It is said that someone who works with their hands, brain and heart is an artist. Lelia Schexnider is an artist with her one-of-a-kind jewelry along with crocheted and knitted outerwear sold under the name Lelia’s Pennies From Heaven.
Lelia began making jewelry just over seven years ago during a time when she needed a distraction and the hobby proved to be a therapy for her. She has always had a penchant for jewelry – wearing a lot of it – and learned much about design from her years at a Lafayette jewelry store.
What makes her earrings, bracelets and necklaces so unique is that they are made from elements of vintage jewelry found at estate and garage sales and thrift stores. “Eighty percent of my work is recycled from things like buttons, tokens, old keys, foreign coins and broken jewelry that I’ve taken apart,” says Lelia who does her work in a building behind her home.
She says most of the ideas for her designs have come from the pieces themselves. “I’ll take an old piece apart and keep the elements that speak to me. They’ll sit on my desk until I decide how to match it with something else. The inspiration takes longer than making the jewelry.”
Some of her most recent pieces feature butterflies and dragonflies – Lelia has a passion for dragonflies. She has pulled inspiration from the least likely objects. After she began finding her husband’s guitar picks around the house, she resourcefully turned them into earrings. The idea became popular with one customer buying over 20 pairs as gifts
Like many jewelers, Lelia has grown fond of certain pieces, like the choker she made with a vintage brooch. “I thought about keeping it,” she admits “but I was happy when a friend bought it. I like farmers markets because it gives me the opportunity to meet the people who buy my jewelry, and I’ve met a lot of wonderful people.”
Farmers markets have also given Lelia the opportunity to display her other talent: crocheting and knitting. Having learned to crochet at a young age, she had stopped for many years, but after a friend’s mother taught her to knit, it rekindled an interest in crocheting as well. “I would donate caps for newborn babies in the hospital and blankets for the elderly in nursing homes,” she says. After her mother passed, Lelia continued a tradition of making a blanket for members of the family who graduated from high school.
You can usually find her crocheted and knitted caps, scarves, hats and fingerless gloves – a best seller – at the Delcambre Market starting around September.
Perhaps most unique about the Pennies From Heaven booth is the coins sold by Lelia’s husband, Ray, who is a collector (and appraiser) dealing mostly in silver dollars, half dollars and commemorative quarters. Prices range from around $25 in upwards of $750 for one of the rarest coins.
“The kids gravitate towards the coins,” says Lelia. “Ray likes to get them interested in starting a coin collection; within a couple minutes, he can tell if they have a genuine interest.”
Lelia’s Pennies From Heaven has been a vendor of the Delcambre Seafood & Farmers Market since 2016. When asked about the idea behind the name of the business Lelia says, “They say if you find a penny, it’s a message from your angels. We have a jar in the house where we keep pennies we’ve found.”
While she’s participated in several other markets Lelia points out, “They are not all organized. The staff at the Delcambre Market has always been organized and thorough – and friendly. And, I love that they start the market with the national anthem; it shows hometown pride.”
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