I finished it off with a re-adjustable chain and clasp so the length can be further varied, and explained to Nilsa that the necklace is the kind where the wearer gets to play and reinterpret the piece - it can be wrapped around the neck 1-4 times (or could even be worn as a chunky bracelet!) and can go with silver or gold accessories, like these matching earrings I made, too.
Nilsa loved the piece, and provided great feedback that makes projects like these super fun and rewarding! Thanks again, friend!!
Last Friday a co-worker of mine asked if I had any jewelry in stock that she could buy at the last minute for Christmas gifts. I of course did, but also offered to make her a custom piece if time allowed. Ny not only wanted to buy a brass-ringed necklace (as seen on the right - both are sold out!) and a wish-bone necklace for herself, but wanted something in the same color for her friends. "They are rock-and-roll chicks who love necklaces that look like big chains." I told her that, if materials at the store allowed, I can make her 3 long brass-colored, chain-like necklaces that would fall to the waist and be different from each other. She insisted that she trusted my creativity and that I could make whatever I felt was appropriate - sweet!
Thankfully, Michael's had what I needed, in addition to a few pieces I had never with before. Here is what I came up with:
I even included a little brass bird charm on each of the necklaces to give it a truly Bead Up edge! Additionally, Ny hoped to customize the wishbone necklace for herself, so I added a little red rose charm and bird so she can match her friends! Ny was pleased with the results, especially the addition of the little birdies!
Lastly, I helped my friend Alison make a Christmas gift for herself! She bought several copper pieces from me in the past (they go really well with her skin tone and earth-colored wardrobe) and wanted a necklace to match. She expressed that she really liked lockets of any size and the color Fusion Beads calls "Montana Blue." I found a large, 2-sided antiqued copper locket on Etsy and a long matching chain in the Jewelry District. After adding some orange, green, and brown pearls, in addition to a white pearl coin and a little smokey grey stone, we have this:
I purposely used this wider-shaped chain for two reasons: 1.) Alison wanted to be able to wear it long or short, depending on her outfit. Since the chain is large enough to be a spring ring for a clasp, all she has to do it put the clasp along the chain where she would like it to fall and is left with the rest of the chain dangling down her back :) 2.) I have found that when making longer necklaces, thinner chain tends to twist and loop around itself, causing not only mess, but also getting in the way of showing the charm's front! Alison loved the piece and couldn't wait to show off her "custom homemade necklace" it off to friends back in North Carolina!
Thanks to all these lovely ladies who have made my weekend of jewelry making that much more exciting!
It's that time of year where countless commercials do their darnedest to convince you that your life wasn't complete until you had (fill in the blank with meaningless item here), or that your stocking isn't stuffed without (fill here again), or that your man doesn't love you unless he has a mint-colored box in his hand. That's right, you read me correctly - it's that time of the year where Tiffany's commercials of women in 30's vintage dresses playing their piano in slow motion remind all of us that we aren't really loved until we have a Calvin Klein model slowly and ever-so-softly handing us a Tiffany's box of jewelry.
See what I am talking about:
'Cause we have all had that happen to us, right?
Yeah, me neither.
In fact, these commercials make me a little sick. No offense to anyone who has ever be given a Tiffany's piece of jewelry (I myself have several faux Tiffany's necklaces from China, what?), but doesn't it seem odd that the company really does have some woman believing that the true mark of a man's love is that little blue box in his hand? Because I thought the true mark of my man's love is when he holds my hair back when I am hanging out in the bathroom with the flu. Or when he changes a tire in the rain and lets me sit inside the car chatting with my friend on the phone.
$135 ... for just the charm!
I am pretty sure that Tiffany's has the monopoly on snowflake-shaped diamond jewelry pieces. Here they've incorporated it to their traditional link-chain bracelet... for only $500 ;)
Why not wear a broach-sized snowflake diamond mess - for only 25 THOUSAND dollars!
And it only gets uglier and pricier, my friend. Take this gold semi-tree of a charm, yours for only $1,625!
Or this ... thing... for only $2050! That's more than my rent!
And if a Tiffany blue $150 ice-skating charm doesn't wet your whistle...
Surely a $2250 diamond and emerald plated ice-skating charm will make your life complete, no?
We ordered a similar one for the Hub's grandpa Norbert, embroidering the words "Norbert Sherbet" (spelled funny, though sound the same!) in red on a plain black adult male apron (which wasn't too easy to find at first, but I finally got a deal from She's In Stitches for only $30 total, which included a great gift bag, too!). Sadly, though, I forget to take a picture before I wrapped it! Check out the original listing here and use your imagination!
Next on my list was a computer sleeve for my Hubs. Though the Mac store had lots from which to choose, I was pretty persistent in insisting we support homemade as planned and find one on Etsy! Though we found lots of options, the Hubs finally chose a green and blue brachiosaurus (vegetarian, yeah!) sleeve from Lollington. Though the Hubs knew I was going to order the sleeve for him, what he didn't know was that I asked the creator of the item to also, if possible, put his initials somewhere on the sleeve, to make this expected gift a little unexpected! Turns out she was more than happy to oblige for no extra cost, and for only $44 later, we have this!:
Polka dots - check; black, white, and red - check; advent calendar (paper rings) - check; red rose - check; crosses - check; a happy woman of the house - CHECK!
The material used on these is SUPER GREAT - nice velvet-like lined green and a soft and velvety red with felt-like polkadots and a thick canvas backing - which means extra sturdiness for all the stocking stuffers in this sock's future!
I also hung super-cute Sandra Magsamen ceramic Christmas-themed crosses to cover up the tacky 3M plastic hook I used to hold the stockings up (I asked the Hubs to make stocking holders to match our stockings but gosh darnet finals and exams got in the way - next year they will be done!). I HEART Sandra Magsamen's designs and definitely credit her as a source of inspiration in my jewelry creation!
My little Christmas home :)
"The funky-chunkier, the better!" Melissa instructed. I'll see what I can do! I ordered some sterling ball-headed pins and a rustic looking sterling silver toggle clasp and went to work. I tore apart the necklaces and bracelets and took an inventory of what I had to work with:
Here is the "before" picture of the sterling silver bracelet Melissa provided - with two headpins worth of beads for starters...
And here is the after!
Melissa LOVED the bracelet when I gave it to her at our company Christmas party - and went on to show and explain to EVERYONE at our table the story behind the piece! I will admit, this is not something I would think up to do on my own, but with the help of all the materials Melissa provided and the inspiration piece's picture, I think we hit the nail on the head!
Check back on Wednesday for stories of how I commissioned others to make custom-pieces for me this week!
Not quite sure why it took me so long to find the website Regretsy, but once I did, I was both touched and humiliated. More touched, really. Regretsy is a website dedicated to, how should I put it, "interesting" items on Etsy. The kind that you would perhaps find in a freak show or a trash heap. Or make in 5 minutes during a team building retreat with objects found within reaching distance. My husband was the humiliated one that my jewelry was on the same site as the other products on Etsy. I figure it's good marketing because it makes all my items look all the more better ;) But rather than ruining all the fun with my words, why don't I let the pictures do the talking, mmmk? (Click on each picture to see the actual listing - though be warned that lots of stuff on Regretsy is for "mature audiences" - so this is your fair warning -- Bead Up of course does not endorse any of these products!)
And my personal favorite, read the text at the bottom:
Man, these totally make shopping for Christmas gifts a lot easier ;) On a totally, hopefully not Regretsy-ish level, Bead Up is having another giveaway!! My sorority sister Lindsay and I are giving away this precious little necklace:
