Spring Bling Fling at First Baptist Church

A few days ago I received a message from a dear friend that used to own a wonderful bead shop here in town. She doesn't live here, and had received a request from someone in town that was looking for someone knowledgeable in the area of jewelry repair, re-purposing, etc. Shirley and I stay in touch through Facebook, so through the wonders of social media she knew that I am now teaching jewelry making classes. I called the number Shirley gave me to get some information, and a woman answered, Barbara. Barbara at first thought I was Shirley calling her, but I explained who I was and how I got her number. I told her I've been making jewelry for several years, teach classes, yada yada yada....... She was so excited to find out I'm right here in town and willing to help out in any way. She told me that her church was organizing a "Spring Bling Fling" event for their Women's Ministry.

At the event, they had someone from Origami Owl talk a little bit about their line and upcoming trends, followed by Premier doing the same with their product line. Then Barbara explained to the ladies how the idea for this event came about because of a bracelet she re-purposed into a necklace. She has found some beautiful pieces over the years to recycle.

For my part of the program, I didn't go into my style of jewelry design, trends, anything like that. I wasn't there to sell them anything, I was there to inspire them. I explained that, as a jewelry person, I try to always have on some kind of jewelry, even if I'm just going to the grocery store. Well you can imagine making every single piece of jewelry from scratch for every item in your closet can be daunting, so many times I re-invent jewelry that I have purchased from the clearance table at the department store. I have a box full of jewelry that I can take it apart, add some color, maybe some beads, and I then have a gorgeous item to match my wardrobe. I brought samples of some of these items, both before and after they were altered, to show them the possibilities.

These earrings show where I added some various colors of nail polish

Earrings with alcohol ink

Necklace with Vintaj patinas

Two necklaces that were combined, antiqued with Liver of Sulphur, and beads added

Earrings that were re-assembled, antiqued with Liver of Sulphur, and beads added

After I showed the pieces that I had re-invented, the ladies brought various pieces in that needed to be repaired or maybe just needed some new inspiration. All in all, we had a great time and I hope the ladies left there knowing that they can make something new out of something old. Thank you for having me!