230 Spoon Ring

230 Spoon Ring

Object: Silver spoon ring

Acquire: May 2011

From: Mom, although it might have been Grandma's before that

Notes: This is half the reason I have too much stuff. "Oh, do you want this?" "Yeah, sure, why not?" But I guess a ring made from a spoon is kinda neat?

223 Beaded Jewelry

223 Beaded Jewelry

Object: Hand made daisy chain chokers (and a bracelet)

Acquired: Unknown

From: I made them

Notes: I learned how to make beaded daisy chains like this at summer camp, and as you can see, I made a whole bunch of them, some better than others. I actually prefer to wear chokers over other necklaces, so most of these I wore at least a little before I stopped.

I hope you can forgive me for putting them all in the same shot, I just didn't think we wanted to live through seven posts all of the same thing. Not that we haven't before, but I like to learn from my mistakes, too.

222 Wisconsin Jewelry Set

222 Wisconsin Jewelry Set

Object: Wisconsin pin with cow earrings and necklace

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom, who got it at a garage sale

Notes: The two cows on the pin (state) are actually earrings, so you can store them with the pin and necklace. I suppose you could also were them as just cows on the state, but I'm personally more likely to wear earrings than a pin, especially a pin that has two holes in it.

I like these too much to get rid of, although I've almost never worn them.

220 Girl Scout Pin

220 Girl Scout Pin

Object: Girl Scout Pin

Acquired: Unknown

From: Unknown

Notes: I have a lot of GS stuff, I can't be expected to recall where all of it comes from, sheesh. I think this is a 'classic' style pin, and no longer the "official" one.

219 Darth Vader Pin

219 Darth Vader Pin

Object: Darth Vader Hat Pin

Acquired: I think sometime in middle school

From: My parents

Notes: There were actually two of these little hat-pins of Star Wars characters, although I'm no longer sure who the other one was (one of the droids, certainly). I believe Ella and I split the two pins between us, so she got the other one, although I don't recall for sure.  I do know that the pin is older than my middle school, since my parents are actually Star-Wars fans, and we have several random and unexpected bits of original memorabilia, like the Darth Vader cake pan. Or the ceramic mugs made the shape of Yoda's head.

218 CIT Pin

218 CIT Pin

Object: Counselor In Training pin

Acquired: 1999

From: The CIT program at my summer camp

Notes: 1999 and being a CIT was one of the best summers I spent at camp. It's when I got my camp-name of 'Qui', and it was one of the first years that I actually had friends at camp. Friends who liked me, and whom I enjoyed being around. It was a curious state of affairs.  There were some low points, too, like the mouse that had a baby in my pajamas (inside my suitcase, AAAAHHHH), and...I didn't like everyone in the program. But I had a lot of fun, and I got this pin proving that I'd gone through the program.

217 Babysitter Pin

217 Babysitter Pin

Object: Red Cross Babysitter pin

Acquired: Unknown

From: Red Cross babysitting class

Notes: I think I took the class with my girl scout troop, and we learned some proper babysitting techniques. And then I never babysat anyone. I mean, I wasn't the oldest child, so if we/my little sister needed to be babysat, our older sister was asked, and if someone non-family needed to be babysat, my older sister had experience and confidence and was at least as available as I, so she always did it.

But I don't think she had a pin.

216 Girl Scout Pin

216 Girl Scout Pin

Object: Cadette Girl Scout Challenge pin

Acquired: Unknown

From: The Girl Scouts?

Notes: I must have completed a Cadette challenge of some sort, but I'll be damned if I remember it.  I do recall that my troop was working towards our silver award for a while, but I didn't do all the stuff to earn it, so this certainly isn't from that.

214 CBH Anniversary Pin

214 CBH Anniversary Pin

Object: Pin

Acquired: 1996?

From: Camp Black Hawk

Notes: I think this was given to meas just one of the things that I got for being at camp one year.  I'm not sure if it was a few years late and given as a left-over, or if it was given to everyone in '96. But either way I have this pin now.  I went to the 50th anniversary, too, but I don't think they gave me a pin.

213 Turtle Shell Pin

213 Turtle Shell Pin

Object: Golden Turtle Shell Pin

Acquired: 2005 College Graduation

From: Beloit College

Notes: This might have been from donating money as well as graduating, but I don't really remember.  Beloit College's emblem (but not it's mascot) is the turtle, and I just read an article in Beloit Magazine about how the turtle is entwined into Beloit's past. I like turtles, so it was a good school for me.

202 Hemp Choker

202 Hemp Choker

Object: Choker made with blue hemp and plastic beads, which spell out "Qui"

Acquired: Unknown

From: I made it

Notes: Again with the hemp.  I know I bought the beads one summer (2002?), when I made name-necklaces for all the staff as something nice to do.  I hadn't quite finished all of them, so they were hanging up in the craft house (which I was in charge of that summer), when one of our staff was leaving early.  I'd forgotten to bring her necklace down to the dining hall, so I made a special trip to go get it--only to find that it was gone! In a panic, I handed out all the necklaces, so no more would be lost--at which point I learned that she and one or two other staff had simply taken theirs.

On one hand, they were slated to go to the proper staff, and they DID have those staff's names on them, but this was a personal gift FROM ME, not something that they were entitled to as part of their job, not something our boss told me to make for everyone or whatever, and they had no right to just take theirs. I'm still a bit bitter about the whole thing.

The original necklaces didn't have the hemp, though, just the letter beads and the pony beads on gimp (plastic shoestring/lanyard), and I don't quite recall when I added those to this one. I did wear it for awhile, but the blue would rub off on my skin, the hemp was scratchy, and the black paint got rubbed off the letters so you can't read them any more, so I gave up on wearing it.

201 Hemp Choker

201 Hemp Choker

Object: Choker with hemp and wooden beads

Acquired: Possibly 2006

From: I made it

Notes: I learn to make hemp things. Are you really surprised? This one is too scratchy to wear, although that's true of most hemp jewelry, so I don't even know why I brought it up.

200 Owl Pendant

200 Owl Pendant

Object: Amy-made owl pendant

Acquired: 2001-ish

From: I made it in Art Metals Class

Notes: I think the assignment was to layer things.  This was another thing I added to my complex Halloween Costume, although it didn't go quite so well, even if the costume has some owls involved, so I never tried very hard to keep it with the costume.  It's a neat little thing, but it's too bad about the tarnishing.

199 Wood Cookie

199 Wood Cookie Name Tag

Object: One wood cookie turned into a name tag for me

Acquired: Unknown

From: Oh, I probably put my name on there myself

Notes: "Qui" was my camp-name or nick-name for most of my life (since 1999!), and this was one of the first name-tags I had with that name on it.  It's still one of my favorites, but I learned that people had a hard time pronouncing "Qui" as "Key" when they had a spelled-out version of my name in front of them, so I eventually stopped wearing name-tags.

198 Diamond Earrings

198 Diamond earrings

Object: One pair Diamond earrings in their box

Acquired: Christmas 2000-something

From: Tante

Notes: Tante got diamond earrings for all her nieces and fancy watches for all her nephews (and the few in-laws we had then). They are fancy and sparkly, but I'm still not that fond of diamonds, even if they are my birthstone.  Still, I wear these for fancy occasions, when safety pins just won't do.

I'm not sure how I feel about posting these, since it's like I'm listing all my valuables--this way the robbers will know just where to look, and what to find.  But I guess no one reads this (yet?) so it doesn't matter that much. If it ever does, please don't rob me. I promise it's not worth it.

195 Rings

195 Rings

Object: two Amymade rings

Acquired: 2002ish

From: I made them as a summer camp craft

Notes: We had a really interesting arts and crafts person this year.  I didn't always get along with her, but we found some common ground because we both had the same problems with camp management that summer.  Anyway, whatever else I thought of her, she did a great job with the crafts and the kids.  This was one of the crafts the campers did, and I did along with them.  It's just craft wire wrapped in a circle and going through a bead, but it's pretty snazzy and makes for great camp fashions.

193 Necklace

193 Necklace

Object: My pink teddy bear necklace

Acquired: Unknown

From: Unknown

Notes: My teddy bear necklace! Very exciting.  I liked this one a whole lot.  The bears are that horrid sort of bead that are stuck to the thread, though.  It didn't bother me at the time, but now I wince to look at it.  Still. I loved these bears.

192 Bracelet

192 Bracelet

Object: Plastic pastel-leaved bracelet

Acquired: Unknown

From: I might have made it, actually

Notes: I used to wear chunky plastic girly jewelry on occasion back in fourth grade.  I think I made this, but it would have been one of those occasionally-worn bracelets.

191 Necklace

191 Rabbit Necklace

Object: Rabbit Necklace

Acquired: Unknown

From: Mom

Notes: This was either a Christmas or birthday gift, I don't recall which.  Mom made it for me. I don't wear it, but I keep it because it's a rabbit, and it was a gift.

190 Necklace

190 Necklace

Object: Necklace with yellow stone pendant

Acquired: Unknown

From: I think it was a gift, but I don't know who from

Notes: Is that trying to be amber? I remember nothing about this, I'm afraid.  I might hesitantly claim that it's a tourist gift from someone who went somewhere and then got me this, but I wouldn't put any money on that.  I didn't buy it myself, I know that much.