Michael’s and Jewelry Displays

Tags

Bead Gallery, Bead Landing, Bead Recipes, Belle Armoire Jewelry, Boho Bead Jewelry, Erin Siegel Jewelry, Jewelry Affaire, Kylie Parry, Melissa Trudinger, Michael's, Nancy Schindler Adams, Peruzi, Punk Chic Jewelry, Round Rabbit

If you are a regular reader, you know that I have a goal to look at jewelry supplies at craft stores whenever I am there.  I want to be able to see them in ways the designers I admire do.  I was at Michael’s yesterday and picked up a few things.  I am most willing to purchase clearance items, which cracks me up. I’m somewhat extravagant (within my means) with art beads, but I get all cheap in craft stores.

I picked up three things.  Some orange leather, a channel bracelet form and some little spike beads (the red Bead Gallery beads were on sale!)

These items will be part of fun projects, I am sure.  I bought the spikes with Erin Siegel’s e-book Punk Chic Jewelry in mind.

I have been wanting an affordable necklace display for a while.  Many of the less expensive ones are very small and rarely work for my necklaces.  Well, Michael’s had some tall ones and they were on sale!  You know I was in heaven.  I bought one in white and one in black.  They will really come in handy for long necklaces or necklaces that look better hanging.

Obviously I still need to get things in good light for a good picture.  That’s not easy around here.  This isn’t a good picture, but I wanted to show the displays. I made the necklace on the white display using a pendant by Nancy Adams of Round Rabbit with three WoolyWire drops and a bird by Kylie Parry.  The beautiful necklace on the black display is by Melissa Trudinger of Boho Bird Jewellery with a pendant bead by Peruzi.  I had worn Melissa’s necklace recently and knew it was the perfect test on the necklace form.  It’s probably the longest necklace I own.  It was slightly longer than the display, but it was easy to adjust with a little piece of painter’s tape at the back.

I’ve been wanting to check for the latest issues of Belle Armoire Jewelry and Jewelry Affaire but hadn’t managed to get myself to the bookstore.  I was thrilled to see Michael’s had the new Jewelry Affaire in stock.  I find these two magazines extremely inspiring.  I hate doing errands, so any time I can combine things into a one-stop shop situation, I’m happy.

All in all it was a very successful trip, and I was just tagging along.  I always seem able to spend money wherever I am!

 

 

Haberdashery Blog Hop Reveal

Tags

Bead Recipes, Boho Bird Jewellery, Haberdashery Blog Hop, Melissa Trudinger, Nancy Schindler Adams, Rebekah Payne, Round Rabbit, Tree Wings Studio

I have two reveals today.  If you are looking for the Summer Carnival Blog Hop Reveal, please click HERE.

Melissa Trudinger of Boho Bird Jewellery had a great idea for a blog hop – use haberdashery items such as buttons and ribbon – to make jewelry items.

I love this idea and know I will continue to visit the Pinterest page Melissa put together for this hop long after the hop is over.  There are so many things I’d like to try!  But for now, I will show you the things I actually made.  Soon after I signed up for the hop, I found myself in an antiques store and one booth had all manner of notions – perfect!  I fell in love with some 1930s fabric and bought it with some coordinating buttons.

I cut some of the fabric scraps into strips and braided it to use as the front part of a necklace.  I love Nancy Schindler Adams‘ double sided beads sold in her Round Rabbit store and can rarely resist them.  So, it’s not surprising I happened to have one in colors to match the fabric. I used that for a pendant.  I had planned something less bohemian for the rest of the necklace, but I also find it hard to resist a colorful mix of beads like African “christmas” beads, and some were sitting out on my bead table while I was working on this necklace. They managed to work their way in, and I’m quite happy with how the necklace turned out.  I love all that texture in the front, and I think the button I used for the closure goes with it perfectly!

Rebekah Payne of Tree Wings Studio had used some fabric covered bead cord made by her mother in a few projects featured on her blog.  I absolutely fell in love with the cord and bought some the second I could.  I feel about it like I feel about beads; I love them most just as themselves.  I thought the bead cord would be good for this challenge, but I didn’t want to “fussy” it up so it was no longer itself.  The bracelet I made was kind of a hard piece to photograph.

The color I used, Misty Mauve, has some olive green in it, and I had a length of flat leather in the same color.  I sewed the bead cord to the leather using two delicately etched mother-of-pearl buttons.

I wanted the beaded part of the cord to lay down nicely, so I wrapped waxed linen in between each bead to tack it to the leather.  I considered a variety of ends, and decided some hammered end caps would work.  Thinking about it now, I might have used the wider ribbon ends.  I like how it turned out because it really highlights the bead cord, which is the thing I love!

Thank you to Melissa for hosting this very fun and challenging hop!  Please click on the links below to see the wonderful haberdashery inspired creations of the other participants.

Melissa Trudinger, http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Ann Schroeder, http://www.beadlove.wordpress.com – You are HERE!

Tammy Adams, http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog.html

Amanda Wacasey, http://mandyinmystic.blogspot.com

Dolores Raml, http://craftydscreations.wordpress.com

Divya N, http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com

Michelle McCarthy, http://www.fireflydesignstudio.BlogSpot.com

DiYana Brooks, http://agapecreationsjewelry.blogspot.com/

Robin Kae Reed, http://willowdragon.blogspot.com

Andrea Glick, http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/

Karin Grosset Grange, http://ginkgoetcoquelicot.blogspot.fr

Mitzie Crider, http://needfulluxuries.blogspot.com

Janine Lucas, http://www.esfera.me/travel/blog/travel-stories – Will post on Sunday

Rosantia Petkova, http://bairozan.blogspot.com/

Susan Kennedy, http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Leithleach Alainn Seodra, http://alainnjewelry.wordpress.com/

Kathleen Breeding, http://99bobotw.blogspot.com/

Shiraz Biggie, http://secretsongdesigns.blogspot.com

Chris Eisenberg, http://www.wanderware.blogspot.com

Heather Richter, http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/

Lennis Carrier, http://www.windbent.net/

Rebecca Anderson, http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com

Jenny Kyrlach, http://anafiassa.blogspot.com

Rita Toltec Jewels, http://www.JewelSchoolFriends.com

Mischelle Fanucci, http://www.micheladasmusings.blogspot.com

Karen Mitchell, http://overthemoon-design.com

Carol Briody, http://Cbriody.blogspot.com

Karla Morgan, http://TexasPepperJams.blogspot.com

Carolyn Lawson, http://Carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

Lori Anderson, http://www.prettythingsblog.com/

Jami Shipp http://www.celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com

Lili Krist,http://pcbylik.blogspot.com

Evelyn Shelby, http://raindropcreationsbyevelyn.blogspot.com

Raissa de Guzman, http://www.abloro.com

Niky Sayers, http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk

Keren Panthaki, http://vasdea.wordpress.com

Evelyn Shelby, http://raindropcreationsbyevelyn.blogspot.com/

Raissa de Guzman, http://www.abloro.com

 

Upcoming Hops – Two Reveals on 8/2!

Tags

A Grateful Artist, Bead Recipes, Haberdashery Blog Hop, Lisa Lodge, Melissa Trudinger, Pine Ridge Treasures, Summer Carnival Blog Hop

         

I managed to get myself signed up for two blog hops on the same day – August 2nd.  I had signed up for Lisa Lodge’s Summer Carnival Blog Hop quite a while ago.  More recently, Melissa Trudinger announced the Haberdashery Blog Hop. It was such a fun idea, I jumped at the chance.  When I was putting the widget for that on the sidebar of my blog, I saw that the reveal is also August 2nd!  I’ll have to do a little fancy footwork that day with my posts, but I know I’m going to have a lot of fun.  Let’s have a little preview, shall we?

Summer Carnival Blog Hop

When Lisa sends a kit for a blog hop, she’s not kidding around!  It is always chock-full of beads as you can see here.  Cultured sea glass and tiara crystals. Those free form sea glass beads are a favorite of mine, so I’m sure they will make an appearance.  The crystals are a bit more of a challenge, although interestingly those are what I started working with first.  I have never been good with two holed beads, so those juicy orange rectangles will also be a challenge.

Haberdashery Blog Hop

The Haberdashery Hop does not come with a kit, but not long after I signed up, I was in an antiques mall.  I wandered into one booth that had old fabrics, buttons, lace and other notions.  I told my companions to go on without me; I was going to be a while!  I love prints from the 1930s and ’40s, and these scraps from the ’30s called out to me.  I thought these buttons might come in handy as well.

Please come back on August 2nd to see what I (and all the other participants) make for not one but two fun hops!

 

Jewelry That Makes You Go Ahhhhh

Tags

Bead Recipes, Boho Bird Jewellry, Challenge of Travel Blog Hop, Erin Prais-Hintz, KimmyKats, Me and My Stitches, Melissa Trudinger, Peruzi, Quilt Jewelry, Treasures Found::Inspiration Is Everywhere

A few weeks ago, Melissa Trudinger of Boho Bird Jewellry held a giveaway on her blog to celebrate some milestones, including 100 blog posts!  The necklace she was giving away is an absolute beauty, so I put in my entry and was delighted when I won!

The necklace came in record time, and I wore it yesterday.  I felt so elegant all day.  In her post, Melissa mentioned that the necklace is very long but would be easy to shorten.   I thought I would probably shorten it.  I always love long necklaces on others, but I had some idea that I couldn’t carry one off.  But when I got it, the necklace was so perfect I couldn’t change it.  And when I tried it on, it looked great!  I think this will free me up to buy and make the long necklaces that I so admire on others.

This necklace is one of those pieces of jewelry that makes me feel more stylish when wearing it than I would otherwise would.  I feel like that’s what jewelry should do.

The focal bead on this necklace is by Natalie Fletcher of Peruzi.  Take a moment to click on over and look at her beautiful wares.  I also want to highlight a post on Melissa’s Bead Recipes blog from the 2nd Annual Challenge of Travel.  The necklace and earring set and bracelet she made are so fun.  I love that they are quite different from each other and yet both gorgeous.  That blog hop was hosted by Erin Prais-Hintz on her blog Treasures Found::Inspiration is Everywhere.  Check it out because there was no end to the beautiful creations inspired by the participants’ hometowns, including Erin’s.

As I followed along with the blog hop, I was impressed with all the creations.  One I particularly enjoyed is by Kim of KimmyKats.  It features a miniature quilt pendant by Julie of Me and My Stitches.  Quilts represent to me everything warm and comforting about life, and to be able to incorporate a tiny quilt into a piece of jewelry is to carry that feeling around the entire time you wear it.  So I have to admit that I went and ordered my own pendant before I’d even finished reading Kim’s post!

Do you have pieces of jewelry that inspire you, comfort you or make you feel beautiful? I’d love to hear about them!