bling bling

Every girl loves a little bling! Funny thing is, I never thought I was one of those girls. But as soon as I started incorporating Swarovski crystal rhinestones into some of my invitation designs, I was hooked. These tiny little "blingsters" come in a gorgeous variety of colors and choosing just the right shade to work with is as much fun as picking out a pair of new shoes...well, almost as much fun. My current fave is a rich honey topaz that's a beautiful complement to the warm fall colors of red, orange and chocolate brown. Of course, you can never go wrong with clear rhinestones since they go with e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Anyway, I've been busy experimenting with new designs this past week and plan to showcase the elegance of these sparkling beauties in a new line of invitations. I attach each rhinestone by hand using my most treasured tool of the trade: a toothpick. Yes, just a little dab of glue applied with a plain wooden toothpick and a steady hand, and that's all there is to it. On the invitation pictured above, I used 9 rhinestones on the front and 14 on the inside...multiply that by an average order of 150 invitations...that's a total of 3,450 rhinestones. I wonder if I can hire Santa's elves during their off-season??