Earlier this month, I joined Sarah's (Blue Castle) Pink & Green swap and was paired up with Katie (Katie Crocker). Katie and I exchanged emails and I was so excited to find that we appear to enjoy many of the same things...makes gathering goodies, for a swap, much more fun! Katie's package just arrived and I am "tickled pink"...and green! The box, itself, was beautifully wrapped in vivid pink & green paper. Inside were some lovely "shabby chic" cloth napkins and dish towels, a Yankee Candle "Cottage Breeze" votive candle and an adorable bunny cheese/ butter knife. Katie added a decorative jar with FUN ribbons, which will probably never get used because it is so cute on display! Inside of the jar, I also uncovered a hidden treasure: a pair of funky green earrings (good thing I opened the jar). My favorite part of Katie's package was a beautiful teacup & saucer with pink roses, which I have already added to the collection in my china cabinet. I really do love swaps and a big thank you to Katie for picking out such thoughtful gifts...as if she doesn't have enough going on right now (she is expecting a bundle of joy on May 6th) :-) A special thank you to Sarah, for organizing this swap!
I was trying to find some quick (and ridiculously) easy ways to use some of the vintage jewelry I have. I wasn't feeling like digging into a major project, though. Here are some of the short-cut pieces I made, which I'm going to put in my etsy shop. Speaking of which...here I go, off on another tangent...I've decided to wait until I have a fairly sizable number of items with which to stock my store. Rather than doing it piecemeal, and having visitors asking: "Is that all?" Any thoughts on doing it the way I'm suggesting?
Back to the jewelry: I bought a batch of vintage, goldtone chains (necklaces & bracelets) at a thrift store ages ago. I thought maybe I could jazz them up a bit with some of my singleton earrings or a pin. Et voila! The turquoise necklace was a screw-back earring. I removed the screw part and bent the remaining wire down, to form a loop. Now I can put it on any chain. The other two necklaces are simply vintage pins. I discovered, the hard way, that it's a good idea to file down the pointed end before you try to wear it. OUCH! For the bracelet, I took apart a pair of rhinestone earrings and a single clip-on, removed the backs and glued them to a goldtone bracelet. Fast, fun & easy...just the kind of projects I had in mind.
