Frosty Blue Wire and Bead Crocheted Bracelet

Do you ever finally get around to trying something and then kick yourself for not doing it sooner because you thought it must be much harder than it actually was?  Raise your hand and fess up.

I have wanted to try: 1.) Crocheting with beads and 2.) Crocheting with wire (and beads) but thought “Oh no. It has to be really really REALLY hard”. I was wrong.

I found a video on You Tube. Most people go to YT for laughs or clips of things they missed. I go for craft tutes!

I used a thinner silver beading wire ( 26 guage) and this bead mix called “PB&J” from Blue Moon Beads. I thought this color combo was perfect for jeans and sweaters and Winter.

Following the tutorial, I went to work and made this in about well I don’t know exactly how long but it was less than an hour!

I was worried about it being too small so I actually ended up making it a little bigger than I needed but I overlapped the ends and secured them with a lobster claw clasp. Problem solved.

I may even branch out of my usual neutral wardrobe colors and look for a frosty blue sweater to match my new bracelet!

Design Team Member

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As a member of the Blue Moon Beads Design Team, these products were provided for my use. All opinions are mine. 

BFF Open House Link Party #79 Wrap Up and Features

Happy Thanksgiving Week crafty peeps! I’m so thankful to have all of you creative people in my life!
Once again, you all didn’t disappoint with ideas shared at Friday’s BFF Open House.

Here are just a few, some last minute Thanksgiving ideas and a couple to get you started on Christmas!

I love these faux wood leaves from Carolyn over at homework. Pop on over for the secret ingredient.

Doreen, from Altered Artworks shared her “Giving Thanks” journal ( I think I may even have that paper!) . This would be a fun thing to bring out each year and then start another volume once filled up.

Nichole from PinkieforPink shared how she made this lovely burlap and lace Give Thanks banner. No sew and great tip to keep burlap from fraying.

Looking ahead to Christmas , visit Sarah at Alderberry HIll to see how she made snowballs for her gorgeous lantern:

But back to Thanksgiving and this week’s chocolate feature. Jocelyn from Inside BruCrew Life shared these adorable peanut butter cup turkeys. If I have one teeny tiny whine about Thanksgiving, it is that it is not known for being a chocolatey holiday! Problem solved.

Thanks again to all who linked up. Make it a creative week!

Embossed Metal Snowflake Tile

I mentioned in an earlier post that College Boy is going to a Professor’s home for Thanksgiving. I wanted to send something for him to take as a little token of our appreciation for hosting him.

The card I made was all about Thanksgiving so I decided that I’d make something Wintery since we’re nearing the end of Fall.  I started with a plain MDF plaque I’d picked up along the way and the plan was to Mod Podge a Winter Branch die cut and embellish from there. Except, once I podged it on, I hated it!

I don’t know about you, but if I am not feeling something I just have to start over. I peeled off the paper intending to recover with a different paper but once I pulled it off and a rough edged layer was left behind, I got another idea.

I grabbed some metallic Mica Gloss inks (JudiKins) and started sponging them onto the remaining paper layer.

This was much more “me”. I grabbed a handmade paper scrap from my stash, tore the edges,  and Mod Podged that on. Now I was really feeling this project. After the inks dried, I sealed with a layer of Mod Podge and sprinkled with fine iridescent glitter.

Went to my embossing folders and pulled out a snowflake design ( Sizzix) and ran a piece of Art Emboss metal through my Cuttlebug.

Trimmed that to a size that would fit with my tile, added decorative brads to each corner, and glued to my tile as shown. Punched some snowflakes from the metal scraps, and dotted the centers with adhesive pearls, and finished with a free hand sort of pom pom of ribbon yarn.

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BFF Open House Link Party #79

Happy Friday Eve all and yikes, Thanksgiving is a week away! I still can't believe it but I guess I better because I'm cooking lol.

So let's see what everyone's been up to this week ( which once again has flown by so fast) . And let's share the love and make sure and visit some of the other BFFs!

Giving Thanks Card with Pendant Focal

This will be a very different Thanksgiving for us because it will be the first one we’ve spent without our son. College Boy will stay at school for the holiday because it’s just too crazy for him to fly back and forth for such a short time, especially when just over two weeks later he'll be home for a month long Winter break.

We’re thankful though that he was invited to his Academic Adviser’s home for Thanksgiving. I’m sending along a token of our thanks and made this card for him to give to his hosts.

I had this fun brown and black floral paper in my stash , along with these die cut leaves.
Included in the design team supplies I received from Blue Moon Beads was this beautiful wood pendant.

I was debating what to do with it and it just went perfectly with my card so it became the focal.

The colors, the feather and flower charms all just tied together with the paper.

The card is 6x6 so I cut the papers to fit and layered them together as shown. Then I glued the pendant to the center panel and embellished my card with paper flowers.

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Blue Moon Beads Design Team Project : Rum Raisin and Gold

You might remember last month I announced that I’d been selected to be part of Blue Moon Beads 2012-2013 Design Team. I’m so excited to share the first project I made with the wonderful supplies they sent me to play with!

Included in the supplies were several tins of color coordinated beads. The first one I played with is called “Rum Raisin”

Pinks, purples, lavenders and orange.  The colors immediately said “gold” to me so I used some gold BM chain that I already had in my stash. I made several clusters of beads to intermix with the chain using beading wire and wrapped loops. A great video to show you how to make a wrapped loop is here: Wrapped Loop Tutorial

I didn’t have any particular order so I just kind of eyeballed my spacing of the beaded sections.

II folded my large completed chain in half and attached jump rings to each end and then added some more chain to each end.

Using stringing wire, I strung a small section of beads that I attached with jump rings to the middle of the double layer:

I like the randomness of this and these are definitely colors I would not likely have put together on my own. These little tins can be found at JoAnn’s and Blue Moon chain and beading supplies can be found at several craft stores.

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Disclosure: As part of the Blue Moon Design Team, supplies were provided for my use. Opinions are my own.

BFF Open House Link Party #78 Wrap Up and Features!

Happy Monday crafty people. Can you believe that Thanksgiving now less than two weeks away? Really. Less than TWO WEEKS. When my son was little, he quickly surmised that it was the “forgotten” holiday and would get mad that stores went immediately from Halloween to Christmas and insisted that we decorate for Thanksgiving equally as much as those other holidays. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one so here are some ideas from Friday’s party.

I love the simplicity of this ombre printable from Bev at Flamingo Toes don’t you?  She’s got two more variations.

Michele over at The Scrap Shoppe shows how to easily transform some cheap gourds into glammed up décor. Can you go wrong when glitter’s involved?

New blog on the block! Robyn from Ruffly Ribbons shared this gorgeous headband to dress up your attire for holiday entertaining or just because. I live in headbands. Must attempt! Robyn’s is a new blog so let’s show her some bloggy love.

Before we know it, we’ll be hearing Christmas music 24x7. OK already hearing it!  Aimee from Twigg Studios shared these drop cloth and felt stockings. Great to hang or use as a way to present a gift.
And this week’s chocolate feature is from Lori Ann at Lori Ann’s Food and Fam. Oh my:

I’ll let her describe it:

You might not be able to handle it....it's o.k.
You need to know your limits.

Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake

Thanks everyone for linking up and sharing your creativity here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Hope to see you again on Friday and make it a creative week!