Grandma's Earrings

To wax nostalgic.  I remember when I was a little girl, my family would travel to visit my Grandma Iva in Clayton, IL.  There were a lot of things to love about grandma and visiting her.  The smell and taste of homemade bread, homemade noodles and well, homemade just about everything.  Another thing I loved was her jewelry.  And to keep me entertained, my mom and grandma would sit me in front of her jewelry and let me look through it, admire it, try it on!  I LOVED it!  I also loved her salt and pepper shaker collection but that’s a story for another day.  Back to the jewelry, more specifically her earrings.  Wow, the earrings she had.  Clips back in those days of course.  Dripping with wonderful baubles and jewels.  They seemed so glamorous.

So where am I going with this?  Well, the answer is in the photos you're seeing.  Kind of in memory, kind of for nostalgia, and partly because I like to do a little creating and crafting, I came up with a way to recycle or upcycle earrings from that era.  I’m turning them into hair barrettes.  And with each one I make I get to remember my grandma and relive those days of admiring myself in the mirror in my grandma’s earrings.  

The ones shown in the photos here are currently for sale at Evalina’s Antique Cafe in Columbia, IL.  Barbara is the owner there.  When you visit, tell her Debbie (the one that makes the barrettes) sent you.  She has a wonderful shop with a variety of treasures.  You’ll find everything from furniture to crystal to quilts to clothes, jewelry and accessories.  Her shop is located at 124A South Main Street in Columbia.  Her phone number is 618.520.0569 and email is evalinasantiquecafe@yahoo.com.  Her hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 to 4 on Saturday.  As I’d suggest with any locally owned shop, I’d call before you trek far to make sure she is open.  My experience with small businesses is that they sometimes, over time tweak their hours.  And it’s no fun to drive a distance, anticipating all the while what treasures you’ll find, only instead to find, they’re not open.  Ready, set, SHOP!