New Work

The light was weird this morning - all of these stones look dull - they are much more sparkly and beautiful in real life (sigh).

Fair trade sapphire and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Moissanite and recycled 14k white gold engagement and wedding rings
{ custom order; sold }

Moissanite and recycled palladium sterling silver wedding rings
{ custom order; sold }

Moissanite and recycled palladium sterling silver wedding rings
{ custom order; sold }

New Work

Fair trade sapphire and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Moissanite and recycled palladium sterling silver rings
{ custom order; sold }

Chatham lab-created emerald and recycled palladium sterling silver rings
{ custom order; sold }

Fair trade sapphire, recycled palladium sterling silver, and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Recycled 950 palladium wedding rings
{ custom order; sold }

Recycled 14k palladium white gold and recycled 14k yellow gold wedding band
{ custom order; sold }

New Work

Oregon sunstone, recycled 14k yellow gold, and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Recycled 14k rose gold wedding band
{ custom order; sold }

Fair trade garnet, recycled 14k white gold, and recycled palladium sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Recycled palladium sterling silver wedding band
{ custom order; sold }

Custom stamping on the inside of the bands.

Moissanite, recycled palladium sterling silver, and recycled 14k white gold engagement ring
{ custom order; sold }

Hand-textured wedding bands (palladium sterling silver on the left and 14k palladium white gold on the right)
{ custom order; sold }

Chicken Pics!

We got two new roosters yesterday and they are the cutest!!!

Aaaaah! The cuteness almost hurts.


Chicken butts are the best!




These two were convinced that my jeans were edible.





Action shot! Look at that dust fly.

New Sapphires

I received a large shipment of some lovely fair trade sapphires the other day and just got around to photographing them. If you see something you like, let me know, because I probably won't keep all of them...

Malawi sapphires, ~5mm (~.55 carats each)

Malawi sapphires, ~5mm (~.55 carats each)

Malawi sapphires, ~5mm (~.55 carats each)

Malawi sapphires, ~5mm (~.55 carats each)

Malawi sapphire, 5.1mm (.61 carats)

Malawi sapphire, 5.8mm (1.04 carats)

Malawi sapphire, 5.8mm (.98 carats)
~ my personal favorite! ~
:-)

Malawi sapphire, 6mm (1.08 carats)

Great News!

After a lengthy application and screening process, McFarland Designs has been accepted as a member of the Green America Business Network!


Green America is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to harnessing the economic power of consumers, investors and businesses to promote social justice and environmental sustainability.


Businesses displaying the Green America Seal of Approval have successfully completed Green America's screening process and have been approved to be listed as a socially and environmentally responsible —or green—businesses in the National Green Pages™ directory.


As a consumer, you can feel confident that business bearing this seal operate in ways that support workers, communities, and protect the environment.

July Jewelry For Charity Recap & August Kick-off

I have been slacking on posting my jewelry for charity updates - I used to do it every month but it's been a while. I'm in a bit of a rush because I should be packing right now, but thought I would share the good news that in July, with your support, I raised $1,200 for PATH, bringing my total donations to-date to a whopping $20,391!!! I am so grateful to everyone who ordered jewelry from me in July, thereby adding to the help I am able to offer to oiled birds on the gulf coast.

August's featured charity is As Green As It Gets, a group focusing on economic development and environmentally sustainable agriculture in Guatemala. You can read about my personal experiences with this group here and here. They are an amazing group of people who are truly making a difference for a lot of families in Guatemala, and they need our support more than ever in the wake of several natural disasters that have befallen Guatemala in the past few months.

Here are some photos of Alberto, a Guatemalan coffee farmer we met on our trip in April - he took us on a tour of the fair trade coffee farm operated by his co-op, which is under the umbrella of As Green As It Gets. (By the way, his coffee converted me from a coffee hater to a once-or-twice-a-week-coffee-drinker.) :-)

With the coffee plants.

Showing us his bicycle-powered coffee bean de-husker.