Upcycled Vintage Rhinestone Earrings - From My Grandmother's Collection

Last week I went to say good-bye to my grandmother who passed away just three weeks shy of her 103rd birthday. The service was inspirational and was truly a celebration of her long and meaningful life.

Although it is impossible to completely capture the essence of her life, I feel compelled to at least note some of life highlights of my Grandmother - Creola May Starnes:

• Born in Arkansas in 1912. 
• Moved with her family to North Carolina in her early teens.
• Married at age 15 to my Grandfather and raised five children - my mother being the oldest.
• Spent countless hours volunteering and being active in her church.
• Earned a business degree while in her forties - keep in mind this was in the 1950's when many women did not go to college much less consider getting a business degree.
• Established the first church daycare center in the city of Kannapolis, NC because she saw a need for working mothers to have access to child care.
• After raising their five children, she and my Grandfather moved to Winston Salem, NC and served several years as house-parents for adolescent parentless boys.
• Retired and moved to Waxhaw, NC where she became an advocate for seniors and their caregivers.
• Obtained certification in Gerontology from Livingstone College and served as President of the Union County NC Chapter of AARP.
• Retired a second time at age 78 and became caregiver for my Grandfather who had developed Alzheimer's - she cared for him until his death in 1989.
• After surviving her husband's death, she lived another 26 years until the age of 103.  Her legacy continues through her 16 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

I like to try to keep the memory alive of those who I have known and loved. I was fortunate enough to be given some of my Grandmother's old vintage jewelry. And I decided that I would like to repurpose some of these treasures so that I could wear and cherish them while continuing to honor her life for years to come.

This pair of vintage clip-on rhinestone earrings has lots of history and I could not bear thinking of these pretty pieces just sitting somewhere in a drawer. So I decided to convert them into a pair of post earrings that I could wear and enjoy and remember my Grandmother every time I wear them.  Here is what they originally looked like:

The first thing I had to do was to remove the screw-on clips. I did this by snipping them with a pair of wire cutters, then filed off the rough edges with a jewelry file. This is how they look with the backs snipped off and filed:

Next, I found a pair of post earrings to set the rhinestone dangles onto. I liked these pretty antique silver posts that I bought from VintageJewelrySupplies.com:

Then I used E-6000 glue to attach the dangles onto the posts.  I use E-6000 for any jewelry project requiring glue because it holds forever - and I do mean forever! The only tricky part was finding a way to hold the posts upright and flat in order to give time for the glue to set - it takes 24 hours for E-6000 glue to set.  So it is important to find a way to stabilize it while it sets. 

What I came up with was folding and taping a piece of bubble wrap, then sticking the posts down into the bubble wrap. Then I used a dab of glue (it only takes a dab) to adhere the rhinestone dangles onto the posts. To make sure there was good adherence I placed a piece of tape across the top of the earrings and let it set for 24 hours:

And after 24 hours, here is what they looked like:

I am quite pleased with the outcome and can't wait to wear them!  I just love the idea of wearing something that my Grandmother once wore.

I will not be selling this pair of earrings, but I have lots of other items for sale in my two Etsy shops: 

DJAjewels.etsy.com

EyeglassChainsEtc.etsy.com

Mothers and Grandmother Jewelry

Mother and Grandmother jewelry make such perfect personalized gifts.  I made two this year for Christmas.  These are the first two of these I have ever made, but I hope to make more to list in my Etsy shop.

I was first asked to make a Mother/Grandmother necklace for one of my husband's dear aunts. She prefers gold jewelry, so I used antique gold chain.  It could also be made though in silver.

I used a pretty charm holder with hearts to suspend onto the chain, then made the charms using Swarovski crystals in birthstone color.  I used antique gold bead caps to accent the crystals.

The center charm has a crystal pearl and peridot crystal representing my aunt and her husband.  The large ruby and emerald crystals beside the center charm represent her two children.  The medium turquoise, amethyst, peridot, and clear (diamond) crystals are birthstones for her four grandchildren - I added an angel wings bead cap to the amethyst one for a grandchild that was lost in a tragic accident.  The smaller white opal and clear crystals represent her two great grandchildren.

If more great grandchildren are born, more charms can be added.

After finishing my aunt's necklace, I decided to make a slightly different one for my mother-in-law and give it to her for Christmas.

I used the same antique gold chain but did not use a charm holder.  Instead I put two Swarovski crystals (garnet and alexandrite) inside a beautiful filigree bead cage to represent my mother-in-law and her now deceased husband.

Beside the bead cage on each side are two crystal drops in birthstones for her two sons - one amethyst and one garnet.  Since the garnet crystal represented my husband, I attached a tiny peridot crystal to that one to represent me - who married into the family.  The two outer charms are topaz and amethyst to represent her only two grandchildren - my two sons.  I attached a tiny turquoise crystal to the topaz one to represent my daughter-in-law (her grand daughter-in-law.)

When great grandchildren come along, more crystal drops can be added.

I liked the idea of these necklaces so much, I decided to post them in my Etsy shop.  Of course no two will be exactly alike but the photos are posted to provide inspiration and ideas for a custom design.  You can check out my Mother/Grandmother Jewelry section in my Etsy shop here.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!