Echo Creative Club - October Reveal!

Welcome to the October Edition of the
Echo Creative Team Reveal.




 
Remember when I showed you the two pendants that Jeannie had sent me to be used in both the October and November Reveals? 

 

As I mentioned, I decided to use her wonderful
Cherry Blossom Pendant for the October Reveal.

 

One reason is because it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there's shades of PINK all over the place - LOVE that!!

  The other reason is because the leaf she sent reminded me of my sis's cabin and Thanksgiving,...so I wanted to use the leaf charm/pendant for next month's reveal. (Nov.25th)
 
When I saw Jeannie's Cherry Blossom pendant I fell in love with it!  Although I take a lot of pictures of flowers, I don't use many of them in my jewelry designs. But this Cherry Blossom is super gorgeous and it also took me back to my childhood,....


Via Lisa Crabtree - Pinterest
 
 

Growing up in "Mayberry" (how I lovingly refer to my hometown) we had a beautiful cherry tree in our back yard.  I could look out my bedroom window and see it every day. I loved this tree. I loved how it looked in Spring when it would bloom and how the blossoms would smell. 
 
Cherries from King Orchards via Pinterest
 
I also loved the cherries it produced.  I loved them a bit too much.  I ate a lot (I mean a LOT) of cherries off that tree every single year!  So many in fact that each year my body would scream "Enough Already!" and I would break out in hives, covering me from head to toe in huge, itchy, red welts!


 

I even had to come home early one year from Church camp because I broke out in hives w/in 48 hours of getting to camp - that sucked!!  (My parents weren't very happy about having to come and get me, either!) 


 

Still,...I didn't learn. I'd eat a ton of those juicy little 'red-devils' every single summer! Until I got in junior high and didn't want to go through all the itching and looking like an massive red-welt for a couple of weeks!


The dark bark of the tree, branches, cherries, cherry seeds and stems 
 

But I'd still snatch one or two off the tree each year just to temp fate because they were so darned yummy!

However, in my defense,....ya gotta eat a lot of cherries to have a proper 'cherry seed fight' with your brother (who's a few years older than me) who was consistently able to spit seeds a bit farther and faster than I was!  Just sayin',...


 
 

 
I remember one day after school a friend of mine rode his bike over to my house to talk about some of his 'girl problems'.  He was a bit upset and ended up throwing his bike against my cherry tree. I yelled at him for that cause he put a huge gash in the tree and if my dad saw it he would come unglued and yell and my brother and me. 

Well, the tree survived the bike, but when my friend passed away in August of this year that memory came rushing back,...
 
From the Cherry Blossoms to the Cherries,....
 
 
That cherry tree was a source of comfort. It was always there. It always bloomed, always produced the best tasting cherries, it was pretty with or with out blossoms or leaves and was a constant in my life from the time I was born until I left home at age 19.


Anyway, several years after I moved away and after my step-mother had sold our house, I went back to Mayberry and rounded the corner to my Aunt's house where I always stayed when I went home (it was across the street from my old house!) and that's when I noticed it. 
 
The cherry tree had been cut down!  OMG!  How could it be gone!?! I was so angry. I stormed into my Aunt's house demanding to know why on earth those jerks who lived in my old house cut down the most beautiful cherry tree on the face of the planet! 
 
 
 
 
 
She just looked at me, raised her eye brows and said (rather sternly!), "They're not jerks they're kids who grew up here, just like you, and they didn't want to cut down the tree, it got struck by lightning and split in half. They didn't have a choice!  Welcome home.  Now, what do you want to eat?"



 
 
"Oh."  That's all I could say. Just "Oh."  And then the tears started to well up. My Aunt looked at me and said, "Don't you dare cry about it. It's just a tree!" She was right. But, to me, it was my tree,...part of my past,...part of me. 


 
 
 
So, when I got Jeannie's Cherry Blossom Pendant in the mail for the Echo Creative Design Team Challenge this month it brought back all those special memories and the comfort of that tree.



 
I know I'll probably re-design this necklace a hundred more times since nothing will ever be perfect enough,...but for now, this is my "Cherished Cherry Tree".


 
 
Thanks so much Jeannie for allowing me to take a ride down memory lane this month with your beautiful Cherry Blossom Pendant and the Echo Creative Team!


 

 
Be sure to check out all the other participants this month and see the wonderful designs they've created using Jeannie Dukic's (Jewelry by Jeannie) components.


Kim Dwork










Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Cherry Blossoms!

Cheers,

~Shel~





 





15 comments:

  1. Your necklace is wonderful as is the background story!

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  2. Beautiful necklace! You took me down memory lane too. I grew up with a cherry tree. We had two boards in it so we could climb it and sit up there. Many childhood dreams happened sitting in that tree! Great post!

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  3. Love your necklace - I think it is perfect as is!
    A good story to go with it too - very symbolic!

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  4. Hi Shel,
    The cherry blossom necklace is gorgeous. I love the story behind your beautiful necklace.
    Therese

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  5. This necklace is so beautiful Shel ... I love the way it turned out!!! I also love the story behind it. I have a history with the cherry and plum trees on my grandfather's property and can truly appreciate the story behind your beautiful design. The pops of red make me smile!

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  6. I love your pretty necklace, and the story too! We had a crab apple tree, and although you couldn't eat the fruit, I was real attached to the tree, so I hear where you are coming from! Thanks for sharing your story!

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  7. Michelle thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story. I love it so much I read it twice. I don't even know where to begin with the necklace because it's so beautiful to me and not just aesthetically. It has touched my heart. Thank You for being on this journey with me this year.

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  8. What a beautiful story (so sorry about your friend's passing)...Don't you dare touch that necklace - it is absolutely perfect!

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  9. Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my necklace and my post - they mean the world to me!!

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  10. Oh your story is wonderful and I love your sketching and the result is stunning!!!

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  11. I love cherries
    I love your story
    I love the necklace

    :))))

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  12. Oh your story is awesome and yes I also have a love of trees from my childhood and yes even cried when I saw them gone. I have also worked with the cherry blossom and loved it!

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  13. Such a fun story Shel! I love that you have this memory that was brought back by this little pendant. I have images of a crabapple tree that blossomed so prettily from my childhood neighborhood. And I like the sketch you did and the way you let this morph into the final piece. Very pretty! Enjoy the day. Erin

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  14. Beautiful, beautiful necklace Shel! I love the story, my memory is of the two HUGE lilacs in my parent's back yard with the archway cut out between them. I loved to sit there when the lilacs were in bloom and breathe in the heady scent while sucking the nectar out of the little flowers!!

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  15. Your necklace is really awesome. . .and your memories even better. Thank you for sharing them both.

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Thanks for sharing what you have to say - I love hearing your comments!