06.15.15 So nice, I bought it twice.

Photo credit: Sundance Catalog

As I have previously confessed, I have a habit of wearing the same jewelry and clothing over and over again...my mom uniform is made up of the same Lands' End cardigans, striped shirts and LL Bean capris in pretty much every color available.  I do it with shoes - I have multiple pairs of the same shoes in different colors, and occasionally, I double up on pieces of jewelry.

One of my favorite Austin jewelry artists is Laura Gibson, who sells her jewelry on Etsy under the name Metalsgirl. I met Laura at the very first Cherrywood Art Fair, in 2003, and I think either my daughter or I have purchased something from her every year since.

Photo credit: finntastic2006 on Etsy

This past December, she had her Seven necklaces on display and I fell in love with the labradorite version.  The stones are a beautiful, opalescent grey - and I knew they would go with lots of earrings (these two pairs are just a couple of them) and outfits I already owned.

Labradorite and turquoise
versions of the Seven necklace

Sure enough, I do love the necklace, so I asked Laura about another one in turquoise.  As it happened she was in New York City when I first contacted her, and promised to find the perfect color for my necklace.  She did, and like her other pieces, I've been enjoying it since its arrival. 

Of course the beauty of handmade is that even when I order the same item from the same jeweler, they are unique - and that makes them all the more special.

This month Laura has embarked on a month long project to create a new piece of jewelry every day in June.  Not only is she creating amazing new one of a kind items - that you can buy in her nifty Etsy store - she's donating the proceeds to Blue Dog Rescue; just look for the items labeled "30 Day Challenge".  She's only halfway through - and I don't know if I can resist for the rest of June.

Until next time.