the aid of magnification. So, the SI clarity range is a great way to get a diamond that looks great to the naked eye, and also saves a little.

While hard at work...

Chris brought me a home made cappuccino with a heart.

Color

One of the 4 c's (Color, Cut, Clarity, and Carat Weight), Color is surely one of the first things you'll learn about when looking to buy a diamond. Simply put, here's how it works.

The GIA color scale extends from D to Z with D being colorless and Z being light yellow or brown.

Many people think of gem quality diamonds as being colorless, however truly colorless diamonds are extremely rare. Most diamonds used in jewelry are nearly colorless with tints of yellow or brown. These tints of color present in diamonds that fall in the near colorless range (G through J) are very difficult to detect with the naked eye under normal lighting conditions.

Yellow or Brown diamonds that exhibit more color than a Z color diamond are classified as "fancy" colored diamonds.

Welcome my Hubby!

A warm welcome to my husband, Chris! He has just started his own blog, "Ring Finger Studio...According to Him". While I pride myself on easing the anxiety men experience while about to make the biggest purchase and biggest commitment of their life, my takes on the subjects of jewelry, engagements, and weddings as a whole are decidedly feminine. So, Chris is going to be blogging in counter to my own posts which are more for the ladies. He's going to be giving some tips and inside advice on everything from the decision to propose through his experiences in our first year of marriage.

I wish you luck, Chris, and may your trials help our grooms-to-be. I love you!

Check out his first post here!