My Aunt Linda loves Garage and Estate sales. She loves jewelry (she's the one who started me out way back when I was much shorter than I am now!). Doesn't toss any piece just because it's broken, rather she hands it down to someone else in the family who would love it. She's always sent little trinkets to my girls, my niece and my cousins girls. Once she found out I was back to making jewelry Aunt Linda started sending me vintage pieces she'd been holding on to that needed repair.
One of those pieces was a gorgeous double strand crystal bracelet. Most of the Diamante beads had been crushed and as such was not wearable. There were a couple that were still in good condition and I thought they could be remade into earrings and a pendant, very appropriate for this time of year. I sat down to take it apart, looking closely at its construction. I looked at one of those crushed beads and picked up my round nosed pliers - it was already crushed so why not try to fix it, the worst I could do was end up with pieces I could wire into some other design. Oh my! They fell back into shape with very little effort! In just about an hour, using just my fingers, I had that bracelet completely repaired. It was so pretty, I was immediately transported back to my childhood. Sitting on my Mom's bed, staring into her "Treasure" box (that's what 5 year old me called Mom's jewelry box) Oh how I loved her crystal jewelry, they were the most precious, sparkly, beautiful things in the world! I couldn't possibly take this one apart to make a single pair of earrings now! It's too small for my wrist so it will wait for another project to come to mind, something worthy of it's beauty, something worthy of a "Treasure Box".
update:
My Christmas swap items have been finished, mailed, and received by our wonderful Hostess :) I can feel the anticipation building as the countdown begins to receive swap items in return! I love our forum swaps, they are so completely fun!
My Art with Heart piece is nearing completion after a complete and total redesign LAST minute! No pressure there! It's completely out of my comfort zone, colors, style and size but I think it's turning out rather pretty. I absolutely adore the focal :)
My inspiration piece - the Peacock, is nearly finished as well. It's a rather large piece by my standards but I'm really really happy with the overall effect. This will be one of those pieces that won't hurt my feelings if it doesn't sell. I'll be quite happy to look at it for quite some time!
Found time to create a Christmas treasury for the Etsy team and I think it may be my favorite yet!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf6a92e9e1c6d91439ba9fe/home-for-the-holidays
awww I just noticed the second pic got changed :( kind of changes the overall look and feel....
Revamped those chains and got those pretties listed. One more piece waiting for a revamped chain, a couple descriptions to write and pricing. I don't know why I always leave pricing to the last, it would be much easier if I priced as I went - one of these days I'll learn :D
My younger daughter loved the bracelet I made and the clasp :) so much so she wants a choker made for her upcoming dance. I'll save the pics of that for a later post.
Got that mortar mixed but it's been too wet and cold to do much rock work these last weeks - weather is supposed to be nice for another day or so, hoping I can get some done then - we're climbing up between the windows now!
'Til next time!
Dana
