Pretty Pearls

When Beadgrammy died, Beadmom let me choose a few pieces of jewelry to remember her by. One item I picked was this triple strand of "pearls":
I never actually wore it, though, because it wasn't really my style. Then I saw this necklace on the French General website, and I realize it would be a perfect way to redo the necklace. I took out my rosary pliers and some gold-colored wire (22 gauge dead soft rather than the half-hard I wanted, but it should hold up) and made a bead chain from some of the pearls:
I prefer the look of single beads rather than the double ones in the French General version.

The fun part was rooting through my boxes of stuff for charms. I found an unusual gold-colored milagro, because I can't get enough of milagros. I found this old cabochon from who-knows-where:
And used nail polish and my fingernail to scrape off the black paint before gluing it onto a brass base. A cute little brass cross was really a connector with two loops, so I added a ruby swarovski crystal to pick up the red in the heart above. A brass heart and key were the last touches.
Pretty, delicate, and meaningful.

I still have lots of the pearls left. I think I'll make another bead chain with the rest of the pearls from the strand I took apart, and leave the necklace with two strands to be displayed with my other grandmotherly things -- a fabric heart made by Beadmom from her Beadgrammy's hankies, and a tiny sweater and shawl crocheted for my by Beadabuelita.