stuff i have made in the last 2 weeks

 Stuff I made the week of 22nd to Oct 26th

wow - those spun wire earrings with the crystals and crimp beads were soooo easy to make! I plan to hit up Micheal's and pick up some crimp beads. I don't have a crimping tool = I just used flat pliers to squish the crimp bead. There is an abundance of spun wire at the dollar stores in my town.... all I need is the crimp beads and I could churn out some fabulous creations!

I had 2 dozen or so of crimp beads from a sampler package I purchased a few years ago...... I don't think I ever paid attention to them before, but I have so many ideas now that I see what they can do. Those are the easiest fastest jewelery I have ever made.

 Some of these earrings above need tweaking, so they are not totally finished yet.

 Below are some rings I made with buttons I found in the bargain basket at Fabric-Land. The black star is a broach that I no longer wear, so I glued it to a ring base.

The ring bases I used are not that great. They are of low quality and the silver finish is eroding already. Cocktail rings are easy to find and are inexpensive so I  don't think I will make anymore for myself. I found these ring bases on sale and wanted to try making my own.

 ....before

These next 4 pairs of earrings I made with a pair of earrings I did not like anymore. The large filigree silver peices were joined together to make a 4 pane earring which sorta flopped around ~ it did not look good to me. So I took them apart and made 4 individual pairs of earrings.

The first 2 on the left took a long time. I added 3 seed beads to each jump ring and connected them together..... very time consuming but pretty. These are the first ones I made with this method. I think that is a simple way to create alot of impact... especially if your seed beads have some opalescence to them.

The two pairs on the right are kinda boring to me and I may add something to them.

 close up!

 and here is what I accomplished this week ( Oct. 29 - Nov 4th)

 I used some earring bases from Micheal's for these. So far I am not impressed with the quality of some of the Micheal's earring bases/findings. I got most of these on sale but at full price, even with 40% off - they would still be over-priced for the quality.

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making jump rings

Making jump rings is easy to do. You can make them in any size you wish - with any type of wire you choose. The size of the jump ring depends on the size of what you are winding it around. Jump rings are in-expensive and somewhat easy to find. In my town there is not alot of options so I started making my own.

Here I have used BBQ skewers for my jump rings. I am trying to find something smaller than these items to make super-tiny jump rings.

I wind the wire around the BBQ skewer.

Then remove the coiled wire and snip ( wear goggles or close your eyes real tight LOL )

genlty bend the wire to form a proper ring.

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hi!

♥ First post ♥

I plan on adding photo's & tuts of all the little things I make. I thoroughly enjoy making jewelry for myself - and am impressed with some of the things I have made. I hope to share my ideas with others, and hopefully learn form other people, too.

I hope to add a bunch of links to other people blogs who make jewelery, as well as companies who sell beads and findings...... as well as some videos of jewelery making and techniques...etc...