Gracie's Love Story Necklace for her Wedding Day

I am so pleased to share that Gracie's Love Story Necklace is complete. Gracie was one of the two winners of my Love Story Necklace Contest.


When I emailed Gracie and told her that she was one of the two winners these were her words,
"I am so excited to be chosen! Thank you so so much!!! This really means a lot to me, I am glad my story touched you. I can not wait to see the finished product and wear it for my wedding day! I look forward to the process of creating something truly original. Thank you a million times over! You made my day!" - Gracie

There is just nothing better then the feeling of knowing that you made someones day.

After choosing Gracie and Steve's inspiring Love Story, I gathered more information about their unique wedding day and I designed a Love Story Necklace that was one of a kind and exquisite just like Gracie.


Then I spent about......4 days in my studio constructing the necklace.

Lots of hammering, twisting, turning, bending.......

I use my torch to solder each of the pieces together. Lots of careful positioning, adjusting, and patience.

I solder each wire onto the necklace base which will hold the pearls, the little red dots are felt pen marks to show me where to solder each wire......I like a lot of pearls......

I hand polish the piece, using my flex shaft, a felt wheel and 3 different polishing compounds.

I use a silk screen to sift the powdered enamel in a pattern onto the sterling silver circles. I used a thistle pattern and chocolate brown enamel for Gracie's necklace.

I fire the piece with my torch until the enamel flows and fuses to the silver.

Then there is about a gazillion other little steps that I do to finish the piece and once I have made some changes, tried it on a few lovely necks around my studio, and thoroughly examined every aspect of the piece I can officially say It is finished and AMAZING!

Custom Making A Love Story Necklace

What’s so special about having a custom necklace made for your wedding day?

When I was a little girl my Nana, who lived in Australia used to send my sister and I gifts of jewelry for our birthday every year. We never were given the exact same piece, which caused more then a few sisterly fights. But now I look back on it and so appreciate that each piece was chosen just for me. Because of who my Nana saw that I uniquely was, she chose something that was intended to be special, unique and truly me. I still have all of these jewels and they are beautiful memories that I will always cherish, and one day will hopefully pass on to my future daughter or granddaughter.

For your wedding day jewelry you could easily go out and choose from a gazillion pre-made necklaces that very well could look quite lovely on the big day. But by infusing how unique and special you are into a piece of custom made jewelry, you can make your wedding day even more personal, unique, and memorable. I think that the jewelry you wear on your wedding day is just as important as your wedding dress. I know I’m a little jewelry biased, but maybe it’s even a little more important. The thing is, you really can wear your wedding jewelry again for another special event, say maybe on your 10 year anniversary?. And in the case of the Love Story Necklace, it is also a piece that not only represents who you are, but also symbolizes who you and your partner are as a couple and the road that you traveled to meet each other.

I am in the process of designing Gracie’s Love Story Necklace for her wedding day. Gracie was one of the lucky winners of my Love Story Necklace Contest. The Love Story Necklace is the perfect necklace for a bride like Gracie, a bride who has been through a lot, but who has always believed in love. Gracie’s unique love story, was the initial inspiration for my design for her necklace. I then asked Gracie to send me pictures and details of her wedding. Gracie told me that her wedding is taking place at the Wine & Roses Country Estate in Auburn, WA. The ceremony will take place on the lawn in front of the farmhouse and reception inside the old barn. The theme is woodland/ rustic. Lots of moss, twigs, mason jars, and wild flowers. The color scheme is greens, creams and brown.



Doesn’t that sound just about perfect?! She also sent me a picture of her fun, beautiful wedding dress and to die for shoes. I can’t show you the picture of the wedding dress, since that will, of course be a surprise on the big day, but I can show you the shoes, which are pretty amazing, and of course, I am loving this girl’s tattoos!


So, armed with Gracie’s inspiring love story, and pictures of her unique dress, shoes, and perfectly rustic wedding venue. I sat down and started to design her necklace. This is what the final sketch looked like.


The necklace will be hand constructed in sterling silver. I use a square wire and hammer out the shape of the necklace, twisting and turning it in all the right places as I hammer it. I will use a combination of white and chocolate brown freshwater pearls and then chocolate brown enamel for the pattern on the silver circles.

This necklace will be truly one of a kind. This necklace is Gracie’s Love Story Necklace. It is unique and exquisite just like Gracie. It has been inspired by the highs and lows, twists and turns in Gracie and Steve’s love story and the love and beauty that they have put into planning their unique wedding. They will have this necklace that represents their unique love for each other to cherish forever.

Next week I will be posting pictures of me making the necklace and of the finished piece!

For my other one of a kind custom made necklaces from my wedding collection check out my etsy store and please feel free to contact me with any questions.

To get notified the next time I launch a super great contest like the Love Story Necklace Contest join my facebook fan page.

The Love Story Necklace Contest Winning Stories Part 2

Today I want to share the second winning story from the Love Story Necklace Contest. I ended up choosing two winning stories for very different reasons. They each in their own way really embodied what the Love Story Necklace is all about.

Amanda's Love Story -
Matt and I weren't supposed to meet, fall in love, or get married. We are 95.7% opposites. We met through MySpace for crying out loud! I met Matt my junior year in college. I wasn't looking for a relationship and he was so I blew him off at first. Then when he wrote to me again asking to get ice cream, I caved and after meeting him, I was done.

We moved in together right after i graduated college and were happy for awhile, then it started to get hard. We were living in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment with no privacy, nowhere to be alone and it was just too much of each other and it really brought out our differences. So I moved out and back home with my parents, thinking that was it, it was over.

We still talked and neither of us were dating other people. We decided to start going out on dates again and doing things together that we both liked instead of being apart. Things got better so I moved back before Christmas. We then started looking for a home together and found one.

The following January we were laying in bed reading and I had a pain in my chest. I felt around and found a lump the size of a large walnut. I instantly knew something was very wrong and started crying, breast cancer runs in my family and I was only 25. My cousin died at age 26 from cancer, this couldn't be happening to me. Matt held me and told me that no matter what he loved me and would always be there for me. I said even if I lose all my hair? He said he'd shave his head too. At that point I knew I had found the man that would stand beside me no matter what. After tons of appointments and biopsy's the tests thought it was benign but they had to take it out to be sure because of it's size and shape. I had surgery and Matt was there to nurse me back to health, change my bandages and just be there for me. The tests came back 100% benign and we finally breathed easy again.

That August we went hiking to our favorite waterfall, hidden from the general public, we had found it on our third date. We hiked down with our tripod and camera to take some photos. After many shots Matt told me to stand still so he could get one of us together, there in front of the most beautiful spot he asked me to be his wife, through sickness and health, whatever lies ahead. We are now planning our dream fall wedding for October 16, 2010. This Love Story necklace is perfect for me to wear because it symbolizes the twists and turns that we've had in our relationship, but no matter what it's one piece that will stay together forever, like us.
What I loved about Amanda's story was that the two of them have been through so much as a couple. Relationships, although amazing are hard and I think it takes great compassion and great strength for a couple to fall apart and then come back together. A little over a month ago one of my closest friends was diagnosed with a brain tumor, thankfully it also turned out to be benign. Life is scary and short, and it is the people and the love that we choose to have in our life that make it incredible and a little less scary. I would say that Amanda and Matt are a pretty inspiring and courageous couple. I am honoured to be making Amanda a Love Story Necklace to wear on her wedding day.

I wanted to share with you another inspiring and courageous woman and artist, Kerri Smith - I am loving her blog these days www.kerrismith.com

Also for all of my brides-to-be I thought you might like this very pretty blog for a little wedding inspiration www.weddingchicks.com

Weddings and Pretty Things

Delighted to be featured on the lovely New York blog
Weddings and Pretty Things........

Fabulous Wedding Shoes

What you walk down the isle in is important. It's sort of a big moment. You are walking towards the person you love, who you will spend a lifetime with. You are announcing to your friends, family, and the world that yes you believe in love, you believe in commitment, you believe in family. It should be an amazing moment and you should be wearing amazing shoes! Here are a few of my favourites......
For more wedding inspiration check out We Scout Wednesdays: Weddings at Scoutie Girl.




Fabulous Shoes by:
1. Jimmy Choo 2. Bourne 3. Bettye Muller
All from www.footcandyshoes.com