The Pearl Spa- A Gem in Baltimore City!

Melissa and I are always thinking of ways that we can work with local Baltimore businesses to promote our jewelry and to market their services to our clients. We were blessed to meet with Fran, the manager of The Pearl Spa at the Ritz Carlton, as we continue to grow our relationship with this unique and amazing spa in the heart of Baltimore City.

First of all, their services are one of kind and we HIGHLY recommend trying the Blue Grotto service if you are looking to unwind. From first impression, to staff, to service, The Pearl Spa strives to be the very best in salon treatment and they definitely succeed. It only helps that the location is within the Ritz Carlton, thus from the moment you pull in, you feel like a Hollywood star. A day of pampering never felt so good, believe me, I can speak first hand..I leave their feeling like a million bucks!

The Pearl Spa recently hosted a "It's a Charmed Life" Fashion Show on August 16, 2009. We created the invitations for the event and gave away FREE earrings in each gift bag. The event sold out and it was a great success. The goal was to celebrate healthy living, fine dining and exquisite fashion. Food and beverages (delicious martinis'!!) were provided by Sullivan's Steakhouse. Boutiques such as Whimsy-Reason, Babe and The Bottom Drawer, took part in the fashion show which was a great way to showcase fashion that is versitale and effortless.

We were also able to have a display of our jewelry for the guests to view and we provided jewelry for the fashion show as well. We were lucky enough to network with many businesses and have since already been in touch to create both jewelry and invitations for clients and upcoming Baltimore events. We have The Pearl Spa to thank for these opportunities.

Finally, we are looking forward to working with The Pearl Spa to create a permanent display of our jewelry for clients to purchase. We have been working up some design ideas to create "pearl" jewelry, specifically for The Pearl clientele. We are also very excited to host a Holiday Show sometime in November at The Pearl, as well as hosting another Bridal Happy Hour this coming Spring. We will of course post dates and details once those are established.

If I have learned anything in the past few months it has been that you need to make time for yourself. We all live very busy lives, what with work, babies, house cleaning, bills...but that is no excuse not to take care of yourself. Even if it means getting a facial once every few months, a massage 4 times a year and I definitely recommend a pedicure (who doesn't love their foot massaged!) I promise you that you will leave The Pearl with energy and as they say" with a new appreciation for the small things that we can each do for ourselves to live a truly charmed life."

Great Georgetown Bridal Salon

Melissa and I made a trip to visit the DC area bridal salon, Hitched, located in historic Georgetown in Washington DC at the corner of Wisconsin and Volta (1 block north of P Street). The owners, Julia and Carin are not only amazing business women, but they are also new moms, and thus we have the utmost respect for their dedication to their professional and personal life.

We had met with Hitched over 2 years ago, when Melissa was just 4 months pregnant with Julian (she bought her first outfit for him at BabyGap). They have been carrying a few of our bridal pieces since that time and we have received several referrals from the salon. We met with Julia and Carin yesterday to update our designs and provide them with our most popular bridesmaid jewelry designs.
One such necklace, which just so happens to be based on our best sold necklace, was designed specifically for a Hitched bride. She got married this past May 2009 and we customized this necklace to match her bridesmaid dresses. She was a pleasure to work with, such a fun necklace to design. We just recently posted this necklace on our etsy site, www.tuvida.etsy.com. It can be made with varying colors and length, the possibilities are endless. You can honestly wear it with anything, which is what makes it our best seller.

Thank you to Hitched Salon for continuing to support our business and for referring brides that have helped us continue to create unique, one-of-a-kind jewelry!

Create Your Wedding

Many of our clients come to us with no idea what type of wedding they would like: elegant, whimsical, casual, cultural, religious, most of all, unique . Your wedding is a representation of you! From start to finish, each element should make a statement about the couple, their love for one another and their vision for a lifetime of happiness together.

We work with each client to custom create Save the Dates, Invitations, Bridal Jewelry, and Day of Stationery that is truly a symbol of the couples love for one another. While many of our clients as for our opinion and many put their trust in us to create the elements based on our expertise, it is always our goal to get to know the couple, asking them what they vision: colors, style, budget and overall effect. It is based on this initial meeting that we are able to better design a wedding that will really speak to the couples hopes and dreams.

It really is a joy to get to know our couples and see the love that goes into planning a wedding. Each invitation, each bridesmaid gift, each table number is unique and a joy to design. It is an awesome feeling to see the look on a brides face when she receives her completed invitations, tries on her bridal necklace for the first time or picks up her placecards and table numbers. We feel humbled to know that we played a small role in creating the wedding of her dreams.

Our goal as part of our blog is to post completed wedding invitations for the bride to share with family and friends, sample bridal jewelry to share as well as post wedding pictures- to see the vision come to life! We hope that you will continue to follow our blog and you too will be inspired by the love that a wedding brings to all those involved.

"Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments" It is our goal to continue to create designs that help make the most special moments in life, memorable.

Eternal Love

"I Will Love You"

As long as I can dream

As long as I can think

As long as I have a memory

I will love you

As long as I have a heart to feel

A soul stirring inside me

An imagination to hold you...

I will love you.

This week's blog comes from the heart. While most of our clients are brides to be and new moms, we have been touched by many clients stories of love and loss. Our cancer awareness bracelets have meant to so much as a symbol of hope patients and their families. Whether it is a gift for a bridesmaid, a mother recently diagnosed with cancer, a sister that just gave birth to her first child or a friend who lost her only child, our jewelry continues to bring comfort and joy to the faces of our clients and that makes me smile.

We have been working with Hightail Studios for some time now in creating our initial necklaces and cancer awareness "Hope" jewelry. The owner of Hightail Studioes, Nina, lives right in Federal Hill and thus it has been a great partnership to help us expand our designs and offer customized pieces to creating lasting memories. We found the above design to be very breathtaking and we have decided to name this necklace "Eternal Love"

"Eternal Love" can be have many meanings. To me the larger circle represents a mother with the smaller circle representing her child. The stone can be inter-changed, to represent the birthstone of a child. The fact that it is a circle design implies eternity, forever going round and round..a love that never ends. To a bride to be, this necklace could represent her heart inside her new husbands, and the stone could be symbolic of the month of the wedding or colors of the wedding. The possibilities are endless. This necklace will be designs in several ways but the symbol of "eternal love" will remain throughout.

I chose to share this new design this week, as today is July 29, 2009. It is exactly 2 years after the death of my nephew, Jason, in a fatal car accident. He was my sister's only child and we miss him everyday. For those of you that do not know my personal heartache, my husband and I were pregnant and just this past July 6, 2009, we lost our baby boy. I was just 16 weeks pregnant. I have started my own personal blog, click here if you wish to follow my personal journey of love, loss and healing. The poem above was given to me by my sister during my loss. She told me that she often turns to this poem to remind herself that Jason will live forever through the love that we have for him and now for my baby Alex.

The loss of a loved one is never easy and we have seen too many close, dear friends have to deal with such a tragedy. It is through encouragement, strength and hope that we see our lives continue to thrive and we find the courage to find a reason to live. I plan to take my love for jewelry design and make that a source of healing for myself and provide hope to other families. We plan to have the Eternal Love Necklace ready for sale by end of August and we will be providing a portion of the proceeds from the necklace back to The Living Legacy Foundation, which is the organization that helped my nephew donate 5 of his organs to help save lives and the Trisomy 18 Foundation , which is the diagnosis that my son received. Each necklace will come complete with the poem above on a card and an explanation of the charity that will benefit from each sale. We welcome your comments and suggestions and we hope that you will consider ordering the Eternal Love necklace to help us make a difference.

We're BACK! While I realize that it has been over 5 month since we have blogged... I promise that we have good reason and we are fully committed to sending out loyal customers weekly blogs to keep you inspired and to inspire ourselves as well!

New Beginnings

Where do we begin? Back in March 2009, we were contemplating the idea of closing our storefront in order to focus more on custom jewelry, online orders and wholesale jewelry. Fate stepped in and our landlord was able to find a new tenant..only problem, we had to be out by March 31. Basically, we had 2 weeks to pack, sell furniture and determine how we were going to manage our business. We worked in overtime and moved our storefront to our homes. Melissa continues to do all graphic design, marketing and invitation design from her home in Bel Air and I continue to meet with clients and create unique, custom jewelry from my home in Fells Point. The past few months have been challenging and a new adventure for our business, but we have been working hard to build our Etsy site and we have now sold to 3 brides via Etsy! Katie traveled to Colombia, South America for a little R&R and inspiration for new designs for the business. Working from home is rewarding, as we get so spend everyday with our babies. Melissa's son, Julian, is going to be 2 in one month! And Katie's daughter, Elena, is now 16 months. Afterall, the name of our business, Tu Vida, means "your life". The purpose of our business is to inspire our clients for all the moments of "life". At the same time, we want a business that allows us to live a life that matters, and we beleive that we are finally at a point were our business is making a difference!

Exciting Changes!

As one door closes, another opens. We are embrassing the changes that have occured over the last few months and we are moving forward with new goals and new opportunities. So, what has been happening:
1. We are now selling via the world wide web through Etsy. Click www.tuvida.etsy.com to view our site and order through the secure site. We will be posting custom bridal orders and we are now using Etsy as we main website. Which leads me to #2
2. Tuvidaonline.com is no longer. For 2 reasons, one, we were victims of online hacking and our website was compromised and two, in an effort to try to save money, we are focusing on Etsy and our Blog to keep our customers in the know!
3. We are in the process of switching our email as well to link to our Blog and Etsy. We are asking all customers to switch to tuvidadesigns@gmail.com. Our tuvida@comcast.net email will continue to be in use for a few months while we transfer our accounts.
4. We are focusing on creating jewelry that makes a difference. We are in the process of creating new cancer awareness jewelry, jewelry for new moms and jewelry for the loss of a child. We have unfortunately seen many go through the death of a child and it's impact is like no other. Jewelry is a small token of remembrance for loved ones' and especially for the parent of the child. We will update our clients with the new designs!

Look forward to an inspirational blog each week starting week of July 26. We hope that you will be motivated to make a difference in your life and support our business in our quest to do our small part for our clients.

Jewelry for the New Mom

While we specialize in bridal jewelry, it is only natural that once our clients get married the next step is starting a family. Many of our clients have returned upon becoming pregnant to have us create baby shower invitations, baby announcements and jewelry for mom, baby and proud grandma.
We work with Meaghan Elliott Photography not only as our referral for wedding photography, but to take pictures of our jewelry and she is a fantastic photographer. Her attention to detail is amazing. She recently took pictures of my daughter for her first birthday!
Back to the subject at hand.. Mom to Be, New Mom, Proud Grandma, or know someone who is...check out our jewelry to celebrate baby! As with our bridal jewelry, everything is custom made with the colors of you choice, length of your choice and we gift wrap! Check out our etsy site to see detailed pictures.
Visit our boutique at 300 E Fort Ave for more new mom/baby gifts. We carry Tree by Kerri Lee and of course would be happy to do custom baby annuncements or shower invitations.
We love to celebrate the special moments in your life...nothing is more exciting than getting married and having a baby...let us help you celebrate!

Jewelry-The Perfect Bridesmaid Gift

Below is an article from Bride & Bloom.com, which explains why Tu Vida Jewelry & Design is the perfect place to customize your bridesmaid gifts:

"Your bridesmaids have thrown you a blow out engagement party, some fantastic showers and a bachelorette party that was over the top. They are trotting across the country to be in your wedding, and doing it all while wearing bridesmaids gowns of your choosing and biting their tongues if it isn’t their favorite color or style. One gal is probably nine months pregnant and paid more to have the dress altered than the original retail price. They are the dream team of attendants, and they deserve that special gift that tells them how much you love them and appreciate everything they have done to be a part of your big day. Here are some tips and ideas for some gifts as unique and fantastic as your bridal party!
Bridesmaids are not clones!
Passing off matched sets of jewelry, wraps or handbags that match their bridesmaid gowns and make you happy because they all look appropriately accessorized for wedding photos is more of a gift for yourself than it is for your girls. How about choosing jewelry or accessories that coordinate, but also ultimately compliment each attendant’s unique tastes? Something traditional and delicate for your older sister’s conservative wrist and a killer set of the hottest chandelier earrings for your best friend. Or find a company that can help you customize the perfect piece of jewelry for each bridesmaid individually or at a pre-wedding party. (of course that means, Tu Vida Jewelry & Design)
Personalize your gift
Whether it’s a make up case stamped with each girl’s initials and stuffed with all their favorite beauty products or a silver box etched with their name and holding a fun trinket or gift certificate for their favorite store, something that has been customized is always personal and shows that you put time and effort into pre-planning your gifts.
Stuff your gift with Surprises
Perfect for stuffing with everything from beach towels and sunglasses to bedazzled bridesmaids undies and bath and body products, everyone loves a tote stuffed with their favorite things. Each bag will look the same at first, but will contain tons of little surprises for each recipient. For those friends that are the serious Fashionista types, try doing a small accessory from a great brand. Pop in their favorite shade of lipstick or gloss and it’s a done deal.
Focus on their interests
Within your little clique, you probably have friends with interests, passions and personalities that range from tomboys to girly girls, scholars to travelers, and hopeless romantics to the painlessly practical. What better way to tie a theme together than starting each gift with a year subscription to their favorite magazine – whether it’s French Vogue, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan or Better Homes & Gardens! Add a travel journal or photo album to the voyager’s travel mag and the coveted hard cover version of the summer’s hottest romance novel to the romantic’s publication. Spice up the chef’s cooking magazine with ingredients for the month’s featured recipe, and sponsor a donation for your politically correct friend’s pet charity along with her subscription to Organic Style."

So....when you are thinking about your bridesmaid gifts, keep in mind that we can personalize each gift to reflect your bridesmaids personality.

Happy planning and we look forward to working with you to create jewelry that makes a statement!!