Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Bride's Necklace



This is the necklace I made for my daughter to wear for her wedding.  She likes her clothing and jewelry to be simple and not overly embellished.  Early on in the planning process for the wedding we both adopted the mantra "Simple but elegant".  I think we achieved that with every thing that we did for the day.  This necklace was what she wanted me to make for her.  It's not original, but she really liked the clean lines of it.  We decided to add the branch link to the side because her flowers were garden flowers, peonies, roses, muscari, herbs, lamb's ears, things she could have gone and picked in the garden.  So, we thought the branch recalled that idea.  The beads are moonstones.  She loves moonstones and has one in her engagement ring.  The effect was simple but elegant.  I also made a pair of earrings to match with the extra moonstones.  I used silver headpins that had little hearts for the head.  The set looked like this...



As I was making the necklace and earrings I realized I wanted to find, or make, a special box for her to keep them in.  I happened to be in our local Paper Source store and found the perfect silk covered box in a sale bin!!  Much that happened in the planning of this special day was serendipitious, finding this box was just one thing that seemed perfect!  Her colors were sage green and a soft French blue, so the blue fabric was perfect.  The box was plain, but since I'm not like the bride, and I like embellishment, I decided to add some ribbon embroidery to the top.  Time became a big issue because I was determined that I wasn't going to working on any projects the week of the wedding.  Family was arriving and there were things that couldn't be done until that week.  So, I gave up on the idea of ribbon embroidery.  I realized I had a corsage of ivory and white ribbon flowers that I had made several years ago and never used.  I have a board of ribbon flowers hanging in my studio and it seemed as though the corsage had been hanging there waiting for this project.  Serendipity again? I don't know,maybe!  When I took the flowers off the board I found that I hadn't finished it.  Everything was pinned together.  So, I sewed it all together and used fabric glue to attach it to the box lid.  I think it looks wonderful!



Not too froufrou, but embellished.  I have to say that she was very pleased!  And, you may have noticed that there was a tag in the box.  I made tags instead of cards for her shower gifts, and so I decided to make a small tag to enclose in the jewelry box.  It fits nicely and has a little note on the back from Mom for remembrance. 

I loved making this for my daughter.  She loves the necklace and the box, and it can become an heirloom for her to keep and wear whenever she wants to remember her special day.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of the preparations for the wedding.  I didn't overdo it, but I enjoyed all I did, and it lent a personal touch to what was really a very personal and wonderful wedding day. 

I hope you have a wonderful day.



2 comments:

  1. Oh Oh Oh this is so gorgeous! I love both and the fact that you are just as sentimental as I am!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greetings! Carrie's coworker here. I'm admiring the asymmetry of the necklace, and just love the branch bead. I love including natural elements in my art/craftwork, too. Would you be willing to share where you found it?
    Cheers,
    Maria Day/~runningwave~

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you! Let me know you've been visiting.