Affirmation Necklace

 

About two years ago I took some leftover stenciled paper that I had created using my own designs in pastel colors and punched circles out of it. On the back I wrote affirmations. I poked holes in them and hung them on my bedpost, reading them aloud each evening. It was a difficult time in my life because my husband had recently died and I was processing a lot of sadness, grief, and anger. Amid the sorrow was the "salt in the wound": I suddenly went from a two income family to a widow with half the income. So one of my first affirmations was: "I have a creative, lucrative part-time job."

This set of affirmation discs was made with stenciled paper, beads, a handmade tassel, and stamped shrinky-dink charms.

I looked at the old affirmation discs about a week ago, and flipped over each one to read what I had written. They had all come true. Yup, the perfect part-time job came to me. My health improved. My panic-disorder receded. 

What manifested was not exactly as I had imagined it, but the five things I wanted and needed had come into being. I realized that manifesting does work, and decided to create some new circles using the one of the latest stamp sets, EGL40, designed by Gwen Lafluer for PaperArtsy.

I stamped all of the new designs on circles of hot press watercolor paper, then added color with ShinHan watercolors, brush tipped markers, and posca pens. 

Next, I selected five of the 10 new affirmation discs and sorted through my stash of beads and decorative doodads looking for just the right pieces to construct the affirmation necklace. (Although I call it a necklace, I will hang it off my bedpost rather than wearing it as a piece of jewelry.)

Here's the "how-to" photos:

Using a punch, I made a hole near the top edge of each circle.

I used grommets with a grommet setting tool to reinforce each hole.

A metal ring was threaded through each grommet.

10 circles with grommets

All 10 circles with the metal loop inserted

"Auditioning" beads and baubles to go between each of the circles. I threaded all the pieces onto thin ball-chain for added strength.

Here's a close-up of three of the affirmation discs that I used for the project:

If you are interested in how to write an affirmation, here's an article that explains the process.