Fashion Trend: DIY Shamballa Bracelets

I’ve been on a jewelry making bender lately. Don’t worry paper, I still love you so much, and Fall and Winter is when I tend to get my glitter on, but right now it’s a bead thing.

Have you Shamballa’d? Shamballa bracelets have their origin in Tibetan Buddhism but they have become a very popular fashion accessory. Here's what one looks like:

Like every other fashion trend, they range from the high end in the thousands of dollars, to where people like you and I come in…knocking them off at a fraction of the price.

The core of the Shamballa bracelet is a macrame square knot. I just love the look of them. And so did Mr. Chocolate who had the nerve to tell me he thought it looked too hard for me to make.

Of course that meant it was ON. I was planning to try to make one already,  but there’s nothing like a little competitive incentive am I right?

The one on the left I used moonstone and a charcoal crystal bead in the middle and waxed cotton cord by Bead Landing from Michaels; the one on the right I used these kind of foiled / dusted silver beads and a thicker twisted Bead Landing cord.

The square knots you see in the middle are actually a type of sliding clasp and the ends with beads slide within the knots to tighten / loosen the bracelet so you can get it on and off.

There are tons of videos out there so I will not try to teach the knotting technique. I used a three part series from Beadaholique. You can find them all on You Tube and the first one is here: Shamballa Bracelet Pt 1. There are several other videos on You Tube so you can easily find one that works with your learning style.

The most important thing is to make sure the beads you choose have holes big enough for the cording you choose.  You can use hemp, leather, waxed cotton cord, whatever you want.

The other tip I’ll share is to glue your knots before you cut the ends of your cord. For this I like the original drippy kind of super glue. For other projects I prefer the gel kind for more control ( and less likelihood of gluing my fingers together) but you want this to seep into the knots. 

The supplies you’ll need are:

• Beads of choice
• Cord of choice
• Super glue
• A little patience to get the knot technique

So here is the inspiration for what Mr. Chocolate wanted:

$550 David Yurman . Uh No. He also didn’t want the double strand.

Here’s what he got:

He even went with me to Michaels and picked out the beads ( that’s a whole nother blog post!). Lava rock and silver.

He also didn’t want the long dangly ends ( picky customer!). It might not be David Yurman but it also wasn’t $550! The most expensive item was the 250 feet of cording for which of course I used a 40% off coupon. Total cost was less than $20 with cord and beads left over for other projects.

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Easiest Jewelry Project Ever: Industrial Chic Watch Gear Ring

OK this was one of those projects that was so easy to make I’m embarrassed. On the other hand, it wasn’t something I thought of until I saw similar pieces in a museum gift shop. So total knock off, but easy knock off and at a fraction of the price!

I have this bag o watch parts in my stash . I picked up the parts and an equal amount of watch part containers at a street fair and have used pieces in several projects.

For this project you need the “guts” or gear of a watch, a ring form, and glue.

I like this Liquid Fusion clear urethane glue because it has no odor and is very strong. The ring form by Plaid, I picked up at Jo Ann’s on sale.

Here are the really complicated instructions. Glue watch part to ring form. OK I left out one step. Pull off the winder thingy first.

I’m sure you can find spare watch parts on Etsy or flea markets.

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Ribbon and Jump Rings Necklace Part Deux: Cream and Amber

I had so much fun with the Ribbon and Jump Rings necklace I shared last week that when I found myself at Michaels again this weekend ( they really need to give me my own parking space) I went looking for another one of the ribbon necklaces I used.

No more black ( eeek! boo! it’s my signature color!) but they had the same one in cream so I decided to branch out! Hello , my name is Carol and I’m a neutral-holic.

I also picked up a package of these Trinkettes beads by Cousin (fear not colorful people they come in loads of colors) and while I was scrounging around in the clearance bin again, came across these gorgeous amber-crystal-cabochony thingies. $1.99. SCORE.

Similar to the black necklace I made, I strung large jump rings onto the ribbon necklace, over all of the layers.

Total number of jump rings: 11 It made sense to  me to have 5 on each side and one in the middle. No reason other than that's what felt right. You could use more. You could use less.

Then I put some of the Trinkettes beads on some of the large jump rings and the amber cabochony thingies on other jump rings and used smaller jump rings to attach everything together. I’m very technical! Seriously. This is super super easy and there are several different types of ribbon necklaces avail even if you don’t find this exact one by Bead Landing because I bought them all.

Cabochony thingy, Trinkettes beads, cabochony thingy Trinkettes etc.

Look Mom, I didn’t even use the black beads ( YET!). And yes I did drive to another Michaels looking for another black ribbon necklace. No luck. There’s another Michaels I’m checking out this weekend. Sssssshhhhhh.

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Ribbon and Jump Rings Necklace

Sometimes the idea for something comes when you aren’t trying so hard to think of one. At least that’s true for me. I am one of those people who likes scrounging around in the clearance section of places like Michaels which is what prompted this project. I found this pre-made ribbon and cord necklace by Bead Landing for $1.99!

The Darice beads and jump rings I already had in my stash from one of those previous scroungy trips. This was super super easy to make.

I strung some of the biggest jump rings onto the necklace ( over all of the ribbons/cord). Added as many as I felt like which ended up being eleven.

Then I put some of the Darice beads on a large jump ring and attached to some of the rings already on the ribbon.  In my stash, I found some leftover washers from a Washer Charm Bracelet I made last year with washers from The Dollar Tree, and put those on a couple of the large jump rings, and then added one more bead/ring combo to the middle jump ring on the ribbon. Added a toggle clasp to each end.

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Olympics Charm Bracelet and oh I'm Baaaacccckkkkk.

I haven’t written a blog post in 3 weeks, so I hope I remember how! First, for those of you who’ve asked about my mom, she’s doing great and I’m now back home. I appreciate all your positive thoughts and energy!

So have you been watching the Olympics? We love to watch them and even when text alerts spoil the events we’ve yet to watch, it’s still as thrilling when we see the actual event.

While I was in AZ with the Mumster, I did have a chance to pop into Hobby Lobby as well as one of my fave places in Tempe, Beads Galore. I picked up the British flag charm at HL and the crown charm at BG. The red white and blue crystal beads I had back home in my stash.

For whatever reason, I had this notion that “stretchy cord” was more for kids projects. Then I was on the Nordstrom website and saw these:

which are, you guessed it, stretchy cord bracelets with nice beads and charms but they’re $58 each. Um no thank you. I actually whipped up a couple using some stone beads before I was gone but used the same idea for my Olympics bracelet.

Measure your stretchy cord longer than the size of your bracelet. I cut about 12 inches for a 7-8 inch bracelet. Sting your beads, charms etc.

When you are happy with the size, knot your cord. I knot, double knot add a dab of jewelry glue and then knot again. Trim close to the ends of the knot and then off you go to have a spot of tea.

With the British and American flag colors the same, this was perfect since I could honor both countries in one project!

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Mommy's Sweet Confessions

Mother's Day Treasure Hunting. Vintage Pocket Watch Case

You know your family loves you when they give you Michaels gift cards for Mother’s day. Thanks guys!

You know they totally get you, when they take you to an outdoor flea / farmer’s market and wait patiently while you look at all the stuff and can’t make up your mind which of several vintage pocket watch cases to purchase.

It didn’t hurt that there were vintage comics for College Boy to look at and vintage car books for Mr. C. to look at.

I love imagining the history behind this (who carried it? was it a gift from a special love or handed down from father to son?) and thinking about what I’m going to do with it. Will I do one big focal piece or a mini collage inside? I’m pretty sure I’ll fill it with resin.

I haven’t decided if I’ll use this watch themed paper or something completely unrelated to watches. Or, whether I’ll use it in a bigger piece or as a piece of jewelry. I wear big chunky stuff so I can see some chain and crystals involved.

No matter, we had a great time ( the guys actually  got more stuff than I did!) and it was the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day with the two most special guys I know and love.

School Spirit Necklace and Bracelet

I mentioned in my post about my field trip to Shipwreck Beads that I picked up some things for a specific project. We’re going to a parent’s event at our son’s college and I wanted to show my school spirit so I made sure to pick up some beads in his school colors. Most people buy a tee shirt. I make jewelry. I know…

When I make jewelry, I have a general idea in mind but my “process” is to gather up the stuff I think I might use and take it from there:

I had some gunmetal Bead Landing chain in my stash that I knew I wanted to use, two shades of blue fire polished crystal beads and these great crystal studded beads I picked up on my trip..

I made four sets of these with the light and darker blue crystals and the crystal studded beads, then attached them to some of the chain with silver jump rings.

I had two different styles of Bead Landing chain (Michaels) so I used both and doubled them up to give some more depth to the necklace.

The center piece is actually half of a clasp but I’ll use the other half for something else.

Although this looks like a necklace on my Premiere Prop Co mannequin form, it’s actually the bracelet I made to go along with my necklace. You can find a variety of these jewelry props at Michaels.

For the bracelet, I used more Bead Landing chain, crystals, bead caps and white off set beads.

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Disclosure: Premiere Prop Co provided me with props however, the opinions expressed are mine

Field Trip: Shipwreck Beads

While Mr. C may tease me about my craft stash and how excited I can get over a new product or technique, he is extremely supportive of my creative pursuits. He’s surprised me with trips to favorite places and understands when we travel that I’ll have a list of paper / bead / art supply stores wherever we go.

We had gorgeous weather last weekend and we decided to go for a drive. He asked “Do you want to go to your bead place” which is about 90 min away from us. “Bead place” sounds like it might be a nice little bead store right? WRONG! In this case, it refers to  bead Disneyland, aka Shipwreck Beads, a HUGE bead supplied located in Lacey, WA. I think they do most of their business online but they have a ginormous retail warehouse. So you know my answer was YES PLEASE!

These pics don’t do the place justice.It’s located in a warehouse / office park and it's wall to wall beads, findings, packaging, etc. Gemstones, sterling, pewter, Czech fire polished, seed beads, wire, chain, tools, findings, you name it. If there’s something associated with beading or jewelry making they have it.

I’m always overwhelmed whenever I go there because every time I’ve been they’ve added more.

One thing I love is that whether you’re buying in bulk or for a specific project, they offer almost everything by the piece / strand to huge quantities.

They even have an area where those not shopping can sit and wait, as well as a café and espresso bar in case you’re there so long you need to refuel.

It’s very easy to become overwhelmed but you will not leave empty handed. Of course I didn't!

I stocked up on some things I’ll use all the time like jump rings, spacer beads, Jablonex and Preciosa crystals, and then a few things for a specific upcoming project. I’m good for a while!