magpie

I have a confession to make.  I have to say it quietly, because I'm still having a little trouble dealing with the truth.  My seven year-old self never would have believed it, and my nineteen year-old self would have probably just curled her lip a tiny bit in disgust.  Even so, here it is:  I like pretty things.

Now, when I say "pretty," I don't mean wildflowers or rainbows.  I like those things, too, but this is more along the lines of pearl necklaces.  Diamond earrings.  I'm talking Tiffany & Co.  Or Louis freaking Cartier.

I don't know what happened.  I certainly wasn't born this way.  (You can ask my folks; I think they'd vouch for me...)  It's really just been in the past few years that I've started to be distracted by glittery things.  Maybe it's all those wedding magazines I've leafed through.  Maybe I've just spent too much time on muddy construction sites or in dusty warehouses to not spend my weekends being drawn to things that are, um, kind of girly.

Please don't misunderstand.  I'm certainly not buying all this ridiculous stuff.  The pretty little rock on my left hand is more than I'd ever dreamed of wearing.  (I'm not exaggerating...)  It's just that I can't help noticing the glammy things in the magazines or in the shops.

My fascination of the week is Violet Magpie.  The designer, Jen Carrigan, sells her work in a few places in Seattle, including Velouria, which is too close to our house for me to not go visiting at least once a week.  You'll see it in the photos, but there's just an incredibly decadent mix of vintage rhinestones, pert little feathers, and big silky flowers.

And is it so wrong of me to adore those things?  Or to love something like this:

If you like what you see,  you should check out LoBoheme's Etsy shop.  In fact, maybe you should just go to Etsy and search "rhinestone."  It will keep you occupied for hours.

Being the diy girl that I am, I thought it would be fun and easy to just wander through a few thrift stores, pick up some vintage costume jewelry, and get to work on some fancy headgear of my own.  The truth is, though, that finding those little brooches and clip-on earrings that used to be everywhere is actually kind of hard to do.  I don't know why.  Maybe all those awesome jewelry designers are just getting to the Goodwill before I do.  It's been a few weeks, though, and I still haven't come up with anything, so I'm thinking I'll have to work with what I have.

Which is a whole lot of this.  Just before Christmas last year, I bought a bag of miscellaneous chandelier crystals.  I thought I was going to make some kind of jewelry for holiday gifts, but then, I never got around to it.

Now, though, I think it might be time.  I don't know that I can manage hairpieces, really.  But maybe a necklace.  Or a bracelet.  You can do a lot with a few sparkly pieces of glass.  And along with the crystal drops, I've also got a few feet of beaded chain that was probably draped between the arms of an old chandelier.

For starters, it all needs to be cleaned.  That part sounds a little daunting.  After that, though, I think this project could be doable.  I've never really done any jewelry-making, but when has anything like that stopped me?  I'll let you know what I come up with...