Close to the Heart Chapters 2 & 3
Debbie became a good client after working with us on a memorial piece a few years ago. We so enjoyed creating this beautiful ring and updating her original memorial pendant.
Chapter 1. "David and I had been married 31 years when he suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed and passed away in July 2020. He was a healthy person and competitive athlete, and just like that, he was gone. David’s wedding ring kept staring at me every time I opened my jewelry drawer, so I decided to turn it into a pendant. I gathered the ring, a chain he had given me, and one of the first diamond earrings he bought me (I lost its mate years ago and said I’d do something with the remaining one someday...) and took them to Stacey to design a piece I could wear all the time. I also wanted to add a garnet to symbolize love, the heart, and protection. Stacey seemed to read my mind the day I walked into her shop. She looked at me, then at the items laid out on her table, and said, “I can tell by looking at you how much love you had for him and how much pain you feel. I will make this beautiful for you, and it will lay right at your heart. I will not remove any of the ring’s scratches or mar its integrity in any way.” I knew right then that she was the right choice. She created entwined tendrils that symbolize David and me as two individuals yet as one. And she was right...the pendant is absolutely beautiful, and I do wear it all the time."
Chapter 2. "After about a year of wearing the pendant Stacey designed from my husband’s wedding ring, my grief caused it to become emotionally heavy, so I put it away for a few months. One day I was visiting the shop with a friend who was having some pieces designed and decided to tell Stacey how the pendant had been affecting me and ask if something could be done to help change that. She said we could add a sprinkling of small diamonds on the tendril representing me to symbolize my new life without David—a life shining with possibility. When I handed her the pendant, she looked at me in surprise and said, “You want me to do it?” and I said yes. It’s taken a while for me to adjust to wearing the pendant again, but it has a new sparkle, making it feel lighter somehow."
Chapter 3. "When I first went to InBloom in Braddock Heights to have the pendant designed in March of 2021, I realized my husband, David, and I had been there a couple of years prior and had talked later about having Stacey design a ring when I turned 70. So when I picked up the pendant, I told her about that, and she said when that time came, she’d be happy to design something if I wanted. I thanked her and promptly put it out of my mind because 70 seemed so far away, and I had many other things consuming my thoughts. However, by late fall of 2022, that milestone was looming large. I kept looking at the pear-shaped amethyst earrings and David’s mother’s diamond, which he had given me the first year we were married. I figured I was supposed to do something with them, so I made another visit right before Christmas for Stacey to design a ring for my 70th birthday in February. During the design process, Stacey recommended adding two small tanzanites to the amethysts and diamond for color balance (one now seems to represent David, and one is me).
When I arrived to pick up the ring several days before my birthday, the employees all lined up, saying “wow” over and over. They even made me close my eyes before they brought out the ring for me to see. It is, indeed, a “wow” and just stunning. This ring has a different emotional feel than the pendant, created using the ring David wore from the moment I placed it on his finger. This ring is crafted from his special, sentimental gifts to me. He gave me many pieces of jewelry during our marriage, and I think he would be pleased to see how these first gifts were made into such a meaningful new creation. When I wear this ring, I think of all the beautiful gifts David gave me, most importantly his love throughout our 32 years together."