Saturday, October 15, 2016

Words to Live By for Jewellery Makers

Whether a jewellery maker likes to dabble on the fringes of fashion, is right up there with the latest trend or has a style that is uniquely their own, there's one surefire thing that identifies us as a tribe: it's our love of colourful and sparkly things. In honour of that, I've gathered together a few thoughts and quotes that have resonated with me lately and teamed them with some pretty jewellery - I hope you enjoy the quotes and eye candy too! Be classy and be fabulous... Coco says so! Cake is just not the same without the icing on top! Need I say more! Live life to the full! Be your sparkliest self! 'Til next time..... Want to learn how to make jewellery?  Click here to find my books and printable pdfs...
Monday, October 10, 2016

Marble-ous Resin - How to Create a Faux Marble Finish

My niece recently celebrated her 30th birthday and as the family crafter, I scored all of the wooden numbers that decorated the tables that night. What a treasure for a compulsive crafter!  As a thank you, I promised to make one specially decorated "30" for the birthday girl to keep as a memento of the occasion.  She left it in my hands to decorate it in any style I wanted but she did stipulate one thing.... that it be in her favourite colour...  PINK!   I knew immediately what I wanted to do - give the numbers a FAUX MARBLE FINISH USING RESIN .  I know I said I was making these in pink, but they turned out so well, that I also made some in purple so you'll notice throughout this tutorial that there are purple ones too! This faux marble technique looks hard to do... but I promise you that it is SUPER EASY and gives marble-ous results! Here's what you'll need: ETI Envirotex-Lite resin Acrylic paint in four coordinating colours. I chose titanium white for ...
Thursday, October 6, 2016

Houndstooth, Chevron Stripes and Polka Dot Bracelet

If you want to make a statement with your jewellery, you can't go past this combination of bold graphic patterns in black and white. Houndstooth, chevron stripes, polka dots and a pop of red are eye-catching together in this chunky design. With it's simple design and easy to do up magnetic clasp, it will become one of your go-to bracelets when you need to dress up a casual outfit. Here's what you'll need: Black/white graphic puffy bead strand (Metal Gallery - Hobby Lobby) Eight  6mm Light Siam Swarovski bicones 7-Strand Black Beading Wire  (softer, more flexible beading wires will be difficult to thread through the hollow beads) Silver Crimp Tubes Silver Wire Guardians Silver Magnetic Tube Clasp Tools: Wire cutters,  Euro Tool Crimping Pliers Cut a 30-35cm (12-14") of beading wire and string on a crimp tube and one arm of the wire guardian. Thread the beading wire through the other side of the wire guardian, leaving a tail of at least 2.5cm (...