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May I introduce you to….

I would like to introduce you to my bear “Moonlight”. Yes you heard correctly, I have adopted a bear through AnimalsAsia. A while back I had read about AnimalsAsia rescuing bears from bile farms, giving them the medical care they need and providing them with a save home for the first time in the bear’s life. I have decided that I would like to contribute by sponsoring a bear on a monthly basis with part of the proceeds from the sale of my recycled jewelry. When I got the picture of my bear with her bio (it’s a girl) I knew it was meant to be, considering that her name is Moonlight. She fits in perfectly with the rest of my family, especially with my dog Luna (Moon).

If you are interested in sponsoring a bear or just to find out more about this cause please visit www.animalasia.org

To purchase any of my recycled jewelry please visit my etsy store at www.anjastudios.etsy.com

Ciao

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Etsy store -In honour of Cesar Millan

Finally after opening my etsy account 5 months ago I have uploaded my first item for sale.

In honour of the “dog whisperer” being in town tonight (can’t wait to learn more about becoming a better pack leader!), I have selected the first item to be an eco-friendly name tag for you dog!

This is the prefect gift, especially with Christmas coming, for your pet or for one of your packleader friends. The pet name tag is part of my line of jewelry made from recycled silver.

Visit my etsy store at www.anjastudios.etsy.com to order your custom name tag today!

Ciao

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Jewelry

I wanted to thank everybody for the amazing support at the studio sale. I have been busy restocking my inventory. Here are some of my newest pieces. The jewelry is made from recycled pure silver and I have incorporated recycled real freshwater pearls and real turquoise. There is still lots of time for any custom orders for Christmas. Please contact me at anjastudios@shaw.ca if you are interested in purchasing any of my jewelry or photography.

Recycled silver abstract leaf shape with small hand sculpted silver leaf and a freshwater pearl.

Recycled silver abstract flower shape with freshwater pearl.

Custom order from Switzerland for hand sculpted textured recycled silver cross.
Hand sculpted recycled silver G-clef.
Recycled silver square with flower imprinted with turquoise gemstone beads.
Recycled silver textured circle with lucky stone found on the beach in Gimli.
Custom order for hand sculpted dog name tag made from recycled silver.
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Studio sale this week-end

Are you ready to get a head start on your Christmas shopping!? Come and visit me at cre8ery this week-end for the 4th annual open studio art exhibition and sale.

Looking for something for the eco-fashionista on your list? A piece of my jewelry might be the perfect gift for her. I have a line of sliver jewelry that is made from recycled pure silver also referred to as fine silver and I have also started to incorporate local beach glass and recycled beads such as pearls from a broken necklace into my newest pieces. All pieces are handcrafted and one of a kind.

Do you have a photography lover or travel bug on your list? One of my original fine art photography prints from this year’s trip to Europe might be the prefect gift.

Come by the studio and get your Christmas shopping started:
Friday, Nov. 5, 5-9pm
Saturday, Nov. 6, 12-5pm
Sunday, Nov. 7, 12-5pm

Address: cre8ery, 2nd floor, 125 Adelaide Street

Here is a little preview of some of my newest jewelry pieces!

I hope to see you this week-end!

Ciao!

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Halloween

I still remember when I first found out about Halloween – watching my first movie “ET”. I loved everything about this movie and I was fascinated with Halloween. Sadly we don’t celebrate Halloween in Switzerland (our carnival does make up for it though). So ever since I have moved here I feel like a little kid on Halloween. I always dress up, carve some pumpkins and give out candy. I should just borrow one of my friends children so I finally get to go trick or treating! 🙂

Here are some pictures!

Ciao

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Day 22 to 28 in Switzerland

Day 22 to 28 we spent at my parents’ place. My niece came with us and we spent the next 6 nights sharing my childhood bedroom.

Day 22
We went for a hike with my parents. The beauty of the mountains is absolutely breathtaking. It seriously almost hurts that’s how beautiful it is. There were so many cows and I can still hear the so familiar sound of the cow bells. The mountains are so inspirational to me and I wished that I had my paints with me. Black ink just didn’t do the beauty justice. I decided that day that I am going to create a series of paintings of mountains. I will make sure to post some of them once I start the series. Make sure to come back to check them out!

Day 23
We went to Zurich to go to the art museum “Kunsthaus Zürich” for the day. We took an early train so that we would have all day in Zürich. It was another beautiful day. We went for a walk along the lake, strolled around the old part of the city and visited some churches before making it to the gallery. It’s such an amazing museum and it was nice to be there with my niece and to have the opportunity to explain art to her. We saw everything from Rembrandt to Monet to Picasso to Warhol to Paul Klee. I really enjoyed the visit.

On the way back we stopped in at an amazing book store. The store only carries books on art, architecture, design, fashion and photography. I could have stayed there for days.

Day 24
My entire family took a drive over the Nufenenpass to the Italian speaking canton “Ticino”.  The drive was amazing and the views just breathtaking. We went to a mountain crystal mine and got some beautiful mountain crystals.

Day 25
A. spent the day with one of her girlfriend, so my parents, K. and I spent to morning at my dads shooting club. It was great to see K. shoot a handgun for the first time. He was a pretty good at it. It was nice to show him the club as I had spent so much of my childhood there. We used to have family gatherings here and I spent countless hours running around in the woods, looking for snakes and playing with my brother.

Day 26 and 27
We spent the last couple of days just enjoying spending time with my family. A. and I made a guitar out of clay for her dad. I forgot to take a picture of it, which is too bad because it turned out amazing. We even used small pieces of thin metal wire for the guitar strings.

Day 28
My parents took the train to Zürich Airport with us. It was nice to spend a few more hours with them before leaving. It’s always so hard for me to good-bye to my family. I hope to see them again soon!

Ich hae ew alli ganz fescht gaeru!

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures of my trip home. Make sure to come back to see more pictures of my work from paintings to jewelry.

Ciao

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long week-end

It was great to have a long week-end and have some extra time to relax and to create. I worked on a few self portraits and I also finished my glass jewelry from last week-end. I had a wonderfully relaxing and creative week-end. Wouldn’t it be nice to always have a 3 day week-end?

Ciao!
Anja

 

 

 

If you are interested in purchasing any of my jewelry you can contact me at anjastudios@shaw.ca Christmas is only 74 days away!

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Day 16 to 21 in Switzerland

Day 16
Our first night in Switzerland we had a wonderful dinner with my brother, his girlfriend and A. It was a really nice night, filled with great food, great conversations and lots of hugs. It was so nice to be with my brother and my niece again. I miss them so much when I am back in Canada. The next morning A. and I got up early and went to town. We went to a few stores, I bought her a volleyball, chocolate and some flowers. When we got home K. and my brother had just come back from a little drive and we all had lunch together. We spent the afternoon at the pool, playing in the water and having fun.

Day 17
I woke up early and went to the store to pick up some wine and flowers for my parents. Then we drove to Planchouet where my parents were staying at my aunts chalet. When we got there my mom was waiting for us and it felt so good to give her a hug. We spent a wonderful day up in the mountains with my parents and my godmother and her husband. We danced, drank lots of wine, had some great veal sausages and some raclette. What a wonderful day!

Day 18
After breakfast we drove to a lake about 1 hour away where we spent the day swimming, BBQuing, and just relaxing. My brother and K. were doing flips of a dock which was very entertaining! At night we went to an open air movie in the courtyard of the castle “Stockalperschloss”. The event is put on by the Tourism office of Brig where I used to work. I remember working those nights, setting up the chairs and selling drinks. It was just as much fun as I remembered.

Day 19
In the morning K. and I went for a walk through town, took some pictures and went to an art exhibition. I was able to show him my elementary school, my college, the restaurant my parents used to own and lots of other places that are close to my heart. It was nice to spend some time alone and share my childhood memories.

In the afternoon one of my brother’s friends came with us to the pool. I tried to teach A. how to do a flip. She almost got it in the end. We all went to my brothers after and had coffee. S. asked me to design him a tattoo, which I was very honored by. I am really looking forward to it!

Day 20
My brother, A., K. and I drove to another lake to get away from the heat. We spent the afternoon diving into the water. K. tried to swim to an island in the middle of the lake and he almost didn’t make it. 🙂

Day 21
We went for lunch at my parents place and then went swimming again. I know we pretty much went swimming every day. This time we went to the pool in my home town. Another place I used to work at. When I was 14 I got my first job working at this pool. I had to clean the pool and the surrounding areas, making sure that the water had the appropriate chlorine levels and I also worked at the pool’s restaurant. I had a lot of fun! I remember cleaning the pool early in the morning, the sun shining, the birds chirping, the rustling of the trees in the wind and the mountains all around me.

This first week in Switzerland was wonderful. It was great to see my brother and A., relax and just enjoy being at home. It really is strange how much more I feel like myself in Switzerland. I know that might seem like a strange statement, but I can feel my roots. My family has been living in this part of Switzerland for centuries and I can feel the power of the mountains all around me.

Ciao

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Glass fusing

It’s been a bit crazy. Today was my first day off in a couple of weeks and I had a fabulous day. I took a glass jewelry class where I learned how to make glass fused pendants and earrings. I had a lot of fun and I feel so much more relaxed now. Being able to create combined with a nap once I got home and I feel human again! I can’t wait to be able to spend some quality time in my studio again this week. I can’t believe I haven’t been to my studio in over 2 weeks. Just way too long! I will be able to pick up my glass creations next week so make sure to come back to check them out!

Ciao

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Day 14 and 15 Verona

We decided to leave Venice early in the morning instead of at night so we could spend a bit more time in Verona. We took the water bus to the station, changed our train reservation and were on our way to Verona. The train ride was around 1.5 hrs. long.

Once in Verona we walked to the old part of town where our hotel was located. After checking in we went to the arena, a massive Roman amphitheatre from the 1st century AD. Here is where wild animals once made a meal of gladiators, but today the entertainment in the arena is a bit friendlier. The venue is used for concerts, operas and ballet. Sadly nothing was playing that night, but we did enjoy walking around in the arena and we enjoyed the great view from the top.

We took a stroll down the traffic-free Via Mazzini, which is paved with pink-tinged local limestone embedded with ammonite fossils. Just absolutely beautiful! We spent the rest of the day walking around town and ended the night watching the worldcup final at a wonderful restaurant on the Piazza delle Erbe. Just a wonderful night with great soccer, interesting people watching, incredible food and wine.

After sleeping in a bit on our last day in Italy we walked to the Casa di Giulietta “Juliet’s House”, the 13th century home of the Shakespearean heroine. The courtyard walls were plastered with multilingual notes left by lovers from all over the world. From there we walked to the river, went across the medieval Ponte Scaligero, had some lunch and did some shopping on the Via Mazzini. We had a bit of time left before we had to catch our train to Switzerland so we walked around the city some more and stumbled across a great little store that was carrying lots of designer fashion from previous seasons. I found a trench coat that I had fallen in love with while watching a runway show a few seasons ago. The funny thing is that I went to Italy and I ended up buying Dsquared2. Here is a bit about Dsquared2 in case you aren’t familiar with these fabulous designers:

Canadian twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten have been in the international fashion business since 1984. After attending the Parsons School of Design they moved to Italy, launching a succession of runway shows that have captured attention for their combination of fashion, music and theatre. The mix of irreverent Canadian wit and refined Italian tailoring are the foundation of their philosophy. “BORN IN CANADA, LIVING IN LONDON, MADE IN ITALY”. I still can’t believe that I am the proud owner of an incredible Dsquared2 trench coat. Looks like Fall is here, so I will be able to finally wear it!

We were sad that our time in Italy had come to an end, but I was also super excited about seeing my family. The closer we were getting to Switzerland the more nervous I was getting. It had been almost 7 months since I had seen them. As soon as the train stopped in Brig, I jumped out and ran into my brother’s and A’s arms. I was so happy to see them.

Come back to read and see pictures of our time in Switzerland!

Ciao!