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"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." by William E. Henley

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

wedding wednesday's... but on a thursday again



Spent most of the day in the studio working on different fun projects.. One of them being a prototype for a wedding crown I wanna wear. I made a rough one in copper just to get an idea of the size and style I am looking for. I think it might work. I am trying to picture how it would look in all nice and clean silver...

Can you picture it?

love ~tess

 

Monday, December 20, 2010

Sunday, December 19, 2010

announcement delayed

I am overwhelmed by the number of entries on my giveaway.

Thank you so much.

Stella and I are working on getting all the names jotted down and it's taking longer than I thought it would. So even though I really wanted to be on time (for once...) and announce the winner you'll have to bear with us and wait until tomorrow....

:o)


Love ~tess

Friday, December 17, 2010

pepparkakor & lussebullar





Sometimes I just have to go all crazy Swedish.
Can't believe it's only a week left.
Must wrap David's gifts... 



Have a fantastic weekend everyone!
I love you ~tess

Thursday, December 16, 2010

wedding (wednesday's) thursday

Finished my shoes...

Eeeek

I think I will just let the images speak for themselves

Swoon







Wednesday, December 15, 2010

late night shop update

shop update TODAY at 8pm (philly time)

Sorry for the late night update but time ran away for me and I will not have time to update during the day. Contact me through Etsy if you have any questions about these new pieces!
 
~tess
 

Let's talk about blog - Where do you aspire to be in 5 years?

The Handmade division team do a blog post 
on a common topic on the 15th of each month...

I thought a lot about this.
 
I want to be a mother...
That comes absolutely first.
I am no spring chicken and I've always 
wanted a bunch of kids.
feels like I need to get started soon...

I can see it so clearly in my mind. 

I'm standing in front of our countryside house. Apron and all. Probably wearing wooden clogs too. Lisa and stella are chasing a mouse around the house. And our children are chasing them. I can smell the fresh bread baking in the oven. David is in his studio. The converted red barn. I spend a lot of time outside. In the garden. With my apple tree's and my gooseberry bushes. Planting seeds in the little greenhouse. 

Soil under my finger nails. 
And the sun in my heart.

When the kids take a nap I'll go in the studio and play with metal and stones. I'm not rushed. I can take my time. There is no soul sucking day job I have to go to. There's time. Time to reflect. 
Time to enjoy. Time to smile.
It's an old house with a big porch with one of those swings. That's where David and I sit after the kids have gone to bed. Sipping our tea. Cozy under the blanket.  Grateful for everything we've been blessed with. 
I can so clearly see us getting old together.


I want to be a wife, a mother and a better person. One should always strive to be a better person.. and I want to spend my time in places that makes me happy, surrounded by people I love.

No more compromises.

So there you have it. 
Maybe more of a dream than anything. 
But that is where I aspire to be in 5 years.
~tess


for more thoughts on the subject:

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

shop update tomorrow


circus butterfly brooch
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

tomorrow wednesday
in the afternoon :o)

Lots of goodies...
Yummy...


oh and the wedding wednesday will be a wedding thursday this week..
So you will just have to be patient :o) This wednesday will be dedicated to Let's talk about blog. It's a good one.

love ~tess

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A little waterfall - Giveaway



I made this especially for you. 
A sterling silver filigree waterfall with 
a scrumptious Sea foam Chalcedony.
I adore this color.

Finished with a 18 inch chain with a 2 inch extender chain.


So what do you have to do in order to win this little waterfall?
I wanted to keep it pretty simple so there is 3 ways to enter. You can do one or do them all. Each counts as one entry. Please leave separate comments for each of your entries (it makes it easier for me to keep track)

1. Follow my blog 
and leave a comment to let me know
(if you already follow my blog just leave a comment 
to let me know and that will count for one entry)

2. Become a fan on my facebook page click here
and leave a comment here to let me know
(if you are already a fan just leave a comment 
here to let me know and that will count for one entry)

3. Do a blog post with a link to this 
giveaway and leave a comment here 
with a link to your blog.


The giveaway ends 
Sunday December 19th at 3pm (my time)
 and winner will be announced later that day.
Stella has kindly offered 
to draw one lucky winner.
Yeah I am also wondering how the heck she is gonna do that. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...


Let the fun begin!

~tess

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Friday, December 10, 2010

and there is more...






with some black patina and a heart set in stone 
they'll be ready to concur the world...

...on Tuesday me think :o)

MORE previews will be posted on here during the weekend.


Have a fantastic Friday my lovely friends
~tess

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

wedding wednesday's


wedding bouquet in progress
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

my bouquet is slowly coming together....
I have to say it is trickier than I thought it would be..

I've added stems to all my vintage brooches and I've trying different compositions. Trying to decide which way I like it the best... The photo doesn't have all the little vintage earring flowers so I still have to work those into the design.

There are a lot of colors in the bouquet. I started out thinking that just that gorgeous greenish blue flower and ivory would look great. But then I added some yellows... and some peach.. and I also threw in some blue.. So it ended up a lot more colorful than what I started out envisioning. But I like it. It feels like a summer meadow bouquet.
Which is just what I wanted...

Now it's on my never ending list of things I need to finish..


next up on wedding wednesday's:

The Shoes

It will be good. You just have to trust me on that one.

have a fantastic day!
love~ tess

PS I have been working out with a personal trainer to get in shape. Yes I couldn't motivate myself enough to actually get to the gym. So he is doing a great job kicking my butt. YEAH! Wedding dress here I come! DS

Sunday, December 5, 2010

filigree fireworks






What can I say?
I am feeling the filigree...

On the positive side... 
my head is exploding with ideas

on the negative side... 
my head is exploding with ideas

literally EXPLODING
new ideas is fighting to get out while I am 
still working on the previous one..

like fireworks of the mind

Which is fun but it also makes it very hard 
to focus on one thing at a time..
Thus the bench is covered in projects...

which leads me to this weeks goal:

Finish them all!
 

;o) 
~tess


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Christmas Sale!


pinwheel cuff links
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

Suffering from a severe case of the Christmas Holiday spirit I decided to offer a 20% sale in my novadesign etsy shop!

I have a lot of studs and earrings that makes great Christmas gifts ;o)

I am trying out those new coupon codes for the first time.
So just use the coupon code CHRISTMAS2010 when you check out and it will automatically deduct 20% of your purchase. Pretty nifty I think!

Now run and try it out!
God Jul! (merry christmas in swedish)
~tess

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

wedding wednesday's