Heads Up: QVC’s Jai Jewelry Line Lands at T.J. Maxx

FYI: We were doing our usual weekly stop at the jewelry counter at one of our local T.J. Maxx stores when something caught our eye: the familiar green pouch that QVC’s Jai jewelry comes in.

We took a closer look. There were several rings with hands holding a gemstone — in blue topaz, opal and ruby — with tags that said Jai.

And then there were several of Jai’s signature round box chains in rose gold over silver and darker silver.

There were also several link bracelets that must have been XS. That’s usually our size, but they were even too tiny for us.

So keep a look out if you are a Jai’s fan, like we are. Nice discount on the QVC prices.

It’s Official: The Homeshoppingista Is Now A Bali Babe

Happy New Year!

We realize we haven’t posted in quite some time. Work, holidays and vacation got us off track. But it did not cut into our home shopping watching.

In December we became quite the collector of Janyl Sherman pieces, a month when she seemed to be on Jewelry Television nearly 24/7 with her Artisan Collection of Bali. But we didn’t mind. We enjoy watching her even when we aren’t buying. But we were buying.

Yes, we have joined the Bali Babes club.

We got two crosses, a long chain and an extender. We had to laugh about what happened when we ordered the Bali-style necklace extender.

The JTV rep taking the order looked at the piece and was breathless. It is something that we have never seen before, either. We started laughing, and then she said her hairs were standing on end looking at it, it was so gorgeous. And she was sincere: you can’t BS or fool a Jersey girl.

Guess we are not the only ones who get excited about Bali baubles.

That said, we have returned a number of pieces to JTV over time, even Bali jewelry, and so far have not gotten the warning that QVC has given us twice about two many returns. That goes a long way in our book.

We did watch QVC’s pre-Christmas jewelry day, and the selection was pretty good. We ordered a Jai angel wing enhancer that as exquisitely crafted, except for the figure-8 safety catch on the batch. It bent a bit when we closed it. Not cool. We sent the pendant back.

A few weeks before that, we got a QVC package and were excited to see that what was supposed to be a Jai angel wing cuff we had on waitlist had come in. When we opened the package, instead of the cuff there was a Jai ring — which cost about one-fifth of the cuff. We called customer service immediately, and they rectified it with a credit back to our card.

But that’s the second time we have been sent the wrong Jai order, an item totally different and much less expensive than the one in we were supposed to have been receiving, with the sales slip for the correct item enclosed but not the correct item.

It seems suspicious to us. Is a QVC packer sending the pricier item to a friend, swapping out the cheaper one that we got?

And BTW, where are you Queen Celeste?

Brave Paralyzed Mom Inspired New QVC Jai Jewelry Collection

Designer Scott Grimes’s blog about how his mom inspired his new collection of Jai jewelry for QVC may bring tears to your eyes.

http://community.qvc.com/t5/Blogs/What-inspires-you/ba-p/3254747

Grimes is a John Hardy veteran who heads up the lower-end Balinese sterling silver line that’s sold on the No. 1 home hopping network. The new Inspiration Collection, which features necklaces with the words “faith” and “believe.”

In his blog, Grimes tells the story of how he was one of five kids with a very loving, active mom, Donna, who was an avid tennis player.

When she was 60 in 2001, she was hit from behind in a car accident and woke up after being in a coma for a week to find out she was paralyzed from the waist down, a quadriplegic.

Grimes described talking to his mother shortly after the accident.

“I didn’t know what to do, I started to say to her, that if this isn’t the life that she wanted, she didn’t have to fight for us,” he wrote. “I told her that all 5 kids were raised, that we would take care of Dad and we would understand if she didn’t want to fight. Seeing my mom in this state was almost too overwhelming. In that moment she looked over at me with this bewildered expression and said, ‘Oh my gosh, are you going to kill me?’ after a couple moments of silence we both started to laugh out loud. She said she was crying because she felt so blessed and that all she could feel was gratitude.”

According to Grimes, “She went on to tell me that if this accident had happened with you kids in the car, or if she had been hurt and couldn’t raise her own children, then she might have thought God had forsaken her. She looked up at me with a smile and said something amazing is going to happen, she said this happened for a reason. She said, I know you are going to think I’m crazy, but I was chosen for this. She then looked at me and asked, ‘Did your sister bring my make-up here?’ I said yes, she said good, can you please put my face on, Dr. Green does his rounds early in the morning, and he is adorable.'”

Now that woman is an inspiration to us all.

QVC’s Angela By John Hardy Jewelry Hits TJ Maxx

Heads up, girlfriends.

Pieces of QVC’s discontinued jewelry line, Angela by John Hardy, have popped up in TJ Maxx, at least in North Jersey.

We’ve spotted bracelets and earrings from the now-defunct, low-priced version of high-priced Hardy sterling silver(made in Bali, we believe), at three TJ Maxx’s, including the stores in Paramus and Ramsey.

The jewelry collection came to QVC repped and supposedly designed by model Angela Lingvall.

This year, that line was replaced by JAI John Hardy, with a new rep, stylist Scott Grimes.