Jewelry Roundup 7

Yes, a year has indeed past since the last jewelry roundup.
Working alone in my studio doesn't really inspire me to wear a lot of jewelry, but I recently rediscovered a full set of jewelry pictures from the picture kerfluffle so it seemed like a good idea to get back in the habit.
But as with all things you gotta be sure to stretch and start slowly so as to not pull anything so i'm gonna do commentary in the photo captions:

adding a little peep of blue sparkle with a 50 cent clip-on

speaking of clip-ons, I found a way to use clip-on hoops
by clipping around a rolled layer of whimsy hair
 

on Opening Day even Niki will wear orange and black
highlighted with a heart bought in New Orleans
made of recycled costumes and electronics

giant enamel/metal flowers are a must even in shorter hair
the white flower was worn a few days after the first hair cut

Trying to get back in the habit of wearing jewelry even if I was staying in the studio I'd challenge myself to pick non-matching pieces.
This day I picked the wee double heart scatter pin and the fabulous $4 thrift store earrings.
To bring them together I wore a gold chain belt fastened at my hip with a larger heart. I jingled all day; you can imagine how much joy that brought me!

one of my favorite rings because of the shape
discounted to $4 because it is missing some of the seed pearls
but that is what I think gives it character



plenty of character in this pin worn in my hair

this pin was bought for $5 specifically to be worn in my hair;
in fact, as soon as I saw it I imagined its swirls
against the swirls of an upsweep just like this

this Monet butterfly was a bit expensive for me at $10,
but it makes me smile and reminds me of Gma Craig

brooches on V-neck sweaters appeared on a regular basis
after my hair was cut;
all bought in the last 4-5 years, each for $5 or less

this day was a personal matching triumph for me
I bought the pastel multi-stone heart pin years ago
my stepmom bought me the wee pastel multi-stone earrings for Christmas 2 years ago
finally I had a pale pink button down with which to wear them
highlighted against the black  cardigan
I was happy all day because of the matchey-matching 

a hanging brooch from the 80's that belonged to me, then Rea, then me again
look at that amazing whimsy hair
some days I really miss my hair 

jewelry roundup 6

This afternoon i am having my first photo shoot for the NikCo Etsy store (re-opening October 10, 2012).  It was going to be on Tuesday, but we were rained out.
Excited, but trepidatious since i have never done anything like this before, I've been distracting myself all morning by cleaning. After a trip to the dump i decided to work on cleaning out my photo files as there are almost 900 pictures in there being edited and categorized for blogging [not Niki hyperbole; with Alaska and Vegas both in the works, it is real] and realized that it is way past time for another jewelry roundup.
Let's dive right in with a pin that I bought in New Oeleans in 2002 with Chris, Christina and ScoPi that you really need to have the right occasion to wear:

Why yes, that is a crayfish playing the trumpet and it was perfect for Hot August Blues.
You know how much i love it when things perfectly match up like that,

or like the day when i realized i still had these blue bead hoop earrings from 1988 that are almost the same exact beads as this crazy clip-on from the 60's. It was so matchy-matchy (which i love) that a boy even noticed - thanks, Will.

Speaking of unusual clip-ons, I found these blackened white floral oval things at Objects Found last winter. I have no idea what they are made out of; it feels harder than resin, but more pliable than stone. Intrigued, i bought them for $1.

 These beautiful silver floral circles were inherited from a great aunt on my dad's side years ago. There is an amazing bracelet that matched that i wore almost every day of 8th grade, but it needs a tricky repair so it stayed in the jewelry box this day.

I really like this kinda shabby cream painted leaf cluster that i found for $1.50, but i'm not so sure any more about that hairdo...



Flowers are always a favorite for me and i broke out several big ones recently:

I can only imagine the level of ugliness of the 80's blouse that was the original home for the burgundy fabric flower; it makes a far better hair accent, especially since it was free.
The vintage blue painted enamel flower was inherited this spring. I am so honored that Kate shared her precious mom's things with me and i think of Cass whenever i wear any of the pieces.
Since i was trying to wear every piece i owned in one year i avoided buying as much new stuff as i normally would, but i could not resist the blue rhinestone flower on the right. It is breathtaking in person with regular rhinestones, moonstones and AB crystals. A pricey $12 i was able to talk it down to $8 which is a lot for me to pay for one piece, but i love, love, love it.

And here's more love - literally:
Douglas gave me this fun bracelet on the next to last day of the cruise and it is pictured here in our room in Vegas with the wee Eiffel Tower in the background.
While were in Vegas he bought me this wonderful Hello Kitty crystal ring.

 I'm not gonna lie, Douglas was a bit confused as to why i'd prefer this $22 beauty over a Chihuly vase (which was breathtakingly beautiful and made me almost weep when he offered to buy it for me), but the truth is that it makes me smile every time i  put it on and the light is dazzling dancing across it.
The other ring pictured is a bronze creation made by my former TSP partner Brian. When he first started apprenticing as a bronzesmith he'd bring me pieces to evaluate; he thought the little joints on it were flaws, but i thought it gave it character so he let me keep it. Later he gifted me a "better" version that i also love, but i tend to wear this one more.
I can't remember if i mentioned before that my Grandma Craig collected butterfly pins and when she died i inherited a few of them, including the cool silver one on the left that has jointed wings.

 Ever since she passed in 2004 i find myself drawn to butterfly pins and add to my own collection like with the small Mexican sterling and shell beauty on the right that was only marked $2 for some reason; i can only imagine that whomever priced it didn't realize what they had. Score for me!

It is unfortunate that the pics for this hair/jewelry extravaganza did not capture the overall effect i think i created by mixing several different styles of vintage pink and white clip-ons scattered throughout my head. Though different designs, the stone materials are exactly the same and mayhaps even from the same designer which makes them a fun non-matching match.

As always, blue was a popular jewelry accent this round. The big silver and baby blue pin on the left is one of my favorite acquisitions; it was missing a bunch of stones so i got it for free and over time i have found all but one of the original stones in subsequent "broken jewelry" bags.

The top pic was also a great save; missing several stones i got it for 50 cents, popped out all the stones, rearranged them and added a few from my magic bottle. Bet if you zoomed in on the pic you can't even tell where i did the repairs. Man, i love redesigning jewelry!
The turquoise chip clip-on fastened at the base of my side pony did not need any repair work, but it has been patiently waiting for about 4 years for me to wear it.

Finally, we'll end with this vintage white necklace.
Big oval pendants like this were popular in the 70's, but i've never seen one that had beads in the chain. In fact, it looks exactly like necklaces i've designed before cause i love the look of  mixing beading and chains, so image my joy at discovering it at the National Road yard sale last year for one big dollar.

jewelry roundup 5

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.

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:

jewelry roundup 4

I get a great deal of satisfaction from matching my jewelry to some tiny detail in my outfit that most people wouldn't even notice.

After buying a new shade of nail polish (bought on sale with a coupon, making the bottle 88 cents) i realized that i had an enamel tulip pin was the exact same shade. I found it years ago for a dollar, but had never worn because it was an odd off-pink. I can't imagine anyone noticed since they were on different sides of my body, but it made me giggle inside all day.

While this clip earring that i slipped onto the band of a side ponytail is almost the exact pattern as the post earrings i'm wearing (you can almost see it in the picture).
Both were randomly found in the 25 pound box of junk jewelry, making the whole ensemble about 15 cents.
Love it.

This leaf pin has rare red AB crystals that makes it kinda hard to match to an outfit, so i tossed it onto the top of a side braid with my uniform. Anything can go with khaki (perhaps the only saving grace for khaki; i hate khaki).

One of my favorite pins is this heavy deco-inspired deal from the mid 80's.
It is a rather bold statement and I found an onxy ring that perfectly matches. It is really different from my normal girly choices, but i have loved it since i saw it for the first time a jillion years ago when i was a mallrat.

As the days get shorter i like to sport traditionally springish or summery pieces to chase away the cold; these clip earring have a lot going on with painted leaves, cut crystals and plastic flowers.

This pin was one of my mom's favorites in the 80's and i love feeling like she is with me when i wear it. Being so large and dangly you really have to find the right placement for it and i thought holding a traditional twist bun together highlighted it nicely.

In fact, buns that are well pinned make the perfect platform for larger, more ornate pins that could overwhelm a blouse, like this cool pearl and white circle that is a new $3 acquisition from the local thrift store.

Meanwhile a delicate wire and pink crystal pin is a better for this messy side knot.

Colored cut crystals make me so happy;


they make every day feel special and sparkly so this flame shaped single clip earring got tucked among the twists of some whimsy hair when i performed three shows for a state engineering group.

Speaking of sparkles, these flaring clips were the very first vintage pieces that i ever owned with AB crystals. I inherited them, along with a fabulous matching pin, from my great-aunts.
They are just a touch of color that match any outfit.
I made the snowman earrings from a kit to practice eyehook loops.

They are getting a lot of wear right now; here they make an appearance at my work holiday party with another inherited piece. This pin that my mom chose for me after her mother died amazes me with its needlepoint flower.
How was this even manufactured?

Looking through the pictures for this post i also realized that with the imminent holiday not only are the snowmen showing up often, so is this bulky red sweater. However, this day instead of going with a big brooch on the collar, i went with a tiny initial pin tacking down the color and this crazy necklace that i got at a flea market like 14 years ago when the uniform at work was red. I've never seen anything like its coils, beads and tiny gold drops.
Awesome.