Lightning Strikes!

One day, several weeks into the lockdown I received a text. It was a photo from my younger sister Kirby. She had purchased a few items at the Tucson Rock show (she had much more restraint than me). She created a necklace and earing set and showed off the results to our sibling text group. I was impressed at the beautiful results.  

Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks! Or maybe a bolt of lightning… 

Holy Cow, I have a whole stash of stones in my storeroom that I had completely forgotten about! There was a creative project gold mine just sitting there in the dark where I had stuffed it between Arizona and Mexico!  

The “Bug Em” to do list hit the floor! Manana.  

My return text: “Great job on the beauty jewelry Kirby and thanks for the lightning bolt!”

It was like Christmas morning when I was a kid. As I pulled out the box full of multiple strings of stones, a bag of agate slabs, various other tidbits from my inventory, I was inspired. I started to think about all the things that I could make.  

A friend of mine makes jewelry from stone beads that are designed with the special properties of the stones in mind. They enhance your well-being. As I was admiring and handling my new collection, I was inspired to create something similar. I wanted to utilize the properties, but through a medium other than jewelry.  

Transformation Begins 

Since everyone was spending time at home, I thought it would be nice to make charms and windchimes to enhance the well-being of our living environment.  

Thus, Happy Home Charms and Happy Place Agate Suncatchers were born. I began with researching all my stones and what their special properties were.  With the help of my friend Karen of Spellme and one of my stone suppliers, we figured it all out! 

Embracing the Process 

The creation process is MY happy place. I am the type of person that requires a creative outlet in my life. It challenges me, makes me think, engages the artsy-fartsy part of my brain. It just feels good!  

To begin, I surrounded myself with all the goodies I would be using. Next, I put the pieces in separate clusters. By moving them around I can intuitively feel when they click. You know when you get into a flow and things come together – it fits, it works, and you just know it. 

The Home Charms were a combination of stones, shells, a variety of woods, metal beads, crystals and other treasures.  

I created complimentary clusters that embodied specific properties: 

Abundance & Vitality 

Love, Peace & Harmony 

Protected Family 

Wellness & Calm 

Each cluster evolved into a beautiful single string mobile; a Home Charm came to life. Oh and of course, for future use, a mini one for Safe Travels.  

In the evenings I would sit and relax, watch TV, and string my charms together. It was very Zen like. My housemate, C.S. observed that it brought me calm, like knitting. He said creating charms was “my knitting”. Yup!  

Just because you are in a cocoon does not mean you are idle! 

~GP