Saint Salvage

I found this cute pair of vintage cone shaped pierced earrings at one of my favorite local thrift shops: Kathleen's Closet . Their sales support the  Community Food Bank of NJ . I love finding bargains that help the Food Bank and other helping organizations. I bought this pair with the plan of using this as part of a DIY. I had these fringe beads sitting in my stash... they turned to be perfect for this quickie DIY. I bought them last year on clearance from  Michaels . I selected the brown, black, red and silver fringe bead strands because they were the only duplicate colors. I took them off the chain, and separated them; one for each side. I took a gold tone head pin and threaded it through the top of each cone. I threaded the beaded strands onto each head pin. Then, I curled each wire and trimmed them. Last step... I bent the wire back up into the cone. Here I am, modeling my new creation. Not bad for about 10 minutes of...

This is my first "commisioned" piece. I was asked to make a necklace from these beads, by one of the other ladies who attend my church.  Hmmmm.....this is a challenge for me, because I usually let my project materials "speak" to me. I thought that this would make a great focal point. It has a heart shape to it. This is a necklace I decided to sacrifice. These beads make a nice textural and color contrast. Here's all the beads, all ready to go.... This is my first design idea. I sent a photo to my client, and she wasn't crazy about the heart shaped focal. So, try again.... This is my next pattern test. It looks good to me. This is the beading wire I decided to use. I decided to string it directly from the spool.  To finish, I tried out my new tool purchase: the "1 Step Crimper" from  Bead Buddy . The clasp is a toggle from "Adorned by Rebecca Nunn".  He...

My younger son and I made a necklace together tonight. We used some vintage beads, some new Swarovski hot pink beads, and some black spacer beads.   I cut the aluminum tag, and I embossed it with the Vintaj set, to show an owl. (My son's girlfriend loves owls.)     He stamped her name on the long brass tag on one side and the date on the other side. He strung the beads on and added the owl charm and the tag.   Finally, we crimped the ends, and added a heart toggle closure. It was a nice project!  

I had the pleasure of borrowing a book titled "Spotlight on Wire" from my local library. I needed inspiration, and this looked challenging.       So, I followed the instructions in the book. I cut the flat wire:   I hammered the wire with a my texturing hammer.   I curled up the edges, to prepare to receive the framing wire.   Like so.....   I made by own bail by wrapping 16 gauge wire around a #2 pencil. Hey.... my kids were doing their homework nearby.   I wove the wire, added spacers and the bail.   I curled some pink wire around a crochet needle, along with black freshwater pearls.   Then, I threaded the wire and pearls through the center of the square and added a little extra wire, and wrapped the bail around a black velvet ribbon for a necklace.   Tah dah!!!! It took about the hours... the weaving definitely was challenging. I wanted it to be square, after all!...

I bought a very low-key necklace at a yard sale during the summer for $1. I thought it had nice "bones", but I thought it was too boring. So... here I go....   Those itty-bitty tan colored tubes are bamboo. Blah beigey colored.   Here's all the center spokes after.....   I added the green beads, silvery pmpkin beads, black freshwater pearls, glass clear seed beads....   Here it is... all done... one view; the bottom.   Here's the top view. I like it a lot better!!!!

The starting point for this upcycle makeover is an oatmeal colored triple strand necklace. It was from the "Mad Men" area, but blah....         So, I took a pair of scissors to it. Snip, snip, snip!   The beads have now been freed from their oh-so-blah beige environment.   I had plenty of beads left from my first Crochet Wire and Bead Necklace , so these are going into the mix... a box of beads that were a mix of yellows, oranges and metallics.   I also had this elastic beaded bracelet to chop up.   I had plenty of copper wire (26 gauge) left over from that other crochet project, so I didn't have any extra cost for this project. I used the same single crochet technique that Rose taught me in the class I took at Mays Landing, NJ Michaels store. I made a total of five strands, but I left them loose, for a lot of movement. The five wires got attached in the back, and I left the original faux pearl c...