Bottlecap jewelry!

A neckclace and earring set for my sister:



All I had to do was drill holes in the sides/tops of the caps, and add crystals to complete the look. I hope she likes it...she loves anything Mets!

Black Friday loot!

Jo-Ann Fabric had a big sale on their beads and supplies, plus I had a 20% off total purchase coupon. I went a little nuts:



The bottlecaps on top were ordered online. They arrived in the mail just as I got home from Jo-Ann! :) They're going to be made into a necklace.

Put this together last night...

After yesterday's midterm elections, this is a sentiment I'm going to have to follow. :p

My town just got a Hobby Lobby (that's where the pendant came from). Just what I needed, another craft store!

Another charming piece!

I made a bracelet for myself using Scrabble letters. :)



The J cracked a bit, so I'll have to replace it. I'll have to wait, because there was only one J in the set of letters I bought.

The daisy charms are from Jolee's Jewels.

Back to charms...

I found some great Christmas charms at Jo-Ann Fabric and made necklaces:





The charms and chain are from Plaid's holiday line.

Three new pieces...

My new soldering iron arrived today, so I did some more work.

This is my first attempt at a round charm:



Two larger pendants:





All images from lunagirl.com, all papers from Michaels.

Collage attack!

Instead of working on jewelry, I've been making collage covers for scrapbooks!

The photos and part of the backgrounds are from Vintage Stack by DCWV, the pink stripe background is from K and Company, both paper stacks were purchased from Michaels.





This is so much fun! The cupcake book is where I'll put favorite recipes. It was originally a plain craft photo book from Borders.

I'll get back to beading soon. I just like to try new things, and doing the tiny collage pieces for soldered charms was inspiring!

A Royal Mess!

I made a huge mess, but I redid the princess charm. This time, I remembered to seal the picture before putting it under glass!



Soldering is fun but messy. And the flux smells. Ugh. Collage work is pretty messy, too. I had to clean up a lot of glitter and ModPodge that got all over my workspace!

I made another princess charm- I found a book of scrapbook paper with a fairy tale theme, including crowns, and cut the photo of the girl to fit. Then I added glitter to the roses in her hands, and gold ink around the edges. It gives it an even more vintage look!



This one is pretty big, 2x2 inches.

I put dried flowers on the back of both pieces:



I'm going to put away the soldering iron for a while, and work on plain old beads and charms. I need to get a new tip for the iron before I can do more soldering, anyway!

Oooooops!

I'm still trying to master the art of soldering! My charms are starting to look better, but I keep forgetting to do one important thing- Seal the pictures with decoupage gel. This is what happended to one project:



This is a definite do-over- I love the little girl's expression! The flux leaked through the tape and discolored the photo badly. The reverse of the charm turned out all right:



More examples of what happens when paper or other items aren't sealed:



The daisy is supposed to be white!

Again, the other sides of these charms turned out okay:



Somehow these next two pendants didn't get flux under the glass.

#1, front and back:





#2, front and back:





At least I'm not burning the papers now.

All of the images are from lunagirl.com. Some of them needed some cleverly placed flowers and glitter. ;) I love old photos.

I'm trying to get the hang of soldering jump rings...I'm not doing it very well.

Just what I needed. :p

Yet another place on the web for me to spend money on my hobby. Lunagirl Images- awesome vintage photos and clip art at reasonable prices, most of them copyright free.

http://lunagirl.com/

I've already downloaded four collage sheets. I'm working on some pieces with them right now.

There are a lot of nudes and otherwise risque images...I'll use them, but I'll have to do some editing (i.e., strategically placed stickers and glitter) to make them family friendly! I'm no prude, but I like to keep my jewelry at least PG-13!

A finished necklace and some shopping finds!

I finally got around to making a necklace out of some of my old coins. This one uses French coins, and an Industrial Chic pendant.



I couldn't use all the coins- they would have been way too much! I like the mix of metals.

The dangles are from a new Michaels line, Luna Nuova. I bought a few sets of them, plus some large "watch gears" made for scrapbooking.

Getting the hang of it!

Another soldered charm made with scrapbook papers, clip art, and a cloth flower.

Front and back:


I used the 1/2 inch foil tape. It gave better coverage. This time, the flux didn't leak under the glass, and I didn't burn the paper! The piece needs to be filed and buffed, then I'll put it on a chain or cord.

Yay for amazon.com!

I never thought I'd be so excited to get tape in the mail! 1/2 inch wide copper foil tape, for soldering projects. The 1/4 inch tape was a little too small. My projects will look so much better. I'm going to work on something tonight.

Also, my mom gave me an old pocketwatch of hers. I dismantled it, saving the gears, watch face and hands, and the casing. The watch case will make a nice locket for collage pieces!

Third attempt at soldering!

I'm just playing with ideas.



The bottom one is pretty good, but may need an extra coating of solder. It will become a pin to wear at Christmas! The paper in the top two pieces burned a bit. I still need to practice!

Soldering, attempt number two.

Still not perfect, but much better than my first attempt! I realized what I did wrong the first time- I had too much stuff under the glass. My piece was too thick to tape properly (copper foil tape is wrapped around the glass first). I may break it and save the watch pieces for a future project. I don't like to waste materials on unwearable pieces.

Here's the new piece, front and back:





The clip art and quotes came from the Simple Soldered book. I adapted one of the author's designs. I also used some "girly" scrapbooking papers for the background. All it needed for finishing was a silk ribbon! It's still not perfect. I got a little bit of the liquid flux under the glass. It discolored the paper a bit, but otherwise didn't damage the piece. I also burned myself with my soldering iron. *rolls eyes* Ouch.

I also made a necklace with the Paris charm I bought from Goody Beads:



I added an old French coin. I have several more coins drilled, but this one matched the charm and the chain best.

I love that book, and I love soldering! There are so many projects I want to do.

New goodies and a new technique!

I picked up two new pendants from Blue Moon this week, from their collections Sea Life and Bella Artiste.





The T.V. is so cute!

From Goody Beads, a soldered charm, two sides:





Finally, I'm learning to solder pieces of my own. My mom got me the book Simple Soldered Jewelry and Accessories. I had the materials and tools needed, and I've wanted to try it for a long time. This book gave me the inspiration to start! My first, somewhat sloppy attempt:





I made it with scrapbooking paper and stickers, and old watch parts. It has a bit of a "steampunk" look. I need to file the metal a bit, but I think this is pretty good for a first attempt!

Yay for sales!

Michaels had a sale last week on Industrial Chic items. I bought a bunch. I added a few charms to my neckclace:



I made a new pendant with the rest:



I can put that on any chain or cord.

I'm starting to look for old watch parts to use in collage charms and pendants. I love the pieces I've seen in some of my books. Assortments of old watch parts are starting to appear on sites like Fire Mountain- I'll have to buy a few!

Two new goodies!

A beaded wine stopper, and a charm watch.





The stopper and its beads and the watch face came from Goody Beads, the assorted charms all came from Michaels or AC Moore.

Industrial Chic!

All but two of the charms are from that line. The chain is from Orient Express.



It's so different! It took an hour to assemble.

Cute finishes!

The beaded gift set from Goody Beads:





This was a fun project!

A work in progress, and some "goodys".

Yeah, the misspelling was on purpose- my Goody Beads order arrived today- I only placed it on Tuesday!



Salad server, canape knife, appetizer fork, and the beads to go on them. This will make a nice gift for someone. :)

I caved in and bought some of the new Industrial Chic charms at Michaels yesterday:



These sets are expensive- $5.99 each.

I'm using most of them in this project- this isn't final, I haven't decided if this chain really works.



The pendant is going to be the focal point of a necklace I'm making for my sister. She's been to France, and I thought it would be nice to make a necklace with Paris-themed charms for her. Here I've added an old coin to the pendant:



I'm going to be very, very busy in the coming weeks!

I also picked up a fabulous new book for my beading library- Custom Cool Jewelry.

http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Cool-Jewelry-Personalized-Pendants/dp/1596680741/ref=pd_sim_b_4

New necklace!

Most of the charms and the chain are from Pearls and Pumps.



Close up- I glued the cameos/crystal to the bezels.

And more new goodies...

Michaels has a new line- Industrial Chic. It's very interesting...

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/static?page=Industrial-Chic

I like the idea of turning found objects into jewelry! I'll have to pick up a few pieces.

Uh-oh!

Goody Beads. I've never visited the site before, and now I can't stop looking!

http://www.goodybeads.com/

I especially like the bead pen kits.

I have a nice coupon to use that doesn't expire for a month...I have some serious shopping to do!

New goodies and a finish!

I've been too busy to do much recently- but today I went shopping and found some great new stuff! A.C. Moore had some things I'd never seen before:



I like the Vintage Groove stuff! And Blue Moon's Bella Artiste line is a winner. I combined one of their pendant and one of the Vintage charms:



Blue Moon's Design Studio line will be fun to work with. I've been looking for "blank" pendants to make my own designs with.