Take what you need.

Photo via Pinterest

Hello to all of you! I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and had so many memorable moments with your family and friends. Thanksgivings are extra special for me since my husband proposed me on Thanksgiving day.
I wanted to share this cool idea with you.. please take what you need ... Have a fantastic week and enjoy the last days of November!

PS:Remember this? Similar idea on a piece of paper; spreading smiles...

Celebrating... A Cup of Sparkle's 1st Year!

 Happy 1st Year Anniversary to A Cup of Sparkle!!!

I want to thank all of you for your support and making it such a great year! I really enjoyed getting to know many of you. A year ago today, I opened my jewelry shop. It made me so happy to hear your stories, to see the cute baby pictures you send and hearing great news from some of you who just learned that they are expecting. It has been always a great pleasure for me to be able to make something for moms and share your happiness.

I also want to thank all of my blog readers for your feedback and comments on my blog. Your lovely comments has always been one of the greatest power of inspiration for me and I wouldn't be able to do this without you... I am very much looking forward to A Cup of Sparkle's second year.
I am spreading some sparkle love over everyone on my Etsy shop with great offers to celebrate my first year. Thank you again from bottom of my heart!

Lots of love,

-Melike

My color crush: Plum Purple

Warm, romantic, and beautiful... Purple is always a great color for winter. It looks amazing when it is paired with shades of green and browns. Just imagine a plum tree and its color spectrum. Add a bit of blue like the blue sky on a beautiful sunny day or grays on a winter day for a warm gray-purple mix. 

                 Do you imagine the nature when you explore new color combinations? 

I use this approach all the time when I am designing jewelry or dressing-up. If you are seeking-out design inspirations, it is always fun to look outside of your window and observe the colors of nature. 

Plum purple earrings, large tulip flowers with purple freshwater pearls

This large tulip earrings are new in my shop. With the Christmas and new years parties coming up this season, I wanted to offer bold, statement jewelry to A Cup of Sparkle customers. This silver earring are very unique and absolutely perfect pair for a party. I will be adding more statement jewelry to my shop for this season.. stay tuned for much more of Christmas Collection!

Hope you are all having an inspirational weekend!

Walking on a sunken bridge... How cool that is?

I am sure all of you crossed so many bridges, but have you ever walked on an sunken one? This incredible bridge in southwest Netherlands parts the water so that pedestrian can walk in between. If you look far away, you cannot really tell that there is even a bridge existing. You can touch the water while passing through.  Isn't the architecture so cool? 

Sunken bridge in Netherlands

Are you wondering what is at the end of the bridge? A beautiful 17th century castle...

Personalized Mothers Jewelry

Personalized mothers nest necklaces were lately one of the most popular jewelry in my shop. I have been personalizing these cute nests for A Cup of Sparkle customers, most of which are going to be gifts for moms for Christmas.

Mothers Jewelry - handmade nest necklace

Nest necklaces with one, two, three and four pearls comes in similar sizes using various sizes of pearls. If you are looking for a special and unique gift for your mom, mother-in-law or grandma, you might consider these handmade sterling silver necklaces. They all come in special handmade packaging ready to give as gifts for holidays.

This one below is my latest custom necklace with 7 eggs. It is going to be a gift for another special mom for her birthday. It is the highest number of eggs I have ever used in my birds nest designs. I didn't know whether it is possible to make with seven eggs, but I guess it can be done.

 Doesn't that look cute?

Nest necklace with 7 pearls representing 7 children

Tiny post earrings for holidays

Pyrite handmade post earrings, gift ideas for Christmas

Tiny post earrings is great for those who favor small, elegant earrings. Small studs can be worn every day to almost every occasion. Lately, I have added new colors and gems to birds nest collection for holidays. Lots of sparkles, green and reds perfect for holidays... These will make great handmade gifts for Christmas that is also perfect if you are on a low budget.

 

Birds nest shaped silver earrings are made with silver wire hand woven into a ball shape and has 3 cute gemstones. Posts secure the earrings comfortably in place. You can personalize your nest in any color you like with precious stones like garnet, pyrite, pearls, turquoise and jasper. Petite and stylish, the perfect companion to any outfit. You can wear these earrings as a pair or individually, if you have more than one piercing.

Matching necklaces of this nest earrings are also available in my shop. Please indicate the colors of your choice with your purchase and feel free to contact me for any request for matching custom necklaces.

A fairy tale Castle Neuschwanstein

Can you imagine living in a castle? 

I cannot really, but if I could, I would live in Neuschwanstein Castle; located in Bavarian Alps in Germany. It is known as the castle of fairy-tale king, whom was very shy and wanted to build his own castle with the state of the art amenities isolated from public. The castle's unique location combined with the kings eccentric taste and love of arts&music makes this castle a special place. The 15 rooms and halls of the castle are full of original gold paintings, mosaics, elaborate wooden furniture and incredible artwork. Only king's bedroom took 14 carpenters to finish its woodcarving in 41/2 years to complete. Isn't that crazy?

Neuschwanstein Castle,  Translation is The New Swan Rock

Unfortunately, king Ludwig died mysteriously before the castle construction was completed. The irony is the castle opened to public just weeks after the king's death and it is being visited by thousands of tourists every day even though it was built to be a private refuge for King Ludwig.

Neuschwanstein castle is well worth a visit if you ever set foot over Germany for a visit to live a fairy tale at least for a day...

Homemade Coupon Book using Paint Chip

I had a bunch of paint chips I grabbed from a paint store last year back I was painting my house. I wanted to make something special for my husband's birthday and I found the perfect handmade gift for him using my free colorful paint chips.

Handmade gifts, Mini Coupon Book

I got this coupon book idea from the web while searching for handmade gift ideas for men and made a new A Cup of Sparkle version of it...  I wanted to thank to all bloggers and crafters out there for this great gift idea!!!!

I used long strip paint chips that already had perforations on them to tear out the coupons; exactly like what I wanted. I cut the chips ~1/2 inches above the perforations to create enough space to punch holes. I embellished the front cover page using 3 different colored chips and some scrapbook material I had at home.

I made 8 pages that I personalized for my hubby including one blank one that can be redeemed for anything... I used different colors for each page to make it colorful and fun. The paint chips were too thick to print on using my printer so, used my label maker for some of the phrases ... I trimmed the corners with a paper trimmer.
To finish, I added a piece of orange ribbon and tied a tiny bow. I kept it loose to make room to turn the pages.

Coupon book - dimensions: 2"x3.5"

It is a great gift for anyone; mom, dad, significant other, friend, co-worker, ... that will make them feel very special and happy.  This mini coupon book will also make perfect Christmas or Thanksgiving gifts especially if you are low on budget. The cost of this project was $0.00 and the impact was priceless.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Bee Happy.

Let me introduce you to Queen Bee. She is very cute and extremely hard-working. I wanted to host her today in my blog to spread a little joy... Queen Bee is the one that lead the beehive and the also the sole survivor in the hive when the winter arrives. I love how organized they make their hives and produce the sweetest thing ever: Honey... It is absolutely incredible!

Handmade Bee Key chain by A Cup of Sparkle, BEE HAPPY!

This key ring design features two honey colored glass beads and a cute Queen Bee. I also combined brass and silver metals. A sweet key chain for those of you who loves bees and honey... If you would like to have this keyring made to a necklace, make sure to give me a buzz...

Have a great, happy November! 

PS: I am working on a handmade gift for my husband's birthday today. I hope you can come back and visit again to see my finished present for my sweetheart.