Something For Me: Skelly Earrings

I almost never make things for myself.  Well.  My birthday just passed and I decided to change that.  These earrings are made of howlite skull beads, gunmetal chain, brass jumprings and cute little swarovski accents to give them more color.  Also, They are Mine. 

Look at those gap-toothed grins.  Adorable.

This is allllllll mine.  Ok.  I'll stop teasing you guys.

They look helpless.  Time to put them on.

More Jack

Another little Jack Skellington charm bracelet I made.  This is the first time I've done a design with just black and a neutral color.  In my charm bracelets, I've always combined black with a bright or rich color like red, green, or purple.  Sometimes blue.  You don't want the bracelet to look too dark, you know?  

Anyway, here are the photos. 

Simple Necklace: Y-Styled again

This necklace was created with some findings from Art-i-Cake as well as a bunch of beads from those mixed lot auctions I won from eBay. 

All in all, this simple necklace was a good exercise and a great experience.  The details are consistent, it flows well with the pendant link I chose and the bluish-gray crystal at the bottom makes the piece stand out.

 Again, this is a simple necklace with some length and versatility without being overpowering. 

It's inspired me to try my hand at some more steampunk pieces.  We'll see how that goes. 

More Murano Glass

I found some beads hiding out in a random tin a few days ago and I decided that I'd make them into something.  They had a blue to green gradient with a little spiral in the center.  I can't, for the life of me, remember where I got them.  But they were pretty.  I'm sure I got them on sale...somewhere.

There weren't a whole lot of them, just 5, so I worked them up into a quick, simple bracelet.  They remind me of swirling water.  Or perhaps swirling algae.  Or both.

I spaced the big murano glass beads with Czech glass beads that shared some properties in common with them- the blue to green gradient.  I only had a few of these left over from a few previous projects, so this was the perfect way to finally get rid of them for good.  I used a few pale green swarovski crystals that I got in one of those assortment auctions and pulled the design together.

Though this design includes multicolored beads, I had no trouble pulling it together.  It worked up quickly and creates something fun and flirty without too much effort.  All you need is some basic stringing techniques to pull this one off and you're good to go!

Jack Skellington

One of the first cult 'Goth' movies I've ever seen or enjoyed was The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Not only did Tim Burton find a way to make the spooky and creepy parts of Halloween loveable and charming, he also found a way to make Santa into something just shy of nightmare fuel.  I mean, Look at him!

GRRRR FEAR ME!

This is one of the movies where the 'hero' is unclear or understated.  Many people think it's Jack Skellington, but in reality it's Sally.  Sadly, Sally isn't the focus of most fanart.  Jack is.  If it were possible to find more charms of her, I'd make something inspired by her, but Jack's so much easier to work with. 

At any rate.  I made a Jack Skellington bracelet.  I had just enough beads and charms to squeeze a nice cohesive one out.  Take a look.

I used some pretty big honking charms this time.  I couldn't find any of the smaller ones anywhere.  I'd have liked to.  I was able to get ten of those for like 99 cents a few years ago.  Not any more, I guess.

In addition to the charms I added onyx teardrop shaped beads, Czech glass crystals, and swarovski electroplated crystals.  They're meant to emphasize the color scheme and keep it from being too plain.  I like my charm bracelets to have a smooth, undulating feel, despite them being chunky.  It makes them look like a solid band

Here, you can see the effect better.  It looks more like a solid woven band from this angle than a mess of jangly things.

Well, that's it for Skeleton Jack. 

For now at least..

Ladder Bracelets

What if I told you that there are simple bracelets that you can make with fewer than 40 beads?
Would you be inspired to make something magical?  Something punk?  Something industrial?  Or would you keep complaining that you don't have enough beads in your stash to do anything?  

Introducing the Ladder Bracelet!! 

I'm certain that the idea is not new, by any means.  Still, I realized that with 12-14 inches of chain and a small handful of beads, you can make a pretty funky bracelet.  It doesn't require a whole lot of beaded chain or stringing or anything like that.  Just simple wire work.

I was looking at some odd chain I had laying around and some beads that weren't quite enough to do what I originally wanted when I realized that the positioning of chain links ALWAYS follows an alternating pattern that puts adjacent links at perpendicular to one another.  Their positioning makes it possible to thread things like wire with beads on it through the links to form something of a ladder.  That is what I did. 

As you can see above, depending on how large the bead is and how large the chain links are, I use about 16-32 beads to make one ladder bracelet.  The beauty of this design is that it requires so few materials and works up very fast.  In the end, you have a neat bracelet with a lot of versatility. 

 

Why don't you guys give it a try and post links to your ladder bracelets in the comments? 

Autumn Colors

In case you all have been wondering why I've been posting a lot of strung necklaces, bracelets and what have you, it is because I'm trying to remain active in my craft in spite of being a little ball of aches and pains.  As I said in a previous post, stringing beads is one of the easiest things to do.  Babies can even string beads.

With my hands deciding to drop the tools whenever they feel like it, the damage and frustration from jewelry making can be reduced by working on stringing.  It's so simple and if my hands decide to cramp, I can just put the beads down on my bead board.  I can even set up my design on the bead board and leave it for a later day when my body isn't hurting and my head doesn't feel like I've been stabbed in it.  Just a note for you folks with arthritis and other joint problems: hot water soaks!  Sooooo goood.

ANYWAY.  Leaving off my 'old lady problems', take a gander at my newest creation.  I made it with my mom in mind and it's already in her possession.

Green, gold, and brown, Oh my!

I was actually basing my design on her color palette that she had done a while ago at the Palmer Pletsch workshops.  She sometimes has issues accessories that blend well into her wardrobe.  Since she's a warm autumn, she's got to have lots of rich, earth tones. 

So, I 'donated' this little baby to fortifying her wardrobe. 

Hors d'oeuvre: Stuffed Cucumbers

It's been a while since my friends and I had a party.  Naturally, with people enduring various life changes just weeks before Valentine's Day (Which was a Friday this year), we took advantage of it to celebrate, commemorate and memorialize.  No celemoratorialization cermony would complete without comfort foods and a full spread.

Here you see all the things girls need to survive: Sparkles, Carbs, Chocolate, Pizza, Cake, Fruit, and Veggies, and Flowers

Since it had been a while, we decided to expand on what we usually do.  DECORATIONS!  FANCY hors d'oevres!  FLOWERS!

We did it potluck style, as is our usual.  I was in charge of the vegetable based appetizer.  Oddly enough, I was at a loss.  I wanted to make kale and tomatoes- but that would have been messy to transport and a veggie platter was LAME.  I had to come up with something finger friendly, but still kind of awesome.  As we were browsing for decorations in party city, I was inspired to pull this one out of thin air.

Stuffed Cucumbers.

Ingredients: 
Cucumbers (I'm not posting a picture of a cucumber.  You guys should know what that is by now.)
Boursin (Or Goat Cheese)
Cream Cheese
Greek Herbs (Or Spinach dip mix)
Siracha- or any hot sauce
Tomato Sauce.

I bought boursin because I didn't feel like prepping my own spinach and artichokes.

We didn't have siracha, so I used hot sauce.  It works.

Tools:
Knife
Melon Baller
Potato Peeler
Whisk

Just Three tools!

Instructions:
1. Prep your cucumbers!  I always wash them with soap and warm water because, that oily wax stuff that they put on them in the grocery store is disgusting.  Once clean, slice off their ends and use the potato peeler to slice the skin off in stripes.  I left some of the skin on for decorative effect.

2. Prep your cucumbers some more!  Next, you slice them into 1.5 inch long cylinders.  It's ok if it's not exact, but if you're putting them all on the same platter, it looks better if they are about the same size.  Next, use the melon baller to scoop out the cucumber middles.  DO NOT scoop it all the way down to the bottom of the cucumber.  You want them to look like little cups.  Arrange them in the platter and put them in the fridge while you prep the rest of the dish.  You don't want soggy cucumbers.

SEE, cups! 

Arrange them attractively in a platter.

3. Blend your cheeses and herbs with the whisk until smooth.  It is unfortunate that I do not measure as I mix, but this one's easy.  For whatever amount of goat cheese and herbs or Boursin you use, add half that amount of cream cheese.  The cream cheese is mostly there to make the mixture SMOOTH and creamy.  I added additional herbs to pump up the flavor. Once the cheese mixture is smooth, put it into a ziplock bag.

4. Blend your hot sauce or siracha with a couple teaspoons of tomato sauce.  That's a nobrainer.  I had to add tomato sauce to avoid roasting my Polish friend's tonsils out. 

5. FILL THE CUPS!  Take your cucumbers from the fridge.  Drip a small dollop of the hot sauce mixture into each cup, just a little bit, not a lot.  Then, take that ziplock bag of cheese, snip off a corner and use it to pipe the cheese into the cups.  It's best to swirl it into the cups, working from the outer edges towards the middle.  It works up quickly.  Once finished, you may choose to garnish the tops of your cucumbers with a bit of red pepper or pickled vegetable.

AND YOU ARE DONE. That took what?  20-30 minutes tops? 

Enjoy with a light, fruity wine.