My “I Can’t Sleep Bracelet”!

Oh my life, this is what happens when I can’t sleep at night …. or perhaps this is what I get up to when I am actually sleep crafting!!!

http://pixiloo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/wild-woman-bangles.html  Previously, I had been Googling nothing in particular and stumbled across “wild woman bangles”,  which are very, very me…… and now top of my “objects of desire”

http://beimondi-leslie.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/beadfest-wire-2010.html

…. and if I was in the USA my name would be firmly down for one of Debora Mauser’s classes    http://www.wire-sculpture.com/jewelry-making-blog/8585/debora-mauser-classes/

Because, be honest now,  I don’t have a clue do I?  What do I know about jewellery making?  Diddly squat, that’s what!!!

Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! In my head, at 2 o’clock in the morning,  if I used a Primark bangle as a base and wrapped wire and beads around it , it would come out looking like a wild woman bracelet!!!

All I can say is …. no more cheese at bedtime for me, and perhaps I should invest in a packet of Nytol!  But,  would I wear it …… yes, probably, I’ll let you know when!

Fluffy Bead Necklace

Please bear with me, this is just an experiment!

Whenever my friend Lisa and I go to the Hobby Crafts Show at the NEC Birmingham I always make one dodgy purchase,  and it’s taken me until now to admit what that purchase was …….. bags and bags of these fluffy beads that look like some sort of suckie sweet!  They were 50p a big bag and I bought them in every colour, what possessed me? …. Anyway I decided the other night that I would never use them and was putting them ready to give to a friend when I thought I would have a play, before saying goodbye to most of them ….

I cast my mind back to how they were presented on the stall, which was knotted on/and between  two lengths of thin coloured cord and this is what I came up with. 

I used a purple and a blue cord and threaded two or three on one colour, then the other and also on both at the same time, making a knot after each section  (if that makes sense).  To be honest it looks OK and I would wear it, but really the cords could have been a lot longer.  I knotted the two ends together, I didn’t think as this was my first attempt it was worth putting on a proper fastener.

I found this picture on Google and think that this was the sort of thing I was trying to do in my mind’s eye …. oh well back to the drawing board!

Pendant Tray Project

I am so loving making these pendants, for this one I’ve used a copper pendant tray measuring 1in x 1in. It was so hard to take a picture that did the colours justice, the light in my craftroom is sooooo pants!

I’ve stamped the background using a text stamp and then coloured it with  blue and green Plaid blending chalk, with a touch of Stampin’Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The colour turned out to be really vibrant.  The two small dragonflies were put in the bottom of the tray, with the larger one balanced on the side.  When everything was ready I filled the tray with Anita’s 3D clear gloss finish, which took about  24 hours to set properly. Dead chuffed!

Liquid Beadz Pendant

Oh my life, I’ve just discovered Liquid Beadz! I know they have been around for ages, but it was only when I saw them reduced in HobbyCraft that I decided that  29p was neither here nor there to have a little play,  ….. well, now I am addicted and wish I had bought a couple more pots!  Typical!

The instructions were very simple to follow …. 

For this first attempt I cut a 2 ins square of strong card and covered it with a mixture of Midnight and Topaz Beadz with a spatula (not supplied).  They didn’t feel that sticky, but held onto the card well. I then decided to embellish the Beadz with other gems and charms I had by pushing them into the Beadz base, but admit to using a bit of extra PVA with them, just in case they didn’t stick, and since it dries clear, nothing would be lost.

It looked a bit of a mess when wet as you can see in the picture above.

But when dry I was thrilled with the results.

I wasn’t sure what to do with this first experiment, but in the end decided to turn it into a pendant.  I coloured the little bits of card still showing on the front and the whole of the back in black, and then sealed the back using Anita’s 3D clear gloss and added a flat back bail.

I’m not sure how wearable/durable it will be, but I can always turn it into a fridge magnet later.  However, as I like the end result,  I will invest in a couple of proper pendant bases to make a more “professional” piece of jewellery next time.

Pins/Brooches Using Wooden Embellishments.

There are so many beautiful wooden embellishments that deserve more than just being put on a card ….

So I’ve taken a few of my favourites and have added very small (1.5cm) pin/brooch fastenings to the backs using a strong glue.

And ……I have resisted the temptation to add anything else to them.

More Pendant Tile Pendant Experiments

I hope you are not getting bored of my glass tile pendant experiments, I am trying out a few ideas to see what works best before I go into production.

I’ve had another go at embellishing the tiles with small brass charms I have had for ages and some flat backed pearls. The papers I have used for the backgrounds are by K & Co.  They have a slight glittery effect that doesn’t show very well in the pictures – but it gives the magical fairy like effect I wanted.

I think that what I have made here is very much my taste – pendants that I would wear myself – so these are mine!

Because the charms are gold in colour I have had find gold coloured bails on e-bay, which I will attach when they arrive from http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/CHARMINGTHEBEADS__W0QQ_armrsZ1

More Experiments with Glass Tile Pendants

I’ve had another play with my glass tile pendants – I found a brilliant shop on Etsy where you can download  lovely collage sheets/files of 1in x 1in designs  that fit the tiles exactly http://www.etsy.com/shop/sparrowgraphic – Daryle was very helpful and answered all my queries.

I downloaded 5 files for about £7- but I can print them off as many times as I like after that. I tweaked each sheet a little bit before I printed them off to make doubly sure that the the design was a tiny bit bigger than the tile itself, thinking I could it trim off when it was dry.

I cut out the designs I wanted to use, stuck the tiles onto them and waited for them to dry.

I am quite pleased with the results, these were done in a rush as I was excited and wanted to try out the design sheets, so next time I will be a bit neater. I wouldn’t embellish them as I did with my first attempts as it just doesn’t  look right. However, I am thinking that a tiny bit of translucent micro glitter might add sparkle to the designs before they are stuck to the tile.   What this space………

I have tried to roughly calculate what each finished pendant will cost me – the glass tile –10p, the bail fastener 20p and square from design sheet 5p plus a bottle of  Anita’s 3D gloss finish – about 35 to 50p?

 I got my tiles as from http://stores.ebay.com/My-Craft-Dream 

I am just experimenting/playing with my new bits and pieces, but if you want to find out more just Google “glass tile pendants”, there is a ton of stuff out there about them.

Glass Tile Pendants

Well, I’ve finally made some pendants using the glass tiles I got from the US earlier in the year.  I couldn’t find the tiles anywhere in Britain but eventually found them on e-bay US, inc P & P, I paid about £18.00 for 100 tiles which I think is a bargain!.

I’ve seen these pendants on lots of blogs, they looked so simple to make, I just had to have a go, but please forgive me if this first batch is pants because this is my first attempt and it is very much trial and error at the moment.

The first step is to apply a small amount of Anita’s 3D clear gloss finish to the back of the tile (the side with a slightly  rough texture) and apply the patterned side of an inch square face down.  If it comes over the edge, it doesn’t matter as you can trim round it and file any rough bits with an emery board.

 

Let the tile dry and then apply a good coating of the gloss finish to the back of the tile.  You can also apply the bail with a drop of the finish too.

Now the bit I hate ……. waiting for everything to dry!

Naturally, me being me …..  I felt the need to fiddle fart a bit more with them ….. so I’ve added peel offs, vinyl stickers and transparent backed adhesive stickers, plus a few flat backed gems and pearls.

I’m not sure how durable these extra embellishments will be, so I need to wear each of pendant for a week or so and see if the added bits stay stuck.

The bails I have used are quite small and will fit a chain – but I am looking at getting some that will fit a leather thong

The papers I have used have just been a background, a lot of the pendants I have seen on Google use very small pictures – watch this space ……. I have a lot of experimenting to do.

I wonder if you can stamp on them?

Felt Heart Brooches

I had forgotten I had these felt hearts until I found them in a box on my shelves, they are quite thick and firm so I thought I would have a go at making some little Valentine brooches with them.

The hearts are from http://www.rhinestonesonline.co.uk and I have just glued them on with PVA glue.

I added very small brooch fastenings to the back, this time using Bostick as I think it is a bit stronger than PVA.

Then I fiddle-farted about with the packaging!