jewelry – Sappho's Torque

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to pop in with an update on my family’s Leukemia and Lymphoma Society campaign. First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my campaign and personal mission to raise $5,000. Each of you is helping to advance cures! We are making wonderful progress. I have one more raffle happening now — read on for details…

Our work isn’t done yet! I still need to raise almost $1,000 by the end of this month to meet my goal. If you haven’t had a moment to do so yet, please visit my website — which is at https://pages.lls.org/mwoy/txg/houston22/ajamail — and make a donation. And if you have already contributed, please consider sharing my link with others you know who might want to join our efforts. One little mention can make a big difference!

Your donation is so appreciated by the 1.2 million Americans battling this disease. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Let me share some facts:

Blood cancers are the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
In the past 40 years, only 5 oncology drugs have been approved for first use in children.
More than 33% of blood cancer patients do not survive five years after diagnosis.

It is not too late to join us in this fight. I’m now hosting one more raffle, this time with three prizes. The first is another copy of Jayne Pillemer’s glorious book Still Mine, which will warm and heal the grieving hearts of readers of all ages. (Read more about it here.)

The second prize is a piece of handmade jewelry made by me. It has a very summer-boho vibe and uses natural gemstones.

adjustable leather ties, pearls, Swarovski crystals, baroque mother-of-pearl beads, garnets, labradorite stones, glass, sterling findings

And the third prize is a collection of poetry art cards, also made by me. They’re blank on the inside and have fragments of poetry on the front.

Donations of $25 or more will earn tickets in the raffle — in fact, you’ll get a separate raffle ticket for every $25 you contribute! I’ll hold the raffle on my Facebook page on June 1st.

Thank you for your support! (And please feel free to share this blog post around so more people will see it.)

This week I was interviewed by the school newspaper for an article on teachers’ interesting hobbies.

(For the record, my hobby is not writing. I’ll tell you more about that another time, but for now I just wanted to make sure that was clear.)

One of my hobbies — which I used to do quite often back when I had the semblance of free time — is making jewelry. It started off as a fun little thing to do with some of my friends who also made jewelry for fun. My then-only child was less than a year old and learning to feed herself, captive in the high chair for an hour or so at a time. I could make something, feel artistic, finish a project, have something to show for it, and get all my supplies cleaned away before my daughter lost interest in hurling Cheerios at the cat.

This turned into making earrings for all my girlfriends for Christmas. Then it turned into trunk shows at art festivals. Then it turned into a way to make extra money when I found out I was going to have another baby. Then it turned into a little side business: Everyday Diva Jewelry.

I’m not really doing it anymore, though I do occasionally make something lovely for someone as a gift or for myself. Now that cereal-throwing little girl makes jewelry, too. *le sigh*

Anyway, since jewelry is like hats and shoes in that it is one of the most delightful accessories you can add to your wardrobe (you know, in my humble opinion, of course), I thought this week I’d feature some pieces I’d made that I felt particularly proud of.

This parure (or, set of matching jewelry pieces) contains a necklace and a pair of earrings. The findings are sterling silver. The large green/blue/gold stones are labradorite, a stone particularly dear to me because of its incredible multi-layered beauty, but also because the first time I ever saw it was on my honeymoon. The glowing white stones are opalite. Interspersed among them are garnet-colored Swarovski crystals and pewter flowers.

So put on a wonderful piece of jewelry today, and then tell me all about it!