Jordan + Uri's Story - Custom Necklace Design

I was boo-hooing like a baby when I read the message that my sweet friend Jordan sent me a few months ago. My friend Taylor and I were headed out shopping and she looks over in her front seat (because I was being too quiet I presume) to find my face tear-stained and my eyes red and puffy.

"What is wrong with you?!" she asked jokingly, knowing I wasn't sad but more than likely crying over a baby sloth video I stumbled upon on Facebook.

"You have to listen to this story...it's amazing..." I managed to stammer out through blowing my nose. Taylor looked at me like she had a bad taste in her mouth but also with a smirk on her face because she knows how emotional I get over sappy things (and puppies, let's be real.)

I read to her the story in the exact way that Jordan typed it out and that's how I'm going to share it with you all (with Jordan and Uri's permission of course.)

"I love old keys and locks, LOVE them. About 2 months after Uri and I started courting (yes that's the word he used) he gave me this old key on a leather strap. Nothing fancy, but I loved it. Wore it pretty much all the time. Sometimes as a necklace but usually as a bracelet."

"Fast forward to a Sunday in September 2009 and his amazing proposal. My ring was on an old english lock that his dad had given him. The key to get the ring off? It was the key he had given me way before hand, the key I had been carrying around without any clue what he eventually planned."

"It was awesome and special! Here we are about to celebrate 7 years married and the poor key has gotten some rough treatment. I don't wear it nearly as much, if at all. So you being able to transform it into something new will be a dream!"

Jordan had a few requests for the necklace:

•She wanted their birthstones, aquamarine and amethyst, incorporated

•Something copper, the traditional gift of the 7th anniversary

•Shades of blue and green

•The original leather cording (if I could figure out a way to incorporate it...which I did and I'm pretty proud haha!)

I toyed around with the design for a few weeks before I felt I had gotten it just right. I managed to incorporate all of her requests in a way that flowed nicely and all coincided, including using green amethyst instead of the more commonly know purple (That was my aha! moment). The necklace is fully adjustable from a short length to long, thanks to the original leather cording, and there are hints of copper as an accent throughout the cool, coastal colors.

I had a great idea to surprise Jordan by beading the bottom strand of different shaped vintage glass pearls into the morse code for their precious 1 year old daughter's name- Lorelei. Each letter was encased by the small copper beads.

(P.S. How gorgeous is the name Lorelei!?)

And here is the beautiful human being that is sweet Jordan, rocking her new necklace!

Thanks Jordan, for sharing your story and entrusting me with such a special and meaningful project!