Fair weathered friends

The weather has turned pretty cold here and the cats have been looking all day for warm places or bodies. They love my fleece blanket and it humbles me to see them together so peaceful.

Granted this weather also makes me sleepy and so I decided to lay down with them and Grace took it upon herself to find a new spot for warmth.

Since I like making things for people I decided to make something for a friend of mine. She is a bit odd, so it looks a little strange maybe, but I think she will like it alot. It reminds my mother of those African tribe teeth necklesses.
I took black round pearls in medium and large sizes, red spear beads, and blood red oval beads.

I used the same wire clamp and wire as the Chinese bead bracelets. I also used the same needle nose pliers, wire clamp pliers, and wire cutters.

-Basically I laided out the beads to find a pattern that I liked. Took me a day to get a pattern using all the beads I wanted. *tip* This is something that you should ALWAYS do ahead of time. Saves a lot of time and anger.
-Take the wire clamp and put that on one end of the wire and then loop the end back through the wire clamp. Tighten the loop to the size you want and then use the clamp pliers to tighten the clamp.
(you can put a lobster clip on if you intend to make the entire neckless out of beads, but I did not just yet)
-Start stringing the beads in the pattern you had decided.  In my case I wanted to do about 9 inches of black beads and red spear beads. I then did the blood red beads and the red spears for the middle section. The remaining half was done the same way with the black beads.

-Once you have finished stringing the beads thread on the clamp and loop the wire threw the clamp to create another loop. Use the clamp pliers clamp down to finish the loop.
 -I choose to not put a clip on the wire loop, but instead to use about 7 inches of chain to link to the loop created. I did this again to the other side. It can make the neckless longer and that was my goal.

-I finally attached the lobster clip to one end of the chain.

I thought it might seem plain and not complete with out earrings.... mostly I always think that. LOL

-I took one red spear and a eye pin and shaped it into a  triangle and then wrapped one end around the top of the triangle.
-I cut a strip of chain 3 inches long and at the bottom attached the red spear eye pin.
-Attach the other end of the chain to the earring.
-Take 4 head pins and 4 of the blood red beads. Take each one and create an eye pin from the tip of the head pin.
-Take 2 of the eye pins and count 3 links up and attach both of the eye pins with the blood red beads.
-Repeat the remaining 2 eye pins and count 3 more links up and attach them both.
-Repeat these steps for the other earring.

I think the pair looks pretty good together. The earrings really seem to complete the over all look.

I hope the tutorial works well for you all and that you will show me your creation. 

Good day in the morning, victory is mine!

Its nice when you are score a little victory. I finally found beads to mix well with some Chinese beads that my Mom gave me about 3 months ago. I have been searching this entire time for anything that would blend well and the colors were hard to find (which surprised me), as well as the right size. I found a string of blue and a string of pearl ones. I have been wanting to make them into a bracelet, so I was very happy.

One package of round Chinese beads is darker blue than the other set of round beads. These were used with the dark blue string and the lighter ones were mixed with the flat beads and the pearl string beads.

Happened to find a tool organizer for my jewerly items too, so that came in helpful. Rolls up too, so a space saver is an added bonus. I used the round nose pliers, wire cutters, clamp plier, and needle nose pliers.

The other supplies I used are the more flexable thicker wire and clamps and lobster clip. 

-Now all you have to do to is take a wire clamp and then slide the lobster clip, wrap the wire back threw the clamp and use the clamp pliers to secure the loop.

-Then take the beads in the order than you want to see on the wire. In my case it was dark blue, light blue, and then Chinese beads, repeat. Do this until the length is reached. ( *tip* Measure your wrist before hand, or a previous bracelet to get the right length.)

-Doing the end is the hardest part (for me at least) because you have to keep the beads tight so that they don't show wire when its wrapped around your wrist. You slide a clamp on the wire, once you put a jump ring threw you can use the needle nose pliers to thread the wire back threw the clamp and the first few beads.

-Using the needle nose pliers to keep it pulled tight; you will need to take the clamp pliers to clamp it down and secure the end. ( *tip* Another way to do this is to use a smaller clamp to secure the bead tightness and then do another one to do the loop at the end. This makes it easier to ensure tightness of the beads.)

I seem to be getting better at doing these bracelet since it only took me a half hour to do both. I feel that was pretty decent given the last time took me 2 hours to do one and it was driving me nuts! 

Kind of think the white pearl one is my favorite of the two. Which one do you like more? Do you like either one? Since I seem to like the pearl beads better I made a set of earrings to do with them. They are VERY simple. Just wanted something to mix together. The supplies are even easier to get together. Yippy.

-You take the earring fitting and attach a length of chain. I did 3 inch chain.

-Take head pin and string one bead on and round it off

-Attach to the bottom of the chain.

-Repeat step 2 and attach to the next chain link 3 spaces up.

-Repeat this process until you have 3 spaces before the chain ends.

-Repeat all steps for the other earring.

I think they came together pretty well.

Grace giving me help

I'm almost done with my friend's baby blanket that I am knitting. Grace, our cat, loves to sleep in people's lap, but she has a habit of doing so at rather unhelpful times. Like.....

while I am knitting. I was in the middle of knitting a row. I finished the row, but Grace was content with her position. She started to get so comfy she was using my knee as a pillow.

I love how our pets can be so loving and yet so incredibly annoying at the same time. Love them so much.