Your Daily Jewels Commitment to Creating Earth-Friendly Jewelry

 Your Daily Jewels Commitment to Creating Earth-Friendly Jewelry

~The Source Matters~

I make all of my jewelry using recycled sterling silver. The use of reclaimed metals nullifies the negative impact on the environment during mining, and the potential for human rights abuse. Poor or dangerous working conditions are eliminated as well.

                              

I buy American-mined, gemstones and beads ethically sourced in the United States by companies who pledge to help sustain the planet and provide spectacular, high-quality gems while providing a clear, documentable path from the mine to my shop. I am confident that my vendor's purchasing conditions meet all standards for worker safety, environmental protection and responsible production.

 

Arkansas Opal

 

 

 

 

Wyoming Ruby

 

 

 Wyoming Pink Sapphire

It wasn’t always easy to purchase ethically sourced gems in the US. Each year since I have been in the jewelry business, more and more cuts and colors of stones have become available as new mines open and long- established mines change the way they see the world and alter the way they do business

Today, I can buy Opals from Oregon; Quartz from Arkansas; pink Ruby from Wyoming’s Rocky Mountains; several different shades of American Mined turquoise and many more. 

 

Being an informed consumer is important in every aspect of our lives today.  When I first started out making jewelry, people were not yet thinking about #EthicalJewelry, i.e. where their jewelry, metals or gemstones came from. 

Today, consumers have much more awareness of how these decisions are as important as those we make about the foods we eat. Everything affects the future of our shared world.

Thank you for stopping by my blog for these few minutes today,

Norah

                          Montana Sapphire

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Not Just a Hallmark-Holiday - Mother's Day is Around the Corner: May 14!

May 14th

will be here before you know it.

Send her a card

Make your brunch reservations
Don't Forget to Call

Purchase her Gift 

Antique Wax Seal Pendant for Mom.

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans honoring their Goddesses. 

Up until the late 1800's,  the Christian festival of “Mothering Sunday” was a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Originally, it was a day for the faithful to return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service. 

Over time, the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would honor their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early Origins of Present day Mother's Day

A mother's power has been harnessed to do good for centuries.

In West Virginia during the years before the Civil War (1861-65), Ann Reeves Jarvis helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. 

The clubs became a unifying force when much of the country was still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” on which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe who, in the late 1800's, wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. 

Today, Mother’s Day has also been a date for launching political or feminist causes. In 1968 Coretta Scott King used Mother’s Day to host a march in support of underprivileged women and children.

 

 

Today's Mother’s Day

The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s.  Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring and celebrating the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After promoting her first National Mother's Day successfully,  Jarvis—(who never actually became a mother), resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar with the argument that American holidays were biased toward male achievements.

 By 1912 her efforts resulted in many states, towns, and churches adopting Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. 

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

By 1920, Jarvis had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She  denounced the change and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies. 

By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

 

A Mother's Love Talisman - made to order

 

In heraldry, Pelicans represents a self-sacrificing mother’s love. Ancient legend has it that when food is unavailable for long periods, the momma Pelican makes the ultimate sacrifice and pierces her breast, offering her own blood as nourishment for her babies, risking her own life.

This piece is made to order. I work in recycled sterling and use an 1830’s salvaged wax seal image. 

 

Thank you for reading.

Norah