Artist Journal Necklace

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go, my dear; and whatever is done by me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has meant and whatever a sun will sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that keeps the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

e.e. cummings

I lost my Grandma Pearl two years ago and I continue to miss her everyday.  After my Grandmother's funeral I placed a bracelet on my wrist made of twine and I gave myself permission to mourn her until the bracelet broke and fell from my wrist.  I could be as sad as I needed to be and then once the bracelet fell away, I had to pick myself up and move forward.  

I never took the bracelet off although it started fraying and looked pretty shabby - one the day the last thread broke and the bracelet fell off - I vowed I would move on - it had been eight months - it's been a hard task.  

Now, a year later.... I will fill this tiny journal with images of my grandmother and images that remind me of her.  I will wear the journal over my heart and I will thumb through the images as I remember her smile.

The front of the journal ( it is reversible ) is etched metal with a leaf pattern - she was an avid gardener.  The milagro heart symbolizes where I carry my Grandmother - in my heart.
The other side of the journal is stamped with  - I CARRY YOUR HEART IN MY HEART.    

My Grandmother was born on the 4th of July and her favorite color was red.  It seems fitting that the necklace features a variety of red beads, a tiny Czech glass butterfly, a tiny dragonfly, and red floral beads.  She would have loved it.