Looms, Beads and Sparkle Oh My!

Not being a woman who is known for her patience I have always shied away from working with those tiny little seed beads. That is until I found the Beadalon Jewel Loom designed by Julianna Hudgins. Truth be told I have never used a bead loom and was a little intimidated at first. Turns out this is the easiest tool I have every used. I was amazed at how incredibly simple the loom is to use. Once you try it you to will be hooked.

For my first project I gathered my Blue Moon Bead Jet Black Bugle beads and strung those on the loom for the base of the bracelet. Then using Blue Moon Light Blue Turquoise 6/0 beads, Jet 10/0 seed beads and Blue Moon Bead Global Nomad line Opaque Turquoise 10/0 seed beads and made a beautiful bracelet, with loops, fringe and lots of movement.

For the second project I made my Mermaid Ring.
Using more Blue Moon Bead seed beads in Light Blue size 10/0. for the base of the ring. Layed out 11 warp threads, added 10 blue seed beads and strung 3 1/4″ of beads. Attached a blue/green foil bead, with teal blue swarovski crystals to the center of the base. Then attached alternating loops of blue and green seed beads around the center beads. Removed this from the Beadalon Jewel Loom and joined the ends to form the ring.
Each project took less than 2 hours and I love the results. Fun and unique jewelry pieces to wow all you friends with.

You can find a tutorial on YouTube done by Julianna Hudgins on how to use the Beadalon Jewel Loom.

Bling up the bag

We women wear jewels in our ears, around our necks on our arms. So how about adding jewels to our other accessories. The one thing nearly every woman carries is a purse, so why not bling it up with this Purse Charm.

To make this piece I pulled a large lobster claw style clasp from my bead stash and added Blue Moon Beads silver plated chain.

Then pulled out some Blue Moon Beads black shell beads, mixed metal rondeles, Blue Moon Beads Mud Pie bead mix from their Blue Sky Line and Blue Moon Beads Lt Pink Pearls.

Using silver plated head pins I made dangles for all beads and added them in a random pattern to the Blue Moon Bead silver plated chain. Really easy peasy project that will add lots of charm to your purse.

So go ahead and bling up you bag.

BMB mix mtl gls shl blk beads #zb-002-00170
BMB Blue Sky silver plated chain 30″ Mtl Curb
BMB GLS Rnd Prls 8mm LT Pink BMB25239
BMB Mix Mtl rndl beads
BMB 12″ BD Acr Blk/Gray #ZB-002-00050
Silver plated head pins
Silver plated jump rings
Plaid silver flower pendant
Medium heart lobster claw clasp
BMB Bead mix Mud Pie
Give your bag a little bling!

Love Necklace

I LOVE romance, it makes my heart flutter, my cheeks blush. For this sweet and simple necklace I was inspired by the Blue Moon Bead Love pendant.

Using a black braided cord, I attached the Blue Moon Bead Pendant with jump rings. Then a simple silver heart with a pretty red heart glued on. For the other dangle, I used a Katedid pendant that I filled with 4MM clear swarvoski crystals and glued another red heart to the Katedid. Using a head pin I ran it thru the Katedid attached two 4mm clear swarovski and one 4mm red swarovski crystal made a wire wrapped look, attached it to two square jump rings which I attached to the Love pendant on the opposite side. Such a simple gift of Love to give to that special someone.

Mixed Media Necklace

Mixed Media and mixed metals in jewelry design is so popular now and when I saw the new Blue Moon Bead Urban Warrior line of beads and chain I envisioned something fun and edgy. So I went digging in my stash of leather and found the perfect brown suede to add to this necklace.

First I gathered my supplies, Blue Moon Beads gold tone curb link chain, Blue Moon Bead gold tone Pendant that has gold tone beads and accent pieces, Green Pearl and accent beads, Urban Warrior Drop Chain and drops and a BMB goldtone toggle clasp, jump rings and head pins.

On the pendant I added the green shell beads using head pins to the pendant and attached the center of the chain. For the leather pieces, I drew a simple pattern (2 sizes) on paper, traced it onto the brown suede and cut out the leather pieces, punched a small hole, layered the two suede pieces the Urban Warrior drops and attached to the chain with jump rings evenly spaced (7 on each side) of the pendant. I also added two Green Shell pearl drops with copper rondeles on each side of the pendant for a little more color. Once that was completed I took a piece of 24 gauge copper wire and three colored metal tone rondelles and wove it through the chain, wrapped the ends of the wire into the chain. From here all that was left was to add the BMB gold toggle clasp.

Such a simple, fun, edgy design. Hope this design inspires you to incorporate different materials in your jewelry pieces.

Items Used:
Blue Moon Bead Goldtone Curb Link Chain
Blue Moon Bead Pendant Metal/YL
Blue Moon Bead Bead Mix MTL GLS SHL GRN
Blue Moon Bead STR 12″ BD PLST RNDL MLTC
Blue Moon Bead Oval goldtone jump rings and head pins
Blue Moon Bead Goldtone Toggle Clasp
Blue Moon Bead Urban Warrior Drops
Blue Moon Bead Urban Warrior Chain with drops
24 Gauge Copper Wire
Brown Suede leather

Earrings, a girls best friend

Earrings, Earrings, Earrings, a girl can never have enough earrings. Small one, big ones, big hoops, little hoops, sparkles, bling, earrings that jingle, earrings that make you smile. Earrings for a fancy dinner party or to wear dancing. We women need earrings for every outfit we own and then we still need more. Here are three designs that I recently created using Blue Moon Beads.

 

Using the Blue Moon Bead Branch goldtone earring findings and the goldtone discs in my stash I attached those and Blue Moon Bead Pink and Mauve colored acrylic beads. These turned out so cool and I can’t wait to wear them out and about.

These Blue Moon Bead Ear Cuffs are just the coolest thing I think I’ve ever designed. When I got them I squealed in delight, I have been looking for ear cuffs for months at the craft store. These were so much fun and so easy. I used small black cable chain and draped it under black and opaque white swarovski crystals. Added more black chain and dangled the butterfly, white flower and silver flower from the bottom of the each chain. There are going to be my go to earrings for spring and summer.

How about these Disco Ball earrings, don’t they just yell a fun night at the club dancing? Using the Blue Moom Bead glitter beads (tip: a little spritz with hair spray will keep the glitter from wearing). I made my own chain from black and silver jump rings, attached the beads I had placed on head pins and next I’m dancing the night away.

Hope you enjoy these designs and they give you inspiration for your earring projects. Please feel free to leave your comments, I enjoy hearing what you have to say.

Last Minute Gift Giving

Now that you have picked up all those gifts on Black Friday, gotten most of them wrapped and you can sit down and relax. Now to plan for those holiday parties. But what about those last minute gifts? You know when that unexpected guest shows up or your brother drops by with a date. There you are scrambling to find a gift. So this year I’ve planned ahead and made up a batch of earrings for that last minute gift giving.

In my last blog I mentioned the Blue Moon Bead Tin Mixes. One look through each tin and I came up with several cute earrings and using DCWV papers I made up little holiday earring cards for them for gift giving. You can add a little personal message on each card and the gift will be so much more special because you made it with love.

For the earring cards I cut the frames from DCWV The Evergreen Stack holiday papers and using the Spellbinders Positively Me by Julianna Hudgins Framed Sentiments dies. I attached the frames using doubled sided tape and attached them to green and red card stock. Decorated the cards with ribbons, stickers.

The earrings were made using beads from the Blue Moon Beads Tin Mixes, Rum Raisin, Red Velvet, PB&J, Melon Ball, and Sour Grapes. Used head pins and eye pins and jump rings attached ear wires and hung them on each card.

Then added the earrings to each card for a ready made, last minute gift for the kids school teacher, that unexpected date that your brother brings over on Christmas Day, or thank you gift for your stylist.
A handmade gift made with love that is sure to touch the heart.