Blog Posts

Zion National Park Inspired Kblossoms Painting and Jewelry

7/31/2017

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Welcome to my Zion National Park inspired jewelry and painting blog! This is our second time going to Zion, we visited five years ago in the Fall and witnessed beautiful fall foliage and decided to return in the summer this year to hike Angel's Landing on our bucket list. Angel's Landing was a truly unforgettable hike with views of Zion's 270 million year old red orange rock layers with the Virgin River running through the valley floor. We survived the 5 mile round trip hike to Angels Landing that was all uphill on switchbacks and we had to rock climb propelling ourselves on a chain cliff wall with sheer drop offs. It was the scariest hike we've ever done in our lives and it's not for everyone especially those with the fear of heights. The key is to look straight forward at where you are going, never letting go of the chains on the rocks and never looking down the cliff. We only made it to the first major cliff and had to turn around as it started to rain and thunder and we didn't want to risk it. My favorite part of that day was walking 2 miles down the Virgin River and witnessing the gorgeous sunset hour at the Zion valley. I love this romantic river walk as all you hear are birds chirping, river water flowing and get to see the gorgeous red rock canyons above and chipmunks and squirrels run around. It's truly like paradise on earth and inspired me to paint the above Zion Valley Virgin River watercolor abstract painting. You can order my Kblossoms Zion watercolor print in 3 sizes (11"x14", 16"x20", 20"x30") and frame it yourself making a great addition to your living room or bedroom decor. All the orange red earrings and necklaces were inspired by this Zion trip. I made the orange and pink chandelier earrings with genuine Swarovski crystals and used orange agate or carnelian stones to create the necklace and earrings. We had dinner at the Spotted Dog Cafe my favorite restaurant in Zion and had bumbleberry ice cream after hiking for 6 hours to Angels Landing and the Virgin River. On another day, we hiked 4.8 miles in a river of rocks under a flash thunderstorm with heavy rain to Kanarraville Falls about an hour outside of Zion. I wouldn't recommend hiking in the rain because of the threat of flash floods which are unpredictable in the summer months. Our hike to Kanarraville Falls started hot and sunny and ended cloudy and rainy. Kanarraville Falls is Utah's best kept secret, truly a hidden gem, and was so fun to hike to ending in a makeshift ladder above a waterfall. We loved the golden orange colors of the slot canyon and cooling down in the river bed on a hot summer day. Be prepared to pay $10 for parking. On that same day, we had a lot of fun driving our 4wd car across Toquerville Falls in Utah. Toquerville Falls is a well known swimming pool waterfall spot for locals in St. George Utah made of sandstone rocks. You just drive 5.8 miles on a bumpy dirt road to get to this waterfall. This was a short four day trip and we covered a lot of beautiful hikes. I hope you can one day go witness nature's beauty and hidden gems. Thank you for reading! You can visit my Kblossoms Etsy shop here www.kblossoms.etsy.com to shop for my handmade jewelry and paintings. To get my Zion photographs on various products, please visit my Zazzle store: www.zazzle.com/kblossoms

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Kauai Island Adventure Inspired Kblossoms Jewelry

6/6/2017

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Hi everyone! I just got back from my one week birthday trip to the beautiful island of Kauai! It was an epic and phenomenal trip where we did many firsts: flying over rainbows on the Napali coasts on a helicopter, inner tubing, stand up paddle boarding. Kauai is the most luscious green and undeveloped island all the Hawaiian islands and feels just like paradise on earth! I've been dreaming of this trip for the past 5 years now, putting hiking the treacherous Napali coast on my bucket list and finally realizing my dream. We hiked only 2 miles (4 miles round trip) of the total 12 miles of coastal mountain rocks and sand and it was difficult rock climbing up and down hill the entire way but worth it as you're rewarded with phenomenal coastal blue waters and beach views the entire way. I recommend renting a car allowing freedom to explore; we drove around the entire island, visiting 20 beaches and chasing gorgeous sunsets on all corners of the island. My favorite part of the trip was the helicopter ride where I saw 4 huge rainbows over Waimea canyon and Napali coast, many waterfalls, tall mountain peaks from way up high in the sky. There were so many wild chickens roaming around all over the island in parking lots, mountains and our hiking trails. They are so cute and colorful and are always looking for food. We awoke everyday at 5:30am to the sound of the roosters crowing. Most days, we started our day early, waking up to the sound of roosters, going everywhere all over the island doing outdoor water sports and didn't come back to our hotel until past 9pm. I recommend saving all your money for the outdoor tours and water sports and just staying in a cheap motel or Airbnb. I had a lot of fun rope swinging into secret swim holes near a river, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking in the Huleia River with spectacular views of luscious green mountains all around me. I loved watching the hula dancers and their beautiful dancing and costumes at the Smith's Family Garden Luau. I loved the Waimea falls, the beautiful double waterfall featured in Fantasy Island; you can park on the side of the road and walk up to. My favorite beach to watch the sunset was Barking Sand Beach on the West coast; we had to drive a little off road to get to it but it's well worth it as we were rewarded with a beautiful pink peach sunset and foamy blue crashing waves on the beach. My favorite beach to walk on was Lydgate park beach as the coral sands and blue waves are beautiful with a nice kiddy pool on the left. Kauai is known to have beaches with strong waves and rip currents that make it dangerous for swimming, but we found Anahola beach on the East coast that is very shallow and easy for swimming with no waves. One of my other favorite water sports on the island was inner tubing down a river and long dark caves with Kauai Back Country Adventures; you are carried down river by a strong current and get to spin and turn down a beautiful fern lined river. We got to wear headlamps and the cave walls are sparkly and beautiful. My favorite place to eat acai bowls and healthy salads, avocado toasts, breakfast burritos on the island is Eat Healthy in Wailua. We went to eat there almost every morning as we love the backyard outdoor seating ambience being surrounding by coconut and banana trees, flowers, cactuses, crushed green sea glass floors and resident lizards, cats and chickens! If you go to Kauai you have to try their delicious poke! It taste like jelly and melts in your mouth. We had ours with red radish, corn, watermelon, and sesame seeds and it was delicious! My favorite activity on the island was the fantastic helicopter ride over the entire island with Island Helicopters Kauai, we were blessed with phenomenal views of the grand canyon of Kauai (Waimea Canyon), many waterfalls throughout the green Napali coast canyons that look like weeping rocks, and four rainbows on land and sea. The helicopter ride was one of the best experiences of my life and I'm glad we did it on the last day of our trip as we were able to see all the rivers, beaches, and mountains that we hiked, kayaked, and paddle boarded in from the air. Kauai is definitely an adventure-filled island if you're into the outdoors and water sports with beautiful mountain peaks and 113 miles of coastlines. The best part is the Hawaiian people are very kind and nice to us, all our tour guides loved their jobs and treated us like family. I liked how the locals on the island lived a chill slow pace life and you can drive around the island at 25mph enjoying the coastal views and no one would honk you. I was inspired by Kauai to create all my Kblossoms ocean shell, Swarovski crystal coral necklaces and earrings that you see above from this beautiful trip to paradise on earth. You can find my one of a kind hand-made beach jewelry here: www.kblossoms.etsy.com Thanks for reading!

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Our Valentine's Day Iceland Trip in February 2017

2/17/2017

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Welcome to our Valentine's Day trip to Iceland blog! We had a great time doing the 6 day tour with Guide to Iceland, everything went very smoothly thanks to our travel planner. He booked everything for us with perfect timing allowing us to rest and see all the spectacular sites all in good time. Our favorite part of the trip was hiking the Vatnajokull glacier to see the black ice cave and blue ice wave walls that reminded me a lot of Utah's The Wave at Kanab but made completely of blue ice. We drove off road on bumpy terrain to the glacier and hiked the glacier with crampons and it was fun with a crunch crunch sound as you walk. We found the cute Icelandic horses and their long manes off the road, they are very friendly creatures and will approach you for a picture. I would highly recommend the Snaefellness peninsula tour as you can see lava rocks, seals, beautiful cliffs and waterfalls. You can explore Reykjavik on your own, the capital of Iceland as we did on our first day. We walked to Hallgrimskirkja Church and saw the gorgeous 360 view from the top, a must do. Be sure to try the delicious Icelandic hot dog at the hot dog stand called Baejarius Beztu Pylsur near the Harpa Center. We went to see the honeycomb shaped glass Harpa Center that lights up in different colors at night, a beautiful architectural modern design reminding me of the Broad in Los Angeles. We loved relaxing at the Blue Lagoon too with it's 100 degrees thermal hot spring waters, phenomenal views and restaurant. It's right next to the airport so if you did a layover in Iceland, you can stop there to enjoy the hot springs for a few hours, but I would recommend booking your tickets online beforehand as they sell out fast in person. We saw many waterfalls on our our trip as they were so full of water. My favorite waterfalls was Gulfoss and Skogafoss waterfalls, enormous with torrential water. We loved seeing and picking up the huge chunks of ice on Diamond Beach, a black sand beach. You have to try to lobster in Iceland, they are a little pricey but were the most tender and delicious lobster I've ever tasted, probably because lobsters thrive in colder climates. We saw the northern lights on our flight to Iceland over Greenland on the airplane, it was an unobstructed view as the clouds were below our plane. I think the best time to visit is in the winter from Dec-Feb to see the auroras and ice caves on the glacier as very seldomly elsewhere in the world can you see ice caves due to global warming. We highly recommend this tour as they had everything we wanted to see for a great bundled price. Iceland is a great place to visit for your honeymoon or anniversary as it'll be a trip you will remember your whole lives. We went to celebrate Valentine's Day and we will remember this forever. The Icelandic people are so friendly and welcoming. We want to come back in the summer to see the puffins. You can get photoprints of our Iceland pictures on mugs, posters, tote bags, mousepads and more in our Zazzle store!

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My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away Inspired Artwork and Succulent Terrariums and Pots

8/24/2016

My Neighborhood Totoro watercolor painting inspired by my recent trip to Taiwan and Japan where I saw Totoro everywhere from the Studio Ghibi exhibit in Taipei, streets of AnPing, and the Totoro store in Taichung. I also saw lots of Totoro stuffed toys in Japan all over Tokyo. I fell in love with Totoro in Asia and decided to paint this tree house scene where Mei first meets Totoro following the trail of acorns into his tree house. Hope you enjoy this magical scene as it's created with mixed media 3D figurines, stickers, acrylic, watercolor paints, and pen and ink. I also painted watercolor Totoro themed wedding and baby shower cards for my friends. I love cute stuffed animals and succulents so why not combine Totoro planters, pots and figurines into cactus designs. Above are a few of my Totoro succulent pots and terrariums that I designed with a fairyland like magical feel with the soot sprites and all.
My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away are my favorite Hiyao Miyazaki films full of magical creatures from Japanese folklore in the surrounding woods. I thought I would capture the essence of his work in my Totoro paintings and succulent designs. Both films depict little girls coming into contact with the magical spirit world and their personal growth and journey in understanding family life. Both films captures the innocent wondrous adventures of children with curious and imaginative minds and brings back our nostalgic childhood memories. I love the kindness and magic of Totoro and the free spirit of the children in Spirited Away because Miyazaki portrays the magic and imagination of a child's day to day life that we can all relate to despite our different life experiences and places we live in. I hope that creating these Totoro paintings and succulent plants brings a piece of enchanted world of Totoro to your life too as it does to mines. You can get poster prints of my Totoro paintings here.

Cinderella Kblossoms Jewelry

3/18/2015

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    This is our Kblossoms' Cinderella inspired jewelry collection inspired by all the Cinderella movies out there from Walt Disney's 1950 animated film and his 2015 live action version starring Lily James as Ella. I just watched the Cinderella movie released in March 2015 and I really believe it exactly captures the mood and spirit of the animated Cinderella film. If you play them side by side you can see all the similarities of the coach changing back into the pumpkins, Cinderella's dress transformation, and Cinderella's grand entrance to the ball.
    I believe Lily James captures the essence of Cinderella's kind hearted nature. She forgives her cruel stepmother and stepsisters and treats them kindly with grace even when they were mercilessly cruel to her. The stepmother was truly evil and a true villain. The stepsisters were just clueless and hilarious and followed their mother's lead; they have no talent, can't sing, can't perform, and just a spectacle to watch. Cinderella's mother taught her an important lesson in life when she said to her daughter in her death bed "Have Courage and Be Kind", which Cinderella took to heart and treated everyone she knew that way. If more people in the world were like Cinderella, this world would be a better place. Cinderella is an age old tale of kindness and love showing inner beauty is more important as outward beauty.
   Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale of all. I enjoyed watching all the past renditions of Cinderella films and musicals made including Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella (with Whitney Houston as godmother and Brandy as Cinderella), Cinderella Story with Hilary Duff, and Ever After with Drew Barrymore! All had their unique modern day or age old twist to the original fairy tale story.
I have created beautiful Kblossoms Cinderella acrylic glass slippers with Swarovski crystals on the side on a sterling silver chain. I have also created a one of a kind matching Cinderella Swarovski blue butterfly bracelet and earrings with gold filled butterfly charms to make a bangle bracelet in honor of the modern 2015 Cinderella movie where her dress was blue with butterflies on the front and on her glass slipper. I hope you enjoyed my blog, thanks for reading! For more Kblossoms Cinderella jewelry or custom requests, visit my Etsy store here: www.kblossoms.etsy.com

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Valentine's Day Kblossoms Jewelry and Love Quote Paintings

2/5/2015

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What are your Valentines Day plans? Will you be going out to a nice romantic dinner and cocktails with your hubby or boyfriend? No matter where you decide to go, you can wear our Kblossoms Valentine's Day city chic jewelry for a night out. Our one of a kind Valentine's Day jewelry is made of high quality gold filled, sterling silver, Swarovski crystal or precious stones. We also have beautiful Valentines Day acrylic and watercolor paintings with hand written calligraphy love quotes that are cute and whimsical and nature inspired! These paintings make the perfect Valentines Day gift for your mom, girlfriend, wife, or secret Valentine's and looks beautiful when framed and displayed in the office or home! We hope you will enjoy your Valentines Day with your loved one this year! Please visit our Kblossoms Etsy site to see all our Valentines Day jewelry and paintings! www.kblossoms.etsy.com

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Napa Valley Fall Foliage Inspired Watercolor Paintings

12/1/2014

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! This Thanksgiving week, we drove to one of the most beautiful fall foliage scenic drives in the US; Napa Valley, St. Helena, Calistoga, Sonoma and saw golden rolling hills of vineyards with a full fall foliage show for us! All the trees and grape leaves turned vibrant yellow, brown, orange and bursts of red! We went wine tasting at various vineyards and toured the majestic Castillo de Amarosa. This is a 13th century medieval castle designed by Dario Sattui with loving care as he toured various castles around Italy and designed this castle for 20 years with bricks shipped in cartloads from Europe. From the top of the castle you can see the rolling hills of yellow and orange vineyards, chickens, sheep, and goats on the premises as Sattui wanted to recreate a true medieval castle with everything including a moat! We were able to capture the rolling hills of gorgeous orange yellow and red vineyards on the Napa Valley wine train where we had our Thanksgiving lunch! I highly recommend traveling on the wine train one in your life as you get to sample wines, enjoy cheese, bread, and a delicious meal while enjoying the beautiful Napa Valley scenery and wineries. It was a 4 hour train ride where we passed by all the wineries of Napa and St. Helena and walked from the back to the front of the train carts to enjoy the scenic views. Our Napa Valley trip and fall foliage we saw there inspired my paintings of the above Napa Valley orange red grape leaves, aspen and birch trees in the Fall. These Napa Valley fall foliage grape leaves will remain vibrant and full of color for another 2 weeks before the winter weather sets in and soon the branches will be bare. We were so lucky to see this spectacular fall foliage show! Here is the link to all my acrylic and watercolor paintings and prints! www.kblossoms.etsy.com

Kblossoms Swarovski pumpkin earrings

10/6/2014

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Happy Halloween to all Kblossoms fans! This is our Halloween pumpkin Swarovski crystal earring blog that is inspired by the Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns! The RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns at Descanso Gardens is an amazing 5,000 hand-carved jack o’lanterns artistic display created by professional artists and sculptors throughout a 1/4-mile scenic trail all with spooky Halloween music! The entire family-friendly stroll is a multi-sensory experience that is sure to be a lasting annual family Halloween artistic tradition. It is currently on display in Los Angeles and New York! My favorite are all the Disney pumpkins, classic horror movies, Walking Dead, Chinese zodiac, and the Wizard of Oz. It was just amazing how they strung together tiny pumpkins and put lights in them and weaved them around the branches of a tree reminding me of the Avatar tree. I couldn't figure out how they made giant skeletons and dinosaurs with various large pumpkins connected together. I've got to give a big thumbs up to the artists and sculptures of the Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns, took them a year in the planning. I admire hand made pumpkin artwork that was the inspiration for my Kblossoms Swarovski pumpkin earrings. Hope you can wear my pumpkin earrings to your next Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns display! www.kblossoms.etsy.com

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World's Largest Rubber Duck is in Los Angeles!

9/4/2014

The world's largest yellow rubber duck is now in Los Angeles up to Sept 6th! This 60ft high rubber duck is a whimsical animal that brings out the inner child in you! It is inflatable and has traveled the world to Taiwan, Beijing, Pittsburg, Hong Kong, Japan, Brazil. It is friendly and connects people to their childhood and unites people all over the world. It was designed by the world renown artist Florentijn Hofman. It has docked in the Port of Los Angeles August 2014 at the Tall Ships Festival. In 1992 a shipping create containing 29,000 plastic bath toys and rubber ducks was lost at sea when it fell overboard in Hong Kong. For more than 20 years these rubber ducks can be found all over the world washing up in the shores of Hawaii, Pacific Northwest, Alaska, South America, Australia, Scotland, and England! We can understand the impact of pollution and how it spreads through ocean currents around the world.
Our Kblossoms glass duck earrings are inspired by this huge rubber duck. It just brings out the child in everyone, a yellow burst of child-like joy! Hope you all can go see the rubber duck before it leaves LA! To get your own yellow glass duck earring go here: www.kblossoms.etsy.com

Red Valentino Lock Rockstud Trim Flap Bag Kblossoms Inspired Jewelry

4/30/2014

I'm currently so in love with crimson red bags that were featured by WendysLookBook. I love how Wendy pairs her Celine red box bag or her Valentino lock rock-stud trim flap bag with red blazers, black and white striped tops or dresses! She is a very talented fashion blogger with a beautiful sense of classy style. I think crimson red is such a gorgeous warm color that adds a pop of color to a classy black dress or black and white striped top with a black blazer. It's hard to find a perfect crimson red color purse, I like how the Valentino purse has a touch of blue to make it darker crimson red. This Valentino crimson red flap bag makes a perfect accessory to your Christmas or Valentines Day outfit bringing warmth, comfort, and confidence to your look. You can get this Valentino flap purse at Neiman Marcus online here.
We also have the above crimson red Kblossoms heart druzy, snowman, ladybug, red gnome mushroom, and Swarovski heart earrings that pair beautifully with this Valentino red flap bag. The Valentino bag is glamorous yet edgy with the signature gold rockstuds and gold chain. It is made of Vitello calfskin leather with a platino hardware. It has a leather and canvas lining and has one zip pocket and 2 open pockets inside. It is a medium size bag that you can wear three ways: off your shoulder, crossbody, or as a clutch! The dimensions of the bag is 6 1/2"H x 10 1/2"W x 2 1/2"D. I just love love this classic Valentino purse as it exudes luxury and class with a touch of street chic style edge. To see all of our Kblossoms red jewelry that pairs well with this Valentino purse, visit my Etsy store here: www.kblossoms.etsy.com

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