Zippers and a Little Bling

It's so fun to go through my pictures every once in a while.

I was going through my pics of our trip up the West Coast last summer.
My dad just had back surgery and is down and out for a little while so my
sister had the brilliant idea to put together a digital photo frame for him
with pictures of the family.

As I was going through my pictures from our trip
I found some pictures of some bracelets I made a while ago but never got around
to posting them.

Honestly I'm not sure why.
I love how they turned out.

Plus maybe I need to take a break from pallet projects for a little while.
I've got a major living room redecorate coming soon that has a heavy
dose of pallet wood so let's try something completely different.
I'm like that sometimes.
So here goes.

Forewarning:  This post will be picture rich.

Alright.  Let's go!

I love Zippers!
I love the fun funky design of some of them.
The cool industrial metal ones.

While brousing through SAS in Phoenix,
which is my proverbial 'kid in a candy store' place,
I wandered over to their zipper section.

Big ones.
Little tiny ones.
Fat ones.
Colorful ones.
Separating metal ones.
Chunky plastic ones.

All for so cheap.
The zippers I'm using here cost me $0.25 each.
Seriously.
$0.25 each.
Awesome.

When I saw them I knew they would be perfect for bracelets.
Kind of an industrial meets steampunk effect.
Fun and unique.
Perfect.

So I dug out my jewelry making supplies and started putting things together.

A key, a charm and some beads were all this bracelet needed.

Afer I trimmed the canvas tape away from the actual metal zipper.

A few jump rings and a lobster claw closure and it's done.

Easy.

Zippers and charms.

Perfectly cute and fun!

For this bracelet I decided to leave the canvas tape on and allow the zipper to function

unlike the previous one.

I found another set of fun charms.

A heart.

A love charm with definition,

and I made the bead charm with a head pin and some beads.

Then I attached the charms with a jump ring to the hole in the zipper head.

This way I can unzip the zipper if I want or leave it closed all the way.

The ends got a bar clamp and a toggle closure.

This is a great way to finish off the ends of the fabric.

I had to push the canvas strips together a little

to get them to fit in the bar clamp but not too much.

Then just press them closed with pliers and add the jump rings.

Easy peasy.

I think it looks beautiful on my wrist.

Fun dangle-ley charms.

 Fun.  Funky.

Pretty.

Perfect!

A Pretty for Me Time

Hip Hip Hooray!

All my babies are finally back to school. 

It was a little crazy there at the end because the start date had to be pushed back a few days.  

It really threw us all for a loop getting all geared up for school to start and the find out we had another week of summer vacation.  

I'm not complaining too much, we did get to do some fun things together before the grind started back up. 

I've just been missing 'ME' time.  

Since all my kids are in school full time now, it means several hours of whatever I want.  

Usually that means crafting, cooking, and a little exercise.  

Not necessarily in that order.  

I do have plans to refocus my goals personally and physically.  

But more on that later.

I've been dying to create something beautiful just for me.  

It turned out that I forgot about my friend's daughter's sweet 16.  

So this bracelet ended up as a gift to her.  

She leads the singing in church and she wore this bracelet.  

It was fun to see her lead with my pretty charm bracelet on her wrist.

But enough gushing.  

Let's get down to business.

You will only need a few supplies for this bracelet.

I used a sheer ribbon, but really a satin one would work just as well.  

Pick your favorite color...  match a favorite outfit.  

The sky is the limit!  

I also used some head pins, beads, a few charms, 

jump rings, some clamp ribbon ends, and a toggle clasp.  

First create the bead charms with the head pins and the beads.  They are easy to make.  Just slide the bead on the head pin and coil the remaining wire into a loop like shown.

Now decide where you want your charms and thread them on the ribbon.  I tied a knot in the ribbon for each charm to keep them in place and eliminate them all sliding to one side.

Measure your wrist and decide how long you want the ribbon to be.

Add the Ribbon clamp ends.

Finally add your jump rings and toggle clasp.  Super quick and done!

I'm so happy to have some 'Me' time again.

What will you create in your 'Me' time?

I'd love to hear about it!

A Pretty Pendant

 I wanted to make something special for my Sisters and Mom for Christmas this year, but I didn't have much to spend.  I scored big time with these pendants from PickYourPlum a few months ago and I've been hanging on to them until I figured out how I wanted to finish them.

I love making all things pretty, and when I get out my jewelry making supplies, the kids always want to join me.

Good times.

This project takes a few days for the Gel Medium to dry so if you plan on making some, set aside 2-3 days.  But after that, maybe 30 minutes total. 

 Easy.  Quick.

Above is the images I made in Photoshop for all the girls in my family.  

I just printed them out on cardstock.  

I believe they print to a 1 inch square size.

Next, get your supplies.  I'm using Mod Podge to stick the paper to the pendant.

Then Glossy Accents to create the gel covering over the pendant.  

It dries hard like a stone and makes the Monogram stand out beautifully.

There are two styles of pendants.  I cut the monograms to fit the oval pendant shape.

Next use the Mod Podge to glue the paper down.  Let dry completely.

When that is done use the Glossy Accent to fill in the space.  Do not shake the bottle.  

Bubbles are not your friend!

Start in the center and spiral the gel towards the outer edge trying to keep things even and smooth.

Inevitably there will be bubbles, so use a straight pin to poke them.

 Continue with all the pendants.  Make sure they lay flat to dry.  

That's why there is paper towel under a few of them because the top loop prevents the pendant from laying flat.  Put them in a super safe out of the way place.  

Mine went on the shelf at the top of my closet.  Let them sit for 24 hours. 

 The gel will dry clear.  I added another coat to the deeper pendants.  

Again let dry for 24 hours.

 Now it's time to assemble them.  

I used beading wire to create the strands of beads and added the charm at the end of the long one.  

You can't tell in this photo, but the charm says Love.  

Simple.  

Elegant.

 Here's what it looks like on.

Pretty.

{H} if you are reading this, yours is in the mail.  I promise! ;)

PS.. I just got featured at Beyond the Picket Fence.  I'm so excited!

Twisted Ribbon Necklace Tutorial

I found something similar on Pinterest. But I decided to change it up a little.  This project was so easy and quick.  It made a perfect Christmas Present for my Sister-In-Law.  I loved it so much, I had to make one for me too.

Here's the supplies:

 Two Spools of ribbon.  I used satin and unwired sheer about the same size.
A string of beads.  I used one string per necklace. Try to keep the ribbon and the beads approximately the same size.
Upolstery thread or embroidery floss. 
Large needle and scissors.

 I cut the two strands about 40 inches long.

 Un-string the beads and double the thread.  Tie a knot at the end.

Cross the ribbon in the middle of the 2 strands like this.  Double stitch in the end as shown.

 Start threading the beads. After each bead bring two pieces of ribbon up and over and stitch in place.  I twisted the satin ribbon each time to keep the shiny side out.

After 2 beads, stitch back through one bead to hold it together better.


I did that 3 times. 
Front, middle and end.

 It will start to look like this.

 Use all the beads.

 At the end stitch back and forth a few times to secure the end and knot the thread.  Cut off long ends of thread.

Tie a knot in the end of the ribbons to hide the thread.

Hold the necklace up and decide how low you want the beads to sit.  Cut another length of satin ribbon to finish the necklace, long enough to double it.  Poke the ribbon through the starting point and pull ribbon through to the middle.

 Tie a knot in the added ribbon like this to secure.

 Tie a double knot in the ends of the ribbons and you're done!

So lovely, easy and quick! Can't wait to wear it!

Simple Bracelet

My sister told me about this design and I thought I'd try it.

Here's your materials.

Satin ribbon

Beads

Needle and Thread

Thread your needle and knot it. Fold the ribbon and go backwards through the ribbon fold. Then go forwards through the ribbon to set the knot. Start stringing the bead. Continue folding and stringing the beads. After a couple of beads, back stitch a few to keep the strength of the bracelet.

Keep going until you have the length you want.

Back stitch again and knot the string behind the last ribbon loop.

Tie your bow and your done!

Beautiful! Love it!