Something Old Something Blue Necklace

You know the saying: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe."

For my newest design I set out to create a bridal necklace incorporating some of these attributes.



The Features:
*A beautiful re-purposed vintage pendant - "Something Old."
*Indigo blue Swarovski crystals - "Something Blue."
*A lucky penny on the back of the pendant symbolizing the "Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe."

The Story:
I used a beautiful vintage earring to create the unique OOAK pendant for the necklace.  The earrings were part of my mother's huge costume jewelry collection.  You might remember that I recently wrote about her passing away and her beautiful jewelry collection being passed on to me.  My mother and I both shared a love for jewelry ... she enjoyed buying and wearing it; I enjoyed making it.  Here are the original earrings with clip on backs:

Original earrings with clip on back

I used wire cutters to clip off the clip-on back of the earring:

Back of earring with clip removed

I found this pretty antique silver filigree stamping to use as a setting for the pendant:

Antique silver filigree stamping to be used for setting

I used E6000 glue to adhere the stamping to the earring.  E6000 glue works great for projects like this - it is really impossible to come loose once dry.  I let it dry 24 hours before handling.  Here is the front of the pendant:

Finished pendant - front view

And here is the back of the pendant - I was not quite happy with this look and decided it needed a pretty backing.  

Back view of unfinished pendant

To finish the back of the pendant, I eventually settled on this pretty blue glass rhinestone:

Back of finished pendant with Blue Rhinestone

Then I beaded the necklace with Swarovski crystal pearls, some small indigo blue swarovski crystals, and antique silver curb chain.

Here are some pictures of the entire necklace just waiting for a lucky buyer:

Close-up view of pendant

Find this necklace in my Etsy shop here:
OOAK Something Old Something Blue Necklace

P.S. - There will be more designs with some of my Mom's jewels which I will post about.  I have plans also to use some of them to re-purpose into Christmas gifts for her siblings and family.  I might make some pretty Christmas ornaments for myself and them to treasure and have something to remember her by.  Will be posting pics along the way!

My Mother's Jewelry Treasure Chest

One of my last posts was about my mother's recent passing away.  One of the inevitable tasks after such an event is going through the loved one's possessions.  Initially I dreaded doing this, but once started I found it therapeutic and helpful in dealing with her death.

My Dad asked me to come and help go through her clothing and personal belongings.  She had a lot of clothing, some not even worn - still with tags.  She was a bit of a shopaholic - like me.  We donated most of the clothing to a local charity where it will be put to good use.  But as I dug through her closets and dressers I found some real treasures to keep for myself.

One of the treasures was an entire chest of drawers filled with her costume jewelry from over the years.  In her younger days, my Mom loved to deck herself out with costume jewelry, although in recent years I only remember her wearing her wedding ring and her topaz birthstone ring.   Finding these beautiful baubles brought back many memories - I remember her sometimes letting me play "dress up" with some of her jewelry.  Mom loved jewelry and passed this love on to me, and over the years I developed a love for making my own jewelry.

Even more amazing than the amount of jewelry I found was the incredible way she had organized it.  Everything was stored in an orderly color coded fashion inside egg crates and candy boxes.  There were boxes with black jewelry, white jewelry, rose colored jewelry, blue jewelry and so on and so on.  For this post I thought I would share her collection of black jewelry.

My Mom's Collection of Black Jewelry

Black and Gold Deco Beaded Necklace

Black and Gold Deco Beaded Clip-on Earrings

Bold Black Glass and Silver Deco Necklace w/Matching Earrings

Bold Black Glass and Silver Earrings

Black Beaded Stretch Bracelet

Black and Rhinestone Bangle Bracelets

Floral and Black Clip-on Earrings

Black and Silver Clip-on Earrings

Black Rose Clip-on Earrings

Large Black and Gold Oval Clip-on Earrings

Black Glass Flower Earrings

Round Black Glass and Gold Earrings

Faceted Round Glass and Silver Earrings

Round Glass Screw-back Earrings

Textured Round Black Glass Earrings

What will I do with these vintage treasures?  Do what Mom would want me to do ... upcycle some of them to make more jewelry of course!  She loved the fact that I made jewelry and I even found some of the pieces I made for her in the past - I will not be parting with those treasures but will post some pictures of them in the future.  Will also post pictures as I design some new pieces from the vintage treasures above!