Wonderful Wednesday

I am in awe of polymer clay artists. Here is something from beadsCraftz that is stunning.

Wonderful Wednesday

I love this hand turned wooden bottle stopper from pjturner. It sure beats my plastic and rubber one.

I'm Learning To Crochet

My mother taught me to knit many, many years ago, but I never learned how to crochet. She had tried to teach me, but I never caught on. Last week I was talking with a friend who crochets beautifully and she convinced me to give it another try. Well, I found some step by step instructions online and I LOVE it!



Here is my first try. Please don't look too closely. I know that I have a long way to go.

Homemade Pizza

Quite a few years ago I inherited a bread machine. I used it once in a while to make bread, but not often. Then I found a pizza dough recipe and dinner at our house changed. We now have homemade pizza once a week, usually Friday or Saturday nights.

I throw all the ingredients in the bread machine and hit start. In an hour and a half I have pizza dough.

I stretch it out on a pan, add sauce, oregano, grated cheese, mozzarella cheese and then bake for about 20 minutes. My family loves it.

(Please excuse the photos - it seems I can't take decent pictures anymore without my lightbox and natural light.)

Wonderful Wednesday

I thought I would start something new on my blog. On Wednesdays I will post something wonderful that I have come across. My first is this cell phone pouch from PitBullLadyDesigns. I love that it is made from a pair of jeans that have the decoration felted on them. Please visit here shop to see more great things.

My Helper, Again

I have blogged in the past about my cat, Stormy, and how she thinks the printer is a very fun cat toy. Well, I thought we had gotten past that as she had not shown interest in quite a while. Obvisously I was wrong. I had coupons I wanted to print and I had to get my son to soccer. So I hit the print button and walked out the door. This is what I returned to. It seems that my helper thought she had to help the paper out of the printer and then kill it for me. Oh well, so much for saving time. She's just lucky that she's cute.

I'm In 2 Treasuries This Week

This week I was in 2 treasuries that were created by members of a new Etsy team called Chainmaillers Guild.

To find out more about this great team of chainmaillers please visit our blog.

Fringe Bracelet Tutorial

Here is a tutorial on how to make a fringe bracelet, also known as a cha-cha bracelet.
I hope these instructions are clear as I have never written a tutorial before.

Supplies: Beading wire such as Beadalon or Softflex
Beading thread such as Nymo or Fireline
Size 6 seed beads
Various size and shapes of beads in color/colors of your choice
Size 11 or 15 seed beads in complimentary color
Crimps
Clasp
Beading needle

Cut a length of beading wire long enough to add a clasp at each end. Since this is a hefty bracelet make sure that your finished size is about 1 inch longer than your wrist size. For example, my finished bracelet measures 8¾ inches, but fits well on a 7 inch wrist.

Let me see if I can explain this part clearly. You are going to string the size 6 seed beads on the beading wire like you are making a bracelet. You will add one part of your clasp to each end and crimp as usual. The only difference is that you want to have about an inch of the wire not covered by beads when you are done adding the clasp and crimping. You will need room between the beads to add the fringe.


Attach your beading thread to one end of the wire using a square knot with a dot of glue. Needle under the first seed bead. Pick up a combination of 2 or 3 beads ending with an 11 or 15 seed bead. Go back down through the beads you have just strung on, but do not go through the seed bead again. Needle under the next size 6 seed bead and continue to the end.

At the end make a knot and come back through all the size 6 seed beads again, adding beads between each as you go. When you get back to the other end you can either knot and end there or know and turn around and add fringes of beads down the length of the bracelet again depending on the fullness that you want. The bracelet in the photo has 3 fringes between each seed bead.

I apologize that I don’t have any photos showing the steps. Next time I make one I will definitely take some as I go and post them here.

Please feel free to email me if you need clarification on anything at maryann726@gmail.com

Beading Daily Reader' Gallery

Beading Daily is a great website for beaders and all jewelry makers. They have free patterns and projcets along with ones that you can purchase. They have great, informative articles, polls and a readers gallery.

The call went out a few weeks ago for submissions for a readers gallery that would showcase combined techniques. I submitted my bead crochet bracelet with copper end caps and clasp and it made it into the gallery along with a lot of other great pieces of jewelry.




Click here to view the entire gallery.

Simplicity

Sometimes I like the simple things the best. I made 2 pairs of these earrings - one pair for my shop and one pair for me to wear. I wear mine all the time.