Jun 27 2014

J is for Jewelry

Continuing on with my version of the A to Z challenge, the first word that springs to my mind when I think of the letter J is jewelry. Possibly this has something to do with the three standing jewelry boxes I have, although I hasten to add, I long ago decided my budget ran to fashion jewelry, not the “real” stuff, with a few exceptions. I also decided to concentrate on earrings primarily, since I never was a bracelet person and we have to wear a clunky badge at the day job, which makes necklaces problematic. Although of course, being me, I do have some of each!

I have nothing in any of my jewelry boxes that compares to the glories of ancient Egyptian gold and precious stones, like the example above, but I do have some vintage Elizabeth Taylor for Avon “Cleopatra Collection” items, pictured here.

This little guy is the piece that started it all for me, when I was seven and my Aunt Barbara sent me this turtle pin (who had a twin but he’s gotten lost in the mists of time) and a red purse to match. Coincidentally, I wrote my first “novel” at age seven! I had never really noticed until today that my turtle’s back is a scarab. Wow, those connections between me and a fascination with Egypt run deep!

Not everything in the boxes is Egyptian-themed. I wore these five inch vintage Lunch At The Ritz earrings to the RT book signing because I figured if I’m going to keep telling y’all that I love blingy earrings and then when you run into me, I’m not wearing any, that would be a bad thing. Also highly unlikely since I won’t even go grocery shopping without earrings.

The silver-toned ones are some of my favorite go-to, daily earrings for just making the run to the post office, which I have to do today, or the grocery store. The fairy-themed ones in the middle are 1980’s Banana Bob and the split sun is an eBay find. (I troll eBay to the detriment of my budget.)

If a person writes a lot about the Crocodile God and his children, the Nile crocodiles, which I do, then they begin to acquire a collection of crocodiles. Of course they do! So here are a few of my favorites.

And I’ll finish off with some bracelets, because I do have a few. I love the typewriter keys because I learned to type at age 8 on an old Royal typewriter my Dad found someplace (I typed so fast the strikers were always getting tangled up – at least we don’t have that problem on computer keyboards!). The keys looked just like the ones on the bracelet. I love the trilobites because they’re 250 million years old and whenever I get impatient (which is often), I remind myself in 250 million years , it won’t matter to me….and the marcasite one is just pretty and makes three. I might wear it with my steampunk costume at RWA. We’ll see!

And then below that is a pin that means a lot to me – my Romance Writers of America Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Special Interest Chapter pin. I’ll have to talk rings another day, maybe for the letter R!

Jan 16 2014

Eye Candy ~ Outrageous Earrings

Wore these to work today – no, I’m not a Las Vegas chorus girl, I promise. I wish I was that tall! did you ever see “Honeymoon in Las Vegas” with Nic Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker? The scene where she dresses as a chorus girl to try to hide out from the infatuated mobster? And the other dancers are all like seven feet tall and she’s this petite little thing? Well, that would be me.

But I loooove outrageous earrings and I’ve been acquiring a few new-to-me pairs, so I thought I’d share today. Years ago I established at the day job that long, whimsical, fancy earrings were my thing (well and big rings but that’s a topic for another blog) so no one thinks twice when I show up with 5″ bling on my ears.

Aside from the pink peacock bling above, these are all vintage Lunch At The Ritz, which I’ve mentioned before. A herd of Pegasus (Pegasi? Pegasusses?) and a Carousel…

Castle Tintagel, love the tiny dragon!

A gathering of butterflies:

And this pair is entitled “I Know It’s In Here Somewhere” which is my constant problem with all my overstuffed purses!

But the pair of earrings I’d love to own – or even try on once – are a few thousand years older:

May 25 2012

Guilty Pleasures – Earrings!

Haven’t talked earrings lately but I’ve been a naughty girl – been adding to my collection! I have a bad tendency to go onto eBay and start clicking through the “Vintage Clip Earrings” category, which usually runs more than 2000 entries over 668 pages, so I never run out of things to look at and potentially spend my pennies on.

I wear earrings ALL the time. (Well not to bed LOL) Some women can’t go out without makeup – I co-ordinate earrings to my jeans and T shirts before heading to the grocery store! And I’ve mentioned before I’m known for my earrings at work, to the point where one entire department had a bet going one year how long it would be before they saw the same pair of earrings twice. Having decided a long time ago that earrings would be my fashion idiosyncrasy and signature, I get away with wearing some over the top stuff to the office.

But back to eBay, I don’t really care if the earrings are vintage or not, I just find a lot of interesting and quirky stuff in that category. And while I can convert almost anything to clip style, it’s easier to start with clips. (Never had my ears pierced – my mother was old fashioned enough to feel that was fast and by the time I grew up, I didn’t care. My daughters had theirs pierced though.)

If you want me to look at your eBay listing for earrings, be sure to use the word huge, large or bold in the headline. And the word runway will attract me like a moth to the flame. But then the item better BE large. I don’t deal in small, you won’t tempt me with 1” by 1” earrings. Unless they involve swans or dragons – then maybe! No green – nothing against green but I almost never wear that color.

And NO fur. Ewww. The quirkiest pair I ever saw listed was “Unique fly fishing mouse fur earrings.” Frankly, I didn’t care HOW long or anything else those were. Not going on MY ears.

I don’t spend much on this hobby – I’m looking for the interesting, cheap pair of earrings. Occasionally I’ll think a pair is cute and then check the price and discover it’s $1000.00 – real gold or some designer name – not for me! I do make exceptions for Lunch at the Ritz earrings every once in a great while and go higher on them than my normal $10.00 limit BUT nowhere near $1000.00. I have bills to pay!

But even I have a limit on size (remember we’re only talking earrings here LOL). Check out the fabulous goldtone and purple earrings in the photo. The listing said bold and probably runway and when they came, they were gorgeous…and HUGE. No, I mean really huge. Too big even for me. My daughter said I’d look like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. Flattering but not even I can carry that off at the day job and it’s a bit much for the grocery store!

What’s your guilty pleasure on eBay or etsy or similar alluring website?