This kitty cat tofu head is sad. Perhaps he is sad because he needs to grow up to be a pendant.

He needs a bail so he can hang nicely from a ribbon or chain.

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Tags: bail, glue on bail, how to make jewelry, jewelry making, pendant making, question and answer, resin

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Tags: cracked egg, egg, gift, how to make jewelry, nina bagley, ornamental

I just got back from a FANTABULOUS camping trip and haven’t been online for days.

So of course, instead of checking emails (quite afraid to actually) because that might mean hours of replies and spam dumping (my own fault really- I am a little too newsletter, free report, and free download in-exchange-for-email address happy), I’ve been surfing.

And I found some gorgeous eye-candy. Check these out:

I love everything about these beads- even the name. Who am I kidding? Especially the name! Who wouldn’t like beads called Hot Pants Merlot?

Note to self - putting the words “Hot Pants” in front of anything just makes it better.

Here’s another beauty:
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Tags: beads, eye candy, glass, glass beads, inspiration, lampwork

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to spool knit we go…

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Tags: arts and crafts, beaded spool knitting, diy, how to make jewelry, instructions, jewelry making, jewelry making techniques, spool knitting, wire knitting, wyr knittr, yarn crafts

Make an American Flag Beaded Safety Pin Bracelet.

 In my last post I gave out instructions for a Canada Flag safety pin bracelet project.

Here’s the American Flag version of the safety pin bracelet project , just in time for Independence day, July 4th!

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Tags: american flag, flag craft, holiday craft, how to make a safety pin bracelet, jewelry, jewelry craft, jewelry making, jewelry making instructions, safety pin bracelet, safety pin craft, safety pin jewelry

Make a Beaded Safety Pin Bracelet

In celebration of Canada Day here’s an idea for making a patriotic craft for all you fellow Canadians out there in cyberspace (or anyone who wants to pose as a Canadian for traveling purposes).

Before we begin, I want to say, “Thanks so much!” to Brenda. She inquired about an easy, fun jewelry craft to make with her teenage daughters this weekend, and the question forced me to get off my bum.

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(Note to Americans - “bum” as in the body part - is a Canadian/British term - I understand Americans rarely if ever say bum referring to the buttocks).

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About this Safety Pin Bracelet Pattern

Since I am exhausted from the first day of summer vacation for my 5 year old, I’m shamelessly borrowing ideas from a bunch of different places and mashing them together into one craft instead of creating something original.

Here are the websites I’m giving props to:
Thank you thank you family crafts at about.com - not sure exactly what you’re making here but it gave me the idea.
Thanks to Aleesa who kindly allowed me to post pictures from her Flick’r feed

So here’s the project:

Canada Day Beaded Safety Pin Bracelet Project Instructions

Materials

• Lots of 1 1/16 inch safety pins
• red and white seed beads
• 1 inch wide elastic

How to’s

Follow this pictorial guide (from familycrafts.about.com) for your bead pattern.

Each column represents a pin. The idea is to thread one pin and then thread another pin in the opposite direction.

Each pin will then be threaded onto the 1 inch elastic and will form a pattern of canada flags around your wrist.

For an example of what I mean, take a look at Aleesah’s watch band:

You can separate the flags from each other with a white beaded safety pin, or let each flag blend into the other with no separation. I think either would look awesome.

To finish, you can either make it into a watchband by sewing the ends around a watch face, or simply sew the end together to make a stretchy bracelet.

Good luck with it! Happy Canada Day!

Cool Canadian facts:

• Canada Day is July 1st

• In Canada “bum” is a body part meaning buttocks

• Canadians are always polite
• They like to eat Tortiere while sitting on a snowbank (even in summer!)
• Canadian parents read the Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier every night to their children at bedtime
• They have a uniformly odd sense of humour that non-Canadians disregard as either the babbling of a fool or the truth of a sage.

Tags: bracelet making, canada day, canada day craft, canada day jewelry, easy jewelry project, jewelry making, patriotic bracelet, safety pin, safety pin bracelet, safety pin craft, safety pin jewelry, safety pin project, teen jewelry project

My newest favoritest blogger, Margot Potter a.k.a the self proclaimed “Bead Queen of the Universe”, the Impatient Blogger, and a gal not afraid of shameless self promotion, has posted a fun-filled video showing you how to make an Art-to-Wear Collage Pendant!

This sparkly powerhouse of a princess writes,

“Yes indeedy do, your eyes do not deceive you, it’s a brand spanking new The Impatient Crafter™ video sampling for your craftertainment! Huzzah! This damn thing was a royal pain in the arsterbard, but it’s up! YAY! It’s not quite as comedic as our last effort, we’re trying to find the balance between solid content and entertainment. It’s a process people.”

So watch and enjoy - I want to be a princess too now, so I’m off to make a tiara for myself too…

Technorati Tags: collage pendant, jewelry video, jewelry tutorial video, how to make a collage pendant, jewelry making, pendant making, how to make jewelry, margot potter, impatient beader

Tags: collage pendant, how to make a collage pendant, how to make jewelry, impatient beader, jewelry making, jewelry video, jewelry vidoe tutorial, margot potter, pendant making

Ellia of Greenbean Baby Art has a wonderful, informative post about running a successful Etsy shop.

She has an interesting take on marketing. What I really like about her Etsy shop marketing suggestions is that they are all 100% doable (do-able?) online. No craft-shows, no home jewelry shows, and no offline networking. Although these offline ways are ideally part of your marketing plan, I know some of us are shy, have family obligations that restrict us from traveling or spending hours away from home, or just plain have jobs or lives that limit our daylight hours!

Here’s her article (thanks so much for letting me reprint it Ellia!):
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Tags: etsy, etsy selling, etsy shop, jewelry selling, marketing, online jewelry marketing

I recently received this question about making a sliding knot closure for a necklace from Mary, a I’m Making Jewelry in My Jam Jams newsletter subscriber:

My favorite jewelry comes on a cord that is continuous. That is to say that I don’t undo it to take it off or put it around my neck.

When it is on and hanging at the length that I want, it seems to be on strand - however, near the back of my neck it is 2 strands, each with some kind of slip knot or noose.

This allows me to lenghten and shorten the necklace - no clasp involved. I would like to learn how to make this type of closure.

Someone told me it is a hangman’s noose, but I’m not sure about that.

Any ideas? Thank you, Mary

I love this type of closure too. No clasp, no fiddling, a great way to finish a casual necklace. Here are some resources that will show you how to make one:

Simple sliding Knot Closure Instructions from Ruby’s Bead Work This tutorial will show you how to make the quickest, easiest sliding knot closure. I use this one on my 5 year old daughter’s bead projects.

Need more?

Here’s a video for those of you who need to see live action instructions.

And here’s my favorite…

Want to make more decorative knot? Here are some clear instructions for a more decorative sliding knot from satincord.com . This is called a "triple connection knot"

Tags: christine gierer, how to make jewelry, knots, knotting, necklace closure, sliding knot closure, triple connection knot

This is a totally inappropriate post and totally unrelated to the point of this blog, But I laughed out loud when I read this email and thought I’d share it. I hope it brightens your day a bit too

Background: My 2 1/2 year old son Eddie and “I’m Making Jewelry in my Jam Jams Newsletter” subscriber Linda’s brother Eddie share their first name.
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Tags: just for fun, poop