Silver, Leather, and Pearls: Bold Necklace and Coordinating Bracelet

I can post this now that I’ve given it to the recipient. I made these recently for a friend. Supplies except for leather : Blue Moon Beads.

The thick chain and bold silver beads remind me of some very high end designed silver lines but for much much less! 

For the necklace, I used two sizes of silver snake chain ( 9MM and 3MM) measured to 20 inches. Finished the ends with end caps adhered with jewelry glue, and finished with a lobster claw clasp attached with jump rings.

I had some oversized jump rings in my stash and strung both strands of the chain through them, then used one more looped through them to hold them together. 

The pendant was made using a connector link, focal bead and leftover chain from other projects.

For the bracelet, I used a 7 inch length of 8MM leather cord to which I attached the same type of glued on jewelry caps and clasp as the necklace. Tied a knot about 1/3  into the bracelet then strung three focal beads and tied another knot. For the dangle, I wire wrapped three pearls strung on head pins and finished with bead caps. The beads in the bracelet and the beads in the pendant match so these can be worn together or separately.

BFF Open House Link Party #179

Happy Friday Eve all! Welcome to another party here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Some wonderful ideas linked up at last week's party. I hope when you link up you're visiting each other. Here are some highlights: 

From Crafty Journal, make a mini Halloween themed Pocket Book using just one sheet of scrapbook paper. 

Heather from Woods of Bell Trees has a wonderful series going called  "Party In A Box" . So many ways to adapt this from parties, showers, housewarming, just because. It is a great idea for prime gift giving season!

Over at ArtsyVaVa, you'll see that the creative apple didn't fall far from the tree. Check out this table that her son made! How cool is this?

This week's chocolate feature is perfect for your Halloween dessert table. Best of all there's absolutely no way to mess it up!

Halloween Cookies and Scream bark from Life With The Crust Off. 

Now, on to this week's party! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Halloween: Flying Monkeys Printable

I saw a similar quote on Facebook about Flying Monkeys that inspired this printable. I have love The Wizard of Oz since I was little including watching it every year it was on TV, then owning the VHS, DVD and Blu Ray editions.  Then I fell in love with the book "Wicked" , have seen the musical live , and know most of the songs by heart.

Being the weird kid ( ask The Mumster and Mr. Chocolate) that I was, I loved the flying monkeys. Some things never change! 

Made this using PicMonkey and some elements from EyeInspire . Click on the image to bring to full resolution. Right click to "Save As". Size accordingly. 

BFF Open House Link Party #178

Happy Friday Eve once again and welcome to the first party of October. We are in full on Halloween mode and crunch time! Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

From Artsy VaVa, I am in LOVE with these brilliant Halloween cuffs. She shares the how to and it's easier than you think! 

I am wild about this copycat wreath from Homemade Interest especially given that the price of the wreath she knocked off was $259! She did hers for less than 1/4 that and the result is just as stunning as the original. 

This spooky vignette from The Crafty Lumberjacks is perfect for a mantle or any flat surface: 

This week's chocolate feature would be a perfect addition to a Halloween dessert table ( or any dessert table, or just because they're awesome!). From the ladies at LouLou Girls: 

Now on to this week's party!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Copper and Gold Metal Bead Bracelets

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. For me, it’s having your son’s friends ask “Do you think your mom would make me a bracelet?” Uh SURE?!  What better combination than being part of a design team for a bead company, loving to make things, and having a kid who likes to wear your stuff?
For these I used copper and antique gold metal beads from Blue Moon Beads. The colors are perfect for Fall.

Simple projects. Beads and stretchy cord.

I remembered that I had this little amulet in my BMB supplies and the antique gold went perfectly. Added it to one of the bracelets using a jump ring.

For the other bracelet, I used some leftover metal beads from my stash .

Sharing At: 

 

BFF Open House Link Party #177

Happy Friday eve all. Can you believe it's the last weekend of September? Me either. And to put you in a scary mood for Halloween, Christmas is three months from today. BOO!

Here are some highlights from last week's party. 

With prime gift giving and entertaining season upon us, Bonnie from The Pin Junkie has a great tray makeover that's perfect for your own entertaining or to give as a hostess gift. Gorgeous!

Boot season is also upon us. Love how Bianca from Being Bianca dressed up these rain boots that she found on sale. I need a pair of rainboots so can't wait to try this. 

With Halloween lurking around the corner, I love how Jamie at Some of This and That shows us how to transform photos into versions of our scarier selves. Spooky selfies anyone? 

I couldn't decide between these two cupcake ideas for this week's chocolate feature so here are both of them! 

Sarah, a contributor at This Silly Girl's Life shared peanut butter Oreo and cream cupcakes YUM!

And Cami from TitiCrafty shared these Oreo Surprise Cupcakes. You're welcome! 

Now on to this week's party!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Halloween: French Gothic Coffin Boxes

A couple of years ago I had so much fun altering these little coffin shaped boxes I found at Michaels. Darn if they don’t keep stocking them and darn if I don’t keep finding ways to play with them.

It helps ( or doesn’t help depending on whether you’re Mr. Chocolate) that I love digging through clearance aisles and 50-60% off bins which is where I found the embellishments that inspired this project.

The metal Fleur de Lis and Crown pieces were in the $1.50-$3 bins and were 60% off when I found them. On a previous hunting expedition, I’d found the Jolee’s Boutique embellishments on sale. 

We went to France several years ago and while there we toured the Catacombs which are not for the faint of heart but an amazing piece of history. The ornate metal embellishments brought back memories of that trip and the coffin boxes brought back memories of the Catacombs so voila. Gothic Coffin Boxes. Welcome to my brain.

I left a couple of the boxes unpainted and painted the others black. Using the boxes as a template, traced around them and cut out coordinating papers and Mod Podge’d them onto the boxes.

I love it when  a plan goes awry. I intended to use the polka dot paper on the BACKS of each coffin and oops…one made it on the front. Oh well. Lemons / lemonade.

You can’t really see it but I crumpled the skull and bones paper before applying so it would be a little wrinkly. And for once, I was patient and let the boxes dry overnight so the paper would be good and stiff when I sanded the edges.
TIP: Package of emery boards from the Dollar store work great for this

I glued the metal embellishments to the front and added the Jolee’s embellishments as shown. Edged the boxes with torn pieces of  coordinating washi tape.

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