allow me to present to you the first chapter in many stories to come. go here to see the new website. (mousing over each image on the collection page will reveal a little description, and clicking on any image will then bring you to the shop page on etsy. feels so good to reveal what i have been working on! some of you readers may have seen this post if you subscribe to my blog, i had to remove it and take down the site due to some bugs, thank you for your patience!)

so months ago, i began revisiting a book from my childhood, bringing the pages to life and translating the story to jewelry in my studio. reading the secret garden now in my mid twenties has been like discovering photos of myself, the kind saved by distant relatives in an album i didn’t know existed. has that ever happened to you? finding clues to what you used to be like from a snapshot? then suddenly memories of the favorite t-shirts or toys or places that used to be come rolling back to you? you remember things that you never thought you would forget.

i think the classics are like that, but they teach us far more about ourselves than a static photograph can. we revisit them as different people. as i read through burnett’s book now, i remember feeling the same things then, but at a less experienced age and innocent understanding. i couldn’t deeply sympathize with lord craven for losing his wife (but now i know loss) nor could i relate with the loneliness that mary lennox felt as she moved to a new country (i’ve moved enough to know this) and i had no idea how tending to a personal garden can restore and heal. all of this means so much more to me now.

when we were little, my brothers and i loved watching the hallmark film version of the secret garden over and over (especially when friends came over and said they didn’t know the story, in the VHS popped and on the couch we sprawled!) i was nothing like spoiled mary, being the oldest of five siblings and far from the high life of the british raj with parties, servants and the like. but the idea of finding a secret kingdom that was neglected out of sorrow, the transforming power that nature brings a sad girl tending a garden…these themes spoke to me then and they speak to me now.

and as a side note, i just have to tell you all thank you so much for your support and interest in my ventures, you encourage me more than you might realize.

my move to south america has given me a lot of time to think about what i want for the queenthings shop. the time off from designing, listing, & shipping was frustrating at first because i felt like i was missing out on what i loved doing. but after a few weeks, i let it go.

somewhere between feeling heart flip flops over seeing some ancient etruscan necklaces in tuscany, coming home and selling my house and finding myself in a new country with a fresh start…i saw that stepping back was good for me. it gave me space to look at where i was going and room to realize i wanted to get serious about designing jewelry.

when i began selling on etsy over a year ago i never anticipated that a few pairs of handmade earrings from recycled necklaces in my jewelry box would turn into a little business.

i knew that i wanted more focus, and i wanted to have more meaning behind what i was creating. i decided that putting out collections would be the best way to do that.

finding this new medium unexpectedly feels splendid because it allows me to dabble. my world is a place where influences come and go like crushes and i need room to research, investigate and learn. sometimes i feel a panic not because i am out of inspiration, but because i don’t have enough time or resources to express everything i have inside of me. life is brimming full of things to fall in love with. and explore. and render…

so it made sense to me that i chose something powerful to represent this. nature seems to reign supreme in all of my inspirations, i always go back to her and feel renewed. and so the image of the regal antlers that crown the woodland creatures gradually came into play. perfect. majestic, royal, delicate and gentle in their form, feminine, demure, and completely noble. it would be the new logo. i tried to give it a simple modern look that would carry through as i progress through new designs. and i’m really happy with it.

i’ve been done with the new batch of jewelry for weeks now, i was half completed when i packed! but i really want to have my website ready to launch with it too. most of the materials that i used were from my studio back at home, so it feels like a good bridge to the new. here is a tiny sneak peek…i’ll tell you the full story soon.

thank you for supporting and encouraging so many of us lisa, inspiration seems to go full circle sometimes.

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drawing for me is a constant transmission in my life. a communication of putting me in such a clear place of meaning. focus. being in touch. if i go without it for a few days, i forget how much i miss (need) the signal.

what’s your frequency? have you got it in you?

want to hear something i like about uruguay? hear a short glimpse here.

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some link love:

pinhole van a project fueled by photography + road trips, found via veronica (her husband is half the creative team behind the project)

cosas minimas blanca hace arte tan preciosa! everything blanca makes is precious! and reading blogs in spanish are so helpful…good practice. i’m beginning to understand spanish the most through reading, which is really exciting for me.

i am so pumped for laura’s 101 faces to develop. botticelli is one of my favorite painters and so i literally gasped when i saw her first portrait. i’ve been lucky enough to meet laura in person, she just lights up when she talks about art and you can get that same feeling from her blog.

liz tran a painter from seattle, link via mom, who thinks we have similar styles, thanks mom!

i know i have linked and bookmarked and favorite*d svane’s photos before, but hey, i just really like looking at her work. so full of talent. her images always transport me to a introspective place, and that’s what i love about photography. especially when you want to live inside each photo.

happiness 101

inkfinger is really producing some genius designs with their new letterpress. my favorite is sans serif.

i ended my birthday yesterday walking around at the montevideo yacht club, observing the boats in the harbor. from it came a new (little) body of viewfinder work that you may see here. i have a few other sets to share soon, all based on “parts of the day” that i love to savor. it’s exciting to get back from shooting and see how the light develops inside that little few inches of space. i love to find new subjects that play mini productions limited to just a tiny square format. this one reminds me of vincent.

in other news, i know some of you are curious about the shop and have been asking when it will be ready. i’m so close that it hurts and i’m waiting on some little details to fall into place…so, all in good time.

p.s. did you know that you can search through your flickr favorites now?

you all tease me about being so young, but i’m feeling just right. coming into my own. feeling no new year panic to race for a sense of fulfillment. just a quiet content that has me buoyed up lately. i keep thinking that i’m going to wake up and like a whisper, this presence will be gone. but i feel filled inside. like my heart is floating in a well inside. it remains. that is something i hope lasts for a very long time.

and to ben, my twin, i wish we were together to share a birthday party like the good old days. our boys would be best buds if we lived closer, we know this. and even though you tease me about being a sap and we are polar opposites, i couldn’t ask for a better redheaded wombmate. we made mom’s wish come true you know, having twins. that will always make me happy. that i made her proud before even trying. (though i will never stop trying) so this week as we continue in our own festivities, i raise my glass in a toast to you, and blow out the candles thinking of your wish. happy birthday brother.

thank you for all of your birthday wishes, the cards, the lovely mail i have been getting. it means so much to me, to be thought of all the way at the bottom of the world. (which reminds me: i went by a sign posted in the front of somebody’s yard here that read “the TOP of the world!” in some very sad, sad handwriting.)

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i’ve forgotten that it’s “supposed” to be winter in my northern world. this lasting summer has already been filled with so much magic. remember just a few months ago i was waking up to the birds in tuscany? how could i forget. i still feel like i’m there sometimes. all the little influences here from the italians give me little traces and reminders each and everyday. i want to list them for you soon. of all of them, it’s the scent of the summer jasmine that has me swooning as it is in full bloom right now. walking by and having to pause when i find it. it’s one of my happiest pleasures, though little…it’s powerful to be transported by a scent.

i have so many things to write about lately that it’s even stopping me from posting. i begin some frantic typing here and there but i can’t keep up with myself. and of course, real life living has had me distracted. in the best way. i have some hilarious lost in translation stories, some beautiful new books and many pictures to share with you soon. hope i can keep you a little warm in my records here. xo

yesterday i shared a beautiful afternoon with fer, who is on holiday from london visiting her home here in montevideo! we started out talking underneath the shade of a beautiful tree at plaza de armada: film, documentaries, art, people, places were all topics we discussed. we gushed, we laughed, we were so happy to meet in person!

then out came the cameras. all five of them! i had the thrill of shooting my first polaroid with a flat folding sx-70, fer insisted that i try hers. then we ventured into the sun, climbing on rocks and posing in sometimes ridiculous, sometimes beautiful stances. she is so photogenic i tell you. and would you believe that even though we weren’t in the sun for too long, i managed to get a sunburn? a mean one. the hole in the ozone is right over our heads in uruguay. i feel it in full force! i have been here for over two months and have worn sunblock religiously! but this day…i was so excited and forgot. grins.

some people you connect with immediately, some you just know will be life long friends. i am so happy that you are one of them fernanda!

see more from our day as i add photos here. enjoy!

i love walking in the city, observing. seeing the mixed architecture, balconies filled with personal things, peeking in the windows of shops. the above are some scenes from last night + at dinner (which starts around nine or ten here) we feasted with friends on thin crust onion pizza, cheese filled pastry pies in a sweet pepper sauce & pumpkin ravioli so good it melted in my mouth. surrounded with good company and ambiance, food truly is love.

stay in the shade. i’ve been listening to jose so much lately. camilla, have you ever run into him in the streets of goteborg? (he was born of argentine parents in sweden, what a mix!)

the colors of uruguay.

just added the artist in his studio to my wishlist via tip from the sartorialist.