PRETTY IN PINK NECKLACE

Here is my new necklace I made for my friend Doug Alves over at Play Create Grow. March is National Craft Month and he invited me to create something for him - hope you like it. I used old jewelry and some felt plus a few interesting pieces of chain. 

Here it is.....

Here are a few more pictures of steps.  It's really easy and can have so many different looks by just changing jewelry and felt.  Hope you have fun.

Here is everything taken apart, the hardest part is deciding what parts to use.

Use embroidery floss to attach the rounds together. The stitching adds some detail and dimension.

I folded the round just past half and added a few stitches in back to hold in place.  I created a charm and sewed in place.

My jewel had shanks on the back to make it easy to sew in place.  It can also be glued if needed, making sure to use a jewel glue.

I chose the chains I wanted, determined the length then used floss to sew ends into place just in from edges. Attach closure to ends and enjoy!

This is a very easy project to do and if you would like printable instructions please go here...I would love to see what your projects look like - just send me a picture.

A Very Polished Necklace

I  few years ago I purchased some small glass glob ornaments.  I knew I wasn't going to use them as ornaments - but as a necklace - and use fingernail polish to paint them.

 I mentioned this to my sister and she said she would like to make it. Here she is testing each color on aluminum foil. Some of them really change color when brushed out.

Once the colors where chosen, she poured a puddle of polish onto the foil. Roll the glass in the polish covering the bottom half.  We added ornament hooks then hung them to dry - which doesn't take long.

 Here the are all dry and ready to go.  I just love the colors....she is making a necklace but what a great bracelet it would make too....there were a few leftovers that I can use....

 They look like jewels in her hand.  This technique of dipping could also be used with glass Christmas ornaments and lot of other things....hope you give it a try. 

 So Beautiful.......

Ready for Fall....

Fall has finally come to Fresno....time for pumpkins and acorns. I have been seeing these on felting blogs where they used a felt ball for the acorn.....so cute, I just love them.

I didn't have any felt balls ( I wanted to give up) so I decided to create something different. I wadded up a small piece of tissue paper then wrapped it with pearl cotton or embroidery floss - they both come in so many colors - some even variegated - the choices are endless. I don't have any oak trees around but I did find these eucalyptus caps...I liked the color and they work just as well - something a little different ....... My friend Alexa at The Swell Life took these pictures for me - I just love the natural light. Thanks so much. I think these would be so cute just lying in a bowl or plate - the natural wood really enhances the colors.

I decided to create little pumpkins with some. After wrapping with orange, I took wrapped a single strand of brown to create sections. Everything was glued in place with Fast Grab Tacky Glue - it dries clear and fast. Before I glued the cap on, I drilled two small holes, inserted thin cording creating a hanger for the necklace. Small felt leaves were glued on for color. I just think these are so cute and could be worn all fall.

Here is a different necklace, plain pumpkins but with a larger felt oak leaf added to the necklace lacing. I like how it turned out. Hope you like these and will try them - please let me know if you do - I would love to see them.

Isn't this a cool necklace? I found it at a Forever 21 store. Unfortunately is was entirely in the gold color. I loved the dimension of it - but me being me - needed color - so I used fingernail polish. Here is the necklace while I was working on it. Several coats of polish can be layered for depth of color. I used the Opaque paint pen because I couldn't find yellow polish in my little hometown. It worked fine. It's amazing what colors of nail polish are out there. I found most of my colors in a dollar store - but keep your eyes open when shopping - you'll be surprised how many different colors there are.

Here is the finished necklace - Looks good! Not too bad for a $12.00 necklace. Now I have to make a bracelet - will show you when I finish.

Last Saturday Jen and I went to San Mateo (again) for the International Jewelry show. It was a great day - It was fun to see all the wonderful charms, beads, chain and everything else in between. Here is Jen holding a string of beads - We were told that is was $77.00 - we thought that was rather high for the strand - but then were informed that each bead had real diamonds and that EACH bead was $77.00 - Jen carefully put them down.......nothing like holding $7,000.00 worth of beads in your hand.

Here is the assortment of what I bought - I love everything here. The red bird and cherries are laser cut Lucite and the bracelet to the left has flowers and leaves made from leather - too cool - think I will take it apart and do something cleaver with it - will post when done. I thought the lampwork birds were fun - don't know what to do with them yet - just knew I had to have them....you know how it is......

Isn't this cute? I just love the colors.....I drilled through each ball and added a post and looped the top. I then thread them onto an elastic cording and added a few bright colored bead to the mix and there you go -a cute summer necklace. Larger holes could be drilled then the balls could be threaded directly onto thin elastic cording for a different look......hummmmm I have a few balls left over - I'll have to try that...... Let me know what you think.