A Summery Beachy Bracelet

Make them for a beach themed/pool party… Fairly easy and inexpensive to make!

While in Havasu, I noticed the whole beach area was covered with these oblong shells, and stated gathering a few with more unusual coloring.  When I got back, I combined the shells with a few beachy charms to make this summer-inspired bracelet.

Need:

-About a foot (maybe foot and a half, to be safe) leather cord

-small shells with hole drilled in them (be careful when drilling!  Use the really strong drill bits and practice a few times before using the shells you plan on using in the actual bracelet.  I broke a few shells in this process.) (I used four shells, but depending on how long the bracelet it to be, you can add more.  This bracelet is on the shorter side for me.)

-Beach related charms.  I used three, as you can see.  You might want to add more.

-Clasp

-Jumprings.  You need as many as you have shells and charms combined.  Plus one for each end of the clasp.  So I used nine.

-Superglue to make the end knots stay tight.

 

 

 

How to:

Attach a jumpring to one end of the clasp, and tie on end of the cord to the jumpring, really tight.  I used superglue to glue this knot so it would stay tied.

Attach all shells and charms to a jumpring.

Leaving about a half inch or so of room, tie a knot in the cord.  String on first shell through its jumpring, then tie a knot on the other side of the jumpring.

Leave another half an inch or so before tying the next knot, then string on a charm by the jumpring.  Tie another knot.

Repeat this process, switching between shells and charms.

Continue until bracelet is of desired length.

Attach jumpring to other end of clasp and tie jumpring to end of cord…

Flaunt your new bracelet.

How to Make a Bird’s Nest Necklace

This necklace is really easy.  And it’s pretty much foolproof, since a large part of the process is just sort of crinkling up and making a bunch of wire look messy.  I liked adding a bird charm on mine, and after making this first one, I tried different variations of the same necklace with different color beads and wire.  For the next one, I used thick brown wire and three pearls for the eggs.

What you need:

-a few feet of 20-24 gauge wire.  It needs to be thick enough for you to bend with your fingers, but tough enough that it stays in place after the necklace is made and while it is actually being worn.  I believe I used 22 gauge.

-three beads of similar size that represent the bird’s eggs

-desired amount of necklace chain and clasp

-bird charm (I guess this could be optional)

-basic jewelry making tools

1.) You begin by stringing each bead onto the end of the wire, kinking the wire between each bead so they sit in a circle.

2.)  Then, with the remaining wire, wrap a circle out of the wire around the outer edge of the beads.  Mine was about an inch and a half in diameter.  Keep wrapping around this original circle, but try to vary the circles slightly.  Make some slightly larger, some crooked, some smaller, so the end result is a sort of messy bird’s nest.

Make sure to wrap a little extra on the back so the back of the necklace is heavier than the front.  The first nest necklace I made has a tendency to flip over (the eggs like to gravitate towards me) because they are so heavy.  On the second one, I made sure to compensate for this by making the back heavier with extra wire.  Just something to keep in mind.

3.)  When your nest looks adequate in thickness, wrap a few last pieces in and out of the middle hole to hold the nest together.  These are almost perpendicular to the wires of the circle, but should appear to be sort of loosely holding the whole thing together.

Not to get too complicated, but this is what I mean.

4.) Attach jump-ring to perpendicular wrapping at what will be the top of the nest.  Attach another jump-ring to this one, so the necklace will face the correct direction.

The two jump-rings between the nest and the chain.

5.)  Attach the bird charm if you have one you would like to use.  I attached mine to the higher of the two jumprings.

6.) String the chain through the top jump-ring; attach clasp.

7.) Frolic in a meadow gracefully! Springtime!

How to Make a Jewelry/ Earring Hanger Using a Frame

I’ve seen this idea a few other places, but it was finally time for me to put it into practice!

Here are some key tips I wish I had known before I set out:

* They do not sell the wire mesh at Michael’s.  Your best bet is a hardware store like Ace.  That’s where I found mine.

* It is not necessary to use a staple gun to attach the mesh. Hot glue works just fine. I found out that the staple gun did not work very well for me. The staple kept hitting the wire mesh and going all over the place and I just had to pull all the staples out. HOT GLUE! Lots of it!

*Attach the wire mesh to the inside edge of the frame.  You know, the groove where you would normally set a picture in if you were using the frame for actual frame purposes. If you just staple/glue the wire mesh to the back, the earring wires will not have extra room behind the mesh to hang.

But don’t get me wrong, it actually is a pretty easy  and quick project if you do it right the first time.  Which you can, using those tips I just gave you.  I had to take mine apart a few times.

OK.

So you need:

1.) Hot glue gun (or a staple gun if you are feeling adventurous)

2.) Frame.  I painted an 8×10 inch frame. Minus the glass and backing and stuff.

3.) Wire Mesh.  Or screen. Or something of that variety.

That’s it!

-Cut out a piece of wire mesh that entirely fits the inside groove area in the frame.  Just like if you were putting a photo in there.

-Glue said mesh in place. I put the mesh in first, then layered lots of hot glue on top and all around to keep it in there!

..And that’s it!  See? it’s really simple.  I promise.

Romantic Rose Garland Bracelet

TOOLS NEEDED:

-Hot Glue Gun

-Wire cutters

Materials Needed:

–Twine/Hemp/ Leather cord

-Small Roses (like 5 or 6)

– 2 jump rings (gold)

– 1 clasp (gold)

– 24 gauge wire (gold)

– wire cutters

First, attach the jump rings by hot gluing the end of the twine to itself, forming a loop at each end of the twine.  Put each jumpring on each loop. Attach the clasp and end of the clasp to the jumprings.  Now you will have the piece of twine with a clasp on it.

Now to add the roses…

Take a few inches of the gold wire and stick it through a few threads on the back of one rose.  Pull the rose to the middle of the wire and wrap each end of the wire around the cord.  Cut off the excess long ends you don’t want.  Repeat this process every few inches on the cord with each rose.

Add a few more wire wraps here and there on the twine between roses for an added detail.  You can also wire wrap the end of the twine where the twine is hot glued around the jumprings – just to keep the twine in its place there!

How to Make Easy and Beautiful Hoop Earrings

I saw some beaded hoop earrings at Anthropologie and they didn’t look too difficult to make. These are my first beaded hoop earrings.

This tutorial will show you how it’s done. For the tutorial, I made these lovely purple, smaller hoops. The process for any different size, color, or shape hooped earrings is the same, so long as the beads fit on the hoop.

To make these purple hoops, you need:

Note that the image shows the supplies needed for ONE hoop. The numbers depict the amount needed for both hoops together.

First line up your beads in the order you want them to appear on the hoops. Then, start sliding the beads on the hoop.

This is what it will look like:

When you are done with that, you need to make a loop in the non-looped end of the hoop. Using round nose pliers, make a loop at the end of the hoop. Ooops that rhymes!

Now close the hoop by attaching a jumpring to each loop. Attach the earring wire to the jumpring and wha-la! Earrings!

How to Make a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Necklace

Usually I am not this much of a nerd, but since the last Harry Potter movie was coming out, I figured I would celebrate.   This necklace is pretty easy and inexpensive to make, given you have many of the standard jewelery-making tools at hand.  If you don’t think you are up to the task, I can make one for you:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/93491525/harry-potter-deathly-hallows-necklace?listing_id=93491525&listing_slug=harry-potter-deathly-hallows-necklace .  If my listing has expired, still send me a message!

Ok, so here is how you can make your OWN Harry Potter necklace.

Items needed:

Jewelry making tools: wire cutters, flat-nosed pliers and needle nose pliers.

20 gauge wire (16 inches is about enough, however I used 22 inches just to be safe)

24 gauge wire

chain (I used about 24 inches)

2 jumprings

1 headpin

red bead and small gold/yellow bead

Jewelry Jig for bending the wire (found at Michaels/JoAnns)

How to Make It:

Use the Thing-a-ma-Jig to create the template for the Pendant.  I used the small sized Thing-a-ma-jig and placed my pegs like this:

Note: If you do not have a thing-a-ma-jig, you can just use your fingers to bend the wire.  The Thing-a-ma-Jig helps to keep a regular, even shape for the wire.

Now, start by cutting off 15 to 22 inches of the 20 gauge wire.  Using the round nose and flat head pliers, make a loop at one end.  The loop needs to be big enough to fit on one of the Jig pegs.

Put the loop on the bottom middle peg of the Jig.  Then bend the wire around as so, to form the triangle:

Then bend the wire around to make the circle.  Don’t bend the wire around the pegs too tightly or the circle will end up square.  Lightly follow the pegs, leaving the inner circle big enough so that the edges come close the the edges of the triangle.  When you get back around to the middle peg, pull the wire straight up the Jig to form the Elder Wand line.

Do not cut off the extra piece of big wire here!  We will come back to it at the end.

Now cut off 4 inches or so of the 24 gauge wire and wrap in around both one edge of the triangle and the edge of the circle.  Then do the same on the other side.  It should look like this:  (Here, I haven’t cut off the extra ends of wire on the left wrapping.  But you do need to cut them off, like what is done on the right side)

Now time to focus on the bottom of the pendant.  Flip it over.  You need to get rid of that loop at the bottom.  To do this, use the round nose pliers to unloop the loop.

Here is what the undone loop looks like.  Not so pretty.

Now you use the flat nosed pliers to straighten this out.  Put a ugly, kinked piece of wire in the pliers like so

This flattens out the ugly wire so it can lay flat with the other wires at the bottom in order to be wrapped nicely with them.  Here is what the flattened wire looks like after.

Now you need to secure the bottom.  Sometimes it gets pretty tricky because all the parts are moving in and out of place.  Occasionally I will put a dot of Gorilla Super Glue on the bottom pieces where I know the wrappings will cover, just to keep all the piece still while I wrap it in place.  It’s sort of like using wood glue before you nail the pieces together.

On the side with the Elder Wand which bends around, you need to wrap the 3 wires together.  For the wrapping, you will again use the 24 gauge wire.   On the other side of the pendant, there are only 2 to wrap.  Wrap them!

Like this!  Cut off the loose ends of the short wire.

See that extra piece of wire sticking out that was part of the loop?  Cut off the part that you can see, leaving the rest of it tucked in with the wrapping.

Now it’s time to address that long piece of extra wire at the top.  Wrap it around the top of the triangle once so the two are connected.  Then make a loop at the top with the round nose pliers.  Cut off the excess.

Holding the loop on the top of the pendant centered, use a six inch of so piece of 24 gauge wire to wrap around the top of the pendant, from the very base of the loop to just at the top of the triangle.  This holds the top loop part centered on the top of the pendant.

Now the pendant is done.  To finish the necklace, take a headpin and put the beads on it.  Loop the end and attach it to the jumpring.  Attach the jumpring to the loop of the pendant.

Then put the chain through the loop on the top of the pendant (not the jump ring).  Attach the clasp using a jump ring on one side (the clasp side usually has a tiny jumpring attached which can be connected through the chain).  (If not, you will have to use a jump ring on both sides of the clasp.)  Anyway, attach the clasp to both ends of the chain.

Wah-la!  Now you have your own Deathly Hallows Necklace!  You can use the same method to make earrings, key chains, or other Deathly Hallows paraphernalia.

Stuff Sarah Makes

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