"Making Do" with Light Blue Cat's Eye Beads

Yesterday I showed you these beads. They are simple light blue cat's eye beads. I've had them so long I can't remember when, where, or why I bought them. I haven't used cat's eye beads as a major part of my beadwork in quite a while. As such, I needed to go ahead and DO SOMETHING with these.

So, I thought about what I wanted to make and considered chandelier earrings first. But, when I realized how MANY of these I had, I knew a long necklace was in order. I had also already decided on on the colors I wanted to use with them - some neutrals (black and clear) and red.

I gathered my supplies: black, clear, and red seed beads; some 24 gauge black wire; and pliers (needle nose, round nose, and wire cutters).

The necklace was simply a wire link one. I cut short (3-4 inch) lengths of the wire [they don't really need to be this long, but I'm still not very good at making wrapped wire loops, so this was good practice on some longer lengths of wire]; made a loop and twist on one end, added my beads, and started the loop on the other end to look like this:
I attached all the links together as each was made to form a very long beaded chain necklace.

Here's the whole thing together.

And another closer look at it.

I'm pretty happy with the results. It was a good way to use up a lot of the same beads. I suppose it would also be a good way to use up a lot of any kind of beads. You can't really tell in the pictures, but the necklace itself is very subtle and skinny (though long.) It's definitely more of an accent necklace than a focal point necklace. In any case, it's still cool.

After seeing my post yesterday, several of my dear friends mentioned that I should open an Etsy shop. Don't worry - there is one in the works. I just have to stop making jewelry long enough to get started on setting up the shop. I've got a few things I want to work out about the selling and shipping and some other research I need to do. You will SOOOO be informed when the shop is up and running.
Thanks for the confidence in me, it's really given me the gumption to get my butt in gear on the whole jewelry selling front.

Oh, let me know what you think of the above necklace. Was it a success (turning some old, unused beads into something beautiful)? I welcome your comments.

Crafting Feb 23-March 1

I was able to get some pictures taken and loaded today of what I've been working on this week. It's quite a mixture of crafty stuff.

Collage/Soldering:

I started the week working on just one collage/ soldered pendant. I then strung it up with some beads to make this very cool necklace that I'm calling "Fun and Games".This is the 'front' of the pendant.

It is two sided and here's side B.

I went on to work on a few more collages and was able to get them in the glass and copper foiled. They are waiting to be soldered. These are the fronts.

These are their "B sides". I really like old glasses and for some reason used these on the back of all of them. Weird, I know!

Knitting:
I bought a Knifty Knitter kit this week.

In one night I was able to complete a cap with only a few errors.

I then started in a scarf to match, but have since realized that I don't have enough yarn to complete the scarf. It will end up as a pot holder I suppose.

Beading:
I've decided to do a few tutorials here using some of the beads/ other craft materials that I don't know how to work into other projects. I think I'm going to call the series "Making Do" or something along those lines. What do you think? Here are the beads I started with - some light blue cat's eye beads. Check back for the details of what I did with them. It's pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Crafting at the end of January and Beginning of February

I just want to stop in, say hi, and show any of you still hanging around what I've been crafting:

Jewelry:

I made a glasses-holder thing for my Mardi Gras Ball - to hold my mask on

I made some button bracelets

Embroidery:

And, I've been seriously embroidering

No, really I have

Seriously.

My Week in Craft (through Jan 25)

I'm a few days late posting this, but with the week of stuff that I have to do - I'm pretty proud of myself for posting now even. Soooooo, here's a glimpse of some of the crafting I undertook last week:

BAKING
I baked some cookies, not from scratch or anything.

KIDS CRAFT
While I visited with the nieces, we played with my Sharpies and Shrink Plastic
They made some really cute imagesUnfortunately, I'm not used to working with my mom's gas oven and some of them came out a little wonky.
EMBROIDERY
I broke out my embroidery supplies last week, and that's what I spend the majority of the week crafting. I started with some doodling.

But then decided I should work on some basics, so I actually pulled out and ironed on the stitch lesson pattern from Sublime Stitching. I also worked on a little planet.
And, I started on a car.

JEWELRY MAKING
I did get in the craft room to work on a few other tasks (like sealing the paper clay beads from last week) before I started on something else new: another decoupage bracelet.
I started by selecting the bracelet (a yard sale find) and sanding it a bit.
I painted the bracelet with some gesso before beginning to apply comic strip images I cut out of some old comic books. It's not quite done yet, but here's where I am on it.

I have worked on another project or two so far this week. I MAY be able to post those next week. Let's see how much recovering I need from my Mardi Gras Ball and how much I actually get done while preparing for the ball. Til then. . .
Oooohhhh, I need a crafty catch-phrase. I guess I'll try to work on that too. Hmmm.

My Crafty Creations for the Week

I admit, I've neglected this blog for quite some time. I want to begin to remedy that. This may end up only being a once a week blog post. Maybe more. We'll see.
For tonight, I just want to show some pictures of the craft projects I've worked on this week. Here goes:

This was started a few weeks ago, and is still not completely finished. It needs a pin back. However, it was sealed and the pieces were glued together.

I worked on my felting skills this week, starting with some wool roving.

Forming the beads
And creating a bracelet. I know it's not the greatest work, but not bad (I think) for my first real attempt.
I also worked on some home decor. With a piece of canvas board, I painted the background and started with some black circles.
Filling in the circles and adding more, gave me this.
I played with my microwave fuse glass kiln to make this. It still needs to go to the grinder and placed on a pendant.
Through the week, I was making some paper clay beads. I started by forming the beads into some random shapes. Then, I took some regular stamps and pressed images into the shapes before poking the holes and leaving them to dry for a few days.
Lastly, I painted the beads.So, that's been my adventures into the world of craft this week. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Thanks for stopping by.

Personal Collage Creations

It's been a while since I've posted, so I figured I should reveal my latest creative endeavors - all collage. I was first working on a small scale and started working on these pendants.They still need to be glued and sealed before they are officially done.
I was getting so stuck working on such a small scale, I was compelled to work on some larger collages.
I'm more partial to this second one. I took the first one a little too far, and should have stopped before it was absolute chaos.

What do you think?

Pin-Up Halloween Necklace

Woweeee - It's been a while since I've posted here, but I have been working on getting some lists together to post more often. For now, I want to share the Halloween necklace I made and the directions. Check it out. . .

I started with a simple pin-up image and a wooden tag. I found a variety of Halloween images in the Flickr Collage Images group and at Thrifty Collage Artist's free images.

Paint the tag orange with some acrylic paint and glued on the image. [I even put an image on the back of the tag (to make it reversible)]

Embellish the tag with a black paint pen.

Add some rhinestones.

Cover with Diamond Glaze or other sealant.

Gather beads (and other findings) to complete the necklace. I went for a basic palette of black, orange, and silver.

String beads and add a clasp, and you'll end up with a beauty like this:

I'm proud of it anyway!!