In addition to her Splendid Little Stars shop, she also makes adorable earrings. The angels are some of my favorites that are perfect for the holidays. 

Visit her blog as well!

Every fall since I can remember, my mom, dad and two younger sisters would load up in the car and head up the road to Vaughn's Apple Orchard in Weston, Mo. The short drive up was always so pretty with golden yellows, crisp oranges and reds in the hilly countryside. My sister's and my mission upon arrival: Apple Cider Slushes. As soon as we stepped out of the car it was time to nag dad for a quarter to go up to the rickety shack and ask for a slush. They no longer cost just a quarter - over a dollar now!  Also, there were other fun apple foods as well like apple donuts and apple fritters, but our eyes were out on the slush.

We never did go out and pick our own apples in the orchard, nor was it that important to us. Inside the store was so much more action. A live honey bee's nest that we could stare at for hours. The watch area to oversee the cleaning, peeling, packaging of the apples which was pretty exciting to a kid. We'd pick a bag or two of apples for dad's apple crisps and just to nosh on. We'd also grab some decorations like pumpkins, indian corn and ghords. Then the trip was over and one more plea for another quarter. Good fall times.

I think these stones are just beautiful. Especially when there is a bin of loose silky, soft, shiny tigers eye I can run my hands through. I came across some black beads that resembled tigers eye but were called fiber optic. I thought how strange. So I did a little searching online to see if tigers eye can come in a variety of colors or just the typical golden brown that you see so often.

Tigers eye is a member of the quartz family and is considered semi-precious.  True tigers eye in it's natural state is the golden variety we are so accustomed to. On some occasions due to the wonders of nature (for the scientists out there - fibers of the mineral crocidolite are replaced by insufficient silica), tigers eye can be blue and is known as Hawk's eye in that case (see pendant image).When you see a red toned tigers eye, it has been gently heated.  The best tigers eye is cut 'en cabochon'. Tigers eye can be found in South Africa and East Asia and are known to ward off evil and promote clear thinking. This stone is of the mind, not the body and would be great to use for meditation. Are you a Pisces, Gemini or Capricorn or a November birthday? This is your stone.

In order to get the variety of tigers eye colors you see at your favorite 'bead heaven', they have gone through a fiber optic process and then dyed. That's right, the run of the mill fiber optic quartz cable wire for instance. If you find a yellow or orange tigers eye bead strand, most likely it's not a true tigers eye, but that of fiber optic. Regardless, they're still beautiful in all their fabulous colors. Since they are synthetic, they are less expensive.



For the rock tumblers out there. Below is an image of a rough cut tigers eye specimen. Tigers eye is a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. A rough cut of this stone can be easily tumbled with other quartz, agates and jasper stones. Beginner tumbler? This is a good stone to start out with. It will reach it's silky shine easily.


I enjoyed learning about Tigers Eye. I took it fore granted when I'd twist and turn it. Nature is truly a beautiful, mysterious thing. 


Sources: Wikipedia, crystal-cure.com, geology.com
Rough tiger’s eye. © iStockphoto / Robert Ellis.
Brown tiger’s eye beads. © iStockphoto / Sohfian Mohamed Kamari.
Hawk's Eye - jegem.com