Happy Birth/Mother's Day!

I don't usually post at the weekend, especially when it's my birthday!  However I was silly enough to be born around Mother's Day here in the UK so today I have to share the celebration of my arrival on this Earth with celebrating the amazing woman who gave birth to me. I don't have much to offer, so I thought I'd add to the ever expanding collection of jewellery that I have made for her.
As you may or may not be aware, I adore semi-precious gemstones and they are my favourite to work with.  I love the random beauty of natural stones.  I was excited when one of my favourite sites [Beads Direct] to get gemstones were having a sale as it gave me an opportunity to work with a stone I've wanted to buy for a while - Druzy Agate:

I wanted to use my new love of beading for the necklace, however, I didn't want to use a stitch that would detract from the beauty of the Agate pendant.  The double St Petersburg stitch looked interesting, and I'd never used it before.  I knew I wanted to use the colours that appeared in the Druzy part of the Agate.

This allowed me to create a sort of Art Deco style within the stitch, that I really adore.  The chain features metallic sea green and galvanised grey luster Delicas in a V-shaped pattern, with pewter seed beads fringing the edges.

As an accent in the middle I used crystal AB 1.8mm cubes to compliment the iridescence on the Agate:

The finished necklace hangs a lot longer than it does on the display bust, however it shows off the style better than laying it flat.  As you can see it has a lovely vintage style that I hope my Mom will love.  It's not as impressive or complex as some of the previous things I made for her, but I hope she'll love it just the same, I'll let you know. ;)

The best way to finish off the necklace seemed to be with a beaded toggle clasp, that I've come to love.

Well, that's my gift for my Mother, I'll leave you with a Happy Birthday to me and Happy Mother's Day to you!

=:x

P.S. The bracelet that I've been working on is beginning to take shape and I hope to share some new additions to the I Heart...Collection next week!