Jewelry: My Original Passion

9 times out of 10, you’ll see a card or a layout here on my blog. But that’s not my first passion…my biggest obsession. Know what is? Jewelry! Oh how I love adorning thyself! There is no craft I love more than the art of fancying yourself up with assorted baubles and chains. And gems. And…stuff….  I actually have a silversmithing degree. But alas, my workshop is not exactly suitable for my kidlings (preschoolers and blow torches don’t exactly mix!) and my dear mom has had her Halloween decorations take up residence in it. So….my silver goes un-smithed.  However…I do have my beads. They’re in my craft room, and have easy access. I have about 16 boxes of beads…plus an assortment of bags. I have many, many beads. But again…tough to do with the kidlings. Not to mention the pup. But I needed to make something special for Phoenix’s teacher. You may remember me writing about her in THIS blog post. Yes, the whole class gives her a gift at the end of the year (ie: Thursday…yikes!), but she is so darn special to not only to my son, but Gene, Rhiannon, and myself…that I had to do more. So. I made her a necklace. She wears a lot of blue so I knew I wanted to start there. And she tends to wear eclectic baubles, so I knew I didn’t want to do something plain jane. The pendant is from Michaels…from their Industrial Chic collection (which I covet in it’s entirety…wanting at least 2 of everything). Then, I rummaged through my stash to see what kind of an exciting mix I could come up with. I’ll be honest…the colors look a helluva lot better together in person. In my photos (which you can make bigger by clicking on them), the colors almost clash. But they are quite soft and pretty in real life.  I hung a double chain on one side to give it a bit of an edgy feel…but then I put big glass pearls right next to it to glam it up. Lots of pearls throughout the piece. I also used some glass, acrylic, czech glass, 2 pieces of shell, dalmation jasper and amazonite. Quite a mix…but very pretty. I’ve never made a piece like this before. It’s a hint at over the top, but still elegant. I just hope she likes it! Aaaannnnddd I made one for myself! The pendant was on sale…so I just had to splurge and get one for me…I had been eyeing this particular pendant for quite some time now. Mine is exactly like Mrs. Hellige’s. But now I’m thinking…should I scoop up another one of these pendants and put it in my Etsy shop? What do you think? Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!