A 60-Second Necklace

This morning I just didn't feel like wearing any of my necklaces so I popped into my art room, saw this little charm, slid it onto a black hardware-chain strand...and bingo! I had a new necklace in about a minute. I love the sweet little distressed painting in the flattened, painted bottle cap.

The Lost Valuables of E.L. Parrish

Here's a necklace I recently made that I love to wear. Of course it's assembled from a hodge-podge of treasures I compiled from a zillion different places.

The central round disk, embossed with the bird images was part of an old necklace. Kind of cool, but the images didn't really stand out until I rubbed a bit of black paint over the surface and into the crevasses to emphasize it. Then I punched the 3 holes in the bottom so I could attach delicious danglies.

I've participated in a bunch of charm swaps and have a huge stash of lovely little embellishments that had been wasting away in a storage container. What on earth was I thinking? It was criminal, I tell you, criminal! So I laid them all out on a metal tray and now I keep them with my jewelry supplies so I can incorporate them into my jewelry. The stacked buttons and the rhinestone pendant both came from that stash.

The very best part, though, is the little lost and found tag with its natural patina of age. I wonder if the owner attached it to his or her suitcases when traveling? It must have been something valuable because they offer a reward if returned.

Then of course because I am obsessed with all things aviary, I added a few little bird charms as a final touch.

Insatiably curious (some might call it 'nosey'), I typed this address into google maps. I felt a bit like a secret spy pouring over satellite photos as I tried to determine what house, if any, was associated with that address. I could see a grainy image of a small, white building in what appears to be a field; it was impossible to tell if it was boarded up or not, but I'm inclined to think it was since that address did not yield any other results from my online search.

Hmmm, the plot thickens...