Day 332 - Rhinestone Macrame Bracelet

Thursday, June 13, 2013

I've deviated a tad from the beads, to include this adorable Rhinestone Macrame Bracelet from HONESTLY...WTF?  I have to admit I just love the name of these blog, and you will love it for some great tutorials of all kinds!  A fabulous project for those shank buttons you've collected!

You will immediately notice I didn't have a rhinestone shank button :-(, so I pulled out some pearl buttons and used those instead.  Not the same fabulous effect you get with the rhinestones, they look great against the colored cord!  I have never done macrame, oddly enough I really never did any crafts as a kid or a teen, (young I think for the macrame craze of yesteryear).  So I wasn't even sure what I was doing.  It took me a while to get the hang of it, but the tutorial is really awesome and contains clear pictures of what is going on with the cord.  I generally do have issues with things like this for some reason until I can wrap my brain around the mechanics of what I am doing and what the effects will be.

The only clarification, for those who might be macrame challenged like me, is that when tying the slip knots (not sure what the are called), you have to do this on the RIGHT and the next one of the LEFT.  It says this in the directions, but I guess I didn't understand the concept.  My first attempt produced a nice looking bracelet that looked nice, but spiraled!  I didn't know what I was doing wrong until I studied things and

suddenly, this is no lie, a picture popped in my head of myself with one foot nailed down and going in circles!  And this is exactly what was going on!  Doing the knots on the left then right, makes a nice flat bracelet.  Doing all the knots on one side will give you a nice SPIRAL bracelet!  Which honestly still look pretty cool!

You can also use larger beads, as long as you can put the cord through them.  I used cord I got at Joann's in the kids summer camp section, called braiding cord.  I got a stretch of 5 colors, for 2.99, but if I had my coupon it would have been cheaper.  Just love this!  Didn't finish the clasp end cause I didn't have another button, but I think I'm going to undo things and use some cool beads instead.

Rhinestone Macrame Bracelet

Day 331 - Crochet Costume Jewelry by Precosia

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Hi everyone!  Hope you all are still there, lol.  I think I finally have a break to make some progress on my 365 project.  Ok, so the "365 day" project has turned into the "365 project" project, which has now morphed into the" 2.5" year project.  But it's all good.  I will finish, and if you are with me still, I think I've found some great tutorials.  Starved to learn some new things from you all and to try out some of the new beads on the market!

With that in mind, I found a free project tutorial by Precosia  for Crochet Costume Jewelry.  This definitely falls under the category of "why didn't I think of this?"  If you can make a starting chain (see instructions here) you can do this!  Crochet beading  isn't anything new, but the twist here is using elastic clear cord to create a totally easy, adorable and very fashionable beaded stretchy bracelet!

I used .7mm Stretch Magic, cause that was all I could find (my supplies are a mess, lol) and a 3.25mm crochet hook, and a mix of beads that where left on my mat from previous projects.  The largest amount of time is spent loading the beads on the elastic, since they suggest loading 1 meter of beads.  If you haven't tried bead crochet before, one has to string the beads on the thread prior to starting the project.  This is why bead crochet is so perfect for traveling!  No beads flying all over the car, and totally portable.  I tried to use a big eye needle to string the beads with the elastic, but the bulk of the needle and elastic was to thick to allow for bead stringing.  I'm sure there is an easier way, but I ended up having the add the beads by hand, one by one.  This of course took forever.  Once I started the crocheting, the piece you see in the photo took only a few minutes!  I love the way it started to twist, and the clear elastic is nearly invisible.

My Mom has been after me for a few years to make stretchy bracelets, but I never did because I thought they were kind of cheap looking.  But I can tell you in person this does not look cheap, and I can't wait to experiment!!!!

UPDATE:  I was asked what beads I used for the sample.  I strung a four bead repeat, 1 rizo, 1 6/0, 1 rizo, and 1 8/0.
Crochet Costume Jewelry, conquered!

A Time To Stitch 3 - Reveal!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Today is the reveal day for Christine and Therese A Time To Stitch 3 Hop!!  The challenge these two gals put before us this time was this:

You choose One (or more) of the following Flat Stitches ~ Brick, Ladder, or Square

and

One (or more) of the following Spiral Stitches ~ Russian Spiral, Cellini Spiral, or African Helix.  

Now that I'm posting this, I realize I totally missed the boat on the spiral!  I'm have some things going on and was rushing to get my samples finished, I didn't read directions again and for some reason thought the standard spiral stitch was one of the options, so that is what I did.  LOL

Triple Spiral

 My spiral stitch is actually a triple standard spiral, I made a little earring (only one of course), and thought it turned out cute, I might actually make the partner!

My flat stitch is the brick stitch, because I generally shy away from it.  I'm glad I chose it now, it still takes FOREVER to make things with it, but the rhythmic weaving was actually therapeutic.  I started out weeks ago making a bangle, but it was taking so long, I got bored and decided to try something smaller.  I found Kerry Slade's Gumdrop Flower pattern, and used that as a basic pattern for brick stitch flowers.  Then I did embellishing of my own to create this flip-flop decoration.  The square stitch flowers are attached to a square stitch base, which is then attached to the flip-flop.

Square Stitch - variation on Kerry Slade's pattern,
 "Gumdrops In My Garden"  Brick stitched and embellished attached
attached to a Brick stitch base, which is then attached to the shoe!

 Not bad for a $10 Walmart shoe!  Now if I could just make the second one!

Please take a few minutes to check out all the entered into this hop.  Once again thank you Christine and Therese!

Therese Frank

Christine Altmiller

Maryanne Gross
Cynthia Machata

Bobbie Rafferty

Katherine Gale

Sally Russick

Niky

Alenka

Kim Hora

Karin Slaton

Shirley Moore

Tami Norris

Amy Severino

Alicia Marinache

Lola Surwillo

Mandy Duffy <---You are here!

Kristen Stevens

Day 330 - Fern Frond

Saturday, April 6, 2013

I'm baaackk!  Just when you thought I probably gave up all together, I show up again!  It's time to come back and resume learning from all of you again.  I'm so excited to be combing through my books and magazines, and of course all of your blogs to find new and exciting tutorials!

I started pulling out my books, I love when I haven't read them in a while cause they all seem brand new!  Such was the case when I pulled out Beading Across America published by Kalmbach Books.  I have a project in the back of my mind and was looking for floral inspiration, when I came across this adorable Fern Frond created by Carol Perrenoud and Virginia Blakelock.  It's actually part of a bigger beaded pin project called An Oregon Bouquet (a darling pin full of beaded blackberries, blackberry flowers, and fern fronds).  I cracked up when I read their note indicating they would have added a slug to it, but thought the piece was getting to full.  LOL.  I'm still chuckling at the thought of a beaded slug sitting in the middle of the berries and fronds!  If you want to see what the original piece looks like click here (where you can purchase their kit), or if you have the book it's on page 95.

I loved making this little guy.  It's shorter than the original pattern intended, and I added a stem because I want to use it in another project.  The frond part is the pattern as outlined in the instructions.  The only change I made was to use a mix of 15/0 and 11/0 beads instead of all one size.  I was delighted at how clever and easy the design is.  I love when I'm making something, and in my head I'm saying "this is SO cool"!  Totally cute.

Fern Frond, conquered!