Every little girl likes to dress up

When I was little, I remember going into my mother's jewelry box and dressing up with her fancy jewelry. Not being a rich woman, my mother didn't have jewelry that cost a lot of money. She bought her jewelry at Woolworth's. She needed jewelry that looked expensive but wasn't, as a part of her work wardrobe. I adopted that philosophy as I grew up. I was always on the lookout for jewelry that was not expensive, but had the look of fine jewelry. After all, I had to watch my budget as a high school student, a college student, and a young wife with a husband who had to finish college. I shopped at Woolworth's, Salvation Army, Goodwill Stores, and garage sales. I found many beautiful items in these places. They had the look of fine jewelry, but were very inexpensive to buy. My husband gave me my first diamonds for our tenth anniversary. He gave me my first real pearl when we were dating. Other than that, I did not own, and still do not own, any jewelry that I would call fine jewelry. A former boss of mine commented on one piece that I was wearing one day. It was the result of some intense garage sale shopping. I still remember him looking at my little pendant and saying, "Your husband must really love you to give you that piece of jewelry." He was right, but what he didn't know was that it had cost me 10 cents at a garage sale.
I have gone in and out of jewelry and wearing it for many years now. There were times when I wore no jewelry except for my wedding ring. There were days when it was hard to lift my head because my earrings were so long and my necklace was so chunky and heavy, that they added significant weight to my person. Now, many years later, with grown children, I find that some days I do, and some days I don't. And now that I have so many beautiful pieces to wear, I find it's hard to decide which item to use on any given day.
Now, my jewelry consists mostly of pendants, bracelets, and necklaces that are made up of glass beads. These beads are called lampwork beads. I started to make my lampwork beads almost two years ago. Whereas some lampworkers begin to sell their beads and jewelry almost immediately, I have only just begun. Until now, I have not felt that the quality of my work has been good enough to sell, but now, I have developed more confidence in my own work.
I rarely wear any of my own pieces, and people tell me I should. However, I have bought and been given so many wonderful pieces of jewelry and lampwork beads, that I have no reason to wear my own work. The beads and jewelry that I have purchased and been given are so beautiful that , in all honesty, I would rather wear those works of art than my own.
In future blogs, I will show you some of my wonderful pieces of art! I will also show some of my own lampwork beads. I hope you enjoy reading about beads and my love for beads.