Spring has me thinking of the Emerald Isle, Saint Patrick’s Day, and all things Irish. So I thought a post on Celtic knots might be interesting. And of course, we’ll take a look at some pretty Celtic jewelry! Check out this Celtic knot pendant necklace The beginning of Celtic love knots You’d think that Celtic love knots started with the Celtic people! But you’d be wrong! Because the design actually goes farther back than that. All the way back to the Byzantine Empire (so aro

I know you probably didn’t think there would be a link between jewelry and walking on the moon, but I’m here to tell you THERE IS! If you didn’t know it yet, July 20, this coming Saturday, is the 50th anniversary of when we walked on the moon. The amazing Neil Armstrong was the first American to step onto the moon. What a huge moment! Not just for the USA as a country, but for all of us as a human race! I’ve read that 20% of the entire world’s population watched this as it wa

It’s Black History Month, so I wanted to take the opportunity and talk about some amazing women of color that you may not have heard of! Today, that person is Elizabeth Keckley, a seamstress and designer who worked in the White House for Mary Todd Lincoln. (Mary was a complicated and rather tragic figure from history. You can read more about her life and love of fashion and jewelry in my post here). Elizabeth lived her life as both a slave and a free woman. She experienced th

Today is Mary Todd Lincoln’s birthday, and while you may not know anything about her, trust me when I tell you she LOVED jewelry! Mary was a woman of means before she married Abe Lincoln. And she liked all the fine jewelry that was available at the time. If you’re like me, you probably learned all about Abe in history class, his assassination, the Civil War, etc. But not anything about his wife, the lovely first lady. It’s too bad, because Mary was an interesting person in he

So many times, I hear actors on the red carpet gush about their jewelry, and then the name – Harry Winston. He seems responsible for decking out a ton of Hollywood ladies and I got to wondering – who is this guy?! So, it turns out Harry Winston is not actually alive anymore. His company is still around, though, and that’s what people are referring to. The man himself died in 1978. <img class=" wp-image-5361 lazyload" src="https://valthegemgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ha

Happy Thanksgiving, gem gals! Today is Turkey Day, where I eat myself into a coma, watch football, and visit with family. In my life, Thanksgiving is the last day of reprieve before the madness of the Christmas holiday season. But obviously, Thanksgiving is also a time to reflect on all that we have to grateful for, and I do that as well. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks Thanksgiving is so fantastic. With November being Native American Heritage Month, I wonder how the Nativ

My last post of June focuses on one particular man – Paul Poiret. You probably haven’t heard of him, and I hadn’t either until I took a history of fashion course. Paul was a fashion designer. He was unique for his time in a lot of ways. What time period are we talking about? Paul thrived in the time period right before World War I. And in case you couldn’t tell from his last name, he was French! <img class=" wp-image-4399 lazyload" src="https://valthegemgal.com/wp-content/upl

Today is the last day of May, and the last of my May Flowers series (check out my other posts on roses, lotus flowers, and squash blossoms). Today we’ll be talking about the pansy. This delicate, charming little flower is one of my personal favorites and comes in a variety of colors. Over time, it’s come to have a sweet meaning – simply that another person is thinking of you! The word pansy comes from the French pensee – meaning to think or ponder. People often talk of the “f

Hello, gem gals! We’re continuing our jewelry trip exploring flowers for the month of May. Before I did this post, I couldn’t have told you what a squash blossom was, let alone identified a necklace! But I have learned some fascinating things recently, so of course I wanted to share them with you. Apparently, the squash blossom necklace is quite common in Native American jewelry. And if you spend any time in the Southwest, you’re sure to come across several of them. The story

Hey there, gem gals! It’s time to continue on our journey exploring flowers in jewelry. Today, I wanted to take some time and tell you about the lotus flower. Also known as the water lily, this beautiful flower is both ancient and sacred to many religions around the world, like Buddhism and Hinduism. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about either of those religions, but once you recognize the lotus motif, you’ll see it everywhere! Buddha is often pictured with the flower

This month, I wanted to focus on flowers. You know what they say: “April showers bring May flowers!” Spring is in the air, and I’m feeling like I want to get out in the garden and plant things. I’m sure I don’t have to say that flowers are common elements in jewelry, but it hasn’t always been that way. I wanted to take some time and look at specific flowers and their history in jewelry. And for my first post in this flower series, it seems only fitting to start with the rose.

Welcome to February, gem gals! Did you know it’s Black History Month? I’ll be honest, I don’t see a lot of people of color in the jewelry industry, and that’s a shame. So this month, I wanted to start off with a historical style and trend-setter, fabulous entertainer, and one of my favorite women in history – Josephine Baker! You may not have heard of Josephine, but let me assure you that in her time, she was the BOMB! She was American by birth, but because of the opportuniti

Today, I wanted to tackle another one of those terms the jewelry industry uses – “precious gemstones.” When I was studying to be a gemologist, I learned that diamond is the ultimate precious gemstone. In the land of colored stones, ruby, sapphire, and emerald are the only three considered precious. We call the them “the big three.”  ALL other gemstones are merely semi-precious. So of course I wondered why that was! And who gets to decide that? Precious versus semiprecious gem

Earlier this week, I got news that spinel is now officially one of two birthstones for the month of August. Woo hoo! Right? After all, there must have been all those people with August birthdays who felt so limited by peridot…. I mean, what if green just isn’t your color? <img class="wp-image-1478 lazyload" title="birthstones" src="https://valthegemgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/peridot-1689938_1280.jpg" alt="beautiful peridot" width="500" height="476" srcset="https://va

This is my last post in the What We Do For Diamonds series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it! Today, I want to tell you about an intriguing development discovered by those awesome folks at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. That museum has a big, beautiful blue diamond, called the Hope Diamond. It’s their most popular gem. People come from all over the world to see this HUGE (and supposedly cursed) diamond. But not everyone knows about what this new

We are past the World War II era, but we’re still talking about beautiful bird pins that tell a story. Today, I’ll tell you about a stunning Cartier flamingo pin that belonged to the Duchess of Windsor. The Duchess, Wallis Simpson, was an amazing collector of many beautiful jewelry pieces. Who is Wallis? Now, perhaps you don’t know about the Duchess of Windsor. To this day, she’s something of a controversial figure in Britain. She had a torrid love affair in the 1930’s with E

This month, I’d like to do a series. I’m calling it Women of Influence. I recently learned about some amazing women who were phenomenally influential in their industry. I hope you’ll enjoy learning about them just as much as I did! My first pick is Elizabeth Arden. You may know her because her namesake company is still around today. Perhaps you’ve purchased her beauty products, or been to one of her Red Door salons? Elizabeth Arden was one of the pioneering women in the cosme