Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Red queen inspired jewelry

I had never dressed up for Dapper Day at Disneyland and I was inspired when I saw this adorable dress at Hot Topic on clearance in my size! I could not pass it up and I only paid around 24 dollars for the dress after the discount.  It was all red with Gold heart undertones and had this flattering sweetheart neckline.  Hot topic has really been stepping up their game with their pop culture themed dresses and skirts.  They carry sizes from 0 to 28 which is fantastic and I believe Hot Topic owns Torrid, so they have the same style or type of dresses.

I wanted to make some matching accessories that would go with the theme, so i went to Joann's and found some heart-shaped pendants.  I already had some rose beads and some findings, so this was what I came up with over the span of a couple of hours.

 
The bracelet was already a chain of beads, so this is just added findings.



I wanted earrings that would pop and I think the gaudy aspect is what I was going for for this look.




I liked how  the pendant with the red cord came out, because it went with the contrast of the gold in the dress.

 

I tried on the earrings and realized that they were too heavy, so I made a smaller pair.



These felt much lighter and were more comfortable to wear.

  

And now for the dress!



Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Recent earrings and pendant necklaces

On one glorious afternoon with my best friend, her daughter and cousin,  we made some jewelry.  

I try to work on my WIPs (works in progress) as much as I can, because of my busy schedule, it can be challenging.  I shop for various beads and findings all the time.  I find many items at closeout and discount stores when I am not using coupons from Michael's or Joann's.

Below is a pair of moonstone earrings with sterling silver findings and I used some chipped moonstone beads I bought at Michael's.  


This pair below has sterling silver fish hooks and agate beads.  


This pair has a Onyx spacer and sterling silver fishhooks.  The stone may be a dyed crazy agate, but I am not sure.


Rose quartz beads are easy to identify and are common.  These heart shaped beads came in various sizes.


This pair has a jade spacer and sterling silver fish hooks.


This pair is all rose quartz and sterling silver.  


It's fun to work with pendants and I like simple cord necklaces.  I hope to work on some bigger and longer beaded styles this summer.  Below is an Amethyst pendant necklace.


Rose Quartz....

These earrings are crazy agate with sterling silver!


Citrine pendant with a soft satin cord.

Glass beads are lightweight and beautiful.  I wanted to make a matching bracelet to go with the earrings. 



These bright yellow beads and sea blue beads were a Tuesday morning find.   They became stretch bracelets. 


My friend's patio table was full of stray beads even after we finished and she carefully collected some after I left for the night.  They were waiting for me the next time I stopped by!


Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Gryffindor inspired accessories

This is one of the few attempts at a drawstring handbag using Red Heart's Team colored yarn and I chose USC colors.  However, in my world and with many other fellow Harry Potter fans, Gryffindor colors, Red and Gold.  I bought a few Gryffindor crest patches to help me out with choosing the right shades of yarn.  The self-striping colored Red Heart yarn worked and they also had separate Gold as well as Garnet skeins of yarn. 

I didn't want to follow a pattern because I wanted to see where this experiment would take me and below is the result.  


I didn't make the strap too long and I used two skeins of the self-striping yarn. I plan on making another bag and I will use the different colored skeins to make the stripes more uniform and even. The patches were hot glued on to the bag on one side.  


Below are earrings in Citrine and Garnet with sterling silver findings.  It's still in the Gryffindor spirit!



This pair is with gold and burgundy glass beads.  







The bracelets were strung with Gold and Red dyed Agate nuggets. 




Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Flower Crown

I brainstormed for ideas for my next Renaissance headband/crown for this year's upcoming Pleasure Faire. I had a few things in my scrap box but it wasn't really working.


These headbands look cute by themselves with nothing extra added. 



I had some extra tiny silk roses that I use for various things and played around with them a little bit.





I wasn't thrilled with the results so I went to Joann's and got new silk flowers.  I bought more than I needed just in case I didn't have enough.  Floral tape is key.




This was the result before the ribbons were added.





And the results with ribbon.  I used the stems as the base by bending them into a circle.  I had floral wire just in case, but I ended up not needing it.