Remember my love of Goodwill? If no, here is why- the middle wide ribbed cuff that I am wearing today. I bought it and it looked like this:
Can you see that? Here’s the closeup:
Hideous, right? Some numnuts splatter painted a cuff bracelet with ugly colors of acrylic paint. But, I’m proud to say, I saw the potential. The little chips showed something shine-y and for a few frantic moments I thought I’d found gold. GOLD! I freaked out, then soaked, scrubbed, and chipped at the paint. Despite the top photo with the jewelry cleaner this was mostly accomplished with my finger nails. I am a classy dame.
Alas, no gold. The easy test was holding a magnet up to it. Gold is not magnetic, brass and other metals are. But whatevs. Look how gorgeous it is, regardless of the material.
Yay me!
Today’s bangles are: Astrologie from my honey, the Angela Cummings bangle that was a gift from my dad to my mom, my Goodwill find, and a silver Tiffany’s woven looking bracelet.
Gifts for:
*The Cutie Pie Nieces 2yrs to 13yrs
*The Avengers Fan Girl
*The World Traveler
Remember how I recommended starting a gift tradition? Well nothing is easier for a gift tradition than a charm bracelet. They come in all sorts, but the best ones you add a charm and grow them over the years. You can stick with a theme: all cats! Or places you’ve visited! Favorite foods! Winning sports teams! Etc. The options are ENORMOUS.
For my super cutie little nieces I started a tradition of Charmits. It’s very affordable jewelry: mostly rainbows and robots. You buy the $9 chain and select a bunch of fun charm options. The best part is Charmits are not something so precious that a lost or damaged charm would result in a broken heart.
Are you kidding me?!? So freaking cute.
WOT! Tiny hamster! *head explodes*
Hold up a second, I need to collect myself.
Clearly, big girls like cutie charms too. A special shout out goes to all the comic book fangirls. Because guess what? Santa’s got the perfect geek girl charms for you, too. Yep, those are some Avengers Bow Charms hand made by Ganda Kris. Heads up, these are BYOCB (BYO charm bracelet), however.
Charm bracelets are not just for girls and fan girls. What about that favorite Aunt of yours, the glamorous world traveler? Gump’s has you covered. How fancy you wanna be? Silver or Gold? Because there’re options in both.
Above is an example of the completed bracelet, which, if you’re as impatient as I am, that’s also a contender.
Still looking for charm bracelet ideas? Don’t worry, it’s coming.
The daily disclaimer: I would be remiss if I didn’t offer the link to my online store… I write these posts for my love of jewelry and gift giving, there’s no sponsors here but ME for MYSELF 😀
Gifts for:
*The Family Tree Loving Mom
*The Picture Sharing Mom
*The Money Is No Object Mom
Welcome, welcome to my gift idea bonanza! Day one, we are starting with those special ladies in our lives, MOMS! You might be married to one, you might be a child of one, or you might be best friends with one. What can I say, there’s lots of moms about. My gift ideas go from least expensive and proceed to most expensive. Because there’s got to be some kind of order here. (I think my mom taught me that.) So if you love a mom, and you need a gift, I present you my curated options.
Of all the mom jewelry out there, this is hands down the loveliest that I’ve found. The jewels between the branches represent the birth month of each kid. You pick the gem stones, quantity, alakazaam! Instant customized family tree necklace. They even include a birth month/gemstone code. Handy right?
You know those moms, they love themselves some sharing of pictures. Before facebook there were lockets. This is a beautiful vintage heart locket pendant, 14k yellow gold, with two framed compartments. It’s on you to add the photos. It’s so classically pretty. Simple, but sentimental. Only the coldest of hearts wouldn’t love this gift.
But maybe the mom in your life is a little fancier and you’d like to give her something extra special. Nothing says “I love you” like gold and diamonds. Sure it costs a pretty penny, but who can put a price tag on love?
Afterall, this lady went through 52 hours of labor. Doesn’t that warrant a little appreciation? You don’t call, you don’t write. This is probably the least you could do.
Happy holidays, moms! Think of me when you get that heart tattoo. Margaret is spelled with two As.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer the link to my online store… I write these posts for my love of jewelry and gift giving, there’s no sponsors here but ME for MYSELF 😀
This is a hodge podge of a theme, inspired by Heart Shaped Box. Because I am sentimental and it’s a beautiful song.
Where were you when you heard Kurt Cobain died? If you answer “just a twinkle in my parents eyes”, then you don’t know, man. You don’t know. You don’t know about the pervasive cult of Nirvana. For example, school dances played Smells Like Teen Spirit multiple times per night. You try dancing to that! It’s just not possible. No wonder I didn’t kiss a boy until I was 16. I wasn’t even a late bloomer, I was a regular bloomer. Don’t feel too sorry for me on the kissing front, tho, I more than made up for it.
So I didn’t even *like* grunge music. I was more of an R&B kind of girl. And Oldies, I loved the Oldies. But I was sprawled across the backseat of my dad’s car, the radio on while we drove somewhere when the DJ cut in to tell us of Kurt Cobain’s death. I was 14, just about to turn 15. Like Jon Snow, I knew nothing. Kurt Cobain seemed hecka old. Nirvana had been around since forever, right? I’m telling you, I knew nothing of time or life or death or art. Nothing.
Now here I am twenty years later, sentimentally listening to the gloomiest genre of music ever. I didn’t even like grunge then, but I like it now. It means something to me. I’ve been drawn into the magnet tar-pit trap of nostalgia.
Looks like the jewelry designer Isabel Marant is similarly sentimental. This line is called Nevermind. I will go out on a limb and guess is she 37 years old. If Nevermind is her go to Nirvana album I know without a shadow of a doubt that she is two years older then me. I know it!
Oops. I just googled her, and though her age is impossible to find it seems she’s solidly in her mid forties. Tant pis. Her Frenchness throws off the sophisticated algorithm of age deduced by Nirvana album preference. Personally, my favorite is In Utero.
In an effort to find some jewelry inspired by the female torso that graces the cover of In Utero I came across this very cool rib cage pendant by mrd74. My accident, besides almost killing me, primarily crushed my chest. I broke all my ribs, punctured both my lungs, and sported a trio of chest tubes. So I have much respect for the structure of the human rib cage, it is remarkable. We’re made of so much jelly! Fortunately, complicated architecture protects our softest parts. What can I say? She eyes me like a Pisces when I’m weak. What does that even MEAN??? I don’t know.
Quick topic change: Who’s now in the mood for some coffee? Coffee is soooo 90s, isn’t it?
Maybe we can admit two things straight off the bat. First, I am prone to exaggeration. Second, I’ve probably beaten the zombie bracelet theme to death. Unfortunately for you all, it then rose from the dead and bit me ONE MORE TIME. Because, guess what? Dora and I both love TWD that much! I’m throwing Sup Darling under the wheels of the zombie bus as well. How’s that for human remains in the exhaust pipe, huh? Whatchu got to say about that?!
First up, what the fresh noise is this thing that Rick’s holding??
I found it on the Craufthaus website, made by a Rebecca Rose. I don’t know about you, but to me this looks an awful lot like a Walking Dead scene atop a ring. Which is kind of awesome.
Now, I’ve showcased some zombie charm bracelets before but this one is different in that it is significantly bloodier. MM hmm blood. Made by Antonis Art Asylum on Etsy. Talk about dedication to authenticity! But wait.. shouldn’t these tools be covered in blackish green blood if they were used on the zombies… um?? Are these tools from the Governor’s toolbox? Ahem. Moving onwards!
I want a five gold skull trophy bracelet! Emphasis on ‘skull trophy’ not ‘trophy bracelet’. I guess technically, this is a necklace but I’m sure we can contact Starta, the designer, maybe he would hook a fellow zombiephile up? He should for the amount of money these gold skulls cost. I’d like to point out his TWD necklace is on display right next to his cuddly teddy bear charm necklace. Watch your back, Teddy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
OMG even Polyvore is getting in on the zombie hookups. This skulls and skins brings a little bit of skull to that classy bracelet collection of yours. Or mine.
There you have it, there is no bottom to the zombie/jewelry pit. Please enjoy the view of all the skulls while we free fall thru this together. Just a quick aside: I’m writing this while listening to some MJ, and I just realized Man in the Mirror is the Governor’s jam. Make that change. Or not. Shamo.
Today my UP gets a moment in the spotlight! It goes with the little turquoise bracelet so I figured, what the heck? It’s paired with my dad’s watch, which it turns out I have to wear to keep the time running. I’m also wearing a little Native American silver and turquoise cuff, and my asymmetrical brass wire cuff from Goodwill.
Dude, I am dragging today. My mom would blame the low barometric pressure and this funky weather we’re having in Sauna Francisco. It’s so warm! Hot even! And with our drought going on, I’m worried. I woke up the other morning smelling smoke, convinced something nearby was on fire. But it was a remanent of a dream. I blame my dragging on staying awake too late last night. And the low barometric pressure, I think my mom is right on that one.
Great news though, I sold a painting yesterday! So I hustled my butt this morning to get it to the shippers before work. Here it is below, it has a highly reflective surface so the glare is huge. Farewell “The Sub”! Hope you enjoy your new home in Minnesota! Better you than me!
This is what’s happening. Tons of time. I carry it all on my wrist. My dad’s Rolex, my Cape Cod watch (if you only knew my complicated hateful feelings towards Cape Cod the place, you would understand why the name of this watch bothers me so much), and an upside down Tank Française.
When one is this rich in time, what’s it matter to wear a watch upside down?
Let’s play a fun game. It’s called guess which of these leaf themed bracelets costs $33,000. Then break out that black Amex and TREAT YO SELF. Just kidding, please be fiscally responsible.
Soooo!! Which one, which one! Which bracelet is 33k?!? Which one is the down payment on a house, or maybe even an entire house payment somewhere like Kansas? I should mention the other three each cost less then $38.
This one? With the spiky edges and the sparkly diamondy center?
Or this one? Simple, understated, but possibly heavier and more solid then it appears?
How about this one? It’s rather wide and detailed.
Final option. Diamondy and hammered and maybe artisanal?
Did you guess correctly? How many tries did it take? Could you tell my original post topic was “autumn” but that ginormous price tag completely derailed me from my purpose?
Today’s look is “solid gold lumberjack”…. I’m wearing my dad’s Rolex with my UP. I want to inscribe something on the back of his watch, I’m thinking daddy because yes I was so spoiled of a 34 year old to still call my dad daddy and no I’m not from the south so this was highly irregular.
All my jewelry has stories and right now my jewelry feels especially meaningful to me while I struggle with grief. The gold earrings are Elsa Peretti hearts from my dad, the pink pearl necklace my husband won at an auction for some ridiculously little amount (like $35, I think?), then there are my Brazilian voodoo necklace charms from my mom. I say voodoo, but truly they are H. Stern, so the chic sort of Brazilian voodoo. The feathers are to carry me through this period of time, the tiny frog charm is for fertility, and the kokopelli is the trickster who is also a fertility charm. But I worry his tricky ways are getting the best of me.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not the kind of girl who says no to some Clic Clacs. They have their time and place. With my color selection, that time and place is usually SF Giants baseball season. A girl’s got to coordinate with her home team, ya know? I have one skinny Orange/Silver and 3 fat gold trim with black, orange, and cream.
The thing is, they are the easiest to knock off. I don’t trust them on ebay. I’ve found multiple fake Clic Clac sites, and if I wasn’t concerned about where my credit card number might end up, I would consider buying a couple $60 Clic-Clacs. But, well, I am concerned where my credit card might end up. But if you aren’t, just search Hermes +Clic Clac. Tell me how it goes.
Ahem. Moving onwards!
Very Bangled 