A Girl's Best Friends

My mother is visiting right now. My sister-in-law was here last week and together we scoped out the best boutiques in Denver and Boulder. My mother will now get to enjoy all our hard work and simply waltz into the best of the best. One stop I'm very excited to go to is an antique jewelry store in Boulder.

http://www.classicfacets.com/Welcome.html

I had been there a year or so before but this time I noticed a wall of old drawers. I inquired as to what was in them. Costume jewelry was the answer. Organized by time period, color...

I started to have palpitations. I am a BIG jewelry fan. Fine, costume, candy - you name it, I wear it. Would you like a peak into my collection?



Here are a few of my pins. All vintage. The parrot on the far left was a gift from my mother-in-law who shares my love of vintage jewelry and came across a cache of fabulous treasures from my husband's aunt or grandmother on his Dad's side. I can't remember which. I spent a few hours in May labeling old photos of his family taken in the 1930s and 1940s and I can tell you that both women had impressive wardrobes complete with accessories to die for (sigh).

The three tiny buttons for Liberty Loans, Pacific Mutual, and Hoover came in a miscellaneous bag of buttons and notions I bought years ago at a thrift store. I probably only paid $1.00. The circular rhinestone broach was a gift from my mother. The large rhinestone flower was a gift from my mother-in-law from an estate sale. The two colorful flowers were $2.00 a piece at an estate sale. Finally, my little friend pressed against the side was 50 cents at a garage sale. It belonged to an eccentric aunt, I was told. It's a sweater pin. The head has a pin on the back and so does the tail-like part. You wear them one on each side of a sweater as a type of closure.



I have a very stupid, stupid allergy. I can't wear earrings. None. Not gold ones, not hypo-allergenic, not titanium. Nothing goes in the holes in my ears. Sometimes I do try and within a few hours my glands swell and my ears get red and it's just not a pretty site. I can wear clip ons, however, and have amassed quite a collection of screw backs as well as clips. Some are very old. I get them relatively cheap since most modern women do not enjoy clip ons or screw backs. Here are just a few pairs.

The gold pairs with the aqua colored rhinestones were $1.00 a pair at a rummage sale. The shell ones were 50 cents. The pink flowers were $2.00 at an estate sale.

The blue tiles with the seagulls are probably my favorites. They are from the same cache of awesomeness the parrot pin came from. I was taking a second look with my husband's aunt. She was the one to find them. "Look at these!", she said. I glanced over and shrugged. No, no, no, she insisted. I should take them, too. "They're unusual", she said. She was right. I love them and never wear them without getting a compliment. Especially if I wear them to an antique show. The dealers go ga-ga. I married into a very smart family. Lucky girl am I.

Oh, and that tiny silver ring? It has the smallest of acorns on it. A gift from my husband who bought it on the sly from a garage sale.

So, now I'm off to the gym while mommy has a conference call. Then, we shop. Oh, do we shop!