Animal Charms: A Quick and Personalized Gift Idea

I freely acknowledge that I tend to stay away from anything too cutsy.  I'm an adult and don't need to clutter my brain with the "my kitty" syndrome of small cute charms of animals that can adorn everything from jewelry to cell phone covers.

That being said... what do you do when someone you know has a birthday and happens to LOVE those things.  If you are an ATA Girl - you bite the bullet (or in this case the bead) and you make them a bunch of animal charms.   It was so easy - of course I had to make several... after all - who knows when I might need them.

Now who would have thought the there were so many animal "bead caps" to choose from - all with little matching bottoms.  There are bears and frogs and cats (oh my!).  I picked up a bunch of bear heads and bottoms while at the bead show and went to work.   All you need to make these is:

A multi-piece bead cap in an animal shape - make sure it has a post.

1 6 to 10 mm round or bicone crystal for each animal

E60 epoxy

toothpick

Play with the beads to see what "fits" best with your animal head and bottom. You can change the look of the animal by switching up the size and shape of the bead you will be placing in the middle. You should make sure that whatever bead you use fits over the post on the animal head.

Start with the head of your animal charm - and place a small amount of the E60 in the post and the underside of the head. This is the tricky spot... you don't want to apply so much that it will ooze all over your bead - but you do want it to hold the bead in place.  

Slide the bead in place, making sure it is seated tightly to the top, then immediately wipe away any excess adhesive.  Allow to dry for a few minutes.

Place a small amount on the feet section and place the feet on the bottom of the bead, making sure the feet are facing forward.  If the post is long enough - it will actually fit into the indentation or hole in the feet allowing you to line the two pieces up easier.  Press together until the glue sets - then let sit overnight before attaching it to anything.

Ok - -so I admit - they are cute. Maybe I need to make myself a whole zoo!   Hmmm.

~ Dani

Simple Beaded Loop Earring Pattern

I'm on a beading kick lately... and decided to expand my design collection to earrings.  I wanted to make something quick, easy but eye-catching - and this is what I came up with.  You will need:

26 gauge artistic wire in matching color

8 lime 4mm bicone Swarovski crystals

14 lime 4mm bicone Swarovski crystals

4 aqua 6mm bicone Swarovski crystals

2 silver plated findings

2 silver plated "fish hook" earring findings

You can use any color combination of crystals - this just happened to be what I had on-hand that matched the wire I had... so - in other words - you can go crazy and make dozens of these with no problem using just your current supplies.

Cut a piece of wire about 6" long. String the finding and crystals on the wire in this pattern: 1 finding, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 lime, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 aqua 6mm, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 lime, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 lime, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 aqua 6mm, 1 aqua 4mm, 1 lime and 1 aqua 4mm. 

Bring the end of the wire around and back through the finding. Pull the wire tight so the crystals form a "hoop" below the finding.

 

Thread the 2 wire ends through the earring wire. Bend the 2 wires and wrap around the bottom of the earring. Continue wrapping the wire neatly around the top until you have formed a slight "ball" of wrapped wire. Slide the tightener down the earring. If necessary trim excess wire and tuck ends into wrapped wire ball to prevent scratching. 

  Place a drop of jeweler's glue or clear nail polish near the ends of the wire that are tucked into the wrapped wire ball as an added precaution against scratching.  Then go out and let them sparkle in the sun. 

I actually liked them so much - I made a bunch to use as shade pulls for my windows. - very pretty.

~ Dani

Beaded Wild Woman Pin: Part 2

The Bead & Button Show was incredible.  While I wandered the aisle checking out the new handmade beads, oohing and ahhing over the incredible jewelry creations that are more like art than something wearable, and happily fondling the long strings of pearls and gemstones available, my mind was churning with new ideas and creative ways to update old ones.  I picked up some patterns (just because I had to!) and a kit or two (again, same reason), along with - you guessed it - even more beads and pearls to add to my stash.  It was so hard to wait until I got home to unwrap everything and start to play.

So - here I am playing with all the cool stuff I picked up - and what do you think I grab.  Yup - the good old Wild Woman design.  And - tell me - do I use the beads and neat stuff I just purchased - of course not.  I grab my box of leftover goodies and start to combine things.  I did come up with a new design - so I suppose that's a good thing - but come on.. why not use all the brand spanking new pearls and crystals I now have spread over my table!

Anyway - here she is.  She's more of a mixed media type "Woman" with the inclusion of some great quilting fabric I had and multiple layers of different textures of yarn for hair.  She's on a long hat pin so could be used for multiple things.   Not sure what to call her- any ideas?
~ Dani

Wild Woman Bead Pin

Ok - -so I know it's been a while since our last posting - and I do promise to get better - but life got in the way of creation.  Now that things have calmed down a bit, I started cleaning up my artsy workspace and once more ran my fingers through the piles of colorful glass and crystal beads.  This of course has nothing to do with the fact that the Bead & Button Show is being held this week in Milwaukee.  Uh uh - nope - nothing at all. ( http://www.beadandbuttonshow.com/)  

I decided, since I was playing anyway, to break out a couple of my old designs and see if I still remembered how to make them.  Sometimes you forget how much fun something was to make until you do it again.  I went back and re-created my Wild Women series.  How fun to create these great characters with their wiry hair flinging beads and crystals everywhere.  I also made a couple of Wild Child and Crazy Lady pins to break it up a bit. I'll be adding them to the store shortly, although I have put the pattern out there already.

Who knows what I'll come up with once I've been to the show.... like I really need more beads!  

~ Dani