Jewelry Stories from A Heart Adrift

Welcome to the latest edition of Jewelry Stories!

Ever since reading A Heart Adrift, my mind has been flooded with ideas for jewelry and bookmarks! So much so that there were 15 new designs inspired by this amazing novel. So, first things first – definitely get yourself a copy and put it at the top of your TBR pile! Second, I hope you will look at this story in a new way through the designs featured below. I’ve matched each of them to a specific passage in the book. Several of them just might make your heart flutter as Henri is the dreamiest hero and Esmee is 100% made for him.

I hope you enjoy today’s post, and I’ll see you at the end for a wrap up! 🙂

“What about jewels?” Esmee brought a hand to her bare throat. “Mama’s pearls.”

Henri rowed the five miles from Indigo Island to the mainland in under an hour, spurred on by seas so flat and smooth they resembled an opal.

“You are admiring the silk taffety ribbon, no? How about a yard or two of this Parisian blue or pear green? Scarlet is also gaining ground, though sable is the preferred color.” Madame Suchet took up the black and strung it round her own throat. “A ribbon choker necklace is all the rage.”

“Have you heard?” Miss Cartwright brightened. “I was at the mantuamaker’s just yesterday. She told me of a new fashion influenced by the secret language of flowers. By embroidering one’s clothes, one conveys a message.” She looked one of the paper flowers Esmee had placed on the table. “A carnation means ‘my heart aches for you.’ A rose in bloom signifies love. I say we all embroider our gowns with meaningful flowers for the coming ball.”

Blue was always eye-catching, mayhap because it reminded him of the sea. The silken fabric seemed like water poured over her, so flattering was the fit, every inch of cloth and lace accentuating her buxom figure.

She’d penned those very words over and over on scraps of paper when no one was looking, scrolling the E and S and L endlessly before throwing her daydreams into the hearth’s fire.

“I shall weather the season in the tearoom, sipping hot chocolate and reading books.”

Home. ‘Twas not as she imagined it. ‘Twas even better. Made of rubble stone and brick, the lighthouse shot into the sky some one hundred sixty feet high. . .

“You should see the cottage I’m to occupy. ‘Tis like something from a fairy tale. There’s even room for a small garden come spring.”

“Treasures of the deep.” Esmee held out a conch shell, pink and glossy. “If you place it to your ear you can hear the sea.” Lucy did so, eyes wide. “I do, aye!”

He’d tried to pin that blue down a thousand times in the last decade. Caribbean blue. Delft blue. Egyptian blue. Marine blue, the official color of the British naval uniforms. Cobalt blue. Lapis lazuli. Aye, that was it.

“I’ve received confirmation our light can be seen by telescope from three leagues away.” Our light. How sweet the sound.

The memory had finally lost its barb if not its regret. “I returned to the ship and put it away in the trunk that would hold the letters I wrote you.”

“You well know female figureheads are said to calm angry seas with their beauty.”

“Fit for royalty, Miss Shaw, not for a girl from the almshouse!” Flushing, Lucy looked to her soiled apron. “Reminds me of the tale my mother told when I was small, complete with a fairy godmother, a pumpkin, and a glass slipper.”

Tonight the heavens were spangled with stars, diamond bright, reminding him of their going up-scuttle atop the York townhouse long ago.

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So there you have it! 15 brand new designs inspired by A Heart Adrift. While there was so much inspiration in the form of lighthouses, seashells, and ocean waves, there was also a great amount of inspiration with pearls, flowers, and fairytales. My poor Kindle highlighter deserves a raise for all the times I used it to preserve every single one of these passages.

Seriously, do you not love Henri as much as I do?! The line about the letters he wrote for Esmee but kept in the trunk on his ship? *Swoon* And Esmee’s eagerness to get to the lighthouse to live in the sweet little cottage? I can visualize all the glorious flowers that she must have planted. Oh, and all the times Henri and Esmee were at the lighthouse together? *Swooning again* There’s no way I could pick a single line to be my favorite.

There were several components to this collection that were already in my personal stash, but I had the best time hunting for new charms, pendants, and beads to make this collection all it could be. In case you missed it, I have shared some background info on each piece on my Instagram page. Many of these designs ended up as one-of-a-kind!

The only thing that I wish I could have done was something resembling a chatelaine. Sadly, it’s not something that is worn in today’s fashion, but they’re fascinating to see and were very functional for women in this era. I confess that I stalked Laura’s Pinterest board devoted to A Heart Adrift, and this pin of a chatelaine is a gorgeous sight to see.

It feels bittersweet to bring this collection to a close, but if you want to see more collections inspired by Laura Frantz novels, there’s plenty more here just waiting for you!

• The Mistress of Tall Acre
• A Moonbow Night
• Tidewater Bride (interview with Laura) then days 1, 2 and 3 of jewelry designs

Thank you for supporting my little creative endeavor and the authors who bring these amazing stories to life. My hope is that these jewelry and bookmark designs give you a fresh glimpse into those stories and a way to remember them for months and years to come. And if you’ve missed any past Jewelry Stories posts, you can find them all here.

If you aren’t already subscribed to my email list, you’ll want to do that here so you can be the first to see those new designs when they drop. In every email, there’s a list of books that I’m currently working on and designing jewelry for.

Until next time! ♥