I'm having a gratitude sale through Monday online!

This year for the holiday season I am donating a portion of all sales to the Alexandria House here in Los Angeles.

I am so grateful for each and every one of you for your support through the years. To say thank you through Monday night at midnight you can shop online and save 20% and help spread a little more love and kindness in to the world through this charity that does amazing work.

Etsy and Amazon are already marked down to the sale price. If you shop on my site just use the code "gratitude" at checkout for the sale price. 

Spreading a little extra love in 2017 through giving back

It's so easy to feel like making a difference is just out of our hands. To get overwhelmed by all the negativity and atrocities that are hurled at us through the news and social media. But I can't just give up because at my core I am an optimist. I was taught from a young age to help those in need as much as I can. For me that meant donating new and used toys to kids less fortunate than me, donating my time at soup kitchens, in after school mentoring programs, and with the elderly. As I've gotten older I have found less time to volunteer because I get caught up in everyday life. But I've always made an effort around the holidays but this year I want to keep that feeling of giving going all year round. So I'm stepping up to spread more love, kindness and protection of rights for all in 2017.

It started with my second year of participating in the #goodkarmasale and donating a portion of all of holiday sales to charity. But this year I was compelled to donate to more than one charity and the donations have continued in to the new year.

I am so lucky to be able to run my own business here in LA, so first I donated to the Downtown Women's Center thanks to your generous support of my jewelry.

Since November I've also donated to the Standing Rock water protectors, Together Rising (for their rescue work in Syria), the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.

There are so many amazing charities out there fighting so hard to save our planet and the people all over the world with so much less than most of us. If you have one you love that you think I should donate to next please send me a message, I would love to hear.

I'm also committing to donating actual time and energy in person to more volunteer work again. I would love to hear from you if you are doing the same and hear your experience.

On the jewelry side I do have lots of new jewelry up in both my Etsy and Amazon shops. If you are looking for a gift for yourself or someone else stop by and you can be sure that a portion of all jewelry sold this year will be donated to a few different charities. For this quarter I'm planning to donate to The Good Shepherd Shelter here in Los Angeles.

Let's all work on spreading more kindness around our everyday lives in 2017. We might all disagree on politics, religion and other things, but I think we can all agree to be a little kinder to each other and this planet. I sure hope so.
Love,
Amanda

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. 

Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." -Scott Adams

November Events & #goodkarmaisthenewblackfriday

This Saturday I'll be doing a jewelry and gift trunk show with my friends Morgan Patricia Designs & Collective Home in Topanga. We'll be outside so you'll see us set up and you can park on either side of the road. I'll also be participating in The Wild Unknown's #goodkarmaisthenewblackfriday again this year. If you shop online 10% of all sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday will be donated the The Downtown Women's Center.

Making the new Darya Collection

The new Darya collection is all about getting back to what inspires and grounds me in my craft. For my senior show more than 10 year ago I built a table that held water and sand and displayed my designs that were inspired by the ocean. On a road trip last summer up to Morro Bay I wandered in to a shell shop and immediately knew that I needed to revisit the casting from life thread that got me so excited about doing my own casting back in college. 

I had been flipping through Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature book over and over and just knew I wanted to create my own ocean inspired line again. 

I'm planning to revive a few of my old designs to compliment the new pieces and I'll be adding rings and bracelets in over the next few months. 

The ocean has always been a source of inspiration for me and by casting these pieces in silver I hope that when you wear them them will give you the sense of calm and happiness that the sun, sand and ocean bring to me. 

These pictures show a little of the process that went in to creating the new designs. I would love to know what you think of the new work. 

And if you like seeing the behind the scenes pictures, click over and follow me on Instagram. 

"The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul." -Wyland

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Affair of the Arts in Culver City this weekend!

Join me this weekend and check out local art, photography, jewelry, music and more. 

My booth is #8 and I would love to see you. 

Now offering jewelry classes

I've always wanted to teach jewelry classes and now I can. If you are interested in learning to make jewelry with me email me at hello@amandaklockrow.

These will be private lessons so if you have something you really want to learn email me and we can pick a date to work together.

We can start with something simple like making a hammered band or stamping a charm necklace. 

New Studio!!

I've had a really busy start to the new year and am so excited to have moved in to a jewelry studio in the historic Jewelry Theatre Building in downtown Los Angeles. It's definitely a big adjustment from rolling out of bed and working away in yoga pants all day in my home studio, but it really helps to stream line my production flow.

The most exciting part is if you're in Los Angeles you can come visit, and work with me in person. The studio is now open for you to come in and shop in person, work on a custom order with me or even take a jewelry lesson. Whether you want to work with me to design engagement and wedding rings, a statement necklace or ring, or rework some jewelry with sentimental value in to something more your style, I'd love to work with you.

You can email me at hello@amandaklockrow.com to set up an appointment to stop in for a visit. I'll give you the address plus parking tips when we set up the appointment. It's also really close to a few Metro stops.

Don't forget if you always wanted to learn how to solder and make your own jewelry, I'll also be offering private lessons in the studio.

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Valentine's Day Trunk Show this Saturday

Join me at P2 this Saturday from 11-6pm to pick out the perfect gift for Valentine's Day. 

1021 N. Swarthmore Ave 

Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

xoxo Amanda

This year's Christmas craft project was inspired by Pinterest of course.

I saved this picture above from A Beautiful Mess to Pinterest a few months ago and even bought the supplies at Michael's early. But time flew by over the holidays, so I'm just now getting around to posting about it. I had a lot of fun experimenting with different oven bake clay colors and paint pens. I tried my regular paints but for some reason they wouldn't stick to the clay surface. The pretty green paint pen also exploded after the first ornament I used it on so only one set got a little green. I ended up making them in sets of three and I think they turned out pretty well.

 I started out with just a few clay colors and paint pens, but as I got the hang of the project I added more colors.

The gold clay was my least favorite so it didn't make it into the finished sets I gave out. I think this could be a really fun project to do with family and friends, and the supplies are all really easy to find at any craft store. 

I really like taking the time at least once a year to play around with a new craft project and since I love making gifts for my family and friends, I always use Christmas as an excuse to try something new out.

Did you work on any fun craft projects recently? If you did I would love to see the results. 

Holiday trunk shows this weekend. Come shop with my friends and I!

If you live in LA and have some jewelry lovers on your list be sure to come out and shop with my jewelry friends and I this weekend.

Saturday is a westside address(my house so please email me for the address) and Sunday is at Co-op 28 Handmade in Los Feliz!

#goodkarmasale

Thanks to everyone's purchases during the first #goodkarmasale I was able to donate to the Midnight Mission in Downtown LA. Next year I'm going to plan this earlier so hopefully I can donate even more.

Please vote for us to be the next American Made winner!

Voting is live now over on the Martha Stewart American Made site and your votes every day can help take my business to the next level! You can vote up to 6 times every day. I can't win this without your help so please vote for me as many times as you can. 

I've been selected as a Style Finalist for the Martha Stewart American Made Awards!!

My company Amanda K Lockrow has been named a finalist in the Style category for the Martha Stewart American Made awards and really couldn't be more excited!! Voting starts September 21st for the Audience Choice winner, so I'll be reaching out to you all to cast your vote for me. Until then if you can click over to my profile and I'd love if you'd share my profile with your Facebook or Twitter friends. I'll need everyone's support to have a chance to win this and I just want to thank you for all of your support!

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Birthday Etsy Sale! Get some awesome new jewelry with this discount code.

Sometimes I like to run birthday sales. Since I just got back from a fantastic birthday road trip up the absolutely magical California coast, I figured now was a good time to post up a birthday sale. Use the code "birthday" at checkout and you'll get 33% off your purchase in my Etsy shop. But don't procrastinate because the sale ends Thursday at midnight.
If you pick something out I'd love to see it over on Instagram, just share with the hashtag #AKLinstasale.

Happy shopping, I'll just be over here daydreaming about these views while I work in my studio this week.

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Getting ready for the California Gift Show

It's going to be a busy week in the studio as we finish last minute prep on our samples for the California Gift Show. Shirley DeMarco will be showing our line in the Handmade section booths 2803-2809. If you can't make the show but would like to see the collection please email us to make an appointment.

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Join me at Affair of the Arts in Culver City this weekend

Stop by booth 18 and see all the new designs I've been working on!

wednesday inspiration

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Mother's Day Trunk Show May 9 in Los Feliz

I'll be popping up at Co-op 28 Handmade in Los Feliz for a Mother's Day trunk show along with All Souls Mercantile Saturday May 9. We'll be there from 12-5pm and along with home goods, bags and jewelry we'll have some drinks and snacks to share while you shop.

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda

Spring trunk show April 18th in Culver City

Birthstone jewelry: Aquamarine

Aquamarine has always been one of my favorite stones to work with because of its subtle beauty. It's a perfect stone for spring and is also the birthstone for March. Aquamarine is a stone for courage and inner peace it is also said to be attuned to the sea and helps protect travelers and sailors while at sea.

Be bold. Live Beautifully.

-Amanda