My Grandma was a quiet lady who still retained her Southern accent and genteel ways even though she left Alabama at the age of 18. She was and still is an inspiration to me. She did not really understand that ‘Pazzles cutter’ idea I had but she was proud of me. Sadly, she passed away at age 90, shortly after we started selling our first Pazzles Pro models in 2003.
She moved in a covered wagon to a wilderness town in Colorado; lived through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl days; and she ran a dairy farm with my grandfather. Her reserved ways belied the fact that she had a strong character. She was a lady through and through. She always had her hair done and she always wore high heels, lipstick and jewelry. I remember her earrings and sweater pins so clearly. As a child those chunky earrings fascinated me.
Recently my mother gave me Grandma’s jewelry boxes filled with her costume jewelry. What a walk down memory lane! My mom thought the grandkids would like to play with them but I am not really ready to part with these treasures yet.
Nothing in the boxes are of great value, Grandma never had a lot of money to spend on expensive things. More than that, she was a bargain hunter to the core which I think came from living through the Depression. The idea of spending a lot of money on herself was not to be considered.
I am not really sure what I will do with these pieces. There were sweater pins and a lipstick clip with a mirror. Beaded earrings from the 50s, groovy chains from the 70s, T-shirt rings from the 80s, and Mod Podged (yep!) paper earrings made by my kids too!
The big question for me is: What do I hold on to and what do I let go? I know that I cannot keep every piece, but it is so hard to decide. Maybe I will find photos of her wearing a set of earrings and also have a photo of the earrings alone. Have any of you faced this dilemma? Any ideas on how to chronicle these treasures?
~ Chris
I have some of my MIL old costume jewelry. I’ve used some of it on craft items. We were recently decorating some cigar boxes and the other ladies were so envious of my treasures. I shared some with them as I know she would have. My Dad used to have boxes of “treasures”. My kids loved to go to his house and play all afternoon. If they were lucky they got to take a treasure home…lol. Their home burned and we lost all those things. But he started another treasure box. My Mom still has those but after his death she opened a resale type business and she is forever getting other peoples treasure boxes. I am almost 60 years old and I still love to go through old boxes of “bling”. Darlene
I dabble in jewelry making and have re-used some of my mother’s things in my jewelry. For example, you can turn those clip-on earrings into pins/pendants. But, I also still wear a lot of her stuff as is because I just love that look. You can also take some of the metals and use your colorful fingernail polish on them to give an entirely different look.
My hubby brought home aged metal wall art that his mother had. I used the fingernail polish to re-color the brushed gold metal and hung the butterflies around the frame of one of my favorite prints. So…reinvent!
When my grandmother passed away several years ago, my aunts placed all her jewelry for us to take as keepsakes. When I told them what I was goind to do with mine choices, they all gave me theirs too. I made shadow boxes with a picture, poem and the jewelry. Some of us had pictures of her wearing the particular pieces and they are treasured memories. If I’d had a PI then, WOW, they would have been really great! I’ll post pix in the albums, probably dimensionals, since I can’t think of a better place.
If you have a bride to be in your family they are making brides bouquets out of all old brouches are ( sweater pins) just a thought. But it would take alot.
Chris, my suggestion is wear it it is all back in style as retro is the name and some of those pieces that you think are worthless could be worth a lot. If you have an antique shop or used furniture or even people that do estates they can give you an idea of what it is worth. As in what Victoria says, if you go to Christ Friesen’s site she sells a product called Swellegant and it is so cool what you can do with it, http://store.cforiginals.net/swmecoco.html. You can paint on with the different metal coatings and then you can oxidize it with the different oxidizers or you can get the color dyes and use it. I made a pin from polymer clay and when i was done it looked like metal. Other idea for putting bling on it is to use stickles or liquid pearls (by Ranger) many many wonderful colors. And the BEST thing about all of these things i have mentioned is that you can use them on everything you make with the Pazzles. Whoopee. I just hope that you treasure those pieces of jewelry and that they bring back special special memories of your wonderful grandmother. Will be waiting to see what you did.
My mother is a costume jewelry hound and has been handing many pieces off to me over the past couple of years. I use them sometimes as decorations on boxes/purses, and sometimes even as handles. Pierced earrings make great handles….leave the post on, drill an appropriate hole in the lid and fill it with glue. To secure the piece to the box, fill the hold with glue, as well as the surface of the earring that will be in contact with the box. Push the post into the hold and let it dry.
Come to think of it, my grandpa made a Christmas tree in a frame with a bunch of grandma’s costume jewelry years ago. Anyone else remember when those were the rage? I wonder where it ended up? I guess I will have to ask my mom!
No brides and no sisters or aunts to share with. My dad who passed away in 2007, was an only child and I am the only daughter. All grandpa’s siblings are gone and grandma has one brother left.
I feel compelled to make sure the great-great grandkids have mementos and stories of them before my mom is no longer here.
The first thing i would do is photograph each piece before altering or giving them away in case you come across a photo or a memory. Then i would pick some to possibly repurpose and/or refashion into another wearable piece. I am not crafty with jewelry but Teresa Collins in the Scrapbook Trends, Signature series makes beautiful necklaces with various odd shaped bling. And super easy and quick to make With only felt and a glue gun.
A friend of mine recently taught a painting class of a Christmas tree on a large cupboard door. She drilled holes here and there and added lights. She then filled the tree with all sorts of old jewelry. It is so very pretty when all lite up and the old jewelry shines just like new.
It wouldn’t be much of a jump to do the same thing by cutting out layers and layers of paper branches, add the lights, use beaded necklaces for garland and then add the jewelry. We cut off the backs of earrings and used a heavy glue like E6000 to attach the pieces.
What a treasure of a memory piece. Framing it would be perfect to keep the dust at bay.