New necklace and bracelet for my mom-in-law...

It's my mother-in-law's birthday this coming Saturday, and I wanted to do something really nice for her. My husband and I bought her this really nice black embroidered skirt with a red blouse from her favorite store, Chico's. While we were having the present gift wrapped, I was looking around the store at the various jewelery they had on display, thinking that a necklace might make a nice "something extra" to go with her new outfit. Alas, they lacked any red and black jewelery, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Brad and I headed over to Michael's not long after, where I picked out some awesome beads and got to work on making my mom-in-law a really pretty necklace...and this is what it looked like:





My favorite thing about the necklace is the large circle pendant in the center--it didn't actually come like that! I bought a large hematite circle and sterling silver wire and wrapped it around the bead, twisting in and bending it into the pattern you see there. The necklace was strung together with sterling silver pins, a needle-nose pliers, and of course, wire cutters. I am so pleased with how the set came out and I can't wait for my mom-in-law to open it on Saturday! Brad thinks we should let her open it without telling her that I made it to see what kind of a reaction she had--so I know if she really likes it or not. I don't want her to say she likes it just because I made it for her! But I love it and I really hope she does too!