Thursday, August 13, 2009

Think Outside The Box Lesson


Thought I would share a little art piece that me & my oldest daughter created together for her to keep. It was also a little "art" lesson for her to find her creative side....but don't tell her that ;)
You see, when my mom & mother-in-law passed recently, I inherited gobs of costume and beautiful jewelry from both. But I don't think either me or my daughters will ever actually wear any of it....so what does an artist do with these lovely old pieces?
....
Exactly, think outside the box! That's what I kept saying to my daughter as she looked at a necklace......hmmm, she would say, "I don't like it".....I say...."but look at this tiny charm we could use or we can take apart the earring and use this piece, or cut a part of chain that we like and re-attach to another chain and create a new unique chain". OH, I GET IT! She says ....and I smile :)

So this is the piece we came up with....using some new & mostly old parts of vintage jewelry. It's not exactly a necklace because it's too short. Not sure what it is, but she thinks she will hang it on a rear view mirror when she finally gets a car of her own :)

I think it is charming and perfect because now she has a little bit of both her grandmothers' jewelry to keep as an heirloom and of course she wanted something with horses!

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A quick overview of our project:

We made the new chain by piecing together about (5) different chains from other jewelry. We even pieced in a very old individual bead with tiny rhinestones. We took apart a charm necklace in a couple places and added that for our centerpiece to dangle various charms. One of the charms was part of an old earring. Added a DREAM scrapbook charm, a vintage K typewriter key and a cute little flower charm.

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Go ahead and pull out some old forgotten jewelry and create your very own special family "art heirloom"..... and THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! We had so much fun making this one....I think we will be making other things as well....... It's a great project to do with your older children too.....and I don't have any previous jewelry making experience so don't be afraid.... Have fun!

4 comments:

Gayle said...

What a delightful piece of jewelry you and your daughter made! And so special that it has nostalgic value too! I'll have to keep my eyes open for stuff like that at yard sales and thrift store and see if I can come up with something similar! Thanks for sharing!

Stacy Shpak said...

it's very sweet!

vivian said...

it turned out lovely! what a good mama you are ewncouraging creativity in your daughter. I have one thats very creative and loves to make stuff, and another that likes to scrap book, but doesnt go much beyond that in the creativity department. Though she has the ability, shes just not interested. YET!
have a great weekend!
hugs
vivian

Lana Manis said...

I this Wendy, making something from your mom and mil, and making something with your daughters.