We're All Ears - November Reveal

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has words on the brain this month! :)

The We're All Ears challenge for this month is all about the power of words--of quotes, specifically. To get us started, here are the inspirational quotes offered... well, as inspiration:

It's always fun to take something abstract and try to represent it physically, so I jumped on this challenge immediately. Ultimately, I made a pair of earrings and a bonus bracelet... and had a great deal of fun doing so.

Up first, the earrings!

Never Stop Growing

To introduce this pair of earrings, I need to take you back... way back. 

Back to when I was in elementary school, and was starting to make my own jewelry.

Yes, that is one of my very very first bead boxes... And, yes, I still have it! Hah. My bead organization scheme has changed several times over the years, but this box has pretty much remained untouched. The pieces in it are old (vintage now, I suppose), and almost all are plastic, but I keep them around to remind me how far I've come. (And because those clear beads glow-in-the-dark, and I still think that's cool. Heh.)

Who would have thought that this humble jumbled box assembled by a 9-year-old* actually contained the seeds of who I would be today?

...And that's why I thought some of them would be perfect to use in a pair of earrings about growth. I chose to use the pink rounds in the middle of the box--little me had gleaned from an even older necklace, I think--to use for my design:

I paired the pink beads with brass flowers and brass leaf bead caps--all in keeping with the growing theme.

You know, I really have come a long way since I first put that box together. I'm grateful that I haven't stopped growing... and I'm grateful to know that I'm not stopping any time soon! :)

Chart Your Own Course

Since I had my old bead box out, I decided I also wanted to make something with the humble gemstone chip beads that were hiding amongst the plastic:

Those are actual rose quartz and turquoise chips. I remember very specifically that I had gleaned them from a special bracelet that I used to have--turquoise is my birthstone, and I remember being very proud to have an actual turquoise bracelet. (It's pretty amazing the things that we retain, isn't it?)

And so, I decided that I would make those pieces into a new bracelet. After looking at the other quotes, I decided that the best fit for my bracelet would be the quote "chart your own course." After some fishing around in my more recent stash, I came up with this:

With a compass and an arrow, and containing beads from when I was a little girl, I'd say that this bracelet is a pretty good representation of charting my course and following my path. I'm excited to see where that path leads next! :)

So, there you go.

Thank you for letting me regale you with my memories. Please be sure to stop over at Earrings Everyday to see what everyone else made for this challenge... I know that everything will be lovely, and just as inspired.

Thanks again, and have a wonderful day, everyone!

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* - Not actually sure if I was 9, but it was around that age. I was in elementary school--probably 4th grade. For the sake of this narrative, I'm sticking with 9. I'm sure you get the idea. *grin*