Are you experiencing a little  “Indian” summer too?   The weather here has been nothing short of glorious with temperatures in the 70’s.  I know though that this is not the case for everyone.  Recently, my friend Renate showed piles of firewood on her blog, and spoke of the first frost there in Germany. Brrr!  Right now we are in the midst of pumpkin JOY and everywhere you look you can see Fall-hued leaves at their peak.  Speaking of pumpkins, we’ve already brought home pumpkin pie and chocolate chip pecan pies this season…. it can’t be helped when you live close enough to a Mom’s Apple Pie!   

This time I  am going to tie my post back to JEWELRY;  it’s about time I did!  I don’t think I ever showed you a full shot of the completed ArtBLISS leaf charm swap bracelet.  Inspired by Fall, I had to bring it out….

I had extras of my charms so I went to work making another charm bracelet.  When it came time to take a picture, I looked through my shelf of antique books, looking for just the right prop.  The gilded pages and words on “The Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Heroines” by Mary Cowden Clarke caught my eye (1809 -98)…click here to see a giclee on canvas version.     I pulled this one out and leafed through its pages again, remembering why I was drawn to this book (for a mere $3.00, bought over the summer) in the first place.  This book is so much more than a prop. It develops the characters of many of Shakespeare’s heroines in accounts of their formative years.  What really pulled on my heartstrings was the inscription I found when I opened the tattered book, “To Mary Harnett on her 78th Birthday from her affectionate Brother, Alfred Otho, 3rd Feby, 1881”.   Just priceless.  As are the beautiful pictures of Shakespeare’s heroines, from Juliet to Beatrice (this was my Aunt’s name although she went by Penny).

For my charm bracelet, I included ceramic beads, lampwork, and handforged copper and brass charms all on a nice, heavy copper chain.   Talk about a pretty jingling sound!  This will be available on Etsy soon.  Sold, thank you!

I traditionally work with sterling silver and copper, but I’ve been adding more and more brass lately.  Brass has such a beautiful, rich tone to it….and speaking of brass, have you seen Diane Cook’s “With one Finding” challenge on the Brass Bouquet Designs blog?   If not, head on over!  Diane would love to see what you’ve created with brass components  from BB*D…..we all would!   There’s a surprise drawing in store!  Even if you do not share a brass piece, you can be entered to win the give away if you post a link to the challenge on your blog, and leave a comment that you did so on the challenge post.  I hope many of you decide to play!

Have a wonderful FALL day, and thank you for stopping by today!