jewelry – Page 3

Vintage Butterfly Necklace DIY

November 28, 2011 by Jessica 14 Comments

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have a soft spot for vintage things. I especially love the vintage graphics that were used on postcards, advertisement, etc.

So I wanted a necklace that was a butterfly, but not just any butterfly. One that looked like it came off of a vintage valentine or something. I thought and thought of how I could make this happen and then it came to me: printable shrinky dink paper. Yup. That’s it.

Can I just say I adore how these came out? I’m thinking about doing some more with different vintage clip art, like a bee or flower. They are really easy to make and would make a great present! Christmas is just around the corner……

Here is what you will need:
– Printable Shrinky Dink Paper (I found a pack at Hobby Lobby. Now, this stuff is twice the price as regular shrinky dink paper, so save a coupon if you can. It also said online they sell it at Michael’s. Make sure your printer will work too, so you don’t waste your time and money. You can find it here online.)
– Vintage clip art of your choice (I found these on The Graphics Fairy)
– 4 jump rings (mine were size 6mm)
– chain of choice for necklace
– lobster clasp for end closure, or another closure of choice.
– 2 pairs of needle nose pliers
– hole puncher

*If you aren’t into messing around with this kind of jewelry making, you could always just use ribbon/thread and tie a knot in the end pieces. Just make sure it’s long enough to go around your head.*

Begin by preparing your graphic to fit on a piece of printable shrinky dink paper. I created an 8″x10″ document in word and then made the graphic as big as I could for printing. I highly suggest you do a print test on regular paper first. The paper also comes with instructions on how to prepare the graphic (you have to fade it down before printing), so follow those instructions as well then print.

Once it’s printed, cut it out. I had to use manicure scissors for some of the tighter areas. Then take a hole puncher and make a hole in each of the wings.

I don’t have a picture for this next part, but prepare to stick it in the oven according to directions. Really keep an eye on it because I had to flatten out each butterfly myself before it got too hard. The wings and antennae are prone to curling, and if it gets hard you can’t flatten it back down. I tried to reheat it to get it bendy again, but it didn’t work.

Once it has cooled off you need to cover the printed side with a coating. The paper instructions suggest Krylon acrylic coating as the best, but the coating in the above picture is what I found and it worked great. I guess you could use mod podge or another medium, but I didn’t want to take the chance of the ink bleeding by painting that stuff on. After spraying, let it dry for a while.

Now its time to make it into a necklace.

Cut two chains for each side at your desired length. I did 13″ for one and 11″ for the second necklace.

Then attach a jump ring to each butterfly wing using your needle nose pliers and then add the chain to it. I somehow wasn’t paying attention and got a double jump ring and it was a bit of a pain to work with but it was more secure. If you do not know how to attach a jump ring, see here.

Then on the other end of the chains, attach a jump ring to both sides. Then add a clasp to one side. Now it’s ready to wear or give as a gift.

Grown Up Friendship Bracelet Tutorial

November 8, 2011 by Jessica 9 Comments

Guess what I found? A tutorial that I had kind of forgotten about! See? My hair was long here! Seeing this pic makes me miss my hair a bit, but it is so much easier to manage at this point in my life (plus, it went to a good cause :). So, back to the bracelet. I was inspired this summer by a lot of bracelets that incorporated silver with string. The string part reminds me of making friendship bracelets at camp.

In fact, one summer during college, I interned at a camp and one of my jobs was putting together the craft activities for the campers. One thing we did was friendship bracelets, and let me tell you, I made so many and helped make so many. Seriously. So I decided to make this one using the “knot” that we used there (since it was ingrained in my mind from doing it so many times!). Adding the silver piece makes it more grown up though, which is why I call this the Grown Up Friendship Bracelet.

What you need:
–Some sort of round/square/etc. metal piece for the middle
– 16″ of string (I used hemp)

1. Cut your string into 4 pieces that equal 40″ each (I made them extra long just to make sure there was enough. You could probably get away with a shorter piece, but I like to err on the safe side).

2. Take each of the four pieces and fold in half. Take two of the strands to begin one side of the bracelet.

3. Place the metal piece on top of one of the strings middle where it has been folded.

4. Pull the “loop” where it is folded through the center and over the front. Then pull the two long pieces up from the bottom through that loop.

5. It will look like this:

6. Repeat with second piece.

7. Now push the very left and very right piece to the sides. These will be what you knot with. The two in the middle will stay in the middle the whole time.

8. To begin the knotting process, take the far left piece and place it on top of the two middle pieces and underneath the far right piece.

9. Now take the end of the piece you just put under the far right piece and take it on top of the far right piece, then under the two middle pieces to come up through the loop the far left piece made (see below pic).

10. Pull tight to create a knot. You will need to keep the two middle string very straight so the other two strings create the knot over them.

11. Now repeat that process, but backwards. Take the far right piece and place it on top of the two middle pieces and underneath the far left piece. Now take the end of the piece you just put under the far left piece and take it on top of the far left piece, then under the two middle pieces to come up through the loop the far right piece made.Pull tight to create a knot.

12. Continue the process by switching sides each time until it is the length you want it to be.

13. Repeat this whole process with the other two pieces of string to create the other side of the bracelet.

**Once getting it started, I like to put it on something to help keep the strings straight. Here I just placed it on a bottom. Some people clip it to their shoe or tape it to a table with strong tape.**

14. When finished, knot at each end.

15. Decide how you want to finish it. I just tied an extra knot on the left end (see below)

so the right side knot could slip through the two knots on the left end.

Alternatively, you could add a clasp to the ends or create a sliding knot like this here. Now you can make a Grown Up Friendship Bracelet for yourself or as a gift. Christmas is just around the corner you know 🙂

Charming Clay Flowers Tutorial

May 19, 2011 by Jessica 42 Comments

I have to admit that I’m one of those moms who enjoys playing play dough with my daughter. I find it fun and relaxing to sit down and create with it and then smoosh it up and put it away. There’s no agenda, it’s fun to squoosh in between your fingers, and the colors are pretty. Every now and then we also get clay, the more grown up version of play dough. I saw this brooch and flowers on BHLDN and decided to take a trip and buy me and the little one some clay to play around with.

My daughter got a pack with some pretty colors and I got some plain ole white. We sat down and began to create. She made towers and I made these:

Aren’t they just so elegant looking? It makes me want to go find some fancy dress to wear with it.

Originally I was just going to make the brooch, but then I had extra leftover and thought a pair of earrings would be lovely as well. Maybe I’ll make a ring or make some for a necklace next?

I’m sure by now you are ready to find out how to make them! Here is what you will need:

-Clay (the kind you bake to harden it)
-Something for the center (I used a vintage earring on the brooch and a small bead on the earrings)
-Wax paper
-Pan to bake it in
-A strong glue (I used E-600, industrial strength glue)
-Clay glaze (I used Sculpey Glaze from Micheal’s)
-Desired backing (earring backs, pin back, etc)

On wax paper, I started off by softening the clay some. The wax paper helps not make your work surface messy and at the end you will just lift it up with the flower and place it into a pan.

Then for the brooch, I made ten balls about the size of the end of my thumb. For the earrings I made ten balls as well, but they were a lot smaller.

Then I molded each one into a flower petal looking piece.

Next, create a ball and squoosh it flat. This will be what you rest all of the petals on. Make sure it is size appropriate.

Lay the first layer of five petals down. Push down at the middle to squish the petals to the round bottom piece.

Then place the second layer of five petals on. I alternated the petals so you could see the edges of both layers. Squoosh the middle of the petals down again to make sure they are secure.

Take the object you are using for the center and press it into the middle to create a mold of where it will go. This makes sure the piece will fit in place after baked. See the earring impression here?

Now lift up your wax paper, with your creation on it, and place it into a baking tray. Follow the directions for your clay on how to bake it.

Once it is done and cooled off, paint on a coat of the glaze. I did the top, let it dry, then flipped it over and did the underneath of the petals.

Then put some glue in the spot where the middle piece will go and place the piece in place. Let dry.

Last but not least, add your backing. I used the same glue again to make sure everything stayed in place.

Now you have some charming clay flowers to wear, use for decoration, etc. The sky’s the limit!

If you make some, please share with us here! I love to see your take on things 🙂

Color My Summer: Circles of Green Necklace Tutorial

May 12, 2011 by Jessica 31 Comments

There is a wonderful little series going on right now on Kojo Designs. It’s called Color My Summer. They, along with Delia, are having fabulous guest bloggers share a summer project that is a certain color. I got the color green and came up with this little necklace:

What you need:
–Embroidery thread (I used different shades of green)

–Small crochet hook (I used size F)
–Embroidery needle
–A chain necklace or the parts to make one (I found the white chain and links at JoAnn’s)
–Small jump rings

To create the green circles, I used the same concept but changed the number of stitches to get the different sizes. Here are two examples.

The Large Dark Green:
1. ch 3; sl st in first ch to form circle
2. sc 6 in middle of ring (6)
3. 2 sc in each st around (12)
4. *1 sc, 2 sc* repeat in each st around (18)
5. Fasten off. Using embroidery needle, sew in the ends.

A Smaller Light Green:
1. ch 3; sl st in first ch to form circle
2. sc 7 in middle of ring (7)
3. 2 sc in each st around (14)
4. 1 sc in each st around (14)
5. Fasten off. Using embroidery needle, sew in the ends.

I just did many random ones to create the different sizes. Once you have as many as you like, then prepare your necklace.

I attached the endings to the chain with some needle nose pliers.

Then I added a jump ring to each crocheted circle and attached it to the chain, again using the pliers to open and shut the jump rings.

And that is it! It doesn’t take long at all and comes out pretty cute. I think it would be really lovely in an array of colors! Thanks Kristin and Jordan for having me today. Be sure to check out all of the other wonderful tutorials they have featured over on their blog.

You Never Know

February 24, 2011 by Jessica 17 Comments

Life can be interesting. It is an adventure for sure. I really feel this way with all the moving we have done and will continue to do (being a military family and all). The most interesting part though are all the people I get to meet. People I never would have met otherwise.
Last summer, I announced we were moving to the Pensacola area and I received many emails from those of you who live here or have lived here. It was so special to receive so much information about the area in all, but little did I know that I would meet one of those kind people randomly.

I was in church a few weeks back waiting in line to pick up my daughter from Sunday School. As I stood there, a lady a few people behind me was like, “Hi! I know you.” I was thinking, where in the world do I know her from because I don’t recognize her?! I think she saw this on my face and said, “You don’t know me though. I follow your blog.” We chatted for a minute and I asked her to email me and maybe we could set up a play date with our little ones. Well, she did and it’s been a beautiful and blossoming friendship ever since!

In honor of her turning the big 30, I created her this necklace. It’s my favorite so far! It was fun to try and think of how to put it together. I didn’t even know this, but she told me after she received it that butterflies are her favorite because they remind her of how she’s a new creation in Jesus. How neat is that? I am so thankful to the Lord that He let our paths cross.

« Previous Page