Lanyards

One of my aunts came to me and asked to make her a lanyard that was fun and pretty. I didn't quite know how to tackle this task, I had never made a lanyard and the thought to make one had never crossed my mind. I decided I would try my best and ended up with this as the result:

Sorry its not the best photo but its the best my dinky little camera could do. I really loved these beads from the moment I purchased them and am supper happy with the way they look all together. This next photo is just a close up on a smaller area:

I may actually start making a few of these to sell...especially one for myself. I am tired of wearing my ugly black rope lanyard and want something "fun and pretty" for myself. :0)

New Ideas

I had a friend ask me about a month ago to make her a necklace of a mixture of colors, I was having such a hard time coming up with an idea. I made three different versions of the first idea I had and didn't like it at all. Needless to say I took those apart and tried to start again, although it wasn't very easy. I have come to find that its easier to be creative when I don't have anything in mind and can just sit and do what I feel like at the time. Needless to say it was a couple of weeks before anything marvelous came to mind, this is what I came up with:
I really like how it turned out!! I chose the colors she wanted and some beautiful silver chain and started to wound wire through the beads and around the chain. This took a long time to do compared to other styles of jewelry I have done but I believe the beautiful look is well worth the work! I like doing it so much that I decided to make a bracelet following the same guidelines. I love the bracelet even more!!!

Teresa's Necklace

I made this necklace awhile ago and never really was happy with the way it looked. I saw one like it in a designer catalogue and decided I would try to make one like it.

I ran into so many problems when making it, trying to ge the beads to lay right, getting the chain not to twist funny. I finally got it finished and still didn't like the way it looked. So I decided to take it apart and use the beads and chain elsewhere, but left the picture up on facebook just incase someone liked it and I would have chance to try again. That chance came a couple of weeks ago when my Aunt Teresa said she would like a necklace in this style but with black beads. This is what I came up with:

Sorry this picture is not the best, but I believe it does it justice. I really like how this black version turned out, a lot better than the green version. The best part was she like it too.

More Wire Jewelry

A few days ago I blogged about some wire earrings that I made. Staying with the same theme I decided to see what it would look like to make if I took the basic design of the bent wire and added bigger beads to make a bracelet. I decided to go for it and this is what I came up with:

I love how it turned out. The greatest part was I finally used these beautiful blue beads for something I really liked. I had made a couple of different pieces of jewelry with them before I decided to use them in this bracelet and ended up taking the others apart. I found them at Michaels on sale for a great price but just couldn't figure out what to do with them. So, all in all I am very pleased with how this bracelet turned out. I like it so much that I decided to try and make a pair of earrings to match. I am still trying to figure out if I like them, they are a bit different from what I have made in the past, still cute, but different. Here they are:

So I need your opinions to help me figure out if these should stay or if I should try something new with them? I really value your opinions and learn from what I have done to try and make what is better and more beautiful. Thanks for supporting me in my little adventure.

Cancer and Jewelry

I had never really thought about cancer as being something that could be used as inspiration for things in everyday life. When my Mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in July I thought and thought about things I could do to help. My sisters and I decided that I would make a bracelet that as sisters we could wear everyday to show our support to our Mom. Before I had even gotten our bracelts completely made we had over 20 orders from people who wanted to purchase a bracelet to. This both thrilled and totally surprised me, its crazy to think of the support that people give as they rally around the you in troubling times. These are a couple of designs that I came up with:

My sister Stephanie had this great idea that because so many people wanted to help out by buying a bracelet that we could donate some of the proceeds to our Mom to help purchase her wig. Before we knew it we had the entire wig paid for and purchased! I was so happy with all that was pulling together. My Mom then had this idea that since everyone was going to have a bracelet she wanted all us girls to have something special, shared only by the six of us, so we decided to make watches. I thought this was a wonderful idea but had never made a watch band before. So my sisters helped me figure out what beads to use. They wanted it chunky and full of pink and silver. So I sat down and this is what I came up with:

I really like how the turned out. They are nice and chunky and after 5 trips to many craft stores they really came to life. I hope you like them. I am going to dabble in making more watch bands so keep looking back to see whats new. :o)

Purple Creations

I sometimes find that after I made a few pieces of jewelry out of the same color beads I always have left over beads that don't match. At first this really frustrated me and so when I would go shopping I would try to find more of the same, and eventually I was tired of working with the same beads over and over again. So I decided to combine all the leftover purple bead I had acquired and was rather suprised at how it turned out:

I learned that even the odds and ends of everything can create something beautiful. After my Mom had her surgery I decided to give it to her a a gift. She loves purple and I figured this would be the perfect piece for her cause she could wear it with all different purples. This next photo is of a necklace I made for one of my friends at work. She also wears a lot of purple but loves the accents of silver. So I decided to take a spin off a couple of other necklaces I had made and came up with this:

Sorry that the photo is not the best but you get the jist of what it should look like. I have really loved learning how to make different types and styles of jewelry.

Photo Slideshow

So tonight I worked for hours to try and get the new slideshow that can now be viewed on Made With Love working. It was a lot harder than I think it should have been :o) But anyways after all the work I now have a Flickr account and have learned many tricks. All these pieces that can be viewed are for sale. If you see something that you like email me or send me a message and we can work out a price and shipping. If you see a style you like but in the wrong colors let me know and I will see what I can work out. Keep checking back for new items coming soon!

Earrings, Earrings, Earrings!!!

As you can tell from the heading of this post its all about earrings. I can honestly say that earrings are my all time favorite things to make. They are so versatile in color, style, length, and they look different on all people. Last year for Christmas I made a pair of earrings for each of my coworkers so about 50 pairs all together. Each was different and unique in their own way depending on the person. I love seeing my creations being enjoyed by others. When I started to experiment with bending wire my Dad found these gorgeous beads in their couch, there weren't enough to make a necklace or a bracelet so I decided to experiment and this is what I came up with:

I find them to be very elegant and beautiful, but then again I am kinda biased. When I was done with this pair i decided that I really liked the style so I made two other pairs!! Let me what you think about them. :o)

One of my Favorite Necklaces!

I made this piece of jewelry for one of my Mom's closest friends to give to her daughter for Mothers Day. It was so very dificult to give away, hopefully one day I will be able to make another one just for me.

One of the hardest things about making this necklace was the fact i kept dropping it and the beads would go everywhere!! I was working with three different strands of wire and trying to hold onto them all and threading th beads at the same time was quite an interesting experience. I love the contrast of the cream intwined with the brown wooden beads, the rugged yet elegant look. You could wear this with a variety of outfits!! I hope she enjoys this necklace!!

First Jewelry Ideas

So one of the very first pieces of jewelry I made was a necklace patterened after one that I found in a department store and thought it ridiculous as to how high the cost was. So i firgured it wouldn't be that hard to recreate to my liking. I thought it turned out ok:

Since making this necklace I have learned many new thing. What beads can and cannot be placed in the same piece, everything doesn't have to be even, what materials to use and what ones will fall apart on you. I mostly enjoy making earrings the most. These are some of the first ones that I have made:

I made these for my Aunt Heather to match her Max Muscle Store colors. I had some fun trying to figure out a way to be playful, yet still look somewhat professional. I am not quite sure thats what happened but we both liked the way they turned out.

When first making bracelets at first I was skeptical because they all looked the same. Many of the first ones made I ended up cutting them apart and reusing the beads elsewhere. Finally after many attempts and some research I decided sometimes the simple patterns can be the most beautiful. This bracelet is one that is made with simple plastic pearls, but when you get it in the right light it they look like they could be real! This is from just a handful of gold accented jewelry I have made. Personally I love silver and rarelly wear gold but I would sure wear this one.

A Year Later

So it has been a year since I decided that jewelry making was just the thing I needed to do for myself. I can't believe how fast that time as flown and how far I have come and the evolution of my ideas of the past few months. I want to thank all of you how have contributed to this dream of mine. I know I have been neglecting this blog and have decided to change it so that it motivates me a little more to update more often. I hope all of you will check back often and give me tips on how to better this site for you all. I am going to post a few photos of my favorite jewelry from the start of this habit to what it has become now along with my adventures in other the other crafty areas of my life (scrapbooking, card making, ect.). So enjoy and if you like what you see pass it on to your friends.

Renovation

So I decided to start the blog over and revamp everything. So please be patient with me and I will work as fast as I can to get everything up and going again. Thanks for everything!!