DIY Jewelry

                 My Hand-Made Jewelry Collection:

 **I try to leave a brief "tutorial" on each piece I make, so if ya'll ever need help or have questions or want to request a specific tutorial, don't hesitate to message me. It'd be my pleasure! Follow me on Pinterest for quicker updates, babes!

             The above necklace was made using:
- Chain I had in my chain slot of my bead stash. Not sure where it's from or anything. I just add all my chains to a slot and use as needed.

- Black ribbon.

-Clasps, although if you make the length long enough to fit over your head, you won't necessarily need a clasp.

- 11-12 leftover hot pink, crackle glass beads from a strand I bought from Wal-Mart. Pretty sure it came with two strands.

-2 Crimp beads. I bought a pack of mine from Joann because that's where I found them cheapest (around $2, I think.)

-2 O-rings. Also got a pack from Joann for very cheap (a bit over $1, I think.)


- Fishing wire. You can find a whole roll (which is enough fishing wire to last you for at least an entire year's long of jewelry makin'!) for around $3! This is my favorite kind of string to work with jewelry-wise because it's so sturdy, clear so if your string will be showing or your beads are clear, the string doesn't stand out. Also because it's much cheaper than if you bought the clear string like this in the craft department, although it looks to be fishing wire, they still price it higher for a far smaller amount in the craft dept. But moving on...

                       Detailed Instructions
You can probably look at this and tell exactly how to make your own, but just in case I'll brief you:

1. Get desired amount of chain. I measure this out by taking the chain and wrapping it around the back of my neck and cutting it to where it'll meet right under my collar bones. I cut the chain this length, but you can cut as long/short as you wish. I like it this way because only some of the chain shows and the middle area is all pink, medium-sized bauble-y beads!

2. String the beads onto fishing wire (desired length) and at each end of the string, add a crimp bead.

3. Add an O-ring on the end of each chain piece -- right above the black bows. Tie the string on the O-rings (both sides) and do so tightly as possible. Fishing wire ties come loose if you aren't careful. I like to use two pliers -- one in each hand -- to grasp the end of the string and above the knot and pull tightly. This does the trick. Don't fret if your knots aren't as sturdy as you'd like because the crimp beads will provide extra protection.

4. Now, slide your crimp beads to the end, right on top of your fishing wire knots and use pliers to squeeze em' shut!

5. I made my own little bows from black ribbon to add some spunk to this necklace. If you'd like to do so, cut the ribbon to desired length. I probably used nearly 2" per bow. Cut two pieces if you want two bows, like mine. I tied my bows straight to the O-rings, so they don't flop around or turn around.

Make the bows. Use a stitch, super glue or finger nail glue (or something else) to hold the bow together. A good method is using a threaded needle through the middle of the bow, going all the way through to the back and knotting. For this necklace, I used a dab of glue and tipped the bows' ends with clear nail polish so they don't unravel or fray.

P.S. My bows took some work because the last one didn't match the first. Since I'm sloppy and didn't care to make it 100% perfect, once I got them even enough to please me, I was done. However, if you're a perfectionist and get frustrated with the two bows, this tutorial (making bows perfectly using a fork) might help. I don't know that it will as I've never tried this method, but definitely plan to because I'll eventually need to make perfect bows. I even pinned this tutorial on my Pinterest board, which you guys should so come follow! I post all the arts/crafts and stuff there to keep up with my projects and To-do's.



           Blue Statement Bracelet (Quick, Easy Project)

                  This bracelet was made using:

- 6 round, flat-sided glass blue beads. They're kind of a frosty color, if you can tell. I wish I could tell you guys where these exact ones came from, but I've not clue as my lovie surprised me with a pack of them. However, I found some similar ones here, which come in a more beautiful deep blue color. They also look like they come in a frosted clear and green too! Perhaps I'll have to put those on my to-buy list as well. I just love unordinarily shaped beads.

P.S. I had some very similar beads to this in a green color (tutorial and photos if you scroll down) that I used this same technique for a necklace. I got the green ones from a pack of $2 glass beads at Wal-Mart. A great deal. Came with enough beads for a long necklace. 

- About 2" of steal annealed wire, which I bought about 7 months ago on Amazon & it came lookin' like a Slinky. Remember those things? Anyways, I paid around $5 for it, but it has been totally worth it! It's sturdier than the earring wires used to make dangly earrings and items like this bracelet. Plus, I can do all sorts of fun wire-y stuff. Anyways, though. If you don't have wire, one of those earring making "sticks" will work.

- Leftover chain. Not sure what kind or where it came from. I just dump all my chains into a slot in my beading box. Just choose chain that you like and don't worry about the length being too long because you snip it to fit! P.S. I can tell you that if you don't mind the super high-quality stuff, you can buy very long packs of chain (of all colors!) at Joann or Wal-Mart for around $2 each. I bought like a 10 foot long black, matte chain from Joann for $1 and to put my super long owl charm on. The darn owl came on a necklace my lovie bought & surprised me with on our last Panama vacation. Paid $30 for it and the day he bought it, the chain broke! I did a quick fix for it, but it soon began turning to a bronze rather than silver and started smelling badly! Weird. So, that lead me to buying the black chain from Joann, which matched my owl's eyes wonderfully, gave it a "chic" look I guess you'd say and I had tons left over. That could be a pointless story I just told because I did not even use that leftover black chain in this project, but now you know where to buy chain for cheap. Moving on.

-You'll likely need a clasp. I use these cheap ones I bought (like 50 per pack) from Joann for around $2. It's what I use on almost all my projects requiring a clasp. P.S. If you like lobster clasps, Wal-Mart kid's craft section is where it's at, friend. I'm not even joking. They're thick, sturdy and amazing! I'll admit, these clasps from Joann (don't remember the brand, but it was the cheapest one) have had a few in the pack that were broken. So you'll see a pretty awesome sized pack of lobster clasps at Wal-Mart in the kid's craft section in a pink plastic, resealable bag. Don't know for sure the price -- I think less than $4-$5 -- but I tell you, those were some of the best clasps I've ever used. Okay, moving on. Again.

 P.S. If you have no clasps, but do have some wire -- you can create your own easy clasp! They're beautiful too. It may not match your chain though. There's a tutorial on how to make your own clasp here. I love those! What a beautiful job and they'd be a cheap, quick and easy way to do up a bracelet. Plus, those add a nice touch to a plain ol' clasp. There are loads of other DIY clasps, so do a search if you want more choices.

                         Brief instructions:

This bracelet probably speaks for itself in terms of how to construct it, but just in case...

You'll string your beads onto the wire, then cut it leaving about 1/2" inch room for making a loop at each end of the wire, each end of the beads.  

Get your chain ready, add clasps and O-rings as necessary. 

Fit the chain around your wrist and determine where it needs clipped, if any. Use the cutting tool on pliers to snip. You can secure the open links back together using your pliers.

Since bracelets that're roomy tend to slide to the underside of the wrist, you want to be wary of that when making this one since the strand of beads need to face the outer side of your hand. So, I had to cut my chain shorter than I would for a normal bracelet. 

Now, take the strand of beads on the wire. If you haven't made your loops at each end of the wire, do so now using your plier tool. You can open the loops on the ends of the wire to secure them to the end of the chain.

 
These instructions are not extremely in-depth. If you need deeper instructions, shoot me a message & I'll come to the rescue right away. If you don't want to do that, do some online searching to learn how to use jewelry pliers, if that's the part you need help on.

 

The necklace above was made using the following:

- One pack  of the large, shiny but matte pink round and oval-shaped beads (comes with 2 strands) from Wal-mart.

-Steel annealed wire -- I bought a nice amount of this stuff off Amazon for like $5, although the price was listed as a dollar! That aside, I'm so glad I did because this stuff has been a life saver. I've truly been able to expand the designs of my jewelry using this stuff! Totally worth it.

The chain thingy was made by me using cut pieces of the wire and using my plier tools to shape and cut. It looks a bit rough up-close, but I'm happy with it. You can always be more precise with your wire-shaping, though. The beads were all also attached using this wire. No extra stuff was needed besides beads, ribbon and wire. It's so long that it fits over my head without the need of a clasp. The way I see it, if you don't need a clasp, no sense in wasting one!

-The lighter pink colored beads as well as the clear-pink ones came in another $2 pack from Wal-Mart. I actually had these left over and even some left after making this necklace! The pack had a great supply of beads in it.

As for the ribbon, I basically just cut two pieces, folded each in half and tied them around each end of my wire loops (shaped using the tool and the wire.) Very easy project, but the wire twisting took some time and more patience than I had, which is why mine isn't so perfect looking.

Necklace made using:

- Old chain in my chain slot of bead stash. 

- 7 Rounded, interesting shaped green glass beads found at Wal-Mart in the $2 bead station.

- About 1 1/2" -  2" of steel annealed wire. You can use an earring "stick" or other wire. I like this because of the sturdy-ness and ease-of-use, though. 

-And of course a clasp at the back, but if you make this necklace long enough to fit over your head, no clasp is really needed!

As you can see, this is a really easy, quick necklace to make & it looks nice and unique. Kind of a statement necklace. I had planned on using the other shapes in the pack (there were some teardrop shapes and smaller shapes like the ones in the photo.) I wanted to add them each on another stick of wire, one under the other, but once I got them all together, I just thought the simplicity of the one strand looked so much better for some reason. You could still do that though.

The blue glass bead bracelet I made previously is very similar to this. I basically used the same exact technique only a bracelet length instead of necklace.

I Took A Page From Martha Stewart's Book!

The title, awesome, don't you think? The reason why I say I took a page from Martha Stewart's book is because well, my lovies, I happen to craft... a lot! Bet you didn't know that?

Yes, it's true. When I'm not killing myself on my pole or blogging about the best coffee or neatest little bar of soap, I'm probably sewing or crafting! I am actually a pretty creative little thing!

Unfortunately, I don't have Martha Stewart's patience or talent, but I like to try. I also like to cut corners.

So when I say I took a page from Martha Stewart's book, that's because I seen her doing a neat little hobby--decorating cardboard boxes with rolled magazine pages! Funny, my witty title, huh?

You see, with lots of shipping, I end up with lots of these cardboard boxes so one day I found myself stuffing junk in them. I thought 'what an ugly box that is, with all my lovely supplies stuffed inside. It just doesn't belong in this room, being all ugly like that.' I had recently gotten a shipment from I believe Zaphon (remember, the pink sparkly dress? Zaphon also wrapped it in gorgeous lavendar paper.) So I grabbed that lovely lavendar paper, taped it onto the box and bam! Beautiful storage box. Then I managed to come across some lovely purple ribbon so I tied it around the once ugly box and bam! A lovely gift for my lovely sister! I liked it so much, I started doing this with most boxes I got.

I ended up with a bookshelf full of these gorgeous boxes I've decorated... I'll have to add a photo of them to put in this post! I have pink, sparkly pink, funky print, leopard print. ALL sorts of neat storage boxes, each small enough to line my bookshelf.

 When I saw Martha Stewart crafting up a box with rolled magazine pages, I liked it enough to do it. Of course I can't take much credit since it's not my own idea, but it was so neat I couldn't pass up using someone else's idea! 

  The first one, I tried doing the pages unique--not straight up and down. Turned out looking strange, but I liked that I made it my own. The second one, I said to hell with that sideways idea--it's hard! Then I resorted to straight up and down. You can see that the straight up and down box looks strange, the pages are uneven, but oh well. 

 In the process of gluing, Fuzz decided to use the box as her bed! She is a huge fan of these boxes. I believe this one is her bed now. Ha Ha. She sleeps in it all the time.

WANT TO KNOW HOW?
Well, you could always watch Martha do it like I did, but I figured if I'm gonna blog about it, might as well give you some info on how to do it.

First, save magazines. Cut tons of pages out. Use glue, but here's your warning: DO NOT USE that crappy Elmer's "repositioning" glue. It was the worst waste of $2 I've ever spent. The crap won't glue a flies legs to paper. Instead, I found that the cheapest glue works best! I ended up using UH-OH stick or something like that-- it's purple. I've found most cheap, purple glue works best. At one point I ran out and used some purple cheap brand of glue that came from my 12 year old's teacher. Forgot the name, but it worked well!

Now, you have your good, cheap glue. If you're like Martha, you'll use a pencil and roll the paper up. (Start with a corner!) If you're like me, you'll say screw getting your pencil glued inside the paper and simple use your hands--much faster.

Then, you'll need a hot glue gun. Cut the rolls of paper to fit your box. This way they won't be sticking up, taller than your box. Then, hot glue those babies on the box. One by one. 

I've been pretty frustrated with this project, but it makes such lovely boxes. The glue is just annoying. Easy project though. You could even join the kids in on it.

  Before you go, say hello to Hubert!

The pretty much free skirt!

  I'm kind of a beginner at this sewing stuff so to most people, this is an easy skirt to make, but to me, it was one hell of an accomplishment! Since I stick with simple projects for now as I've been teaching myself to sew for the past several months, I won't give you instructions on how to make this... unless you actually did want to know how and I'd love to! However, I am learning absolutely everything on my very own and it can be tough! I went into crafting knowing zero. I simply do what seems possible for me and I have nearly ripped every hair out of my head on some projects, but the ones that do turn out well are so worth it!

  First, no I was NOT picking a wedgie or scratching my booty in that first pic! I was actually adjusting my leggings underneath when my lovie decided to snap the pic. How nice of him? It's the only picture thought that really showed the blue colors so I went with it rather than putting it back on and taking more pics.

  THIS, my darling lovelies, is a Sand Mountain kind of skirt! You know, the ones you make without spending a single penny! Ha. That's right. I made this skirt for nothing. Well, I actually made it to wear because I thought it'd be really funky and cute, but I paid absolutely nothing to make it.

  You may have to pay for fabric if you don't have any on hand that you can use, but you can do this without buying anything else! YES, I'm a Sand Mountain cheapie! LOL.

  A couple of weeks ago A (12 year old) came in with his shorts around his ankles (strangely this is not an uncommon occurance at our house. We're tryin' to break him.) Ha. Ha. Anyways, we made him pull his shorts up. He did and then stuck his hand up the leg of the shorts and I heard ripppping. I asked what on earth was going on inside there and after a minute of tugging and a lot of ripping sounds, from the bottom of his shorts leg, out came this horrendous pair of boxers all torn up! Ha. Ha. He had been wearing them with a rip and then he was playing and ripped them all over.

 While he dangled his boxer shorts proudly in the air with a crap-eating-grin on his face, the genuis idea came to me! I snatched em' right out of his hand and went to work. He said "hey! I was gonna throw those away. They're ripped and you cannot fix them with your sewing machine and make me re-wear em'!" Ha. Ha. I always sew up his jeans when they rip and unfortunately, this too is a very common occurance at our house. I swear, the kid rips his jeans at least once a week! So he thought I was going to fix those underwear up and make him wear them! It was hilarious, but no, my friends. No. I had a much better idea in mind.

What do his underwear have to do with my tie dye skirt? Hee. Hee. HEE. Instead of using the last pack of elastic I had on hand, I grabbed my X-acto knife and cut the elastic band right out of his torn up underwear! We are the same size so I get really lucky on these sort of projects! Or when I've not washed my own clothes in a month and laundry day leaves me with no clothes. 

The tie-dye fabric was actually yards long and my lovely grandmother who has supported my crazy-ass craft journey, donated a box of VERY old fabric she had at her house. The tie-dye, I fell in love with. Which brings me to another sweet story, but I'll cut it short, promise. This same tie-dye fabric is believed (by me) to have been my mother's when she first moved out of my grandmothers home and in with my father! That's what makes this fabric so cool to me. My lovely mom had told me a story about how when she was young she took on sewing too and her first project was tie-dye curtains and well, judging by her story and the huge chunk of fabric my grandmother gave me, this was more than likely my mom's when she was barely 20! That's old for fabric and how neat that it's been handed down and all?

So I measured the length I wanted and nearly doubled the width as I wanted this skirt to be kinda scrunchy. You can see I didn't make it large enough in the waist to get the amount of scrunch there I had wanted, but that's OK. It's better than my first try at the skirt! I had cut it so small that it would fit my waist, but not my rear! Ha. Ha. I decided to use that piece that was too small to make my precious Buggy (my 2 year old neice) a matching skirt! Then Miss Molly who's 7 will have one as well! These ladies will be matching me. Maybe that's lame, but I think it's cute. 

After getting the right size cut, I hemmed the edges and stuck a large safety pin in one end of the elastic I got from A's torn undies. Lol! Oh, oops. I almost forgot. I actually sewed a little pocket (fold the fabric at the waist down so the elastic will have a little pocket) And THEN I put my pin through the underwear elastic and inched it through the "pocket" I sewed and bam! I had myself one cute, somewhat scrunchy skirt! 

After that last paragraph I totally realized that God clearly did not intend for me to write instructions on things. That was all jacked up! Lol. If you did happen to want to try this project and had questions, I promise I'll be able to answer them without leaving things out. Lol.

So, that my friends, is the story of my pretty much free skirt! How nice? It's certainly a story to pass down to our kids! 

I've got a great fabric store to share with you: http://www.jandofabrics.com/

Hay my precious sparklies, I have a wonderful site to share with you my sewing ladies out there are going to love this one...

 http://www.jandofabrics.com/ I just recently was told about the site so I visited them myself. I really love the wide variety of fabric they offer and the customer service department are so kind & they get back to you quickly, always a plus.

 I found some beautiful fabric on their site. I had to pull out my notepad and make a 'purchase list.' & to think I almost wasted my money on the plain, small variety at wal-mart! I'm so glad that I visited J & O fabrics before doing that. I just thought I'd share the link with you lovelies. I hope you take a minute & stop by!

 We have a little project going on right now & I'll be using J & O fabric. I'll be sure to post pics of the finished pieces! Now, while you're waiting for those photos you can go check out their online store: http://www.jandofabrics.com/

 I'd love to know the ideas for projects you ladies (or men) come up with after visiting their site!