Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

E-mail this page Print this page Most E-mailed / Most printed

Boxes overflowing with pictures of smiling faces, lost loved ones, weddings, births, parties and other milestones can remain unopened for years — memories hidden in a closet. Instead of keeping lifetime moments stored away, bring them out and incorporate them into creative ideas.

Sheri Harney, 47, of Middletown recently opened a business where she creates pins, bracelets and necklaces with charms containing pictures of loved ones, friends and pets.

Harney said she has always been creative and interested in photography. She took soldering classes and learned to frame pictures between glass plates. Then she began taking jewelry classes and found a passion for the craft.

"I started making pieces for myself and then people asked me to make pieces," Harney said. "And then, before I knew it, I had a business."

Harney opened the business last year, and has been working out of her home — what she calls a "cottage industry." She works in an insurance office part time but said she hopes to make jewelry for a lifetime.

Prices range from $25-$135. Each piece of jewelry takes Harney about a week to create, she said, working to create a unique design for each piece. Customer Sherrie McGeehan of Lebanon recently ordered a bracelet with charms of pictures of her and her parents and plans to order more jewelry from Harney.

"My parents are ill, and when you get to that point you get sentimental," McGeehan said. "I found some pictures of me and my dad, and I thought this would be such a pretty bracelet if I could make it into charms."

McGeehan sent a picture of her dad walking her down the aisle at her wedding to be made into a charm.

McGeehan said she checks Harney's Web site daily, looking for new designs.

"She's always coming up with new ideas," she said. "I am already thinking of other things I can order."

Mason resident Melisa Flohn owns a small business of her own called the Caffeine Queen. She had a pin designed for her 36-year-old niece who works with her.

"She even put a queen charm on the pin," Flohn said. "It made it special and unique."

 To see photos of Harney's work or to place an order, visit her Web site at www.moondogcottage.com.

Vote for this story!