Another "Charming" Project

I can't believe it's almost the end of February! The days seem to be rushing by, but that's o.k., because it means Spring is on the way soon!

I did 'lose' a few days last week...my dear brother-in-law's father passed away on February 3, and although his dad had spent several decades in the western United States, he was buried in his home town of Spencer, West Virginia.  My d.h. and I decided to make the trip so my brother-in-law, sister and nephew would have some family with them during this difficult time (he is an only child).

My sister made reservations for all of us at a lovely bed-and-breakfast, The Cunningham House. Spencer is south of Morgantown and north of Charleston, and there are no hotels in the town.  
 

The Cunningham House is one of two Bed and Breakfast inns in Spencer.

The owners, Sonny and Sherry, were gracious hosts.  In the late 90's, they purchased, gutted and restored the house to it's turn-of-the century glory, but added a private bath for each guest suite. Their website seems to be down right now, but you can contact them at 304-927-2022 if you're interested in staying there sometime.  Spencer hosts a Black Walnut Festival in the fall every year (http://wvblackwalnutfestival.org) and there are two vineyards within a short drive of the town.

Before we left Philadelphia, my sister called and asked me to bring my jewelry tools along because she had a few things that need to be fixed.  I did some on-the-spot repairs for her, but one project needed to come home with me to finish up.

She had collected a number of heart charms, and a couple of inexpensive cameos, and was wearing them clumped together on a chain.  What she really wanted was to space them out somehow, so you could see each charm.  A long chain was included in the pile, so I decided to use that for the re-make.

While I could have hung each charm from the chain with a jump ring, like I did with the religious medal necklace featured in a previous post, I decided to use some gold-plated beads for spacers. The holes were large enough to string onto the chain, and by using two between each charm, there is just enough room for the charms to hang free but still be close enough to jingle a bit when she wears it.

While you wouldn't classify this as 'fine' jewelry, it's a fun piece to wear and show off a collection of similar charms.  Best thing is that we recycled bits and pieces of jewelry to make something new!