Farmgirl Paints

Yesterday I shared the gifts I made for Laura at Ms. Smartie Pants as part of the Pass It On Project.

I was invited my Kelly at Eclectically Vintage to participate.

The idea of the project is to pick two bloggers, send them two gifts – one to keep, one to give a friend, and then they pick two bloggers…you get the pattern I am sure.

When I asked Laura to participate that was pretty easy because she and I had conversed many times via email, have encouraged each other along the way and have gotten to know each other over the last few months.

But when it came to my second blogger, I was nervous to ask her and honestly figured she would politely decline to participate. She really has no idea who I am other than a few comments I have made on her blog from time to time.

To my delight, Becky Strahle of Farmgirl Paints said yes.

If you are not already familiar, her blog is a lovely diary of her life, creativity and her Faith.

For me, finding Becky’s blog has been a blessings and one of my favorite places to visit. Her comfort and confidence in her Faith have been an inspiration, her creativity has been an inspiration and the stories she shares of her family have been a comfort.

This is her note on the bottom of each page, and for me, it is sincerely true.

So, as I did for Laura, I decided to make a necklace from vintage findings.

Becky has two lovely daughters who she sweetly refers to as Big Chick and Little Chick. She also has fondness for owls. These owls started as a rather hideous and shiny brass pin that I converted into a charm after a few layers of paint. When finished, I thought they were a fun representation of her Big Chick and Little Chick.

The pearl chain is strands of a necklace I pulled apart and the holder is an old key ring.

The rhinestone piece is for the sole purpose of being pretty.

I actually sent two keys, the one you see above that is unique and pretty.

But I also sent a Minnesota key (her previous home) with the word “Journey” on the back. I also added some words to the back of the owls as well.

In the end I found that although the Journey key was more meaningful, it wasn’t all that pretty – so she has options.

The words I added were intentional, she has a love of words.

My goal was to make this as personal as possible in hopes of showing my gratitude.

I also sent another vintage remix necklace for her to share with a friend.

And yes, I did photograph it on my leg – it seemed to be the only background that was working!

I placed everything in a felt pouch with some vintage trim added.

As we often hear, the greatest gifts are the ones that we give.

Taking the time to make these gifts something that I hoped the recipients would like and would be personal was a rewarding process and I felt such thanks to be able to “Pass It On”.

Heartfelt thanks to Kelly for asking me to participate.

Currently, Becky is on a little “blogging break” but it is worth stopping by and being inspired just the same.