Pin up Jewellery

I hope you have all entered in the dress give away and made sure that you leave a comment for EACH entry you make. One comment saying you have tweeted and blogged will only be counted once remember. You have until Friday 29th midnight BST before Fleur closes the competition. Good luck to everyone!

I am thrilled at how many new followers have come to join in. Hello Lovelies! I will organise another give away to celebrate soon. You lucky people!

You know I am away on holiday at the moment, but I was good and prepped this blog before I left, though now I see that it never got posted automatically when I wanted it to. Hello Blogger - whatsup? Anyhoo, with the magic of the internet, here it is!

While I was packing and sorting and organising, stressing a little, then organising some more, as you do before you go away, I managed to tidy up my jewellery collection (I had super hero powers one afternoon), so it is worth showing you now while it is looking nice!

I have learnt to manage my china jewellery obsession. 

My favourites are these one colour flowers, as opposed to posy's of flowers (which I still love, but can now walk away from if I have to)

My "dressing table" is the most ingenious ever, and it was here when we moved in. I think it might have been used as a computer cupboard, in that it is a converted wardrobe, with a wide table height shelf a bright light above, and a higher, narrower shelf that holds my old mirror perfectly.

I can shut the doors on all the mess and my perfume bottles are kept well away from sunlight (which makes them go off). I have drawers under the big shelf for curlers, hair flowers and girlie junk, and there is two plugs for hot rollers/hair dryers. Heaven!

I call it my "Shrine".  Tee hee.

A Electrical wire broach, typical of wartime jewellery

In order to sort my jewellery collection, I have 4 small pin boards pinned around the walls of my shrine.  They are arranged approximately by colour which makes it easy to choose what I want. I also put away ones that are "out of season" in some way - such as shell earrings, pineapples and anchors after summer is over. 

Here are some of my favourites...

The poor wee scottie dog has gone through the wash by mistake...Twice! Sorry little guy!

A bit of bling from the 50s.

The "Peggy Sues Panthers" tiny trophy thing always makes me smile, I wonder if it was given out as a prize, or if you joined a dancing club. I am sure it was treasured. 

You can see I am not limited to only vintage pieces. That ring on the right I picked up from a street vendor in NY and I love it as much as my 50s opal on the left (a car boot fair scoop!). Each piece as a story to tell, how I came across it, who I was with, or who gave it to me, which seems appropriate for any kind of jewellery, modern or old.

Maybe when I am old myself I will write notes to go with them such as "bought on holiday in LA" or "lost and found these earrings three times" or "do not machine wash!", so the next owner can know a little more about their history, and know that they were treasured in their second life with me.

Shona x