Winter Park: Wow!

In her Etherial necklace this birthday girl feels amazing in a pearls.

This is a best of festival, with a jury that picks the best of crafts people from a huge number of artists, resulting in an amazing slide show of future museum pieces and heirlooms.  This is a festival that pushes the boundary of what fine art and crafts can be at a street fair.

The artists were from every part of fine art and craft, including beautiful paintings, sculpture and powerful work from all over the country.  Winter Park as a town itself some how manages to be a quaint Chicago town, in the middle of Florida. Orlando area residents make it feel like this event is an arts tradition.

Such a treat!

Somerset brings out the Jersey Girls:

High School sweethearts celebrate their love with Joan Michlin. Her Majestic Bracelet is a classic timeless beauty just like her.

Somerset was a busy, but intimate show.  Only the best of my favorite Sugarloaf artists were there. Show visitors braved the flood waters as March came in like a lion with intense storms, but the weather cleared and Saturday was busy and bustling.

Jeans and Jewlery in Scottsdale: Diamonds!

The Jeans and Jewelery fashion sense of the Scottsdale area has been captured in this ad by the Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you look carefully you will see those diamonds in the sky are all from the Joan Michlin Collection, just kidding.

Last time we were in Carefree, AZ we had a blast. Click here to read about our adventures.

Thunderbird Art and Wine Festival is the best in the west! Click here for the latest on the show, where you can find Joan Michlin in the Scottsdale area.

The 4 C's of diamonds are carat, color, clarity and cut. 

Joan only uses F color VS1 clarity diamonds in her pieces.  F color is a colorless diamond, like a good engagement ring, see the color scale here
VS1 refers to very slight inclusions. You can see the diamond clarity scale here

Joan's pieces use some of the best diamonds available.  Come down to Carefree to lasso some stars from the heavens for your Scottsdale uniform.

If Camelback Kate from the ad above stopped by in Scottsdale I'd know just what she needs to bring those stars down to earth: the white gold collection.

Joan Michlin is a master designer who's pieces translate well into 14 carat white gold. She is able to do almost all her designs in white gold, and several pieces in the collection in white gold are celestial beauties:


I'd give Kate this beautiful Polaris enhancer, then follow it up with the Explosion Earrings. Similar theme, but not too matchy-matchy, to bring those stars out of the night sky and into her eyes.

And just because I am very naughty, I'd slip on the Millenium Ring (just to see how it fit, of course), because when those gloves come off a diamond collection like that could make the magic of the night go on forever.

Click here to see how much fun we had the last time we were in Scottsdale!

Howling at the Moon Stones

New in the collection, the Cosmos series features rainbow moonstones which reflect light internally from layers in the stone creating an effect called schiller, or in the language of gems, adularescense. While white is the common color for moonstones to schill, the stones in Cosmos schill a mysterious blue.

The bracelet the rainbow moonstones in gold and silver, with teal topaz, pink sapphires and amethysts.

The earrings are two stunning rainbow moonstones set in gold.

Most recently, and with great excitement, has been the Cosmos snap enhancer, I just saw Joan wearing hers last night and I couldn't take my eyes off it. The Moonstone is SO big and the colors are entrancing. I usually see it on an omega, but she wore it on a chain.

The enhancer has a very wide bale on the back, so it can fit on even the widest of omegas and large chains. Just one of the Joan Michlin Collection attention to detail, the snap is made in sterling silver which is more resilliant than yellow gold for use over and over.

Moonstones are associated with love and it is said they arouse a tender passion and can fortell a long future together. Goddesses, especially the moon goddesses, have always adored these stones, so get one for your Goddess and see what happens.

Make the Other Girls Jealous- Coconut Grove Art Festival

Every time the Empress Bracelet came out of the box, we were mobbed. Women would cross the street to comment. Not every woman can be married to Fabio, but after teasing his wife Patricia for two days he made her the envy of the show. She knows she's the lucky one. Want one yourself? Click here.

Coconut Grove Art Festival is a treat for artists and art afficiandos a like. If you are looking for one show where you can go to to buy the best under perfect conditions, I suggest this one (and I know from shows!)

The festival planners try all year to put South Miami’s best face forward and they do it SO well here. Only the very best are vetted in and artists share a confidence that radiates to attract the nearly million visitors to this top fair. More than 400 artists show here in a grand style with smart collectors coming early in the day to beat the Miami heat and the teeming crowds.

Set along the Bay, you can’t go wrong with picking Coconut Grove as a destination spot, for 48 years this art fair has set the standard. The Joan Michlin Collection has been here for about 25 of the last 30 years.

I am pretty sure I have never had so much fun at a show. The customers were one of the best groups on the whole I've seen this year, with lots of new faces, old friends and some great good times.

Giving Back in Miami

As part of the Coconut Grove Art Festival, exhibiting artists can volunteer in the community to come into schools to support the next generation of artists.

Skip is a great teacher, and he’s also a printmaker and painter. He designs the Joan Michlin cards as well as being Joan Michlin’s husband, best salesman and right hand man.


We brought the watercolor and paper and they showed us their talent.


I'm not sure who touched who more, but the kids were great. Their smiles and their joy were worth the visit.

Cowgirls like Joan Michlin

The uniform is of the Scottsdale area is Jeans and Jewlery, and the cowgirls like their Joan Michlin!

Carefree, AZ certainly was care-free for the Michlin team. Our most western show, Carefree is the only show that Joan Michlin does in the Western US, and what a great location for it. When the mountains touch the sky the way the light hits is amazing, and the western feel is everywhere from the pueblo buildings and snakeskin boots.

Among some of the pieces that got adopted this show was the Archetype Bracelet a wonderful piece chunky piece made with tourmalated quartz. Streaks of blue-black tourmaline are like cracks in the winter ice clear quartz. Because of the rarity of the stone, this series may become a piece of history. The ring is still in the collection and should be on your shopping list!

Often we talk about how easliy the reserve program can help you secure a larger piece, it was great to connect with women from the group of school teachers (Go P.S. 77 in Queens!) who have collected Joan Michlin jewlery over the last 30 years. Using the reserve program, these ladies spoke of how they were able to collect the pieces they wanted and have stellar collections-- and on a teachers salary! With just 1/3 down, you can reserve the price (important in today's volitile gold market) and chip away at the payments over time. Many of our biggest collectors use the reserve program to save the best for a special birthday or holiday without breaking the bank.


Thunderbird always puts on a great show, the Art and Wine Festival $3 admission includes tickets for wine and has some of the best artists in the country. The show meanders down streets named for the laid back community; Ho St, Hum St Easy Street and Nonchalant Ave. Carefree is a must stop if you are in the southwest this winter.

Joan Michlin will be back to Easy Street the first week in March this year, don't forget to stop by and say hello.