Becki and Jeremiah’s Engagement Story

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Aubin

I have been looking at wedding stuff with my friend Becki for years now, so when we randomly ended up ogling vintage rings at TurtleLove.com on her iPhone at a festival one afternoon, I didn’t think much of it. This is just what girls do. But after posting a few comments about it on Instagram, I got a message from my dear friend’s boyfriend asking about the website and what kind of ring she wanted. Needless to say, I was surprised, happy, and oh-so-shocked that he confided in me about this secret! Excitedly, I led him to the website, and he started to tell me his plans and get my opinions on the perfect engagement scenario.

My friend Becki has always discussed wanting a friend there for the moment. As a photographer herself, it would only make sense that she would want to have photos as well. But, Jeremiah also wanted to play off their love for travel and music and get down on one knee in the center of Central Park before a concert. A weekend away was a great setting, but with New York being a good 11 hour drive from their home in Ohio, there wasn’t much of a chance of many friends who would be able to take the trip. Except me, as I had moved to only a few hours outside of NYC. I planned to travel to the city to take photos of them on the Bow Bridge as they got engaged, being so secretive as to not even tell my husband. I actually told Aubin at TurtleLove.com before anyone else!

Indeed, it turned out to be a perfect moment. Becki has been my friend for a long time and is one of my closest and dearest friends, and I couldn’t have been happier to see the smile on her face that day. Jeremiah even sneaked in a fancy brunch before the big moment to ensure they looked snazzy for the shots. My heart was aflutter waiting for them and trust me, with as many people filtering through Central Park that day, I thought for sure I was going to miss them. The pictures turned out perfectly though and the engagement went smoothly. She loved her ring, a vintage piece from TurtleLove.com. that couldn’t have been more perfect for her.

{This is a guest post from TurtleLove.com Style Council member Katherine from Of Corgis and Cocktails}

Nail Art that Complements Your Engagement Ring

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Emily

You may have noticed that nail art has gotten really popular lately. From geometric patterns to painstakingly hand painted florals, nail art is a great new accessory. My personal favorite variation on the trend is what I call the accent nail.

nail art accent nail artisan engagemnent ring blue topaz gold solitaire

Dainty Blue Sapphire Gold Solitaire from Turtle Love Co.

The great thing about painting an accent nail is that you can use it to highlight your ring finger and your beautiful artisan engagement or wedding ring. Turtle Love Co.‘s lovely Dainty Blue Topaz Gold Solitaire by Laura Serrafero is one of my favorites, and an accent nail adds a little extra specialness to this petite engagement ring. Do you think you’d try an accent nail?

Be our next Facebook page cover photo!

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Aubin

Two weeks ago we asked our followers on Facebook to share pictures of themselves wearing their Turtle Love Co. jewelry. Since then we’ve received some great pictures of our customers with their engagement rings and wedding rings and we’ve featured two of them (one per week) as a cover photo on our Facebook page so far.

The first customer to have their picture become our cover photo for the week was Cassie Wong

Her ring is our Nested White Pearl Engagement Ring set. When she submitted her photo she said “My fiancé and I were so happy when we got the rings! We love them! Thank you Xander, for all your help.” To learn more about our Nested White Pearl Engagement Ring set, please click the photo above.

Our cover photo this week is from Ruth Deborah Watson, whose ring is the Hannah Vintage Diamond Engagement Ring.

You can learn more about our collection of vintage engagement rings by clicking the photo above.

Who will be next week’s cover photo? It could be you!

To submit your photo, either post it to our Facebook page wall or email it to [email protected]

Why I Chose My Nested White Topaz Engagement Ring

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Aubin

When Joel and I got engaged two years ago I borrowed a ring from my mother, a vintage yellow gold band with an emerald at its center and a surround of tiny diamonds, and told myself that we would eventually get the engagement ring of my dreams. The only problem was that I had no idea what my dream ring looked like.

When I began working at Turtle Love Co., I recognized that it was the perfect environment in which to figure out what kind of ring I wanted as a symbol of my engagement. Because TLC sells a wide array of vintage engagement rings and artisan-made rings I had a lot of room to explore what appealed to me. I had my borrowed engagement ring to start with for inspiration and right off I knew that, although yellow gold is nice, it doesn’t fit my personality as well as silver does. In the time I’d been wearing my mother’s ring I’d also grown tired of it getting caught on my clothing and I decided that my ring would need to have a low, smooth setting so I wouldn’t have to worry about it getting hooked on my sweaters.

Turtle Love Co.’s Nested White Topaz Engagement Ring

While I was going through the engagement rings listed on our website one day I decided to search by gem stone. The first one I entered was my birth stone, topaz, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the Nested White Topaz Engagement Ring by Jen Burrall. There are many reasons why this is the perfect engagement ring for me. First, I am a big believer in buying local whenever possible and Jen Burrall’s studio happens to be a few blocks away from my apartment, which makes it buying very local indeed! Second, although the name suggests the ring is reminiscent of a bird’s nest, it struck me that it looked like my favorite flower, ranunculus. In the Victorian language of flowers, ranunculus means “I am constantly amazed by your charms,” which when combined with my birth stone is the perfect message for my engagement ring.

Aubin's ranunculus bouquet and wedding rings

A photo taken at Aubin’s recent wedding of her and her husband’s wedding rings on either side of her ranunculus bridal bouquet (photo by Katie Martell)

Elvis Presley’s rings being auctioned today in Memphis, TN

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Aubin

At Turtle Love Co. we appreciate jewelry with a different kind of design and there are few men in recent memory who had a collection of jewelry as different as the rings owned by Elvis Presley. Today in Memphis there is an auction taking place less than ten miles away from Elvis Presley’s famous Graceland Mansion that features many rare and interesting items from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, including some unique pieces of his jewelry.

Elvis Presley's ring featuring a gold coin and diamonds

One of the pieces of Elvis’s jewelry up for auction, a pinky ring built around an antique gold coin surrounded by diamonds in a 14K gold setting (picture from Heritage Auctions)

At the auction, which is being billed as the “2012 Ultimate Elvis Auction II,” is this 14K gold pinky ring featuring a circle of tiny diamonds and an antique gold coin worn by Elvis in the documentary Elvis: That’s the Way it Is. The ring has a starting bid price of $17,500 but is expected to go for as much as $42,000.

The most interesting thing about the rings for sale is the particular stones and unique designs that Elvis favored. According to Elvis’s friend Charlie Hodge, who is selling one of the rings given to him by The King, Presley was fond of turquoise jewelry and at one point had between 10 and 12 rings featuring the stone.

Elvis Presley’s gold, diamond, and black sapphire ring (picture from Heritage Auctions)

The rings also show some insight into Presley’s personality. One of the rings, a large, intricate 14K gold piece that looks similar to a tree top with small diamonds and black star sapphires as apples scattered through the gold branches, was gifted by Elvis to his friend Alan Fortas who explained that ”Elvis believed the wearing of sapphire jewelry was supposed to signify generosity, good manners, wisdom, and noble thoughts.”

Priscilla Presley showing off her diamond ring in 1967

Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding rings:

Elvis’s second wedding band from his 1967 marriage to his wife Priscilla (the first ring having been lost shortly after the wedding) was auctioned in 2006 for $90,000. The wedding band, chosen by Priscilla, is a platinum setting with baguette cut and round cut diamonds. The ring Elvis chose for Priscilla is equally impressive and has a three carat diamond at its center with a surround of 20 smaller diamonds.

Vintage Ringspiration

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Alicia

One of my favorite jobs at Turtle Love Co. is creating the listings for our vintage rings. I get to photograph and describe beautiful works of art made from metal and stone – little round symbols of love and commitment – and make them as stunning on your computer screen as they are in person using imagery and words.

As much as I love to photograph, I think my favorite thing to do is name the pieces. The first batch of rings I got to name, I named after members of my family. The recently sold Paulina, one of my favorites, is named for a variation of my mother’s middle name, Pauline. The Josephine was named after my husband, Joe. The Lucille is named after my aunt, and Rochelle is my cousin’s middle name.

For the next batch, I decided to use the names of some of my favorite women in music. Regina is named for Regina Spektor, Joan for Joan Jett, Etta for Etta James. I love to match the names I have in mind to the style and feel of each ring.

I decided to use this blog entry as an opportunity to preview three of twelve new vintage rings I’ve currently named and will be putting up on the site within the next week or so. This time around, the names are based on female fine artists throughout history.

We’ll go in chronological order, beginning with the Clara. The Clara Vintage Diamond Engagement Ring is named after Clara Peeters, a Flemish painter born in 1594. You may have never heard of her because, like most other remarkable women in history, the fact that she was a woman prevented her from being as renowned as she should have been. But her work speaks for itself – the way she was able to render details in her still-life and floral paintings is truly remarkable. I chose Clara for the name of this ring because of its exquisite detail and floral motif.

Next up is the Elisabetta Diamond Vintage Engagement Ring, named for Elisabetta Sirani, an Italian Baroque painter born in 1638. Sirani died young, at only 27 years of age, but her breadth as an artist is remarkable. She had completed almost 100 works of art by the time she was 17, and doubled that amount by the time she died. Like many Italian Baroque painters, many of her works were very large in scale and used a lot of Christian imagery. What is most remarkable is that this young woman supported her parents and her siblings with her artwork. I chose Elisabetta as the name for this ring because of its simple, strong, and elegant presence.

Lastly, we skip a few hundred years to the Louise Vintage Diamond Engagement Ring, named for Louise Nevelson. Nevelson, a modern American sculptor, was born in Russia in 1899 and moved to the United States (Maine, even!) at age 6. Nevelson is known for her large-scale wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures, and was first inspired to be an artist when she saw a sculpture of Joan of Arc at age 9. Nevelson believed that art should be an expression of the individual, and not something that should be categorized as masculine or feminine. Her pieces were large, dark and intimidating – against the grain for a female artist. She is revered as a pioneer in the feminist art movement for her ideals and her unique artistic vision. I chose Louise as the name for this ring based on its tall, sculptural quality and commanding presence.

Other artists I’ve named rings after in this upcoming batch are Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lavina Teerlinc, and Mariette Robusti, to name a few. Make sure to check our site regularly for new vintage rings – you may even be able to guess which remarkable women the rings are named after.

Turtle Love Co announces the winners of its first annual jewelry design contest

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Aubin

Turtle Love Co. is pleased to announce the winners of its first annual engagement ring design contest. Elizabeth Ryan’s Lovebirds ring took first place, and Cathy Heinz’ Lady of the Lake ring was awarded second place in the juried portion of the contest. Heather Perry’s Livinia ring won the Popular Vote, with the most votes from online voters.

Each winning design will be featured in Turtle Love Co.‘s product line, including special packaging and promotion of the artist and the winning design. In addition, the first and second place juried winners receive $1,000 and $500 respectively for their designs; the winner of the popular vote receives $1,000.

Now, here is a bit more information about the winners!:

Elizabeth Ryan began designing jewelry under the name Looka Jewelry in 2006 after falling in love with metalsmithing in college. She finds that one of the joys of being a jeweler is “creating something that others hold on to and find sentimental value in.” Ms. Ryan’s design for the contest was inspired by what she herself would want in an engagement ring. “As someone always working with my hands I liked the idea of creating a special ring that could be very wearable but also felt unique and handmade, perhaps something other artists might like to wear,” she says. The winning ring design features two birds on either side of a 5mm white topaz stone, a design choice Ryan says was inspired by a love of cute things and nature: “I liked the idea of two love birds as a representation of love and partnership…[and] a lot of my work incorporates mixed metals so I knew this design needed that touch too.”

Cathy Heinz can’t remember a time when she wasn’t creating jewelry and has been selling her creations professionally for the past 11 years. She describes her style as refined, modern, simple, and feminine but not cutesy and says that her favorite part of being a jeweler is having the ability to create any design she can imagine and making pieces that strike an emotional chord with people because “being able to participate in [people’s] lives that way is something special.” The design Ms. Heinz submitted to the contest, featuring a stone rising out of a round lake of silver, was inspired both by the legend of the Lady of the Lake and by her customers. “I’ve done quite a few engagement ring makeovers,” she says, “I wanted to make something timeless that would look just as good on the 25^th anniversary as it did at the wedding.”

Heather Perry moved to Maine from Baltimore, Maryland, where she had earned her BFA in sculpture. She came to Maine for a change of pace, and she can now be found tucked in a distant corner of Maine, where the Eastern seaboard of the United States bumps up against Canada. Heather shares her home in Robbinston, Maine with her husband and 12-year-old son. Robinston is near the woods and the rugged Maine coast that inspires her work, but pretty far from everything else. So Heather’s trips to the “big city” of Portland are punctuated by visits to music stores, Japanese restaurants, and other treats she and her son can’t get in their hometown. Heather approaches her truly awe-inspiring jewelry designs as sculpture, and hand sculpts each design in wax before it is cast in recycled precious metals.

Cool Rings in Real Life: Maggie’s “Space Diamond”

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Turtle Love Co.

We love the rings our new friends Maggie and Jorge chose to represent their love. They found a designer named Tamara McFarland who custom-made their sustainable, eco-friendly jewelry - a moissonite engagement ring and a wedding band with lab-created rubies.

Pictures used with permission from Tamara McFarland from McFarlandDesigns.com

Turtle Love Committee: What is your favorite place in the whole wide world?
Maggie: The beach. Any beach. Preferably one that occupies the same space as 80 degree weather!

TLC: Childhood ambition?
M: I had an opportunity to study abroad in Siberia when I was in high school. Ever since then I’ve been determined to see as much of the world as I possibly can.

TLC: Current ambition?
M: In one and a half years I’ll have completed my course of study for licensure in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. My goal is to make Chinese medicine affordable and accessible to as many people as possible.

TLC: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
M: I’d pay off the student loans that my husband and I have accumulated over the course of almost twenty-five years of schooling. I’d also invest in organizations and institutions that are promoting health care accessibility, holistic care, and sustainable health care practices.

TLC: Who is your partner?
M: My partner is a healer, a gentleman, a hunk, a romantic, a comedian, a scholar and my husband.

TLC: How did you and your partner decide to get married?
M: We couldn’t imagine life without the other and we wanted to share our commitment with our friends and family.

TLC: What does your wedding/engagement/commitment ring look like?
M: They’re beautiful, simple, honest, ethical and eco-friendly! My engagement ring is a moissonite set in recycled sterling silver (moissonite is a stone that was originally discovered in a meteorite; it’s since been replicated in a lab and is similar in hardness to diamond) and we affectionately refer to it as my “space diamond!” My wedding ring is made with lab-created rubies also set in recycled sterling silver.

TLC: What do you think about your ring(s)?
M: When we knew we were going to get married we considered not exchanging rings at all (for a variety of reasons). It was challenging to find a local, eco-friendly jeweler, so we were pretty excited to discover Tamara McFarland’s work. She created a custom design based on our input and her style. I was so thrilled to have such a unique ring that really represented who we are as a couple.

TLC: What’s your favorite color?
M: This totally depends on the context, although pumpkin orange is always a safe bet.

TLC: Pets?
M: We live in a small apartment in San Francisco which doesn’t allow pets, but we’ve already named our future cat (Bubbles) and our future dog (Meatball).

TLC: What are you passionate about?
M: Healing. Travelling. Love. Baking. Lists (although I’m trying to wean myself from them). The beach. Creativity. Art Nouveau. Coconuts. Elvis.

TLC: What is the last book you read?
M: “The Time Traveller’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger.

TLC: Favorite beverage?
M: Coconut milk, hands-down!

TLC: What is your favorite physical feature?
M: I don’t have a favorite physical feature, but in terms of my personality, I’m grateful for my ability to see the positive aspects in any situation. I think I inherited that from my grandfather.

If you would like to tell us about your super cool ring for our blog, we would love to hear about it!

Feel free to email us!

Cool Rings in Real Life: Melissa’s Emerald

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Turtle Love Co.

When we found that we had a new friend also in the eco-friendly wedding business, we knew instantly that we wanted to feature her on our blog. Melissa Wagner, owner and senior event planner of Emerald Events & Weddings, had a wonderful emerald ring we thought fit in just great with “Cool Rings in Real Life.”

Turtle Love Committee: What’s your favorite place in the whole wide world?
Melissa: I think I was a mermaid in a previous life because I love the sea so much! My favorite places to go “be one” with the waves are Bermuda and Oregon’s coast. Both are absolutely beautiful but in very different ways.

TLC: Childhood ambition?
M: I wanted to be a world famous mystery writer.

TLC: Current ambition?
M: Making a decent living doing something I love and believe in with a flexible schedule that allows me to spend time with those I love. That’s the reason I started Emerald Events & Weddings, my very own eco-friendly event planning business. I help clients save the planet while they throw amazing parties and events, AND, I can still make it to my niece’s school play! That makes for a happy Melissa!

TLC: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
M: Half would go to charities I support like the Cystic Fibrosis foundation and Heifer International; with the other half I’d pay off all my family’s debts, buy everyone a new car, and maybe a second home near the beach for me!

TLC: Who is your partner?
M: Erich is the love of my life. I went through a LOT of frogs before finding my prince! He’s a techie with a wicked sense of humor, is one of the smartest men I know, and can cook gourmet meals like nobody’s business!

TLC: How did you and your partner decide to get married?
M: It was a surprise to both of us actually. We were sitting on our couch one night and I was upset that I’d been so busy I hadn’t been able to spend much time with him that week. He told me that was okay, “because we had the rest of our lives to be together.” He then took a deep breath and said “Will you marry me?” I asked him “Are you sure?!” about forty times before saying yes! It turned out that he’d actually planned to propose to me after the New Year when things calmed down, but his proposal ended up being completely spur of the moment and I loved the fact that it was so spontaneous.

TLC: What does your wedding/engagement/commitment ring look like?
M: I have a white gold ring with a lab created emerald-cut emerald with several small diamonds on each side. The front and back of the ring have lacework which allows light to shine through the emerald at all times.

TLC: What do you think about your ring(s)?
M: love it because it’s not cookie cutter in any sense of the word and it’s definitely a “me” ring. Since the diamonds and emerald are lab-created, I didn’t add to the destruction and suffering caused by mining those gems in the wild, which was important to both Erich and myself.

TLC: What are you passionate about?
M: My passions include time with my family and friends, traveling to exotic destinations, writing my how-to-books for greening events and gardening in our backyard. We raise hops (Erich homebrews beer) as well as vegetables, herbs, and heirloom flowers.

TLC: What is the last book you read?
M: Diana Mott Davidson’s “Fatally Flaky.” Her heroine, Gold,y is a caterer who, like me, is spunky, from Colorado and just a bit fluffy. She writes well and also includes several wonderful recipes in each murder mystery which I love to try out!

TLC: Sweetest indulgence?
M: Port and dark chocolate with my honey in front of a roaring fire.

TLC: What is your favorite physical feature?
M: I love my smile and it’s a good thing because I do that a lot!

If you would like to tell us about your super cool ring, we’d love to write about it!

Feel free to email us!

Cool Rings in Real Life: Conor’s Sapphire

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Turtle Love Co.

When we heard that our new friend Conor loved dinosaurs as much as we do, we couldn’t help but be thrilled when she agreed to being in our “Cool Rings for Cool People” blog! And she definitely has a very cool ring (with a very cool story about it to match!)

TLC: What is your favorite place in the whole wide world?
Conor: Anywhere where my backpack’s behind me and my son in front of me.

TLC: Childhood ambition?
C: To dig up dinosaurs and put them back together again.

TLC: Current ambition?
C: Not let today slip away, bake a five layer cake with homemade frosting, perfect my Spanish, get on airplane without knowing where it’s going.

TLC: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
C: Hand out twenty dollar bills like parking tickets and get on an airplane without knowing where it’s going.

TLC: Who is your partner?
C: An occasionally shy, always humorous British boy with a killer crooked smile and a way with building furniture.

TLC: How did you and your partner decide to get married?
C: We stopped thinking and dove in. Literally- he proposed next to a swimming pool (because we wanted the ring to evoke the moment we took the literal and figurative plunge) and then he threw me in!

TLC: What does your wedding/engagement/commitment ring look like?
C: It is a sapphire with two small diamonds on opposite sides made by Tom McCaffery in Chicago. We later commissioned Tom to make a pair of earrings when Declan was born to expand the orbit to include all three of us.

TLC: What do you think about your ring(s)?
C: I get lost in it and wander to all of the places we still have to get lost in together.

TLC: Pets?
C: Our 2 year old son.

TLC: What do you do for work?
C: Bookkeeper for artists and nonprofits, while studying for CPA exam.

TLC: What are you passionate about?
C: Taking people places they never thought they’d go.

TLC: What is the last book you read?
C:”The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science” by Natalie Angier

TLC

the blog

Category Archives: Cool Rings in Real Life

Becki and Jeremiah’s Engagement Story

Nail Art that Complements Your Engagement Ring

Be our next Facebook page cover photo!

Why I Chose My Nested White Topaz Engagement Ring

Elvis Presley’s rings being auctioned today in Memphis, TN

Vintage Ringspiration

Turtle Love Co announces the winners of its first annual jewelry design contest

Cool Rings in Real Life: Maggie’s “Space Diamond”

We love the rings our new friends Maggie and Jorge chose to represent their love. They found a designer named Tamara McFarland who custom-made their sustainable, eco-friendly jewelry - a moissonite engagement ring and a wedding band with lab-created rubies.

If you would like to tell us about your super cool ring for our blog, we would love to hear about it!

Feel free to email us!

Cool Rings in Real Life: Melissa’s Emerald

If you would like to tell us about your super cool ring, we’d love to write about it!

Feel free to email us!

Cool Rings in Real Life: Conor’s Sapphire

When we heard that our new friend Conor loved dinosaurs as much as we do, we couldn’t help but be thrilled when she agreed to being in our “Cool Rings for Cool People” blog! And she definitely has a very cool ring (with a very cool story about it to match!)

We’d love to hear about your super-cool ring!

Email us!