Grandma's necklace re-do

My grandma Exzelda (what a name!) passed away a few years ago at the age of...99. Yes, just shy of 100. It's crazy to think about living so very long, but she was a real live wire, as I love to say. We used to call her "Grambo" due to the vigilante obsession she had with just about everything. I loved my grandma's style and attribute most of my jewelry obsessiveness to her. She is the type of person who had to match her earrings and necklace to her robe for petes sake. Or her little housecoat, or whatever she was wearing. I know one thing, she never left her house without jewelry on.

     After she passed away, and for years since, we have had a heyday with her jewelry that my mother kept. I have bags and oodles of it to play with. My teenagers and I can all wear most of it, since the styles always recycle through at some point. I have a particular necklace that I truly love and wanted to update, as pearls and girly stuff are so very in right now.
     I love the multi-strand champagne color of these pearls, as well as the ornate clasp. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. At least not the kind of pearls a gal like me buys!

     I'm also loving the various tutorials I find on youtube. It's just amazing that you can learn to do virtually anything on a tutorial. I wanted to learn to make roses out of ribbon and found a tutorial by this darling little lady named Donna. It never shows her, but I loved how she was explaining it and how her daughter was coaching her in the background in how and what to say. Once I learned to make these roses, I started making them out of everything. You can use anything from tulle to burlap and they look great. Check it out, it's just one of many but I have a soft spot for these wee little roses she makes. It is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NriXH3qMuqk. Go Donna! And thanks for teaching me a great skill. I made one out of a stiff gossamer-ish ribbon and it turned into one of my favorites.

     I glued a piece of felt on the back and attached a pin to it and then just pinned it to the strand. I'm loving how it turned out, and it was a fast, easy re-styling of a family treasure from my Grambo. Oh, and she also taught me how to spray paint. What a gal.