Cracking up: Creating a necklace for Cari Cucksey of HGTV's show "Cash and Cari"

It has been a busy and exciting few months here at Kathryn Designs!  I have plans to post about several great events (including a giveaway of one of my "Open Locket" necklaces that will be featured at the GBK Luxury Gift Lounge for the 2012 Oscars).



Cari Cucksey



 For now, I will focus on the latest amazing opportunity provided to me by The Artisan Group.  We are creating a special gift bag for Cari Cucksey of the HGTV show Cash and Cari.  Cari is a treasure hunter extraordinaire!  On her show, she helps people unearth hidden treasures and arrange estate sales of their finds.  She also has a fabulous shop called Re-Purpose, located in Northville, Michigan. It is loaded with vintage and consignment goodies. Cari has an eye for forgotten items that are really valuable and lovely treasures in waiting!

This gifting opportunity for Cari was just the motivation I needed to finally find a good use for some cracked china I have been saving for some unknown reason.  I took a deep breath, and smashed up a plate that was too cracked to use.  Then I reassembled some of the pieces and set them into polymer clay.  I used resin to coat the piece for added strength.  I was so pleased with the outcome, that I will soon be offering these pieces as a new line of jewelry in my shop. I cannot wait to start creating more similar pieces!  Special thank you to the lovely and kind Ann of AnneFannie Crafts and Green Acres Cottage on Etsy.  I ordered some tile and porcelain nippers from her beautiful shop and she gave me some great tips on finding more plates to use!  Check out her mosaics and vintage inspired tags. 

My 100 necklaces for the GBK Oscars Gift Lounge are finished and ready to roll!  I will be posting more soon about my experience creating so many pieces.  I am very excited that Hagerstown Magazine has interviewed me for an upcoming article about local jewelers.  They are also coming this week to take some photos for the article, so I guess I will be making my studio look semi presentable!