Awhile back, I began a series called “Get In My Jewelry Box: Turquoise How I Love Thee” that got quite a lot of attention. Several people wrote me and said how much they loved the blog post and mentioned that they’d love to read more like it. One would think that would have spurred me to continue the series and make it a regular occurrence on my blog, but silly me was just never that dedicated to my blog and writing back then. Believe it or not, I have thought about that series ever since I wrote that first post and I’ve been saving up pieces to write about. Now that I’ve got my blog back on track and I’m writing all the time, I’d love to reintroduce this series back into my blog with a twist and hopefully inspire some of you out there to be bold in your jewelry choices, to wear what you love, and to not look back! I’d like to include not only turquoise jewelry that I long for but also all things turquoise that I love.
This will be a weekly series that will give me an outlet to talk about shiny, sparkly, and turquoise tidbits! I hope that you love them too! Please be sure to leave me some comments at the bottom of this post. I’d love to hear which pieces are your favorites and even see links to your personal favorite pieces. My love of turquoise comes from the natural stone that is mined and made into jewelry – among other things. It’s my favorite stone. It’s soft and delicate compared to other stones and the color varies with each piece. The stones are filled with imperfections and to me, that is where the real beauty lies in the world – in the imperfections.
Let’s get this ball rolling! Here are 5 turquoise things that just drive me wild and I would love to have in my jewelry box and/or home along with a bit written about what I love about each of them. Which of these do you love? Let me know in the comments!
1. First up in the newly formed version of this series is this delicious vintage turquoise luggage. Seeing this set packed into the back of a beautiful aqua van makes me long for the adventure these suitcases are taking. I imagine they are filled with hats and jewelry and dresses and shoes. They will travel somewhere exotic – maybe a trip around the European coast. I love their white trim and handles with the brass hinges. Where would you travel with this set in tow?
(Vintage Samsonite Luggage)
2. I adore it when turquoise is soft and dreamy like these lovely candlesticks. It’s gentle color washes over them and makes such a pretty set even if they didn’t all match originally, they now look stunning together. They would look lovely adorning a fireplace mantel or set in a grouping on a dining room table. Either way, they are sure to make a statement. I’m adding this idea to my “thrift store” list – a list I keep of items I’m looking for when out shopping at thrift and antique stores. Finding a handful of candlesticks with pretty details and painting them in a soft, turquoise chalk paint would make this pretty set come true!
3. If you know me, you know I love a good chunky piece of jewelry. It’s fun how much belly dance changed my taste in jewelry. I used to wear very petite pieces of jewelry that were fine, thin, and rather delicate. I now long for the pieces that really stand out and yell to the world, “I’m here world, like it or not!” I have a feeling this switch came from the confidence that belly dance gave me – not only in my appearance and love for my body but also in my life and every day actions. I want to live life boldly without worry of whether others like it or not. I want to be me fully down to the last drop. A piece like this sings to me like the siren song as it’s not just about the apt size of the ring, it’s also filled with tiny, lovely details circling the large piece of turquoise. The rock itself is filled with imperfections and marks on the turquoise by other elements found within the rock. The semi-circles around the stone and down the side look like little crescent moons - swoon! I love that the dots outside of the little moons are not merely dots, but rather they are also filled with a sunburst style detail around their edges. This one is a real beauty!
4. Another gorgeous chunky piece… this time a bracelet. I love wearing a great bracelet with any outfit. I feel like it dresses up anything I’m wearing. I could be in yoga pants and a tank top feeling casual, put on a bracelet like this one and suddenly, I’m ready for dinner out! I love that a great piece of jewelry can do that – take the mundane and make it fabulous. The swirls and dips and changes from turquoise to teal to a soft sky blue with splashes of pink here and there are what really make this piece special. It’s colorful and yet almost monochromatic. The vintage 1940s feel of the fan-carved teal stones that drop down on either side and the little silver dots mixed throughout are reminiscent of art deco. And although I’m pretty sure the turquoise in this piece is a faux turquoise, they did a beautiful job creating that soft quality of color and the veins going through the stone (for me that’s the only thing I would change about this piece – the main stone’s faux copper running through it should have been more imperfect, less patterned). Truly, that change aside, I would wear this bracelet with great pride. It’s gorgeous!
(Bracelet originally saved via Sweet Romance, www.sweetromanceonline.com - however it appears to have already been sold out.)
5. Our last turquoise item this week is a photo. I once had little white bleeding hearts growing in my yard at my little cottage in the Mojave desert. They sprung up one spring out of nowhere. I hadn’t planted them, nor had they been there the previous year. Maybe a magical bird flew by one day prior to its sprouting and dropped a tiny seed. I loved that little plant. It never got very large, approximately 18 inches across and it never had more than 5-6 flowers at a time. But it was such a thing of beauty in the dusty desert landscape to see these little brilliant white flowers pop up each spring. Now we live in a rain forest on the coast of Oregon (I know, a huge change isn’t it?) and we’ve got tons of little pink and fuchsia bleeding hearts scattered all over our property in the spring. They remind me of my little cottage and feel like such a wonderful welcoming to our new home here. Everywhere I look, there are little signs that call out to me and tell me that living here in this place, in this time, is meant to be. Do you love bleeding hearts? What are your favorite flowers?
That’s a wrap for this week’s love of all things turquoise! Stay tuned for next week’s list and be sure to leave your remarks in the comments. I’d love to hear which items you love and even links to other fabulous turquoise things – who knows, they might even end up on the series!
