TGIF! (Using Up the Stash #13)

Really glad to see the backside of this week. Not that I won't be working hard all weekend getting ready to exhibit at Norwescon next week (April 1 - 4, Doubletree Hotel, SeaTac, Washingon)

I did get a little jewelry work done. I made quick and easy earrings the last two days to go with other pieces I wore to work, and one pair to go with the electric purple vintage style necklace I shared on Monday - it's also quite a bit longer, been adding beads to it tonight.

Here are the earrings, made the ear wires myself, too:

This weekend and next week blogging may be a real challenge - I'll post when I can, and if possible live-blog and share pictures from Norwescon.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Idea #17 - Amber Glass Earrings

Only 17 Days left until Valentine's Day!

I wanted to do something a bit different for my next to last Valentine's Day project. So, I went on a search through my beads for heart shaped beads, but in a color other than red or pink. I found some dark amber colored ones and thought they'd be cute as earrings.

I also had a pack of small gold plated toggles, mostly circles, but there were a couple of heart toggles, too, that I'd set aside to use, which I thought would be just the right touch. With a bit of wire and two tiny jump rings, it took hardly any time at all to make these. Good thing too, with the State of the Union, I got to a late start on tonight's project.

I'm thinking about upscaling this design with gold filled heart charms and Swarovski hearts...but I'm trying to be good about buying new stuff, so I'm using available beads from my stash. I also, as you can see, used post and loop ear-studs for a change, as well.

Also, only three days left to enter to win the cute Valentine's Day bracelet, all it takes to be entered is a comment! Say "Enter me in the bracelet giveaway" on any post this month. If you're on Twitter and RT any of my tweets this month you'll get another entry. If you're a fan or become a fan of Dawno's on Facebook and leave a comment on any post there with "Enter me in the bracelet giveaway", you get another entry - so there's a total of 3 entries you can make towards the giveaway.

Random drawing will be held on January 31st - and if selected, you'll get the bracelet in plenty of time for Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Idea #4 - Swingin' Red Earrings

Only 37 days until Valentine's Day!

Looks like I might have started on a Valentine's Day project-a-day series. We'll see how long I can keep it going.

Today I've made a pair of earrings with the following Rings & Things blog partner package items:

4 - 6mm ruby faceted round glass beads
2 -10x6mm faceted puff coins (the listing given here is Siam, but the ones I got seem to match the ruby color of the beads above)

Plus (from my own stash):
6 sterling 2" ball end head pins (I suggest the longer ones because that's what I used to make the ear wires, but you could use the 1" size instead for connecting the round beads)
8" inches of silver chain (I used chain from my bulk spool of silver plated curb chain)
4 small silver bead caps (those aren't the ones I used, but would make a cute substitute)
Some 21 gauge non-tarnish silver Artistic Wire (or other silver colored wire you might have in a 21 gauge size) for the double wrapped loops on the puffed coin beads

Using ball end head pins and wrapped loops, I attached the round beads to the ends of the chain segments. I began another wrapped loop with a section of wire for the puffed coin bead and put it on the chain just off the center before I wrapped the loop. It's hard to tell in the picture, but one of the glass beads is on a slightly longer segment of chain than the other so they don't clink against each other and break.

I then made another wrapped loop at the top of the puffed coin bead to attach to the ear wire. Since I didn't have any simple ear wires handy, I made them myself from the longer sized ball end headpin. (I've embedded a tutorial from Art Jewelry Magazine towards the end of the post to show how you can do this - I didn't do the hammering part, though)

These are quick and easy to make and not at all expensive, but they'll really look darling when you're out on that special Valentine's Day date!

Here's a close-up shot of the faceting on those round beads - they really reflect the light.

I didn't have enough of the round beads handy to make earrings with more than two chains, but I think having 3 or 4 chains per earring would be a great alternative. Mixing up two kinds of chain, or using chain with a fancy texture, is another way to improve upon the basic idea, but my goal right now is to use what I have, and I've got a whole spool of the curb chain!

I'll have more Valentine's Day ideas again next week - tomorrow Supplier Sales Saturday will be back and Weekly Wanderings will be back on Sunday.

Have a great Friday!



FTC compliance notice of material connection: The faceted glass beads, as noted above, were provided to me for free, to be used for design purposes, or for a statement of my honest opinion of them, by Rings & Things.

Final Artbeads CZ Design & Enter Today to Win a $25 Artbeads Gift Certificate

The final set of CZ coins I from Artbeads were the yellow ones shown below. I paired them with sterling lever back earrings and Beadalon silver square knots. I used two Beadalon ball end headpins and made wrapped loops to connect them to the knots.

I received one other CZ item - a sterling silver toggle with 3mm Cognac CZs, which I haven't used yet, but hope to soon.

I hope you've enjoyed this week of Arbeads Cubic Zirconia Beads . Now it's time to comment on your favorite CZ piece from this week as your entry in a random drawing for a $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate. The winner will be drawn and announced on Saturday (tomorrow) and will get their certificate directly from Artbeads, so I'll be asking you to email me your full name and email address, if you're chosen.

For a chance at a $100 Artbeads "Holiday Cheer" prize go to their Facebook page to read how and enter.

Come back tomorrow when I announce the winner!

FTC compliance notice of material connection: some of the CZ elements, as noted above, were provided to me for free in exchange for design purposes and/or promotional consideration by Artbeads.

Thursday Feature: Artbeads CZ design #4 & Review

Only one more day of Artbeads Cubic Zirconia Beads to go after this. Today I'm sharing the 7mm Dark Purple CZ Coins I was provided and have used in the earrings below:

Under my Ott Lite® the faceted CZ teardrops I used for the earrings appear much lighter than the coins, but in less intense light they seem to the eye to be the same color. Also, the teardrops I've used are not from Artbeads, but a suitable substitute should be these 5x7mm Dark Purple CZ Pear beads. The gold-filled lever back earrings are from Artbeads, they are sold individually, with price breaks at 6-11 and 12+.

Beadalon makes special sized jump rings (see ring X) that can be used with their CZ-Gem Dropz™ and I've used those to link the teardrops and create the short (4 link) chains.

Since on Thursdays I sometimes do reviews, I thought I'd give some opinions about the CZs I've received. On the minus side, the faceting on some of these isn't aligned on a straight horizontal or vertical and some of the drill holes are off center. I find this a bit disappointing, but perhaps at the price it's to be expected. On the plus side, the colors are lovely and the price does seem reasonable. The channel set clear CZs were wonderfully bright and I love the way they look.

On Friday I'll be asking you to comment on your favorite CZ piece from this week as your entry in a random drawing for a $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate. The winner will be drawn on Saturday and will get their certificate directly from Artbeads, so I'll be asking you to email me your full name and email address, if you're chosen.

For a chance at a $100 Artbeads "Holiday Cheer" prize go to their Facebook page to read how and enter.

Hope to see you tomorrow when I share my final Artbeads CZ design!

FTC compliance notice of material connection: some of the CZ elements, as noted above, were provided to me for free in exchange for design purposes and/or promotional consideration by Artbeads.

Tuesday Tidbit - Artbeads CZ Design #2

Yesterday I shared the diamond look-alike Cubic Zirconia earrings I made. Today I'll share a bracelet and earrings I've made (well, just one of the earrings so far) using CZ ovals and other Artbeads products previously purchased, plus a pair of olive CZ round beads from my Artbeads Blogging for Beads package.

I think this design gives an asymmetrical appearance at first glance, but there is a repeating pattern to it, just a relatively long one.

Materials for bracelet:

2 - 7x9mm Olivine CZ Ovals

4 - Pearlized Glass Baroque 12mm - Light Olivine "pearls" - (now 50% off)

8 - CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements 5301 5mm Faceted Bicones Khaki

3 - Pale olive freshwater cultured "rice" pearls. The ones I used were a free gift with purchase from another supplier. Artbeads has a large selection of pearls to choose from to select a substitute.

6 - Silver/Bali silver 8 or 9 mm filigree cones. Although I used a different small cone for my bracelet (that I'm unable to reference a link for right now), I think this Bali Silver Open Cone with Swirling Filigree Pattern would be a good substitute, or you could use any bead cap style you prefer.

8 - 4.5mm Shiny Saucer Bead - these are 10% off, plus there's a coupon good through December 10th for 10% off select Sterling Silver beads (see * at bottom of post)

Two round silver plate "Scrimps™", two wire guardians, and the clasp of your choice (I used a swivel lobster claw) finish off the bracelet.

Earrings:

1 - 7mm Olivine CZ Coin

1 - 7x9mm Olivine CZ Oval

1 - Sterling Lever Back Earrings (Plain) - (now 10% off)

1 - Pearlized Glass Baroque 12mm - Light Olivine "pearls" - (now 50% off)

1 - CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements 5301 5mm Faceted Bicones Khaki

3 - pale olive freshwater cultured "rice" pearl (see above)

For the earrings I made two wrapped loop links on either side of a CRYSTALLIZED™ Swarovski Elements Khaki bicone and added the pearlized glass baroque "pearl" with a wrapped loop to one side. Then I made a simple loop at the top of the baroque pearl and attached it to the lever back earring finding.

On the other wrapped loop, below the khaki Swarovski, I hung a tiny sterling oval jump ring and then using ball-end headpins on the two CZ shapes and the freshwater cultured pearl, I finished them with wrapped loops, hung them on the jumpring and closed it to create the final dangle.

I think this would go really well with a necklace I made a while back, if I'd used silver instead of gold spacers...good thing I have enough beads to make another one in silver.

On Friday I'll be asking you to comment on your favorite CZ piece from this week as your entry in a random drawing for a $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate. The winner will be drawn on Saturday and will get their certificate directly from Artbeads, so I'll be asking you to email me your full name and email address, if you're chosen.

For a chance at a $100 Artbeads "Holiday Cheer" prize go to their Facebook page to read how and enter.

Hope to see you tomorrow when I share another Artbeads CZ design!

FTC compliance notice of material connection: some of the CZ elements, as noted above, were provided to me for free in exchange for design purposes and/or promotional consideration by Artbeads.

*Artbeads Coupon: "For one week only, save 10% on select sterling silver items. From beads and chain to findings and charms, sterling silver is a versatile and popular beading material. This sale excludes Bali silver and Hill Tribe silver. To take advantage of these savings simply enter coupon code SCW10P-SSK during checkout. Coupon expires at 9am (PST) on Thursday, December 10, 2009. Only one coupon may be used per order."

Monday Miscellany - Artbeads CZ Earrings

Artbeads.com has graciously provided some Cubic Zirconia Beads selections as part of their Blogging for Beads program.

My selections will be featured in upcoming posts as I design pieces with them. The first of these is a pair of earrings using two 6mm Crystal CZ Rounded Bezel Flat Drops, two 4mm Cubic Zirconia Post Earrings (they're 10% off right now) and two 6mm Sterling Silver CZ Bezel Links. Total cost before any discount coupons or sales and shipping is $13.90. I'm thinking these would make wonderful Christmas gifts.

Hope you'll forgive the poor photography, my "studio" still isn't quite set up after my daughter's visit. The earrings were very easy to make, and didn't take much time, using the CZ elements and six tiny (2mm?) sterling oval jump rings. As a glittery alternative to diamonds, these are also very affordable. Artbeads also offers discounts at quantities of 6 to 11 and another break at 12+ .

The CZs have pointed backs, so I'm not sure they'd be really comfortable in a bracelet, but as earrings that isn't an issue. The CZ collection comes in a great selection of colors, too.

On Friday I'll be asking you to comment on your favorite CZ piece as your entry in a random drawing for a $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate. The winner will be drawn on Saturday and will get their certificate directly from Artbeads, so I'll be asking you to email me your full name and email address, if you're chosen.

For a chance at a $100 Artbeads "Holiday Cheer" prize go to their Facebook page to read how and enter.

It snowed in the hills above where I lived last night, so it's really looking like winter here. I hope that wherever you are, you're snug and warm! See you tomorrow with another Artbeads CZ design!

FTC compliance notice of material connection: the CZ elements discussed above were provided to me free in exchange for promotional consideration by Artbeads.

Midweek-Mutterings - More Fall Color Pieces

On Monday I decided to make some new pieces that I could wear with autumn outfits. I would have shared this in yesterday's post, but I got home so late Monday night that it was actually Tuesday morning!

I started out by stringing with faceted crystal/olive Czech glass beads and antique brass Swarovski pearls from Rings & Things; various fall color CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements 6mm bicones from Fusion Beads; some tiny (4mm) bead top brass spacer bead caps, from Accessories Susan, and flower petal natural Vintaj brass bead caps from Lima Beads. I decided to do three strands, cap them with a textured 12mm three petaled floral cap in oxidized brass , and finish it off with a hook and eye clasp I bought ages ago at Michael's and no longer have the supplier information (sorry!).

and I like it best when 'braided' by threading one capped end through the strands until it looks like this

Of course, I can't just do a bracelet, so I made a necklace with matching earrings. These are made with more of those Fall color CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements 6mm bicones from Fusion Beads, antique brass Swarovski pearls from Rings & Things, brass beads from the Blue Moon Royal Boheme collection and chain from the Blue Moon Natural Elegance collection, both purchased at Michael's. The lobster claw clasp and the ear wires come from Accessories Susan.

One other thing - those beads look (to me) a bit like old fashioned hot air balloons...I'm thinking of some Steampunk style pieces with, if I can find the right stuff, little "baskets" hanging from them to make hot air balloon jewelry. If I figure it out, you'll see it here first!