Memories & Thanks Blog Hop

I signed up for this memories and thanks blog hop with good intentions of creating something new, but as it often does, life got in the way and I really haven't had time, so I opted to show something I had already made. Some of you may recognize this necklace as it is also the first piece of jewelry I ever had published, last Feb in Bead Trends magazine. It features a walnut slice that came from my grandfather's workshop after he passed away. While he was alive, no one ever even knew he had been slicing all these walnuts in his shop, and it wasn't until after he passed that we found them in coffee cans. We aren't sure what he had intended to do with them, but I certainly didn't want to let such an interesting piece of nature's beauty go to waste (not to mention his work involved in slicing all these walnuts) so I decided to put them to use in my jewelry. I made the first necklace for my sister and called it Molly's necklace and submitted it to Bead Trends. I was over the moon excited when I found out it had been selected for publication. Since then I've had 11 pieces published, including landing the cover in December. Here is the magazine shot:

As if that wasn't enough to be thankful for, I also recently had the opportunity to be a part of a celebrity earth day gifting event. I racked my brain and thought about doing something upcycled and steampunk, but then I thought, what is more appropriate for earth day than these walnuts? So ultimately I decided to send the celebrities one of my walnut slice necklaces too. I hope my grandfather would have been proud of what I'm doing with his walnuts. I'm glad to know they aren't going to waste. I sure hope that after I pass away, my family doesn't throw away the things I was working on. Even if they don't know what my intentions are, there are so many artists out there that could take my ideas to completely new places and keep my memory alive. That is my intention for him and I am so thankful that he made them and that I was able to find them, because they led me to places and opportunities I never thought possible.  Here is a photo of the style that is headed to the celebrity gifting.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and checking out my memories and thanks necklace. Please visit Pretty Things Blog to get to the list of participants and continue the hop.