Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Gold Silver and Black Jewelry Set: Party Like a Rockstar

Gold Black and Silver Set

Sharing the rest of what was tucked into The Mumster’s keepsake box. Mom may be retired, but she’s constantly on the go and she’s always been a fashionista.

I was totally jealous when she told me she’ll be going to a Rolling Stones concert. The Rolling Stones. In Las Vegas. Isn’t this what all moms and grandmas do?

I thought she needed to have some fun and special jewelry for the occasion.

Antique Gold Chain Loops

I started with a chunky gold loop necklace portion from Styled by Tori Spelling that I picked up at JoAnn’s. I combined it with some antique gold Blue Moon Bead chain and connectors. I was mixing gold and silver so I used silver jump rings to connect the pieces.

Gold and Silver Dangle

I’d also picked up a mixed bead pack from JoAnns in golds, dark purple and black. I used it , along with a black crystal beads and some silver findings, and gold head pins to make the pendant.

Black Gold Silver Earrings

The earrings I made are basically the same construction as the pendant. LIke me, mom wears clips so I used this black faceted connector pieces as the earring bases.

Gold and Black Mixed Bead Bracelet

And last but not least, I made a coordinating bracelet with the rest of the bead mix, just strung on stretchy cord.

Have fun mom! Not too much though lol.

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day: The Tale of the Upcycled Scarf Ring Tree of Life Bangle Bracelet

Tree of Life Bangle Bracelet

I’m starting a new meme. “Craftsplaining”. Like when you get an idea in your head to use something for a completely unrelated purpose ( eg I have "craftsplained" my way through Home Depot, Lowes, Dollar Tree, Target…) I've had conversations like : ”oh how old is your baby” because I’m buying baby wipes. “20 but these aren’t for him. I use them to clean up after my Mod Podge projects

Or when someone says “what made you think of that”. OK sometimes there’s not even a “craftsplanation” for that. Like this project. I received a scarf for Christmas and it came with his big acrylic ring that you could use to tie it different ways. HA! It’s a bangle bracelet DUH!

For this project you will need:
  • Plastic or acrylic bangle type device
  • Mod Podge
  • Paper Scrap
  • Metal leaf adhesive
  • Metal leafing
  • Charm(s)
Scarf Ring Bangle

Since this was an Earth Day project, everything I used came from my stash.

Scarf Ring Bangle 1

Trace around your bangle on your scrapbook paper scraps. I hadn’t decided yet which paper I was going to use so I cut two paper “bangles”. I also hummed the Olympics theme song.

Rough up your bangle. I just used an emery board. Apply Mod Podge (I used Matte finish, my go to) apply paper, smooth, apply coat on top of paper. Go make dinner or surf our favorite blogs.

Metal Leaf Adhesive

Now, once your MP side is dry you’ll want to apply your metal leaf. If you’re not familiar with metal leafing, supplies are available at fine art stores or I know Michaels carries them. Metal leaf is not the same as FOIL. Foil has a dull side and a bright side. If you use foil ( which you could for this project) makes sure to keep the shiny side up. Also, the label is not green and Mona Lisa doesn’t usually look seasick on it. I spilled a green alcohol re-inker on my bottle.

Silver Leafing

Unlike foil, when you apply metal leafing entire portions of it stick to the adhesive. Lay your foil over your sticky surface ( adhesive takes about 20-30 min to set up before you apply your leafing) and then I just use a stiff stencil brush to pounce on the leafing. Go all over your surface.

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As you go around your surface, the portions with nothing to stick to will tear away. If you are a neat freak can’t stand any uncontrolled mess, this is NOT for you. The leafing is very light weight and pieces will fly away. HINT: I lay down a piece of wax paper to help control things and then I can just toss it. You should also save your scrap pieces for other projects.

Tree of Life Charm

Once I had my leafing on, I attached a “Tree of Life” pendant from Blue Moon Beads to my bangle using a large jump ring. I thought this was perfect for Earth Day.  I like big clunky jewelry but of course you could use something smaller. You’ll just need a big enough jump ring to hold your bangle. I also used up some little charms from my stash. Yay stashbusting!

Silver Leaf Mod Podge Bangle

Tree of Life Bangle 2

I would love to hear some of the "craftsplanations" you've had to give. Share in the comments!

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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Elephant Amulet Multi-Strand Necklace

Elephant Amulet 1

As member of the Blue Moon Bead design team, I  got to play with a new collection of Amulet pieces currently available at Michaels stores. These amulets are large pendants, representing a variety of cultures.  For this project, I chose a silver and black elephant.

Elephant Amulet

These are bold pieces. I had recently picked up some steal deal pieces on one of my Michaels trips and they were a perfect match for my amulet.

Blue Moon Beads Amulet

The black multi-strand chain  and the earring pieces were on sale for $.99 each!  We’ll get to the earrings in a minute. The first thing I did was change out the clasp on the necklace. I love lobster. I don’t love lobster clasps so I took off the one that was on the chain and replaced it with a silver toggle clasp (also by Blue Moon Beads). Since I was going to use my silver and black amulet, I didn’t care that it didn’t match the chain.

Blue Moon Crown Clasp

There was some extra chain from the original clasp which I then used to attach my amulet. I attached jump rings to either end, slid the amulet on, and then used more silver jump rings to attach this portion to the multi- strand portion of the necklace.

Blue Moon Elephant Amulet

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have pierced ears and have to make a lot of my own clip earrings. I often find pierced earrings on sale that I buy intending to take them apart and re-arrange them. That was the case with these:

Pierced Earring Conversion to Clip

I took off the ear wire and the flower charm, made the bottom the top, glued on clip earring backs, and attached the black drop pieces I picked up for $.99!

Converted Clip Earrings

They matched my black and silver amulet necklace perfectly. In case you can’t tell, I’m a big earring kinda girl!
Blue Moon Elephant Amulet 1

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Thank You For Being A Friend: Earring and Bracelet Sets

Four Pair o Earrings

So here's the story behind this post. Several years ago, my husband's parents retired to a small town on the Washington coast. To say it's remote is an understatement, but that's where they wanted to be. They quickly settled in and made tons of new friends. A few years after they moved, my father in law's brother joined them and he became part of their bunch. I've never seen retired people keep so busy with so many clubs and activities.


Since we started going to visit them, we've always gone to brunch at a local historic hotel owned by a sweet couple who decided they'd had enough of city life. They've been great friends to my in-laws and present for happy occasions and sad ones like when my mother-in-law passed away.

We recently celebrated my Uncle-in law's 80th birthday and they were no less gracious when we went to brunch at the hotel. They have some equally warm and funny ladies who work there and we have lots of laughs with them . I decided I'd make these ladies some things to show our appreciation for always making our extended family feel so special. I made four sets of coordinating earrings and stretchy bracelets.

Black and White Set

The first set is silver, white, grey and gold. Most of the beads and findings are Blue Moon Beads.

Black Silver White Gold Earrings

The second set is blues and berries, using dichroic glass beads along with faceted acrylic beads:

Raspberry and Blueberry Set

The third set is shades of toffee and purples with antique gold connectors:

Grape and Gold Set

And the last set is copper and amber using more of the copper toggle clasps from my birds nest pendant necklace:

Copper and Amber Set

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Monday, April 4, 2011

Chicos Inspired Necklace and Earrings

So I was at the mall last week wandering through several of my favorite stores. I don’t sew that well so I don’t knock off clothes. Trust me, people saying "Oh, you made that" about a clothing item would NOT be saying it in a tone conveying their awe at my dressmaking skills. More like "OMG, didn't anyone see you before you left the house?"  But jewelry I can  do.

I saw something like this at Chicos ( this is from their website) :
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The one I saw was  longer and $48. I’ve seen variations of these long chain necklaces, some with beads incorporated. I had a couple of styles of Bead Landing chain on hand from Michaels, along with leftover washers from my Washer Charm Bracelet and beads from my stash.

The fun thing about this is there is no right or wrong. I wasn’t going for symmetry so I threaded some beads on wire and made wrapped loops on either end and then joined them to different lengths of pieces of chain:
Metal Necklace and Earrings

Faceted Metal Beads

Metallic Bead

It was such a fast project I had time to make a pair of matching earrings!

Hammered Metal Clips

I can’t wear pierced earrings so these are clip-ons. Just glued the clip backs (I love Beadalon’s adhesive for this) to some findings and attached one loop from leftover chain to each earring using a jump ring. Added a bead and a small washer to complete.

Metal Madness Earrings
They look a lot heavier than they are. They’re actually really light. Nothing like making something in the morning to wear  for something you need to go to in the afternoon!
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