Trying New Techniques

Today feels kind of bittersweet.  After 10 days of having hubby home and enjoying our cheap-day-trip vacation, I miss having our whole family together and the sense of excitment we had as we did something new and fun each day.  On the other hand, by the end of the day yesterday, I was completely exhausted!  And I did enjoy my sweet Noah-snuggles in bed this morning...when Daddy was around, I was chop liver, but now that life's back to normal, I get all the snuggles and love I could ask for.  Besides, it's good to have time to play around with some of my hobbies...I couldn't believe I went a week without making anything notable {although I did really enjoy the gardening work we accomplished as a family}.

So, we're back into our routine; grocery shopping and storytime at the library this morning, and then a fun playdate with a good friend and her cute kiddos this afternoon.  My friend April is into fashion and jewelry like I am, and she just bought a great black and white dress to wear to a wedding this weekend.  She had seen a pair of earrings at NY&Co that she hoped I could imitate, and also had visions of a matching necklace.  She bought the beads and brought them over this afternoon, and I had fun showing her some of the basics.  Here's the necklace we came up with:

I love it!  I'm actually pretty bummed that I don't get to keep it...lol.  Here's how to make one.

Materials: 3 tubes of large seed beads in different colors, stringing wire, crimp beads and pliers, 2 jump rings, clasp

Instructions: Cut three seperate pieces of stringing wire to your desired length.  String each one with one type of seed bead.  Carefully twist the strands around each other.  Slide a crimp bead onto the wire ends, thread your clasp or jump ring on, then thread the wire ends back through, pulling tight.  Crimp the bead shut and trim off excess wire.  If necklace is too short, you can always add a chain of jump rings to lengthen it.

I really enjoyed the challenge of making this because in all my jewelry work to date, I hadn't yet used crimp beads or stringing wire.  Thanks, April, for the inspiration!  Hope you enjoy wearing your new jewelry.  I know you'll look fabulous, and don't forget, I expect pictures!

I've also been playing around with a few other new tools and techniques, particularly using shaped jump rings to form a funky chain in between beads.  First, I made this bracelet with some fun turquoise beads from the Potomac Bead Company...I loooove the square shape!

I got a pack of oval shaped jump rings in a mixture of small, medium, and large sizes at A.C. Moore and decided to use those with my beads.  I put the square beads on eye pins {along with some seed beads on two of them for an accent}, then just joined them to the jump rings in a pattern of medium-small-medium-bead that repeated around the bracelet.  Of course I had to make matching earrings too!

I liked the effect so much I decided to try a necklace.  I had made a pair of earrings {there's a pair like them available in my Etsy shop} with these super fun sparkly black beads.  I love the way they look when they catch the light.  I got 5 more of the beads and made this necklace.

It's the same idea as the bracelet...the beads are on eye pins, then I attached jump rings in this pattern:

med-small-large-small-med, in between the beads.  The picture isn't great because of the shadow, but you get the idea.  It's an easy way to create a unique, fun-looking chain to showcase your favorite beads.

Well, time to get cleaned up from all my beading fun and think about starting dinner...only 40 minutes till hubby gets home!  I sure have missed my best friend today!