How does a Crimp Bead Work?

That's right, I've jumped into the jewelry making craft.  I wanted to buy my sister some jewelry for Christmas, a matching set with a bracelet and necklace.  She is very into pink...bright pink...but pink is hard to find in the middle of the winter.  Instead of continuing to look (maybe going to a store that specializes in jewelry and accessories), I decided I should make her a set. 

How hard can it be?  I made plenty of jewelry as a kid...

I was off to my local Michael's with a basic idea of what I wanted...string/wire, closure, spacer beads, and of course pink beads.  Fortunately, our Michael's has a full bead section.  I left the store with all sorts of jewelry making items and $50 poorer....but it was going to be special (and easy, right?). 

After I put Lillian down for her nap, I got out the memory wire and decided I wanted a three strand bracelet.  I measured using my wrist, leaving extra room (my wrists are extremely small for a grown woman).  I decided on 3 patterns of beads, strung my beads, and was happy with the way they looked together.

Then came the tricky part...how was I going to get the fastener onto the end of the wire.  The closure set I bought had crimp beads with a lobster claw on the end, but it turns out that crimp beads are not very easy to work with.  So I went back to the store to buy bead glue (super glue?).  Turns out that it's very hard to use bead glue on such small pieces - like a crimp bead.  It made a mess of my other beads, so I was determined to find another way to close these beads.  I read up on using crimp beads online, but I couldn't get my wire through the beads (I think they were the wrong size).

Along comes my hero...my husband.  With just a few days left before we leave for our Christmas in Colorado, he says that we can try to sauter the pieces together.  With both of us working together, we were able to get both the bracelet and necklace ready for wrapping.  I hope my sister enjoys this jewelry!

Bracelet and necklace with magnetic closures.

Finally...the Birthday Gifts are Revealed!

You have been hearing about these birthday gifts for so long now...

They're not anything too spectacular, but Lillian and her friends have enjoyed them.  I added a button to a couple of Lillian's, but I don't want to have a choking hazard for her little friends. 

The little girls blocks had more "girly" prints and colors while the boys had bold primary colors, skateboarders, and other "boy" type fabric.  Lillian seemed to like all of the blocks I made for her friends and wanted to keep them for herself. 

Here's an example of a set that I gave to her friends.

I played around with the blocks making some sets with different size blocks, some were different shapes, and all had multiple fabrics that seemed exciting for the one-year-olds!

Christmas Decoration

I love to decorate our house for all of the seasons and holidays, but it's hard for me to spend money on these things.  I have gathered a few items for the big celebrations and our house looks festive, but I would love to make some decorations of my own.  I usually feel too busy with other tasks to take time to make decorations, but this year I was able to make one with some new friends.   

Our church has a MOMS group that holds workshops once a month.  This month (December) was wreath making which I have never done before.  So yesterday I spent my morning enjoying the company of other moms (without Lillian) crafting my first tabletop wreath.  They provided the fresh flowers, berries, and tree branches, and we provided anything else we wanted for our wreaths.  Since it was my first time with this craft, I had no idea what else to bring, so I just took myself. 

The wonderful ladies gave us some basic instructions and let us go to town!  Here are some pictures of my first "real" Christmas wreath. 

Hats Off to Lillian

I guess I'm going to try to make up for all of the missed blogs today.  We're celebrating Lillian's birthday today (she entered our lives one year ago today!) and since she loves to take her hats off, I will say "Hats Off to Lillian!" 



We were at the park the other day with a playgroup and one of the moms mentioned that she has had trouble finding warm hats to fit her son (11 months old).  Keep in mind that we live in San Diego...I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem in most areas of the country.  I told her that I would be happy to make Ezra a hat.  So here's the hat that I made for him and then I went ahead and made Lillian a couple as well (although the first one is a bit small for her head). 



Ezra's Hat made with Light and Dark Gray Yarn.



Lillian's Hat



Lillian wearing her hat (for a few seconds at least).

Quack Quack!

Although I have not been a very good poster lately, I have been very busy on many projects.  One of Lillian's friends is celebrating her birthday next weekend and her mom asked me for some decorating help.  Little Briana loves her rubber duckies, so they are doing a duck theme for the birthday party.  Laura found another blog that had instructions on how to make ducks as decorations and asked me if I would help make some for their party.  Of course I said yes since I love using my crafting skills to help others. 

Here's a link to the blog that we used for the pattern:
http://krystinaevans.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-and-improved-duck.html

The lady that made them is extremely talented!

So Laura, the girls, and I went to the fabric store and bought the supplies.  Then we worked on cutting out all of the pieces.  We used fabric glue for the eyes which I hadn't used before, but it seemed to do the job (in time).  All that we have left to do is to put ribbon around all of the necks which Laura is going to do.  So here's a picture of the ducks...we made 6 althogether...2 big ducks (the Mamas) and 4 little ducks (the Babies).  I'll try to get a picture at the party of them on the tables so that I can post a final picture!