Daily Craft - A Baptism Bookmark

Happy New Year folks!  2014 already?  I hope you all had a wonder-filled holiday season and that Santa was good to you. 

It's day 2 and being back at work seems like it came entirely too quickly.  Nonetheless, I'm feeling good about the upcoming year.  At the very least, I hope to spend more time out and about with Owen as he's now old enough to really start appreciating more activities - the zoo, museums etc.  I'm also thrilled that he's soon to be prime crafting age - more felt and paint for everyone!! 

This project is actually something I did a few weeks back, but I wasn't able to get it to the recipient until yesterday so didn't want to post anything lest I spoil the surprise.  Close friends of ours have a baby girl who was recently baptized.  I can't say I know much about appropriate gifts for baptisms but I did know I wanted to make something that she would (hopefully) treasure as she got older.  My original thought was a necklace, but then I found some simple shepherd's crook bookmarks and decided to go in a new direction. I wire wrapped some glass pearl beads left over from the jewelry I made for her baby shower, then added a small pink cross with Swarovski beads as the feature. 

I just love how this turned out and I really hope this is something she'll use for years to come to mark passages in her favorite Bible.  In the end, despite the convenience of the Kindle or Nook, reading a book on paper still can't be beaten in my eyes.  I bought more bookmarks so hopefully I can execute a few more ideas soon!

Daily Craft - My design needs your vote!

You may remember a few weeks back that I won a set of beads through Artbeads' "Tuscon Ten" contest.  So, part two of the contest was to create a design using those beads, with the beads making up at least 50% of the design.  Usually, I just let inspiration come to me when thinking about jewelry pieces, so it was different to have the parameters of my design set by the beads in hand.  The biggest challenge I faced was figuring out how to combine the different sets of beads, which I may not think to put together under other circumstances. 

In the end, I designed two necklaces.  The intent was that they could be worn separately, or together.  The first necklace used the giraffe beads combined with the tiny peacock pearls, and wire wrapped together with antiqued brass wire.  The second necklace tied in the antiqued brass with chain, and I decided to go with a lariat style so that I could feature a couple of the larger beads at each end.  I think the end result ended up being pretty cool!

Now onto the second part of the contest though.  I could win a giftcard from Artbeads for my design and could use your help!  If you could take a minute to vote for my design, please scoot on over to this Facebook page.  Voting is open through May 20th.  You can also check out the designs on the Tuscon Ten Pinterest Board.  Thanks all! 

Daily Craft - Playing with wire

While all my craft stuff was packed away and mostly out of reach, the one thing that I did have access to was my jewelry making supplies.  It all started with a tutorial for half herringbone wire wrapped beaded drops.  That resulted in me attempting the technique on several different beads.  My best efforts were a pair for myself, and a variation that is now in my shop.  I just love how simple but elegant the design is, and how the wire really highlights the beads.

A pair for you?

A pair for me!

Of course, this got me started with admiring other wire wrapping online, which led to checking out hammered wire pieces, and....well you know how it is when you start down the rabbit hole.  Next thing you know, I had to order a hammer, steel bench block, and more wire to play with.  Those supplies arrived last week, which resulted in a copper bracelet (photos to come in a future post), and yet another supply order for some items with which to give the wire a beautiful patina.  Yup, I've lost myself in yet another crafty vortex; however I'm thrilled that I'm going to be offering some fun new jewelry in my store soon, once I've perfected some new techniques!  In the crafty world, does it ever just stop with one thing?  

Daily Craft - A custom made necklace

While I am definitely in baby mode when it comes to my recent crafting, I was asked to make a necklace for a co-worker.  When time permits, I'm all about making custom pieces as it makes me think outside of the box and create something that I may not usually do.  I've also been frighteningly neglectful of my online shop since getting pregnant, so jumped at the chance.

In this case, it ended up being a beautiful smokey Swarovski briolette, wire-wrapped to a quatrefoil link.  Now that I've made the finished item, I love this design and need to make more like it!

Daily Craft - Think I'm getting the hang of this...

I've always admired wire wrapped jewelry and I've been practicing my skills.  I think my first breakthrough was realizing that thinner wire might be more effective.  Second brilliant notion was that the eye pins I have were too short.  So, I decided to get some plain 24 gauge wire and give it a go.  I think I'm finally figuring this out!  I also bought some 28 gauge wire to see if I like it better, but I'm finally producing some tidy wire wrapped joins.  Has to be said, it's quite satisfying. :)