Overcoming Obstacles in Jewelry Making & Necklace Tutorial

You know what I wish I had? Ends and ends of inspiration and creativity. I would sure have a lot more blog posts to write then!!! I feel like I am a fairly creative person (hence why I have a craft blog...) but one of the challenges I come across most in jewelry making is a lack of inspiration.

Sometimes I buy certain beads or supplies because they are really cute and I like them, and then they sit...and sit...and sit on my craft desk for months and months and months.  I'll pull them out every now and again to try to make them work with something but to no avail!!

That was the case for me with these cute oval purple charm beads from Prima bead.  I loved them when I saw them online so I ordered a few packs...but after I got them in person I could just NOT figure out what to do with them! Luckily I finally figured out a design so today I'm going give you a tutorial for this necklace and also walk you through my design process a bit.

I knew these fun charms would be the focal point of whatever I made so I started with them.  I like to know exactly how many I have to work with so I took them all out of the packaging and laid them out. 

I've played with these a few times over the past few months and nothing has come together.  I really liked the idea of having a bib style necklace with each different shape being a different row, but i really didn't have enough of each charms to make a very long necklace focal point.

Then instead of staggering the beads I thought I could do a more straight on layers like this shape, but again ran into the problem of not really having enough beads to make the focal point long enough.

Finally, since length kept on being the issue I decided to not try to split the charms up into rows and just work out a pattern in a single length.

Next I had to find a good chain to attach the charms to.  Luckily I work with chain a lot so I keep a decent stash of chain from Cousin & Prima Bead on hand. I tried this chain first....thought it was too chunky.

Then I tried a smaller chain....and thought it was too small.

I tried another medium sized chain... but thought the links were too close together.

Sheesh! Feel like Goldilocks yet??? Finally I found another medium sized chain with wider links and found it to be a match!

But, if I just attached the charms to the chain and left it as is I thought it would be too boring.  So, I found some small round beads I had in matching colors and figured I would work them in between the charms.

Now that I had a general design idea I set to work executing it. I cut a length of chain using wire cutters and found the center.  I opened a jump ring using needle nose pliers and attached the center charm.

I repeated this process on either side of the charm to complete the pattern I had laid out before hand, attaching the charms on every other chain link.

Next I strung a bunch of the small round beads onto headpins

Using needle nose pliers I bent the pin 90 degrees directly above the bead

Then I used wire cutters to trim off all but about a half inch tail from each pin

And grabbed the end of the pin using round nose pliers and bent it back around to form a simple loop

I started individually attaching the beads between the metal charms but found it to look too sparse. Instead I opted to add three beads onto a jump ring like so:

and then attached the whole jump ring onto the open chain link between the first two metal charms.

After all the beads are attached the necklace should look almost complete!

Attach a lobster claw clasp and jump ring onto the ends of the chain using needle nose pliers to finish off the necklace.

And then...finally I had my complete necklace!

 Sometimes I just get stumped with certain beads. It took me awhile to figure out how to use these charms but in the end I'm really happy with how the necklace turned out!

I don't design or create something every time I sit down at my craft table. Sometimes just nothing clicks! Luckily though after enough playing around with different beads I can normally overcome the lack of inspiration challenge in jewelry making! What about you, what challenges have you faced??

DIY Phone Case with Swarovski Crystal Flat Backs

This next DIY project is easy, cute and comes together in a matter of minutes! An even bigger plus for me is that it has flowers and sparkle and pink in it...nice and girly for my taste but can be changed up to fit your own as well!

I'm about two models behind on iPhones at the moment and have been hanging onto the same iPhone 5 for about 2.5 years now. I've had an otter box case on it to protect it from being dropped but lately it was getting pretty gross.  It had white rubber parts on it that were turning brown and was slowly breaking and turning more and more dirty.  I was in serious need of an update!

Luckily, Prima Bead recently launched a new line of Swarovski Crystal Rhinestones that are perfect for many other DIYs besides jewelry making, specifically blinging up a phone case! I made myself a cute floral blingy phone case with just a few basic supplies: here is how to make your own version!

Supplies:

You will need a piece of scrapbook paper, rhinestones, and a clear phone case.  I used THIS case for my older version iPhone, make sure you find one specific for your phone! Also needed but not pictures are scissors and E-600 Glue.

Steps:

Flip your scrapbook paper over to the back and flip your phone case so it is laying flat on the paper and trace around the outline of the case with a pencil.

Use scissors to cut the phone shape out.  You will need to cut the paper slightly smaller than the outline you drew, so be aware of that.  Trim away the excess until the paper fits snug in the phone case.

Make sure you also cut out the portion for the camera to show through!

After the paper is cut out properly slip your phone into the case to make sure everything lines up properly.

Now for the fun part: open up some rhinestone packs and lay out a pattern!

After you know where you want each Rhinestone to go, remove them one by one and re-secure onto the phone case using E-600 glue.  I used a broken off piece of a q-tip as an applicator.

After all the rhinestones are on and the glue is dry, clear away any extra glue trails and your phone case is done!

This was one of the most gratifying crafts I've done in a long time.  It was so easy to put together and it really turned out adorable! I love the floral pattern scrapbook paper I found and adding the rhinestones as bling is such a fun extra touch.  This is totally my style but the good news is you can completely make it your own style by just switching out a different type of scrapbook paper and different pattern of rhinestones!

Now even though I don't have the newest iPhone with all the bells and whistles, at least I have the cutest one around!!! :)

Neon Pop Purple Necklace

Here in the Philly suburbs we are hunkering down for a semi-decent snow storm.  As we get closer to the storm though the estimated snow fall keeps getting lower and lower (boo) but it sounds like we should still get about 6-9 inches.  Hopefully still enough for me to get to stay home and from work and enjoy some time beading! I've actually been fighting a bad cold for the past few days so I haven't been doing much of ANYTHING so I am hopeing that A: it snows enough to keep me home from work and B: that this cold will be gone enough so I can do something beside lay around and do nothing hah.

Before I started feeling crappy I did have time to play around with some new component's from Prima Bead's new Neon Pop collection which I am just obsessed with! All of the compenents are statement pieces and so on trend with today's fasion. 

 I created a very basic necklace that let the components baisically speak for themselves, and I think it turned out adorable!

 

Supplies:

Needed to make this necklace is one large purple charm bead, four smaller accent beads, gold chain, lobster claw clasp, jump rings, and an extender chain (if desired).

Steps:

Lucky for you, this necklace is easy peasy to make. First things first, find the center of your gold chain. Open a jump ring using needle nose pliers and string on the large purple charm bead. String the jump ring through the center chain link and close again using pliers.





Repeat this process for the four smaller charm beads on either side of the center charm bead.

Use jump rings to attach a lobster claw clasp to one end of the chain and an extender chain to the other end.

 

After your clasp is attached you are good to go!

I love this style, I think it's just a little preppy and a lot of fashion. A great combo if you ask me!



I still have a couple extra pieces from the collection left to play around with...keeping my fingers crossed that snow storm Juno will give me that opportunity this week!!!
 

DIY Pink Crystal Fringe Necklace

I've been watching a lot of Project Runway lately. I mean, how can you NOT like the show: it has fashion, celebrates the DIY lifestyle, has catty drama and it's all topped off with a little Tim Gunn "make-it-work" mantra - it's just great.  They talk a lot on the show about how each designer has their own aesthetic and style and how important it is that each individual designer's style shows through in the pieces they make. This season they have an anonymous runway so the judges are not told who made what look before they walk the runway.  However, most times if the designers stick to their own style it's easy for the judges to see who made what look.

Well, my sewing skills are less than excellent but I can make some pretty jewelry! I feel like I definitely have my own jewelry making aesthetic and two BIG features of my style would include sparkle and pink! If you sent this necklace down a runway with jewelry made by the other Cousin ambassadors it would be very easy to tell that this was mine! I've seen a couple fringe necklaces popping up lately and I knew I wanted to try the style out with my own personal aesthetic so I grabbed some sparkles and set to work! Now that's it's done...where's my runway to show it off??? ;)

I am so in love with the end result of this necklace! It you want to give it a go, here's how you can make your own!

Supplies:

Copper crystals, yellow crystals, pink crystals, coral crystals, copper chain, head pins, eye pins, jump rings, clasp

Steps:

First step is to string five coral crystals onto a head pin and create a simple loop on top.

 Next use needle nose pliers to attach an eye pin to the simple loop

String on five more crystals in the light pink color

Create another simple loop on top of this crystal set by bending the wire 90 degrees directly above the last bead using needle nose pliers

Trim off all but about a half inch tail of the wire using wire cutters

Grasp the end of the tail using round nose pliers and bend around into a loop. 

Use needle nose pliers to attach another eye pin onto this new simple loop and string on five smaller yellow crystals.  Create another simple loop at the top of the yellow crystals.

Repeat this process one more time for five more copper crystals

Keep going until you have beaded multiple crystal strands

Cut a piece of copper chain to necklace size and use needle nose pliers to attach a crystal strand to the center of the chain

Repeat this process until you have filled out the bib of your necklace

Attach a clasp and jump ring using needle nose pliers to the ends of the chain

After the clasp is on your necklace is done!

I can't wait to throw this necklace on with this little sweater shrug and some boots, it is the perfect accessory to jazz up an outfit for fall weather.

I love the mix of colors I used: some pink, some coral, some copper, but the fun thing about this necklace is that you can customize it to whatever your style is! You could even do a fun ombre effect with the colors!

Wearing this many crystals around your neck is SURE to draw some attention! I've never been afraid of attention though so I think I will wear it with confidence!

Do you have a signature jewelry making style? What colors and what type of beads would you like to try to make this necklace with??