Tag Archives: necklace

Decoupage Glass Pendants

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I used to do a lot of decoupage under glass. I got my hands on this fabulous book called The New Decoupage by Durwin Rice – a real artist and a good writer whose book was a lot of fun to read as well as clear and informative. See that plate on the cover of the book – I made about a billion of those and coasters and pictures and I don’t know what all. I must have a ton of paper I saved over the years to do this hobby – and then I stopped.

Decoupage Necklaces

But this week, back to the past! I found these great little glass tiles and pictures that just fit them at Baubles and Beads. They come from a company called Craft Fantastic and I had a ton of fun making them! I have nine, but only three have their chains and the little charms and embellishments I plan to add to each.

Thinking about making one of these for my mom for her birthday and one for my mother-in-law for hers. Don’t worry – they never read my blog.

In the meantime, I have posted these 3 on my Etsy store and am selling them for $15. Feedback? Too high? Too low? Ugly as all get out? Let me know – NICELY.

Detail

Earrings and Pendants

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Now I am excited because last night and late this afternoon (after finishing my real work, of course), I came up with one original design for a pendant, and one almost totally original design for earrings. This is tough for me – BUT I DID IT.

Blue Dangle Earrings

The first is a pair of earrings. They are made with a milky turquoise round bead, 6 mm. in circumference, a 4 mm. carnelian bead and a Swarovski crystal. I wove some size 15 beads (those teeeeeeny guys) around the round bead and wirewrapped the rest. I like it! I posted it in my Etsy store today. Again, I am trying to improve my photography. Better?

Then, this afternoon, I was fiddling around with some 3, 4 and 6 mm Czech crystals and some size 15 seed beads to see if I could make a mandala-like pendant. My first try, a white-ish one, came out rippled – the beads did not fit together comfortable in the wheel shape. So I started over with some green and bronze colored beads, substituting some 3 mm where I previously had 4 mms. And I suddenly thought I could use these little teardrop-shaped beads to make spokes emanating from the mandala. Here it is . . .

Mandala Pendant

I’ll post this one on Etsy tomorrow. I’d like to try and post one thing every day or two so the stock doesn’t go stale. But will time permit? HA!

detail

New Year’s Resolution

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Okay, this is the ONLY one I am making – to beef up my Etsy store. And in keeping with that, on this frist working day of the new year – I tried really hard to take better pictures of my stuff. This is a constant battle for me – I am techno-challenged and probably only know how to use 1/100 of my camera’s tools. But here are the results – and I am pretty happy with them.

Evening Star Earrings

These are my “Evening Star Earrings,” now posted in my Etsy store. To see the old picture, scroll down to my last blog entry. Better, huh?

I am calling this the “White Star Pendant.”

White Star Pendant

That’s one of my favorite beverages, White Star.

Amber Star Pendant

And this one is the “Amber Pearl Pendant.”

So, now I gotta get back to taking some pictures of older things and reposting those.

Beading Frenzy

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That Lisa! Ever since she came to visit and we went to the BABE show I have been in a total beading frenzy. Sure, I’m knitting, too, but I am thinking about beads and working with beads a lot. Let me show you some things I’ve been working on.

Brick Stitch Bracelet

First, here are two bracelets I made with beads I just had lying around. The pattern is a free one from Bead & Button magazine. I was buzzing around their site and found it and off I went. I love that there are endless possibilities. The first one, in the autumn tones, I made for myself, tho it may wind up in my Etsy store. The second one I made as a Christmas present for my friend Daniela. Oh, and don’t worry. She never reads my blog.

Daniela's bracelet

Then I got all inspired by this book I’ve had for awhile, Crystal Beaded Jewellery by Christine and Sylvie Hooghe. I made a couple of rings out of the book when I first got it a year or so ago, but then I hadn’t touched. But when Lisa was here, we were shopping at Baubles and Beads (one of our favorite stores in the whole world) and

Graphic Stars Pendants

they have such a great selection of Swarovski that I got all inspired again. I decided to make some gifts for the women in my Friday knitting group and bought lots of beads to make each of them a “graphic star” pendant on page 74 of the book. These are about as big as a silver dollar. It was tons of fun, but as usual, I didn’t get a good enough jump on the whole thing and I was up til 2 a.m. the night before our annual Friday Christmas boozefest at Skates on the Bay. So, needless to say, I needed that Lavendar Cosmo I had the next day at our party.

Graphic stars detail

Anyway, everyone seemed to love their graphic stars. I told them they could use them as a pendant or hang them in a window or even on their Christmas trees. I still have a couple more to make – I could not stay up past 2 that night.

So I got to thinking – if the graphic stars pattern works so well as a pendant, what would it be like as an earring? The pattern calls for 8 mm and 4 mm Swarovski crystals – a size ratio of 2 to 1. So I miniaturized it by using 6 mm and 3 mm. AND I LOVE THE RESULTS. The centers of these are a bit smaller than a quarter. I think I am going to be making a lot more of these. Again, watch for them on my Etsy store.

Speaking of Etsy . . . did you all see this great article by Alex Williams in The New York Times about what it takes to make a living from your Etsy store? All I can say is, be careful what you wish for. The young woman who makes $140,000 a year from her scarves knits 13 hours a day – every day. Not sure I wanna do that. Not to mention my hands would fall off. But do read this article – it really showed what you have to do to make a living as a craftsperson.