There is less than three weeks left in the wear it or lose it jewelry challenge on my 40 While I'm 40 List.
I am doing fine on earrings, bracelets and necklaces, but a bit less fine on rings and dismally on pins. I think i have come up with a solution for my pin problem, but i'll wait to share until i'm sure.
But getting through everything means multiple pieces nearly every day. For instance, i wore this great pearl dangle necklace (
only $1 cause it was on the ugliest chain i've ever seen - yuck; i simply tossed the chain (yes, it was too ugly to even try to repurpose) and put it on this lovely open oval chain) and speckled my hair with three mismatched pearl clips.
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| This is my favorite hairdo recently and it was a non-repeatable accident |
I can also get in multiple pieces by wearing entire sets.
Here i have a silver leaf pin from Great Aunt Jerry in the larger bun, one clip earring on the side twist and the matching clip holding back my bangs (
some days i'm just not in the mood for bangs, ya know?)
But when the pieces I'm trying to wear are really big, like this bar pin covered in tiny blue flowers (
coveted it at OF forever, but wasn't willing to pay the marked price; waited it out and ended up getting it for $1 in one of their yard sales!!) you can really only get away with one at a time.
I mean once you have a big blue enamel flower (
you guessed it - that's a $1 find as well) pinned to the base of your braid there isn't much room for anything else.
Speaking of flowers at the base of a braid, this golden cluster is one of my favorite pins, but this was the first time i've ever worn it cause it is quite large and busy. With a closer pic maybe you can see that the clusters are made of smaller clusters
and i love, love that some centers are crystals and some are pearls. I think when i bought it about 6 years ago it was $7.
I am willing to pay a bit more for things i really like or are super unusual,
like this linked pair of pearl-centered flowers.
How cool are they? I believe the pair was $8, which is steep for me, but too awesome to pass up. You could remove the chain and wear them separately, but i can't imagine why you would.
Another unusual recent acquisition is this coppery flower spray that is set with light blue glass marbles instead of stones; not only is it cool, but i have earrings in the exact same color.
Let's take a look at some more big pins that managed to make the cut.
From the upper left: awesome swirl wreath with blue plastic spines (
$2), an oval cluster of pearls and AB crystals that is far more stunning and fiery that this crappy pic shows (
it was hard to shoot because no flash didn't capture the brilliance and flash made it one big bright blur) and was $6 i think, a great hanging series pin (
hearts and circles) with matching earrings from the late 80s that i bought on a band trip to Columbia Mall (
we were playing by the poinsettia tree in the center of the mall) that i loved so much that i bought my mom and i matching sets (
yes, she still has hers), and a yellow polka-dotted enamel flower with stem that i got at the National Road Yard Sale last year for -
let's all say it together- $1.
Believe it or not, trying to get everything worn means that i do even wear pins NOT in my hair, like this weird cameo.
It is raised plastic and unlike anything i've ever seen before. Like the blue flower bar pin above, I was working at the store when it came in on consignment and was instantly intrigued. i couldn't decide if i loved it or hated it. It is kinda ugly, but also kinda cool. I priced it at fair market value (
in other words, out of my price range), but it never sold. Eventually it made it to sale price, then eventually to yard sale price and i finally snatched it up when the price was right: $1. I had no idea how or when i was ever going to wear it, but it seemed appropriate at the neckline of the dress i wore to a funeral.
There are a lot of pieces that i have been holding on to, waiting for the right time to wear them. The challenge to wear everything in a year has pushed me to throw things into everyday wear that i loved, but could never think of an outfit that seemed right.
Turns out that this gold-tipped scallop pendant that my neighbor Ms Jeanne brought back to me from a cruise 20 years ago (
i watered her plants ans brought in the mail) didn't need anything super special, just a nice open oval chain and a purple scoop-neck shirt.
At this point i now find that ever day i am tossing some type of jewelry on or into my hair and i guess that was really the point of the challenge in the first place.
Form the top left: a blue stone centered leaf (
$3), a white flower cluster clip-on earring that was only 25 cents cause it didn't have a mate, copper leaf clip-ons, a crazy little bow pin that has a multi-colored cut stone that i have never seen before (
$2; i tried to pin my hair into a flat bow shape to go with the pin and it turned out well except my GOSH look at those roots) and a blue butterfly from the 70s that i believe everyone on the planet owns (
Kate gave me this one from her mom's collection after she passed and it made me teary cause i bought the same pin for my mon when i was 6 and yes, she still has hers too).
And the final piece in this roundup is a lovely heart clip-on strung with delicate wires . Sometimes the jewelry dictates the hairstyle, but on this day, the hair defiantly came first:
