Katie Daily Pretty – Shamrockin it out

Apparently Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day. I’d forgotten this. Pi Day I can remember no problem, but ol’ St. Patty has a way of slipping through the cracks in my brain (he shouldn’t feel too bad about this, there are a lot of cracks. Big ones. Crevasses? Canyons? Huge fissures in the Earth comparable to the Mariana Trench?). I think I forget because a) I’m not Irish, b) I don’t drink, and c) I’m not 10, and therefore the determination to wear green doesn’t run as deeply in me as it does others.

Since I remembered in time, I’ll be wearing my teeny tiny pearl shamrock necklace for the occasion. I’ve had it since I was little, so it’s both sentimental and a plausible choking weapon since it was designed to fit around a little neck. My neck is big, largely to support my crack-filled brain (not as illegal sounding in my head as it seems now). The fact that I’m going to need to refashion the necklace to prevent my face from turning blue as the rest of me is wearing green got me wondering about what other St. Patrick’s day jewelry is out there.

After a search on Etsy, I need to tell you: it’s not looking so good. Holiday-themed accessories are always a slippery slope; one false step and all of a sudden you’re at the bottom of the hill wearing a Halloween socks, a Santa pin that lights up, and a t-shirt that say “This is my Easter outfit” (didn’t think I remember that, did you mom?). Luckily for you, I waded through all the St. Patrick’s day cheese (moldy, moldy, green cheese) pretending to be jewelry, and found some pretty pieces. Perhaps I’ll wear one of these next year if my current shamrock necklace doesn’t do me in:

If you want to wear a shamrock, how about one of these:

Jasper and Peridot pendant by Kalliope Jewelry

Vintage Dictionary Shamrock pendant by Olivia Moon

Shamrock Scrabble Tile pendant by Spoiled Royal

If you’d prefer your jewelry just say “Ireland,” and not “ground cover,” try some of these:

Irish Gaelic Text Glass Tile pendant by Crow Biz

Connemara Marble pendant by byAmor

And if you just like green:

Green Adventurine Teardrop pendant by Strands of Light

Recycled Fiestaware China pendant by The Broken Plate

So, have a lovely St. Patrick’s Day and, remember:

“Chaill me mo mhala,” which, if my Gaelic isn’t too rusty, roughly translates to, “enough with the corned beef and cabbage, already!”

Birthday Necklaces

The Rocket Scientist and I are going to Casa Bonita (“food [poisoning] and fun in a festive atmosphere!”) tomorrow night for what is getting to be approximately a 15-way birthday celebration (followed up by Beatles Rock Band, at which I am awesome). I’m trying to squeeze my birthday into the roster, but since it was back in October that’s probably stretching it.

Since three of the birthday peeps are girls, I spent last night making them necklaces while watching Season 1 of Pushing Daisies. I think the show definitely inspired the bright color combinations I chose.

Zen and Lemon Drops

• Sterling silver chain
• Turquoise tear drops
• Czech glass beads

The turquoise reminds me of visiting my Grandmas in Arizona, and the way the stones are stacked makes me think of all the big rock outcrops, with boulders perched precariously on precipices (oh yeah, I’m awesome at alliteration. Ha! Just did it again).

Oysters in Algae

• Sterling silver chain
• Green freshwater pearls
• Czech glass beads (there’s a green leaf bead on the end of the extender, but it was heavy and sunk into the snow)

One of the birthday girls just got engaged on New Year’s, and her gorgeous ring is the same acid-y green as the Czech glass. I may redo this necklace tonight and cluster the pearls so they hang down instead of horizontal. Not sure yet…

Cherry Acid Flashback

• Sterling silver chain
• Cherry quartz
• Czech glass

I tried a new wire wrap technique with this stone – a “T” wrap vs the “triangle” wrap that’s more common. I think it turned out well.

It’s a shame that the color-combo of red and green is so dominated by Christmas, as I think those are two gorgeous colors together. This variation on those colors is dedicated to my high school Calculus teacher, who once told us about an acid-flashback he had after drinking a cherry soda when he was in Alabama marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

More jewelry in a later post (if I survive Casa Bonita, that is).