Flower bracelet

On my days off I have been trying to wear ANYTHING that doesn't remind me of my work uniform. Normally this means bright colors and very summery designs. It makes for a very cheery mood. I wanted something to go with my summer/fresh start (when off from work) feel and I had found these great painted beads at a garage sale in Cripple Creek the other day. (Like I said if not the ARC stores I am all for yard sales and estate sales, you find great stuff for cheap.)

I wanted to just use the flower beads, but there was not enough of them. Plus they were the kind that have a much wider hole, so I need to use other beads to kind of 'fill' the gaps. I had these light jade beads and some bright pink beads, which matched the color of the painted flowers.
I am down right HORRIBLE at describing how to loop the bead wire for bracelets, so for this one I will just show you the finished projects and list the items.

I used:
.24mm bead wire (flexes easier)
7 pink beads
5 green jade beads
10 painted flower beads
two crimp beads (silver)
1 set of claw clasps
1 head pin
1 inch section of chain

And since I had to have random amounts of beads I finished off what I had left and made a set of clasp earings. The earings aren't great because I couldn't do it the way I wanted (the painted flowers have a hole that is too big and the headpin would slip though if I used it first like I had PLANNED).

Vintage Pendant

A few months ago my Mother found this vintage pendant and she asked me if I could make i up for her. She found it at a yard sale for .10 cents. Its in great condition, so it didn't need much 'clean up' work. I took her to a store downtown and made her pick out some beads and gems that she liked. When we got home I had her sit down and make out a design for it. She set out a  rough design and I tweeked it a little, but for the most part, I kept it the same. This was the start up design and what I went off.

As I said this was just a rough design. I would suggest doing this for all your projects. Makes it easier to see the over all picture. Plus you can get a general feel for what items you might run out of, that is if you try and make it to reflect the correct lengths. I always measure first, design, and then start my project and continue to measure through out to be sure I don't go over or be short.

I used:
10 eye pins
12 light green gems
40 brown luster beads
1 vintage pendant
4 jump rings
1 set of claw clasps
about 10 inches of brushed gold chain- fine

I put jump rings on each side of the pendant and closed them.
I them did each eyepin set of beeds and gems. I did 4 sets of 3 brown luster beads, 1 green gem, and 3 more brown luster beads. Then 2 sets of 1 green gem, 2 brown luster beads, and 1 green gem.
Here is a version of one:

At either side of the pendant I added two sets of brushed gold leave covers and then a green gem inbetween. I thought this added a little more nature feel to it and dressed it up. This was NOT part of the original idea, but it fits well.

After I finished with the eyepin sets I cut up pieces of chain that was even for each section inbetween the eyepins. I just counted each ring and then opened the last count to attach to an eyepin in the order I wanted.

This was my finished product. A nice vintage pendant for my Mom.

Since it was so easy to make and I still had some beads and gems left I made a pair of dange earings to go with. I took the idea of the brushed gold leaves from either side of the pendant I added and made two more. I cut two lengths of he fine brushed gold chain and attached a brown lusted bead to the end of each. I had some light gold triangle gems that I thought would go well, but Mom didn't want on the neckless, and I added two to each chain midway between the leaved gem and the bead at the bottom.

Mom loved the earings, so it was a good idea. Plus I hate being left with only one or two of a certain gem/bead. Just easier to use them all if its possible.

This project was easy and very vintage, so totally up my alley. Plus it made my Mom happy, so totally worth it.

Newest Completed Jewerly Projects

I have made a few new jewerly items since I was last able to get online. I don't believe I have the tutorials done, so for right now I just wanted to give you a preview for what is to come. =)


I wanted to make something kind of glitzy, so I made this rinestone chain neckless.



 One of the girls from work saw me wearing the one above and she asked for one in purple, so I made this version for her. I had to adjust it twice for her length, but otherwise it was a hit. (And easy to make)

I was going to give this bracelet coming up to my friend, but after it gave me such a hard time I desided I was going to keep it for myself. I felt I deserved it. The gemstones need two wires to be strung and it turned out to be a PAIN to get it tight enough to not show spaces when its on. Finally got it tight enough, but it is for sure NOT my finest work. I was rather disappointed in it, and most likely will not use these gems again.

Its rather hard to find cute feather earings again, so I thought I might give it a shot. It turned out ok, other than the fact that it was hotter than hell out so everything was getting sweety and sticking to me. =)

Suprisingly its very hard to find loop earings that you can slide gems onto. Took me months to find some and so I was just playing around with them. I have plans to make a set for my friend in black. Hoping to get a start on it tonight. *crossing fingers*

I had seen these flower chain earings online and I thought it couldn't be that hard to do myself.... I was very wrong. I can't figure out how they get them to drape so nicely, while mine don't drape at all. So I tossed the idea and made these instead. I don't like them very much, so I might end up doing something else with them. I'm open to suggestions.

This is kind of what I was trying to do with chain, but again it just looked funny. (sorry for the "ghetto" drawing)

 

If you should ever come across a template from Clovers called the Flower Folder, get it. It makes some really great flower bundles and makes it so much faster. I made the largest flower (in pink) from this template, and they come in  4 sizes. I used the largest.

Since I had a BUNCH of hair clips I thought I would decorate them. These do not require tutorials, as they were just glued to the ends with a hot glue gun. My mother found a bunch of embellishment flowers and gave them to me. I don't really have any need for them, so I added them to the clips to dress them up. I also had two circle pins, so I made some 'odd' pins out of these flowers.... let me know what you think.

So this is just a quick update on my projects. I hope to get some tutorials for my other projects on here in a short order.  As akways let me know what you thought of these projects and previous ones.

Thank you.

Random hour hell

I haven't been able to get online in a while. Work has me working stupid and random shifts. Making it hard for me to get much, if anything done.

I was able to make a bracelet for my Mom along with some matching earings. I will try and get some pictures up on here and directions for you.

Just wanted to update you.

Copper bird bracelet

I have been feeling bored on my days off.... Oh yeah I got a part time job to make some money till I can get another career job. Other wise my parents might seriously kill me. LOL
Anyway I couldn't find a lot to do, so I thought I would try my hand at making some jewelry for myself. I had no trouble learning to make my own flower hair pins. I wanted to make a bracelet that would actually fit my fatter wrists, because not much does.

I found some cute accessory items at Hobby Lobby, which were 50% off (score!), and some copper chain that I wanted to use with it, also 50% off. Took me a little while to figure out how to do the beads that I wanted to add, but it came out pretty well.

Supplies:

1.)wire cutter, rounder, and"squeeze" cramp.

2.) 2'' head pins in copper to match the chain and other items (best to match ALL pieces so one doesn't look out of place)

3,4,5,6.) Bird charm accessory, large rings, clip, and chain. (again all in the same color)

7.) Find some beads that you think would match the theme you have, or just that you like the look.

8.) I used plastic embellishments in the middle.

TO DO:

*I first took the chain and wrapped it around my wrist to figure out the length I wanted. I then marked that spot and plied the next ring off the chain to make it the length I wanted. (This is why I buy the longest chain available because the remaining can be used for other things)
*I wanted to put my two bird charms toward the ends and the plastic embellishments in the middle, so I counted my chain links (less the last two that would be the closer rings) to place them evenly.
*Took a headpin and wrapped one end into a circle, slide the bead on, and then took the other end and wrapped it into a circle as well.
*Take a ring and pry it open, slide in the charm, slide into the circle on the other end of the headpin, now pry close the ring. ***Will need to repeat 2,3 and 4th steps for other end.
*Take a ring and pry it open, slide into a chain link in the middle, slide on the plastic embellishment, pry ring closed. (I did this twice with different sizes)

All done.

This is what mine looked like when it was done. What do you think?

I still want to do a neckless, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have noticed that the bird charms hang down a little too far. I might have to undo the bead part and just use a ring to hang the charm. I haven't decided if it bothers me enough to change it just yet. Think it might be a good idea?