Welcome to December’s second Spotlight Corner sharing some of my favorite pieces and the stories behind them.

Today I am shining the spotlight on something new that I have come up with for the upcoming holidays, the Celtic Knot Yuletide Earrings.
https://doriestdesigns.com/product/celtic-knot-yuletide-earrings/

In my family, my parents were passionate about genealogy and staying connected with our heritage. This is why when I did the 23andMe test a couple of years ago, I really wasn’t surprised by the results. I grew up knowing I was an amalgam of the United Kingdom and Germany, learning and eating my way through my heritage.

My parents took me to many a Celtic Festival and taught me a lot about my Irish and Scottish ancestry. I knew my ancestors like Robert the Bruce as well as if they had come to visit every Christmas. I have always loved my family tartan, the sound of bagpipes and a strong Irish or Scottish accent. I watched a lot of Celtic movies and tv shows, but somehow in all this time I never came across one of the most popular shows and books about Scottish history, Outlander. Even at ComicCons people would ask me why I didn’t have any Outlander pieces, but I didn’t really think much about it.

Then in July of 2019, I was bored and looking for something to watch. Can you guess what was on the cover of the Entertainment Weekly sitting in my house? Yep, Outlander. So I binged watched it and became obsessed just like thousands of other people. I joined a huge Facebook group and made a bunch of new friends. Along with that, I started making Celtic themed jewelry to go with my new obsession mixed in with my heritage. At every event afterward, I met wonderful Outlander fans who were almost like long lost family.

October of 2020 rolled around and I was working on jewelry for the holidays when I had another thought, “Where can a person purchase Celtic Yuletide jewelry for the holiday season?” I looked around the internet and didn’t find any. I spent a couple of days working on designs and came up with several ideas, the first of which were these Celtic Knots and the rest followed. Within the Holidaze Collection, I feel like I have now really covered just about everything holiday related. But who knows, inspiration is usually just one thought away.

“Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr! “
(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!)

My family clan tartan and crest.