Works in Process

Hi to all,

Here's a glimpse at my most recent garage sale finds.  Great, right?  The earrings will be wonderfully in a black and gold bracelet I'm working on.  And I love those big black beads, haven't really decided what to do with them yet.

As promised last week. I was going to give you some of my steps in creating a new necklace from an old broken on.  Here's the old necklace:

Step 1: Disassemble the necklace.  Take apart the beads and carefully remove the metal charms.

Step 2:  Using head pins, string the beads along with seed beads creating "new" charms for your necklace.

Step 3: I used an old recycled chain as the base for my new necklace.  See below.

Step 4: Take the metal pieces and arrange them between the head pin charms, going for an effect of fullness. Attach the metal pieces with gold jump rings.

Step 5:  I wanted to make the necklace still fuller, so I decided to add some paper beads.  I am making them a variety of sizes.  Once they are done I will put them on head pins with other beads and attach them to the necklace also.  Beads are below, drying!

Stay tuned....Next week, hopefully, the necklace will be finished.

And please, check out my etsy shop

See you next week,

anne

Mother's Day and Spring

1916 Mother's Day post card

Hi to all,

Happy Spring and happy Mother's Day.  Mother's day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood that is held all over the world. In the US, the holiday is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. 

Mother's Day celebrations date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans who held festivals to honor the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele.  The closest precedent to the modern Mother's Day is an early Christian celebration called "Mothering Sunday".  

The roots of the modern Mother's Day start with Ann Reeves Jarvis, who organized "Mother's Day Work Clubs" to teach women how to care for their children.   In 1868,  these clubs were called "Mothers' Friendship Day", women gathered with union and confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.  

The official Mother's Day holiday started in the early 1900's as a result of the efforts of Ann Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeve Jarvis.  She wanted to honor mothers and their sacrifices.    Ann lobbied hard for President Wilson to make Mother's Day a national holiday and her persistence paid off in 1914.

After Mother's Day became a national holiday, it was not long before florists, card companies and other merchants capitalized on their popularity.  Jarvis had  hoped the holiday would become a personal celebration of mothers, but by 1920, she was disgusted with how the holiday had become commercialized.  She  disowned the holiday, By the time of her death in 1948 . Now the holiday is one of the biggest holidays for consumer spending!

An Old Necklace

Finally, here's an old necklace I am going to use to create a beautiful new necklace.  Check this blog next week, I'll have pictures and hopefully a finished piece to show you!

Be sure to stop by my Etsy shop, have a wonderful week.

anne