Mum's birthday present

Yesterday was my mum's official birthday.  Today is her real birthday.  The Queen isn't the only person with 2 birthdays.  In case you're confused, the family has been confused for the last 85 years because my grandad got a little distracted when he went to register her birth and, as a result, her official birthday according to her birth certificate is a day before her actual birth date.

My mum is now 85 and it's getting harder and harder to find something for her birthday.  I would NEVER buy her clothes as I just wouldn't trust myself to get it right so I'd have to keep the receipt so she could change whatever I bought.  She doesn't want ornaments as that would be "just something else for her to dust".  She doens't want the responsibility of plants because she would feel bad if she killed them.  She doesn't drive.  She doesn't really have hobbies.  She does have a very active social life.  She's always out and about with her friends.  They go shopping, go for coffee, go for lunch, go to the theatre.

I was really struggling to think of something to give her for her birthday.  A couple of weeks ago I booked some workshops to learn new jewellery making techniques and it just so happened that I had a workshop on Sunday.  I had already been to the shop that was running the workshop and saw the necklace we'd be making on display and I knew what mum would be getting for her birthday. :o)

There was a shopping list of ingredients for the necklace so I chose colours that I knew my mum tended to wear.  I already had some gold chain so I bought knitted wire mesh in pale gold, copper and green.  I bought Swarovski pearls in green, copper and pale gold as well.  When I started to put it all together I was really pleased with the way it looked.  I tried it on but because my hair is long, it hid most of the necklace but Mum's hair is short, so ideal.  I wore it home to make sure it wouldn't fall apart.

When I got home I changed the clasp.  The original one was fiddly little lobster claw so I replaced it with a lovely gold toggle clasp with a lily decoration on it.

The 'model' is quite small so you can't see it all properly in the photo above.  This one shows the rest of it properly, including the clasp:

Mum seemed to be really happy with it when I gave it to her and went off to put it on.  She was still wearing it when I left.  Shortly after getting home she phoned to say that it went perfectly with the outfit she plans to wear tomorrow to go to lunch with her friends.  Fantastic!  I wasn't 100% sure how she would react to it but it looks like I got it right. :D