Our Latest Jewelry Projects

Last week we had our Choose Your Own Adventure outings with Steve's family. His dad, sisters, and brother-in-law joined Steve for a beginning brewing class, while his mom (Pat) and aunt (Lois) joined Trevor and me for a beginning beading class. It was the same class I'd taken 2.5 years ago as part of my 40 Things adventure. We were all looking forward to it.

The first step was determining what projects we were going to make. Lois and Pat looked through the class kits and each picked out a bracelet kit, with plans to convert it to a necklace. They gathered supplemental beads while I tried to help Trevor. He wanted to make something special for the long-term sub he's had while his regular teacher has been out on medical leave. I tried guiding him to the kits, but he wanted no part of that. He would choose his OWN beads. I left him to that (a bit nervous about what bright colors he might choose to combine) and quickly picked out my own materials so I could return to supervise. As it turned out, Trevor chose a beautiful combination. He's really developing a good eye for design.

With beads picked out, our class began. Here are Lois and Pat with our instructor (the excellent Dave of Beads on Main). They're laying out their necklace designs.

And here is Trevor, starting to string his bracelet. 

I didn't think to hand the camera to the others to get a photo of me. I did pull the camera out at the end to take photos of the finished projects. The lighting wasn't great and photographing jewelry is really hard for me, but you'll get the idea. 

Here is Lois' necklace:

Pat's necklace:

My necklace, which I gave to my mom for her birthday:

And Trevor's bracelet. I love what he made. I really do need to learn to trust his design instincts!

The beginning brewing crew had a good time too. In fact, they are planning to put their new knowledge to use and brew up a batch the next time we get together. I'm looking forward to it!