A necklace stashtastical!

This little necklace is for a friend of a friend.

 I don't know her style at all, so I wanted to make something pretty and simple.  And if I could manage it, something with universal appeal.  

I'm not sure if I hit my target, but  I like it.

I've seen necklaces like this all over the place, so even if it is a little overly sweet and sentimental, at least it's trendy.

I earned major stash reduction points because the teardrop used to be an earring.  It's been in my broken jewelry bin for over a decade, so I was glad to finally put it to good use.

I wrapped it up in a little box that used to hold hotel soap.  It too has been in my stash for many years.

Isn't it cute? 

And that's why I have a stash that could rival the Hobby Lobby stock room.

Next, a necklace for my friend Britta, inspired by this and this and this and this.

 

The lovely model was stiched and painted by my Aunt Betty. It's one of a set of 10 or 12 quilt blocks, with each belle wearing a differnt vintage floral-print gown.   

When Aunt Betty passed away a few years ago, her extensive stash was divided up among interested relatives. I didn't have first pick or anything, but I love these little ladies so much I feel kinda bad for everyone else for not having them.

Maybe someday I will get brave enough to make them into a quilt. But until then, I like them framed on my buffet, as a backdrop to photoshoots. And life.

If I were selecting materials from the store, I'd have chosen a more delicate chain.  The rolo links are a little heavy in comparison to the rest of necklace.  But I shopped my only stash, and somehow I feel like that balances everything out.

The end. 

Hooked

I'm not much of a yarner.   My talented mom has taught me to both crochet and knit multiple times, but I've never produced much more than long chains of incomplete projects.  But this week I wanted a portable project I could work on while waiting for Grace at preschool.  So I pulled out some beads, some festive yarns, and my crochet hooks and took my crafting on the road.  

Here's what I ended up with.

One of the more satisfying (and productive) hours I've spent waiting in the car in a long time.

 I kind of love it.

So later, I whipped up another one while watching Modern Family.


 
Easy.  Fast.  Fun.  Fuzzy.

 

Kathleen

I recently traveled to Utah!  With my parents!  And my three kids!  And my cousin!  And her baby!  By van!  We had many wonderful adventures and beautiful moments with family and friends.    But it wasn't what you'd call a relaxing trip.

And that's why my mother's childhood friend, Kathleen, was such a saint to host us.  She knew what to expect -- our family has been staying at her house every-other-year for decades now -- and yet she welcomed us enthusiastically.  This time there were seven of us sprawled throughout her home (me, my parents, my three kids, and my sister), plus all my other siblings (7 more) and their kids (25 more) visiting throughout the week.  We were a loud and messy crowd.

But Kathleen is the world's most gracious hostess, and didn't seem to mind our crash 'n trash protocol one bit.  With closets full of toys and freezers full of homemade ice cream, her home was a haven.  My kids couldn't wait to get back there after each daily adventure.  They even begged during our two-night stay at a mountain ranch -- where they could swim, ride horses, paddle boats and eat snow cones -- to "go back to Kath-a-leen's house" so they could play with legos.  Needless to say, we all  had a wonderful time!

So I wanted to make Kathleen something special to thank her for her hospitality.  Her house is full of vintage linens, precious collectibles, and artwork by Thomas Kinkade.   With that in mind, I wanted to come up with something delicate and floral. I didn't have my full stash at my disposal, just a few basic supplies (tools, chain, jump rings) and some miscellaneous items I'd ordered from Fire Mountain Gem's clearance section and had shipped to meet me in Utah.  (The majority of the order was jewelry for my sister's wedding, but I'll get to that later.)

I lucked out with this pendant/ brooch, which I ordered on a whim, thinking it looked nice enough, and that at 84 cents it wasn't much of a risk.  It's so much prettier in person than it was on the website, and I'm kicking myself now for not stocking up!     

It came with a removable stick pin you can slide through two brackets at the back so that it can be worn separately.

photo from Fire Mountain Gems

And because I love versatility, I also wanted the chain to be pretty enough to be worn alone, single or doubled, clasped in front or back.  When worn together, the pendant can be hooked to the heart-shaped clasp, like so.

I'm very happy with the result.  And I'm still kicking myself for only ordering one pendant/brooch.

I hope Kathleen gets lots of use out of this.  And I hope that when she wears it she doesn't dread our (possible) return in 2012.

Jean

Rachel

Copy Cat

I had a jewelry party last week. It was a lot of fun, and got me in the mood to do some more beading again.

That's a good thing, because I have a lot of beads.

This is what the project area looked like after the party. After about 10 ladies had used the stash to make stuff and left with it. This was LEFT OVER! See all the stuff back there on the sideboard? Beads. Plus, there's stuff I didn't even bring out of the back room. Yeah, the stash is a bit out of control.

Anyway, before the party I bought a bunch of jewelry from Old Navy to use for ideas. Amber liked this one (with the tag attached, on the right below), but looked at me like a crazy person when I suggested she try making it from a length of chain from a bike lock (cause that's the kind of stuff I have in my stash).

The next day, I decided to give it a try. I've never purchased jewelry with the intent to copy before. I don't think I'll make a habit of it, but I don't feel particularly bad about it because it's Old Navy -- not some struggling artisan. Plus I made a few changes. And mine is completely recycled from old and broken jewelry.

Here's the side-by-side comparison.

And here's the glamor shot.

My favorite part is the pearl button at the bottom of the bike chain. It's a clip on earring.

Angela

The Amber Collection

My friend Amber had a birthday several weeks ago. She tried to keep it a secret, but I have my ways of collecting information. (That is, I overheard someone else telling her "happy birthday.") But even if I'd know about her birthday months ago, her gift would probably still be several weeks late, cause that's how I roll.

Anyway, I'm all about interchangeable jewels these days, so I wanted to make an amber-themed set of mix and match earrings and pendants. I think I pushed the bounds of Amber's style with the long green dangles, but I bet she'll wear them anyway just to humor me. She's great that way. (For example, I photographed these in Amber's own back yard while she was inside making me dinner.) I do like the bicone cluster set especially though, and I think that suits Amber's personality. Plus, I bought the beads for the baby bracelets for her sweet little girls a couple months ago, but didn't end up using them. It seems fitting that they end up in Amber's jewelry box somehow.

Abygail

Mom

I made this necklace for my mom last summer, and only got around to photographing it last weekend. She wears it often, and says she gets lots of compliments. I'm still a little bothered by the way it hangs -- the links get twisted and keep it from laying flat. But I really like the colors and the concept, and I have to admit it really does look great in the sunlight.

Maybe that's all I need: more sunlight around here.

Stephanie

This set arrived in two installments. I gave Stephanie the necklace and earrings as a thank you gift several months ago, and then added the bracelet for her birthday just recently. Although I made them separately, I do like how it all goes together.



I think if I were to make the necklace today, I'd put the tassels at the end of chain (like I did on the bracelet) instead of on beaded headpins. It'd have more free movement that way.

I bought the blue & brown rectangle beads at Big Lots for next to nothing. There was a big closeout on Blue Moon art glass apparently, and I'm glad I stocked up when I did. These beads in particular have been a favorite -- I think each time I've hauled out my stash for jewelry parties, someone has snatched these up to make something pretty. I have friends and family all over the country wearing these beads. I love that.

Ebonnie

This is another birthday gift, this time for my friend Ebonnie. I love looking at my bead stash with a particular person in mind. It's a creative challenge not just to make something pretty, but to come up with something that suits that individual's personal style. I've been wanting to make some kind of tangly, multistrand piece for a while, but this is the first to make it to completion. I'm pretty happy with it. As usual, Grace likes it too. Let's just hope Ebonnie does also.

It did take longer than I expected to knot the strands. I thought I'd be saving time by not having to string so many beads, but I was mistaken. By the end I got into the rhythm though, and I think I could churn out a second one much more quickly. Attaching the clasp also posed some challenges. In the end, I knotted the five strands together and then used one of the longer tails to sew the whole thing on to each side of the clasp. I then tried to conceal the knot by wrapping it in the cord. The connection is a little bulkier than I'd like it to be, but I'm OK with that.

Materials: The waxed cotton cord is from the craft section at Wal-Mart. The wooden beads are from a friend who was clearing out her stash (thank you very much, Amy!). The (fake) coral nuggets and metal disks are from a thrift store necklace I purchased for 75 cents just so I could tear it apart. The clasp is antiqued goldtone toggle clasp, which I got at super discount from a JoAnn store that was going out of business. All totaled, this project cost less than $1.50, and probably took me about three or four hours (with some fumbling at first).

For me

There are a lot of things I love about this necklace, but I'm not yet sure it's in its final form. I love the contrast between the shiny glass and the fuzzy spheres. I love the liquid look of the seed beads. I like the length.

I'm not sure exactly what I don't like about it -- I guess it'd be nice if it were a little longer. To double it up I have to use a twister clasp because it's too short to loop twice around my head. (And because I'm too cheap to buy an actual twister clasp, I fake it with a piece of wire, which is a little awkward and uncomfortable.) But I guess the main thing is that I've worn this piece several times and haven't received a single compliment. When I asked Sweetie what he thought of it, instead of answering he asked, "Do you like it?"

I have also seen people notice it and say nothing, which is a little awkward. I'm honestly OK with the knowledge that it's not everybody's style. This is my style, and I like it. What pricks my vanity a bit is wondering if my style is bad style.

Stylish or not, this was easy on the pocketbook. The fuzzy blue beads were a clearance rack find -- $1.00 for the strand. The red glass beads are vintage hand-me-downs from my husband's grandmother*. I used pricey 49 strand beading wire, but even with that my total cost was probably around $2.00.

*This deserves more than a footnote, but who knows when I'll get back to mentioning this? When my husband's grandmother died, my husband's brother saved her stash of costume jewelry (much of it broken) from the junk heap. He had no idea what to do with any of it, but he couldn't let such pretty things be tossed. Lucky for me, at some point he heard about my bead obsession, and I became the happy recipient of the whole stash. Eventually, I will use the parts to make pieces for all of the daughters and grand daughters on my husband's side. I like the idea of them all having a part of grandma's jewelry box.

Kalisa

I don't have much to say about this set except that I like it. I'd had the blue glass beads in my stash for a while. I'd never thought of combining them with the turquoise before this experimentation, but I really like how it all turned out. I also like the packaging. The patterned card stock really makes it fun.