I wanted to share a fun challenge piece today. Brenda Sue Landsdowne of B'Sue Boutiques challenged her readers and customers to create "Five and Dime Style" inspired jewelry and then to post their creations on her Facebook page. My eye was caught by the fun colors and dime-store "thrifty-ness" of the examples she showed, so I decided to participate.
As there are many pieces and parts available in her store, B'Sue Boutiques, I ventured out there to order a few items to use in my necklace. Well, the result is pretty out of character for me, but was oh-so-fun to create. So without further ado, I present you with "Dime Store Emporium":
I ordered a huge set of vintage assorted hard plastic flower parts and a brass necklace base from the store, and started putting pieces and parts together like a mad woman!
I have been holding on to the turquoise Japanese acrylic links for a long time, and this seemed like the perfect project for them.
I wanted to give the piece a little "edge", so I drilled into the brass neckpiece and used tiny nuts and bolts to create the flowers and then to attach the flowers to the base.
Well...this is DEFINITELY a statement piece, and the challenge most certainly took me out of my comfort zone! But if you take it as a tongue-in-cheek homage to the "Five and Dime" style, I think it fit the bill for the challenge!
If you can, take some time to go out to B'Sue Boutiques' Facebook page and browse around the other entries!