Givin' it Away

In April, Notre Dame is hosting a silent auction to benefit Relay for Life. You can learn more about it by visiting Relay for Life's website. I think it's going to be a big event - they are holding it in the football stadium!

I was asked to contribute a handmade piece of jewelry to the auction, and I've been working on putting something together just for the event. I wanted to make something unique, but not too outside of the "mainstream". I can sometimes push the boundaries of what most people would wear, so... I wanted to scale back on the funkiness this time around.

I decided to work with sterling silver as my base. I have a few of these amazing faceted beads that I picked up at a bead and gem show a while back. They are called opalite turquoise, and are just stunning.

I thought that moonstone would be a nice addition, since they are a white shade with a hint of blue glowing from the center.

Putting those two stones together with the silver had a nice look, so I decided to go with it. I started with these components as my design base.

Personally, I love chains that have round links, as opposed to oval. It feels fresh and fun to me. Maybe a bit hip, versus something more traditional. I happened to have two different sizes of sterling chain with round links.

Plus, I had these two free-form ovals that I had picked up at my local bead store.

I thought they might be fun...

Adding in some bundles of dangling moonstones was the finishing touch.

I used the smaller chain along with a lobster clasp in the back. This will give the owner options of how close to the neck she wants to wear the necklace. I even had one teardrop moonstone, which is hanging from the last link of the smaller chain. It will sit at the back of the neck, or hang a bit down the back, depending on how tightly the necklace is worn. 

I love little extra touches like this when I buy jewelry. For someone with shorter hair, or for anyone wearing their hair up for an evening, what a treat! Some decoration at the back.

I thought it would be nice to make my donation a set, so I put together some simple sterling silver earrings, with moonstones. When you're wearing a statement necklace like this, I think it's nice to keep the earrings simple. You don't want to look like a crazy person, now!

The silent auction takes place April 16-17. It starts at 6:00 pm and goes until 9:00 am! What fun!! Are you interested in helping out? It's not too late - you can contact Jed Hanawalt at Hanawalt.1@nd.edu to make a contribution yourself. Join in and help the American Cancer Society.

Relay for Life

Finally Finished

A while back, I put together a necklace that I was very excited about.

I posted about it My Newest Creation.

I call it, simply, my flower garden necklace.

I then decided that the necklace desered to have a sister necklace. So, I began the process of creating another flowerful necklace. I began by putting the flowers together. You can see the progress on my previous blog entry, Dreams Run Amuk.

Putting together this necklace was a bit more tricky. I tried a couple of things that I didn't end up liking. So, after a few adjustments, cutting it apart and switching out stones, I finally have it in it's finished state.

So, what do you think?

Pretend that we're Warm

It's Carnaval time in Brazil! It's a lovely time of year for me to pretend I'm somewhere warm and exotic, instead of in the Midwest in February. One of my part-time jobs is teaching a Brazilian samba dance class at Notre Dame. So, I get really excited when Notre Dame hosts a carnaval party by bringing in a band and dancers from Chicago.

The band, Chicago Samba, is wonderful.

In Brazil, carnaval is a really big deal. It's like Mardi Gras times 100. Bands and dancers parade through the streets. No one goes to work for a week. The whole country stops life to party, drink and dance.

I can't lie and say that the carnaval celebration here in the Midwest is quite that big. But, we do what we can when we have to walk through a foot of snow to get there. My friends and I pretend to be warm and go out for a fun time.

{A flower in your hair makes a girl feel warmer. I'm on the right.} {My friends, enjoying the music at carnaval.}

{It's hard to get good pictures when they won't stop moving!}

Such a fun night. I've been hating the snow and cold lately. So, a night where I could pretend I'm on the beach, in Brazil, was just what I needed. Hopefully, it'll be enough warmth and fun to last me for the next couple of months...