Show & Tell Friday and Jewelry Making

I'm so sorry! I was planning on joining Cindy at Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday! Honest, it was going to be the last post I did on my Etsy Shoppe! I truly wanted to show off my jewelry but when I went to link with her blog I discovered you weren't supposed to post things you were selling! As my children say.."MY BAD!" But I either have to delete this whole post or just not link with Cindy's. Maybe a few of my blogging friends won't mind me advertising again!

What I am showing and telling about today is my handmade jewelry! I have just recently started my own Etsy shop! I have to tell you it's sort of scary putting your creations out there for all to judge! Do they like my jewelry or do they hate it? Will they buy it? It really made me feel quite vulnerable! But please forgive me, I tend to be harder on myself than others and definitely bend toward the lower end of self-esteem!

My father died 4 years ago. My mother is still with us but is paralyzed on her left side because of a stroke she had when she was only 58. She is living in an independent living apartment facility and loves it! After my father passed I completely redid their apartment to make it comfortable and more feminine for mom. Dad was a garage sale junkie and had pretty much taken over the apartment! I painted and stenciled and cleaned out! My mother had so much jewelry! Mostly broken or she couldn't wear because she couldn't put it on by herself! I had seen jewelry making supplies in my favorite craft stores and thought "Hey, I'll just restring all these so she can pull them on over her head with one hand! The brooches would make beautiful pendants on these necklaces! And I was hooked! I have been selling my jewelry creations to friends and at church and at Curves where I work. I kept seeing everyone's Etsy shoppes on their blogs and the ladies at Curves encouraged me to put my jewelry on it! I initially called my jewelry "Butterfly Creations" because I was taking vintage jewelry and repurposing it into something else. When I started my blog that name was already taken so I went with "Hidden Promise" from my favorite hymn ..."in cocoons a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free."

I have recently started making collages with different vintage pieces. This is my first collage necklace. It's made up of 3 vintage pins, (actually 4). The small flowers are from a pin I cut up to use the flowers on the antique brass stem findings I used. And then I added my signature butterfly charm! Every necklace or bracelet I make includes a butterfly, either a charm added or a butterfly is used in the piece itself.

The following piece is made with a vintage Sara Coventry brooch and earring set.

I did turn the earrings into pierced. They were originally clip ons. I do want you all to know that I do not use signed collectable pieces such as Weiss. I would never cut up any piece of vintage jewelry that would destroy its collectable value. If a piece is signed it's either Sara Coventry or vintage Avon. Now some of you might think that's destroying too but I hope my repurposing is turning a piece that was a bit dated into something beautiful someone would want to wear now! I like bling so a lot of my pieces look pretty "dressy" but I like to say that the same piece of my jewelry can be worn with jeans or a cocktail dress!

I made my first sale today!! Yippee!