Make: Family Objects Necklace

A few weeks ago my aunt was in town visiting from California. We decided to meet up one night and during dinner, she handed me a little box. Inside was a locket my grandma had given her when she was 16 and had originally been given to her as a gift from my grandpa (scroll down to see the locket). My grandparents both grew up during the depression and so gifts were few and far between. This past fall my grandma passed away so receiving the locket meant so much.

As many of you know from my constant tweets and posts (sorry!), I’m getting married this September. (YEAH!) I also have a few other pieces of jewelry from relatives on my mother’s side and wanted to find a way to include those and the locket in one single piece of jewelry for the wedding.

I was having a hard time finding the perfect chain to put all of it on. Everything I was finding at jewelry stores wasn’t the right style (read: bright, shiney granny gold) and WAY too expensive. One day I wandered into J.Crew (like ya do) and saw this necklace for just $25. Done! It was perfect…plus it had some cute pieces of sparkle that I could keep for my necklace.

So I bought a few jewelry-making essentials and started removing and adding to the necklace. I had a vision of a really chunky, long, vintage-y looking necklace that would be more of a statement piece than a subtle, delicate chain.

I finished it and instantly fell in love! It turned out exactly like I hoped and cost in total (including supplies) about $35.

I’m so excited to wear all of these heirloom pieces together on my wedding day. It’ll make for another great little story detail to the whole day.