Tracy, one of my high school classmates, saw the America 250 rosaries that I made, and asked if I could make two of them for her. I still have all nine of those rosaries from that project, and I have made copies. However, this isn't necessarily easy, because I don't always still have the same beads, centerpiece, or crucifix on hand. And in this case, the particular rosary that she liked was made with recycled beads (taken from significantly broken rosaries that were donated to me).

So, as with all rosaries I make, it starts with finding 59 beads that work well together. But in this case, where there are three key colors, it's not good enough to just find beads of the three colors. They still need to match and look nice together. For example, I have often found red and white beads but not corresponding blue beads.

With all of that in mind, I was fortunate to find these beads from a story on Etsy. They are glass beads with the same finish and all with a diameter of 8mm. I love that size because it's not only easy to work with but they feel great in my hands when I'm praying.

I still had some Sacred Heart of Jesus centerpieces and I love these matching red enamel crucifixes. I also had a couple of American flag charms. So with all of the parts now on hand, I made these two matching rosaries.

Interestingly, 5 weeks later, we were at our 45-year high school class reunion and a different classmate came up to me and told me that she loved the rosary that I made. I didn't realize that Tracy was going to gift it to another classmate of ours.

This was a touching project to work on.

(TIP: Look closely at the first photo (#1) above. Does the shape look familiar?)