Toodlebunny

ECOuture pyrite n' chains bracelet

We always seem to blog about the new designers to our shops, but it’s always nice to show some love to our favourite designers that we’ve been fortunate enough to carry for a substantial length of time as well. So without further ado here is a little bit more about the fabulous TOODLEBUNNY Designs…

Toodlebunny Designs is a unique handcrafted collection of jewellery by Vancouver based jewellery designer Trudy Wynans. Featuring 14k gold fill and sterling silver, her asymmetrical designs embody natural elements of bone, wood, horn and semiprecious stones. She draws her inspiration from nature’s flora and fauna, evidenced by the use of birds, leaves and tusks that have become signatures of her designs. We have carried Toodlebunny for a quite a while now… it’s been almost six years I think (my how time flies!) since Eva came across Trudy selling her jewelry at a craft show just down the street at Heritage Hall. It’s been great to see how the line has evolved over time and how Trudy has developed as a designer.

Here are some of the latest Toodlebunny pieces we’ve received, including two pieces from the new one-of-a-kind ECOuture line. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

ECOuture 'Golden Sergeant" Earrings

Buddha Mala Tassel Bracelet

Moroccan Sun Earrings

Quartz Point & Leather Necklace

Pearl Bird Nest Necklace

Antiqued Feathers and Pyrite Earrings

Skull Mala Tassel Bracelet

Fallen Angel Earrings

AstridLily Jewelry

It seems to be the summer of fabulous new jewelry designers at Barefoot Contessa – there are so many great designers coming in to the stores right now it’s hard to keep up! So far we have introduced you to type B and social experiment, and we are now excited to showcase one of the newest jewelry designers to the store, AstridLily!

A Los Angeles favourite, AstridLily is a free-spirited and whimsical, yet elegant, line of jewelry hand-crafted by Vancouver designer Tara Nish. We actually discovered AstridLily and it’s lovely creator this past May during our stint the Got Craft? show, and knew immediately that it would be a perfect fit for Barefoot Contessa. Each piece uses only the finest metals, precious and semi-precious gemstones, and every stone is individually hand-wrapped with wire. It’s difficult to express just how gorgeous and unique each piece is with words alone, so please take a look at all the pictures below to get a better idea about why we love AstridLily so much…

Startripper Necklace ($275) Mystic Pink Topaz, Smokey Quartz and Moss Aquamarine are individually wrapped in 14kt gold wire with delicate strands of sterling silver and 14kt gold fill chain dangle playfully.

'If I Had You' earrings ($149) - AAA Blue Sapphire, London Blue Topaz, Moss Aquamarine, Pink Topaz and pale yellow Chalcedony gemstones individually wrapped in 14kt gold fill wire, with other 14kt gold fill components.

'French Girl in LA' ($139) - vibrant Orange Garnet and Pink African Ruby rondelles, marquis cut Pink Mystic Topaz gemstones, and Pink Amythyst briolettes are combined wih 14kt gold fill wire.

'We Used to Wait' ($169) - layers and layers of the most beautiful precious and semi-precious stones in delicious shades of pink. Rose Quartz, Pink Sapphire, Mystic Pink Topaz, Ivory Moonstone and Pink Tourmaline mingle amidst 14kt gold chain.

'Nice Dream' earrings ($79) African Pink Rubies cascade down circles of 14kt gold vermeil chain.

'We Will Become Silhouettes' necklace ($139) - 14kt gold fill hand-wrapped around exquisite Moss Aquamarine briolettes with a 24kt gold vermeil chain.

'Stadium Love' earrings ($129) - Mystic Blue Topaz gemstones are hand-wrapped with 14kt gold fill wire to create these beautiful flowers. Each flower has a genuine 24kt gold vermeil nugget in it's center.

'1999' earrings ($69) - brushed gold orchids dangle with delicate strands of gold-filled chain and Moss Aquamarine briolettes.

'My Bloody Valentine' necklace ($149) - dozens of soft Mystic Blue Topaz rondelles indivudually hand-wrapped on a 14kt gold fill chain.

a type B personality

It’s no secret that we here at Barefoot Contessa have a love for all things vintage – it’s evident from the moment you step through the shop door. There’s just something about the romance and beauty of things carefully saved from decades past that we love. So you can only imagine our delight when we discovered a jewelry line that combines genuine vintage jewelry components alongside vintage ephemera and other cute little what-nots…

… ladies (and possibly gentlemen) allow us to introduce you to type B!

type B necklaces all in a row...

type B is created locally by Vancouver jewelry designer Brittany van Dyck, whose love of vintage bits and pieces quite possibly rivals our own. We were pretty sure we loved her jewelry line the moment we saw it, but then she brought in two awesome vintage suitcases to display it all in and totally sealed the deal. When it comes to describing type B, the designer herself does it best:

“each necklace preserves original found ephemera which is pressed between hand cut glass from broken picture frames. The silver hand soldered finish ensured durability while framing a delicate piece of history”

type B soldered pendants

Fun type B facts:

- the insides of the soldered pendants are 100% original, vintage product. Copies and reproductions need not apply.

- the  soldered pendants are made from hand cut glass from upcycled broken picture frames (waste not, want not) with a hand soldered finish. The solder is lead and nickel free and contains 50% silver – therefore it acts just like sterling silver and can be polished and cared for the exact same way.

- all the brass pieces are made with vintage dead stock  (ie stock from days of yore that has never been used) so once it’s gone… it’s gone.

cameos and lockets all lined up...

cute little studs

new pyrrha jewelry

We recently received what is arguably our largest order from Pyrrha ever and we were all super excited not only to see the Pyrrha jewelry cases get refilled, but all the fantastic new crests and seals that Pyrrha has added to their ‘Wax Seal’ collection as well!

You can check out some pictures of just a few (emphasis on just a few) of the individual wax seal necklace that we just got in stock on our facebook page.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Pyrrha, it’s an awesome line of jewelry out of Vancouver created with reclaimed sterling silver and hand casted from 19th Century wax seals.  Rich with symbolism, each of the wax seal pieces have unique meanings associated with them derived from heraldry. Since each piece is crafted by hand,  no two pendants are exactly the same – which when coupled with the deep symbolic meanings of each seal and what they signify to the wearer, it creates a truly unique and meaningful piece of jewelry.  There are several different wax seal pendants to choose from, all with different meanings, which makes them excellent to give as gifts for any occasion and to just about anyone on your list . They can be worn individually, or layered to create an even more personal meaning for the wearer.