jewelry | Kimberussell.com

Anniversary gifts

Jul 05 2017

Today is our fifth wedding anniversary! Who knows where the time goes…

To celebrate our 10 years living together and 5(!!) years married, we bought some gifts.

The the modern gift for the fifth anniversary is silverware. It just so happened that WM bought me a silver locket!

The picture on the left is from our Disney trip last November, the one on the right is the day we got married.

It’s a lovely piece and when I wear it, it’s difficult not to open it and say “SEE HOW CUTE WE ARE?!?!?” to everyone around me. I resist, though. I’ll leave the weird, gloaty stuff to another embarrassing blogger in her 40s.

The traditional gift for the fifth anniversary is wood. Of course, paper is a derivative of wood, so without even knowing it, I nailed the theme. I had a star map made of what the the night sky looked like on the day we were married!

I figure we’ll hang it somewhere in the upstairs part of the house, where we hang our classy stuff. Downstairs is where we put our Funko Pop figures and WM’s growing collection of Indiana Jones posters.

Disclosure: None of this is sponsored because I suck at blogging. It must be because I don’t have “a corona of golden curls surrounding” my head. (hork)

Beach bum necklace

Jun 08 2017

The older I get, the more Jersey pride I have. Maybe I’m trying to compensate for our size, our reputation, or our Governor. (Whom I voted for. Twice. Yeah.) In any case, I love my little Garden State. I even have a NJ Pinterest board! Two weeks ago, WM and I were at the Collingswood Mayfair and I saw the most creative jewelry idea!

You might remember that I used to make jewelry as a hobby. I’ll get back to it someday, I suppose. But I’ve seen so many copycat products that I got a little jaded on jewelry booths at craft shows. But The Sassy Apple‘s booth allowed you to create your own bangle bracelets with beach tag charms!

Back to NJ: You have to pay to get onto many of our beaches. It kind of blows, but the money goes to fund ~~the victims of the bad NY and PA drivers who plow through our state every Friday-Sunday with seventeen bicycles strapped to their roof~~ beach replenishment and cleaning efforts. You can see what they look like here. You pin them to your beach bag or wear them on your swimsuit.

I already have a New Jersey seaglass-like charm that I wear on a necklace and when I saw these I knew I found the perfect accompaniment.

Beach tag charm on a chain.

She created charms for many of the NJ shore towns. I love how the little gold wire is bent to resemble the beach tag pin!

Fitting for me.

I couldn’t decide which shore town to go with, because Wildwood was my town we went to when I was a kid, Ocean City when I was older, and now I go to Margate because there is nothing there but beach. I think beach bum is perfect.

Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for my first beach trip of the season. The weather has not played nicely with my free time so far.

I was not compensated for this writeup. I just love the charm.

Bead Fest 2014

Sep 15 2014

I’m pretty lucky that Bead Fest, “the largest bead and jewelry-making event on the east coast” is about an hour and ten minutes away from where I live. Mom and I head out every year and I spend too much money.

That’s me. Vintage Kim. Bead Haven’s booth.

I don’t take any classes, because they are so very pricey. I can’t fathom spending over around $200 for a class and still having to bring my own supplies. I know the classes are hours long and the instructors are top-notch and there is a kit included. But that money hurdle seems really high when you add it to the money I’d spend anyway on beads in the Expo Hall.

This year Mom and I went on Saturday, August 23rd and here’s my haul!

Bead Haven

These are either going to make an amazing bracelet or a bunch of amazing earrings. Or if I could make brooches, these would be great to sell in November and donate the proceeds to Wounded Warriors! Someone buy these beads from Bead Haven and do that!

Veni Vidi Beadi

I make sure to visit Veni Vidi Beadi’s booth each year. The beads in the tube are pewter spacer beads — the beads that go in between your flashier beads. I liked the fallish colors of the strings of beads you see, and I’m a stupid sucker for grab bag mixes.

Suburban Girl Studio

I have seen Suburban Girl Studio‘s face beads in a bunch of jewelry magazines, and I couldn’t wait to see them in person. The seashells will become earrings, and the little ceramic flowers are telling me they want to be tiny pendants.

ParaWire

Some wire so I can make my own earwires and clasps. I also do some wrapping. ParaWire is my go-to brand for all of that. It’s non-tarnish, something I wish I knew about when I started. Some of my old pieces I wear are getting very cruddy looking. I’m not a fan of patinas – I like my jewelry to shine.

And you can’t make pretties without the rings, pins, and findings to do so! I liked BuyBead’s table because it was nothing but findings. No nonsense. Those filigree cones though – I have great plans for them. You’ll have to wait ’til early October to see them.

I've been blogging for over 15 years and I'm apparently one of the few over-40 female bloggers who haven't sold out to THE MAN yet; hence this blog remains quirky, homespun and unprofitable. No big.

~~Wife. Dog lover. Slob.~~ I live in Southern New Jersey with my husband WM, and our dogs Ollie and Murphy. I work a fun (really!) office job in Philadelphia. So if you're looking for a childless, slightly round, marginally boring GenX woman's blog to follow, you've come to the right place!

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Kimberly's bookshelf: read

The Awakening

by Kate Chopin

Welp, that ended abruptly. The version I have includes additional short stories, which I thought were part of the book, so when this story ended, I thought the second half of the book would be the others' responses to ... the events that...

tagged: fiction, women, and own-ebook

We Should All Be Feminists

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So very good. Beautifully written, and really hits home. It was refreshing to read about feminism in a viewpoint other than that of my white, middle-aged, ladyfriends. :) Every middleschooler should be issued a copy of it. It was supe...

tagged: nonfiction, borrowed-from-library, and women

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

tagged: nonfiction, history, and women

Tag - jewelry