Jewelry You Won't Find In My Online Shops (Part 1)

About 10 years ago or so I started what has become a Tilley Family tradition. Every year for the girls' birthdays I make each one a special piece of jewelry that somehow reflects where they are in their life at the time--hobbies, favorite colors, milestones, etc. Because they are so personalized for my girls they are pieces that will probably never be repeated, but they are some of my favorite creations and I wanted to be able to share them with you.

Many of these special pieces of jewelry wouldn't have been possible without the help of some of my favorite artists and I also want to take the opportunity to give a shout out to each of them as I present this series of "jewelry you won't find in my shops".

The first piece I want to share was a 13th birthday gift for middle daughter Emily (who we lovingly call Midget) in 2006:




Emily has always liked monkeys and has a special love for Curious George. Earlier in that year there was an exhibition of original childrens' book illustrations at the local art museum where I was working at the time. The girls came to the exhibit on opening day and Emily had her picture taken by a newspaper reporter standing next to an original Curious George sketch. The photo was published in the paper the following day with the caption "Curious Emily visits the museum".

The awesome polymer clay image pendant on this necklace was created by my dear friend Rachel from Analiese Designs. I found Rachel's shop http://analiese.etsy.com just shortly after joining Etsy and quickly became a fan of her work. I've bought countless pendants from her over the past 3 years to use in my work. Rachel created this pendant for Emily as a special surprise after our discussion about her love of Curious George. I immediately fell in love with the design and found beads in my stash to mimic the balloon image up throughout the black suede necklace. It's a favorite piece that Emily still wears when lots of others have fallen by the wayside.