Not much quilting lately…

I seem to go in streaks when it comes to quilting.  Last year, I started making jewelry.  It is very similar to quilting in that the more “stash” you have, the easier it is to make pretty jewelry.  It "requires" hours of stalking the bead section at Joann’s, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels, fondling the baubles and beads.  The good news is that it is not quite as expensive as quilting (as long as you stay away from Swarovski crystals…then it can get more expensive).  It costs less than $50 to get started in this craft.

I found a little bead store not too far away that had Sunday classes.  I decided to check them out one day.  While it was  a nice little store, I was disappointed to hear that their instructor listed in their online class schedule had recently moved, so there were no classes.  And, the store was very warm that day with no air conditioning.  I got discouraged and visited Joann’s where I bought a little cheapo, how-to make jewelry kit and taught myself how to do it.  It really is very easy.  I made several necklaces, bracelets, and earrings over the past year. 

As I was growing up, I would receive charms for my charm bracelet for special occasions.  But over the years, the charm bracelet had become old and tarnished.  Charm bracelets seem to have come back into fashion recently.  While I think charm bracelets are cute, they aren’t very practical for wearing to work when you are working on a computer most of the day.  So recently, I decided to dump the ugly, tarnished bracelet and put my charms on a necklace.

First, I had to find a sturdy chain that would hold the charms and not break.  Hobby Lobby helped with that one.  Then, I simply used my pliers to open some new, shiny sterling silver rings to attach the charms to the necklace.  I felt it needed some updating, so I added some colorful, handmade bead charms.

There’s the bible I received for my confirmation, and the Christmas angel charm.  If you look inside the bible charm, you can see the Lord’s Prayer…

The high school banner, the graduation cap, the violin (that I played for several years), and the charm from the trip to the Grand Ole Opry

Here’s the entire necklace.  You can see the heart charm with my December birthstone at the bottom of the necklace.

I still did not use all of my charms on this necklace, so I could easily make another one.  All of the colors you see are the bead charms I made.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I love being able to wear these charms again after all these years.

Thanks for stopping by.