Dollar Tree Washer Charm Bracelet Tutorial

I thought I'd share a project I made for a guest post I did the other day at the blog

I was honored when Bella invited me over to guest post! One of the things I love most about blogging is how supportive and helpful bloggers are to each other.

Washer Charm Bracelet

Like so many of us creative bloggers, I’d be lost without The Dollar Tree! I go there at least once a week just to walk the aisles and see what I might find. Last time I was there I found this pack of washers.

I had some chain on hand in my jewelry making stash:

I got mine at JoAnn’s but you can get this or similar many places. I measured off two lengths bracelet size. I attached the two chains to either side of a toggle clasp using jump rings.

Then I went to work on my  washer charms.

I made sets of small, medium, and large based on the size of the washers, putting a jump ring on each:

On the small ones, I put one of the smallest washers on either side. Then I just started adding these to the chain, eyeballing the spacing but not being overly precise.

It doesn’t matter which of the chains you attach your washer charms to. It all kinda blends.

If you haven’t ever made jewelry, don’t be intimidated. Working with chain is very forgiving and there are tons of  instructions out there. Here’s a video on how to open / close a jump ring and once you do that, you can open / close the links of chain…same principle.

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Stashbusting September Project #13: Last Project?

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I know tomorrow's  TODAY's the last day but I don't know if I'll finish anything tonight so this may or may not be the last Stashbusting September project. There may also be NO posts on Friday because as soon as I'm done with work, I will be running around Michaels and JoAnns like a Survivor contestant who's just been dropped off at a grocery store.

Just kidding. It hasn't been bad. Mr. Chocolate would say it's because the producers of "Hoarders" have our address and will be here soon. He'll probably hide my car keys on Friday.

In the meantime, I made this for a birthday gift, from my stash:

Chain and findings from Michaels; black onyx beads from Scottsdale Bead Supply

Half, ok 3/4 of the time I'm making jewelry I only have a general idea of what I'm going to use so I lay out what I think I'll use and then take it from there.

Stuff I thought I'd use

I literally just folder the chain in half and attached a jump ring to two links on either end. Attached the toggle clasp with another jump ring.

Bad pic, but cute locket w/ butterfly motif. It opens and is a little mirror 

Attached "Global Nomad" charm, put onyx and silver beads on head pin, made wire wrapped loop and attached all to center links of chain:

This goes with the card I posted last night so being a good stashbuster, I used a recycled box , a scrap piece of brown kraft paper I crumpled up to make it look textured, and scraps from the paper I used in the card which I cut into circles, crumpled up and made into a poppy. Added a paper flower, button and rhinestone:

One way to use scraps is to decorate the envelope to match your card

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Twelve Charming ( I Hope) Bracelets...

"For  the first school fund-raiser, my crazy craft-mom made for me...."
OK I seriously doubt my son will be singing that ( to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas just in case you don't get the way my brain works). It's back to school night this week and all of the clubs and groups have tables to raise money for various events, causes etc. So I figured charm bracelets might appeal to HS girls?  They're all slightly different and intentionally off center etc.

 

Mix of silver chain (plate...Tiffany this isn't), fire polished glass and crystal beads, charms,toggle clasps, etc. 

Hopefully they'll sell! 

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Choco-licious...Sharing A Share

So, having been at this blogging thing a little over three months, I'm still learning all of the rules of etiquette. Let it be understood that my heart's in the right place even if my brain isn't ( it's been known to happen!).

Anyhoo...one of my favorite things to do every day is to read my blog reader. I mean that's why we follow blogs right? I love to see what everyone's been up to. So I saw something fantabulously awesome featured on one of the blogs I follow Craft Envy (love that name!) a great blog by sisters in law Vanessa and Nicholette, and it led me to another new blog I just started following today The Sisters 4 Say More Is More , a cool blog run by you guessed it four sisters: Selina, Sophia, Olivia, and Elise. I just had to feature this project. Had to had to had to. Look:

CHOCOLATE Flower Necklace

YUM! Chocolate and jewelry and handmade? HELLO! Easy to see how this was one of Craft Envy's favorites. If you want to see the tutorial, click on over to The Sisters 4 Say More Is More. 

As usual, I can relate pretty much anything to a movie. "More is more" is something I say all the time. I got it from the movie "One True Thing" which I saw with one of my BFFs and we laughed in hearty agreement at the scene where Meryl Streep says this as she is trying to explain her life to her very un-crafty daughter played by Rene Zellwegger. She says "Less is not more. More is more" . Totally my philosophy when it comes to embellishments. And supplies. And chocolate.  If this movie was re-made today, Meryl Streep's character would SO be a blogger!

I Bling Therefore I Am

I've mentioned before that I love jewelry...big, chunky, funky jewelry. I love my "good" pieces but I also love playing with other stuff. I've also mentioned that I can't have my ears pierced ( physically can't...no other reason...just doesn't work) so it's a challenge to find clips I like because someone decided clips are dainty. So what's a girl to do? Why reinvent something of course!

While on vacation, I found the COOLEST store that I did not need to go into but you know I did. It's an accessory store that is all organized by color and they have got pretty much every color and every accessory you can imagine. It's called "Charming Charlie" . If you have access to one, LUCKEEEE! If you don't, well misery loves company so come sit by me.

They had some clips but I'm one of those "I want what I want" kinda people so I bought a pair of pierced earrings that gave me a vision. No, I had not been drinking. They were perfect becase the Mumster had given me a bunch o earrings that she inherited from her dear sweet cousin who passed away earlier this year. Mom's not blingy like me but our cousin was! Still, they weren't totally my style so like any mad crafter, I combined them! Wanna see?

Left: Charming Charlie....Right Cousin's Earrings

I took everything apart:

Dis-assembled, and the big ones flipped upside down

Clip Earring Backs To The Rescue! Glued on w/ Beadalon's Bead Fix

And then put them back together (with blingy parts leftover for future use yeah! )

I love that these earrings will always hold both the memory of a visit with my Mom, and a keepsake from one of our most entertaining cousins.

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Indulgence

I love jewelry. "Good" jewelry which I am really lucky to have been  given by Mr. Chocolate, and then there's the stuff I make lol.  One thing I like about making jewelry (well about making anything) is that you can reinvent it once you get tired of it or if you're not happy with it or if it breaks, and then I don't feel guilty about making more of it than I can wear because I can always transform it into something else.

I consider myself a "stringer" more than a beader. I don't weave with beads or do things requiring knotting because I'm not precise or patient enough. I do have a really cool knotting tool that a friend of mine's wife created. I still need to play with it.

Anyway...babble babble, I usually get supplies at the big box stores...Michaels or JoAnn's , both of which have improved their beading sections in recent years. But a couple of times a year, I get to treat myself with trips to amazing suppliers. Here in my home state, we have Shipwreck Beads  which is overwhelming on your first visit. You know you're in trouble when they have a lounge area (aka "man chairs") , cafe, and espresso cart because you are going to need a break to sit and regroup!

My other more limited, but sheer indulgent pleasure is, Scottsdale Bead Supply which to me is like the Tiffany of bead stores, or the Callebaut of chocolate  I'm definitely on an allowance there because as the saying goes, you get what you pay for and their materials are all fine quality. I walk through the store and take my time in each section, making probably three or more laps around before narrowing down my choices and then another two or three more laps to decide what I want, I mean can afford.  Then I do things like get them home and am so paranoid to use the materials because "OMG what did I spend?" and then they sit in my stash which is kind of pointless isn't it? Like the tee shirts we're afraid to re-fashion because "you mean I have to cut them up" but which otherwise sit, unworn, in the closet? Yep.

So I put on my big girl panties and got out some of my treasures from my last trip to SBS and made a bracelet ( that I can wear on my next trip there which is coming up!):

Black onyx, another stone the name of which I couldn't remember but Mich in LA reminded me it's a jasper, Bali silver, smokey quartz and :

Silver, black onyx and mother of pearl inlay clasp. 

And...

And I've promised myself that if ( OK when ) I buy these special things, I'm not going to stash them away because they're too precious. Life it too short. Did you know stressed spelled backwards is desserts?

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Chain Chain Chain.....Chain of Flowers

Sorry Aretha. Ooops. Miss Franklin.  After I made my first "bib" necklace  and used some chain I'd bought one day just because it was there, I had more chain leftover. OK I had a whole 'nother package of it because I have "Noah's Ark shopping disease" and buy everything in at least twos. Anyway, I decided to try another necklace, not quite as "bibby" but more with a medallion kind of look. I had more organza in my stash and more old tee shirts on hand, so I cut a couple into strips and made rolled rosettes....

I still wanted these to be lighter and softer than a traditional felt backing would allow so I thought Hmmmm...why can't I use tee shirt fabric as my base? So I did. Used fusible webbing stuff to glue two pieces together for the base:

Made layered flowers from organza and then put them and the tee shirt rosettes together on the base in a pattern I liked, hot glued them down then trimmed around to get the shape. I find this easier than cutting out a shaped base and then putting the flowers on but that's me. Sewed my chain on, and didn't even use a jump ring to add the clasp, just opened up one link of the chain and :

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