Christmas gifts of 2012

Well, it is the start of the new year and like every year I think I will resolve again to blog more in the upcoming months. We'll see how that goes hahah. Anyways, I want to share here the 2 gifts I was most looking forward to gifting this past Christmas.

The first gift is a bracelet for a friend's mom.  She mentioned she wanted something with the kids and grandkids. The top row is her 2 boys and crystals representing their birthstones. The bottom row, under each boy is their child and their birthstones as well. All done with solid sterling, swarovski crystals and pearls with gold filled accents. This piece could not have been more perfect. Gorgeous and eye catching, yet not over the top. She called me Christmas day as they were opening gifts to thank me and say how much she loved it. That was probably one of my best gifts was that phone call. So glad it met her expectations and so much more.


The second gift came from Humblebeads Blog: Harvest Napkin Rings.  See, for the last few years I have gifted my boyfriend's mother some type of handmade ornament. Last year I made her a 5pc set of GORGEOUS swarovski crystal snowflakes. I was completely stumped as to how I was going to top that off.  Here is a picture of the ornaments.

She LOVED these. She said she would keep them up year round because they were just too pretty to put away. She hung them in the windows and when we showed up for christmas eve dinner she was using them as napkin rings. (Which I found quite ironic.) I was so happy that she enjoyed them so much because I thought they were amazing. This photo really can't portray the sparkle of these pieces. The flakes themselves were nearly the size of a palm. Truly gorgeous pieces so how was I to top this off? I hadn't the slightest clue. Well, while going through my FB page I saw the Harvest Napkin Ring post and voila!! I had an idea. The blog sparked ANOTHER idea of how to make the rings more as my own piece and not as a direct copy of the blog pieces. Since boyfriend does lampwork and his mother LOVES his pieces I figured instead of the beads used on the Harvest Rings, I would have him make something of his own. We thought of doing the rings by season, by holiday, but that would mean so many rings so we decided to go with colors to match her every day hummingbird kitchen set.

Needless to say.. the expression was priceless. She clearly LOVED what she saw in the box. I think that this is by far one of my favorite moments of the morning and I am so thankful that boyfriend caught it on camera.  Of course after presents were done she went into the kitchen to put them on the napkins and they matched BEAUTIFULLY.  We couldn't wait to see them because we weren't sure about the colors but once we saw the place mats for dinner we KNEW we nailed it!!

  I really would like to thank Humblebeads for posting such a beautiful and wonderful idea. In the crafty/jewelry business, you come across a lot of people who aren't willing to share ideas. I try to understand their position but I just can't. I think we should all support each other and say "no I don't do that but so-and-so does and they do beautiful work, let me give you their info".  Anywhoo, I am so grateful to have been able to give such memorable gifts. So without further adieu, here are her napkin rings. (Not the best picture but I had to hurry up and snap so I could wrap them)

Paired with wonderful handmade beads using purples, cream, teal and sparkly topaz along with wood and seed beads, wire mesh ribbon and freshwater pearls. Truly wonderful pieces!! Thank you HUMBLEBEADS!!!!