From driving the school drop-off to designing our latest collections, we can often be found putting our favorite tunes on pause for some podcast listening instead. Here's a round-up of our latest listens, categorized by general theme, because we seem to stick to three main wheelhouses: business, heart and soul, and kiddos. (Life, in three parts, really.)

Business

• How I Built This - on every entrepreneur's list, I am fascinated by the stories behind some of my favorite businesses (from Burt's Bees to barre3)

• Founders 15 - a conversation between founders of businesses, but focuses more on companies still in the earlier stages of growth, rather than the larger, more established success stories 

• Second Life - all about the ladies who've had a winding (and often very interesting) road to where they are now, many times across industries and fields, with lots of stories along the way

Heart and Soul

• Modern Love - my favorite section of the Sunday New York Times, come to life as read by various accomplished actors

• Oprah's Super Soul Conversations - Oprah's interviews with deep thinkers, leaders, authors, and interesting people about the meaning of life, who we are, and ideas for more meaningful, authentic connection to the world around us

•  Terrible, Thanks for Asking - as host Nora McInerny says herself, this podcast is "funny/sad/uncomfortable" which is really just like life, right? Not unusual to laugh/cry/feel a bit awkward in listening to these real-life experiences and stories.

For the Kiddos (and me, who am I kidding?)

• Six Minutes - think Jason Bourne for kids. Each episode is (you guessed it) six minutes long, keeping you guessing with twists, turns, and plot-thickening, action-packed developments.

• The Past and The Curious - we can't get enough of this fun LOCAL TO LOUISVILLE awesomeness that mixes under-appreciated but worth-knowing moments in history with great music, excellent storytelling, and clever, funny bits. Quiz-time is a highlight on the way to school. 

• WOW in the World - making science and technology incredibly fun and entertaining, we all laugh our way through the wild adventures of Mindy and Guy Raz, never knowing where they might take us.

We don't know about you, friends, but February seems like the longest month (despite its 28 days) and we just can't wait for spring to arrive! So, call us impatient (we prefer anticipatory) but we're launching a sneak peek of our Spring Collection with a chance to shop the small (but mighty!) batch styles this month, before the full collection arrives in March. 

With fun florals on the mind, our small-batch beauties include earrings of jewel-like glass lovelies from the 1920s (above), hand-wired vintage sequins, and pearl-petaled pretties. Starting February 27th, these will all be available for Pre-Order with a special savings of 20% through Sunday March 3rd. (We'll send an email with the promo code, so be sure you're signed up!)

We can't wait to share all of the fun with you soon, but enjoy this little snippet of spring until then!  

 We've always said that our jewelry is made with love, and our Valentine Collection this year takes this idea to heart. (See what we did there?) Crafted in small batches (and some as one-of-a-kind designs) each item in the collection will contribute $5 of its purchase price to a wonderful organization called Love My Neighbor, based in our former hometown of Taylorsville, Kentucky. This grass-roots thrift shop offers clothing and household items to families in need, often entirely free of charge...and volunteers will even personally assist in finding clothing for a first job interview, a new baby, or a warm coat in freezing temperatures.

Grace, one of our amazing assistants who helps to create nearly every statement-making necklace that leaves the studio, has one of the most generous and beautiful hearts we know, and she is a founding Board Member for Love My Neighbor. Her spirit for service has her volunteering several days a week, whether balancing the books or organizing donations in their storage space at the shop. (In fact, our donations will help build an annex for the space to house the growing amount of donated goods available for underprivileged families in the area.)

We're honored to be able to help Love My Neighbor's mission in making a difference in the community where Elva Fields really "grew up" as a business and to share the love that is available to all of us. So, whether it's through a pair of earrings, a necklace, or even some hand-lettered original art, we hope you'll help us to offer beauty, hope, and, most importantly, love, this Valentine season and always. 

XOXO 

 

 

 

A long holiday weekend and lots of rainy weather meant some crafting was bound to happen with my little ladies to keep us (me) from going stir-crazy. Thanks to an earlier trip to my new favorite art store in town (Louisville peeps, if you don't know, now you know: Artist & Craftsman Supply!) I had a paper bag full of polymer clay and some packets of paracord that was a sure bet of at least an hour-ish of jewelry-making with my favorites. And as long as they're crafting, they're not whining, so it's a win all around.

Here's what we used to make the magic happen:

• colorful packets of polymer clay (we used a few of these and these)
• wood skewers (actually, we didn't use those, but I wish we had...we made do with the handles of our trusty paintbrushes, which was a little tricky, so something with a point would've been money)
• a small and very dull knife (my kids are old enough to be moderately safe with a little kitchen knife, but if you wanted to get fancy and have the official tools, my guess is this set would be legit)
• our hands
• a cutting board
• an oven
• parchment paper
• cookie sheet
• paracord (make sure the diameter of the cord is smaller than the holes in your beads...I've heard meltdowns can happen when the beads can't actually be strung on the cord you originally purchased because it's too thick and "why didn't you tell us to make the holes bigger???")

 

Honestly, it was pretty great just letting the girls do their thing and make whatever kinds of beads they wanted, but the style that was easiest for us all (seen above) involved rolling a base color of clay into a ball, then applying little confetti-like pieces to the outside of it, and rolling it a bit more to create a fun dotted design. 

Once we made our beads and created a hole through it (or tried to) we placed them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and baked them at 275 for 15 minutes (I think. The packet of clay will walk you through that part...)

After letting the beads cool, (and waiting a week because Mom's eyeball measurements don't always pan out) we strung them on the CORRECTLY SIZED paracord and now have awesome necklaces to remind us of being together for a long weekend and surviving...mostly with smiles on our faces!