Necklaces From Souvenirs

I think the fact that I associate summer with travel must have inspired me to make two necklaces out of souvenirs this summer.  The first one was one I had been planning for months.  It incorporates nine souvenir squashed pennies from places in North Carolina--a great thing to wear when I miss home!  These were all squashed pennies that either I collected myself or that my parents collected for me.  I had to wait until I was stateside from the summer to work on that necklace because I needed tools and space to punch holes, cut lengths of tube, and create tube rivets for each one.  That part was the time-consuming part.  The finished necklace makes a fun jangling noise when I wear it.

The second necklace features a large pendant I bought in Uzbekistan.  Actually, I think it has been used as both a pendant and a brooch in the past--there is a large safety pin attached to the back, and I've been trying to decide if it bothers me enough to remove it.  When we visited Uzbekistan, I decided I would buy a piece of jewelry if I found something I loved that looked very different from jewelry I had seen elsewhere.  This pendant definitely fit the bill.  To make a necklace for it, I stitched two beaded tubes for the sides of the necklace, and strung the pendant on a length of chain between them.

The pendant is sitting at an odd angle because of the safety pin on the back.

I'm happy with how both necklaces turned out, but I think what I like the best is that they both have personal significance to me, since they remind me of places I have visited.  I can wear them on days when not much seems to be going my way, and remember fun travels I've had.