Have you ever admired a piece of jewelry that belonged to your mother or grandmother, but hesitate to wear it because the composition of the beads doesn’t suit your style?  Or maybe it’s the wrong size for your wrist or the wrong length for your neck?  Well, take heart!  You can deconstruct that beloved piece and reconstruct it to something you want to wear!  My favorite quick-and-easy jewelry project is a bracelet made from memory wire…

In addition to scouring your mother’s jewelry box, another thing you can do is to scour second-hand stores for cheap costume jewelry, the composition of which may not suit your taste, but some or all of the beads are wonderful!  Take home a bag full of pre-owned jewelry for under $10 and make 10 new pieces out of its contents!

One of my first memory bracelets I made as a gift for a friend.  The story behind some of the pieces that were re-purposed for this project is this:  That same friend was wearing a necklace one day several years ago, and I admired it and complimented her on it.  She’s the type of person who will take the piece off and give it to you as a gift; and she did (it was a necklace).  I decided to deconstruct it and return it to her in a brand new form (adding to it many other beads I’d acquired at a second-hand store).  Here are some photos of the pieces used in this project, along with a photo of the “loading of beads” and of the finished project!