Winner, Winner!

Thanks to all of you who visited and left a comment to enter for a chance to win the Autumn issue of Belle Armoire Jewerly!

I put all of your names in a bowl

and asked my husband draw one out.

And the winner is.......Drumroll.......

Congratulations to Lynn Stevens!

I know you are going to enjoy browsing through

the many pages of beautiful jewelry!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Giveaway - Belle Armoire Jewelry Autumn 2015

The Belle Armoire Jewelry Autumn 2015 issue

is as spectacular as ever!

 

I'm excited that my Roman Relic necklace

is a part of this issue!

Look how pretty it looks on the model

Belle Armoire Jewelry does stunning photography work!

(All of the photos in this post are scanned from this issue.

They look even more beautiful in the magazine!)

As a contributing artist in this issue, the wonderful people from Belle Armoire Jewelry are providing me 

with a copy of this issue to give to one of you! 

I'll give you more info on how to win this special gift below,

but first I want to show you some of the

fabulous work that this issue showcases.

I'm in love with these pendants

by Sophia Hu

And talk about the perfect mix of rustic and beauty!

Linda Bucci's cuff is amazing!

I'm fascinated with the process of enameling with words

that Laura Guenther shares!

Staci L. Smith teaches how to create beautiful pendants
by encasing stones with wire.

(I'm thinking this process could also be used with found seashells or beach glass
to create a favorite vacation memory pendant.)

You won't want to miss this amazing technique called faux embossing that my good friend, Cat Kerr shares!

These are just a few of my favorites but the
Belle Armoire Jewelry Autumn 2015 issue has so many more
techiques and incredible pieces of jewelry that
I know you'll want to see!

To enter for a chance to win a free copy of this issue
just leave a comment about this post. 
Next Tuesday, Sept. 22nd, I will randomly draw a winner.

I will need to email the winner so please, if you are a non-reply blogger, leave your contact info in your comment
or you can go to my contact page and sent it to me privately.

Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Vintage Book Cuff

I'm sure by now most of you know that I'm a thrift store junkie and that I love finding ways to re-purpose some of my thrifty finds into jewelry.

One of the things I'm always picking up at the thrift stores are vintage hardcover books. Many of them have beautiful artwork on the covers and along the spine. I decided instead of just displaying them on a shelf, it would be fun to wear some of that beauty. A cuff seemed to be the perfect way to do just that!

 

Some recycled suede, used jewelry and a few easy steps was all it took to create these unique cuffs.

supplies:
vintage book
recycled suede
heavy duty snaps
used piece of jewelry
fabric glue
wire
wire cutters
scissors
bead reamer

Rip the cover away from the pages.

Carefully rip the spine from the cover.

Apply a layer of glue to the front of the spine. I used my finger to spread it out evenly. It gets tacky very quickly so work fast.

Let dry completely.

Tear a piece of suede that is slightly larger than the spine.

My wrists are small so I did not need to add any extra length.

I suggest you measure your wrist and add extra length

to the suede piece if necessary.

Apply glue to the back of the spine and lay it over the suede piece.

Let dry completely.

Decide where you want the piece of jewelry.

Attach it to the cuff with wire. I used a bead reamer to poke the holes.

Trim and secure the wire at the back.

Cut a piece of suede a little smaller than the one used for the cuff

and glue it to the back of the cuff.

Follow the manufacturers instructions to

add the snap to one end of the cuff.

Wrap the cuff around your wrist to line up the placement for the other half of the snap and follow the manufacturers instructions to add it.

That's all there is to it!

Your finished cuff should look something like this.

 

Happy Creating!
 
 Sharing with: I Gotta Create!: Wildly Original link party, Funky Junk Interiors: Party Junk, Craft-O-Maniac: Craft-O-Maniac Monday

From One Accessory to Another - Altered Couture Article

These shoes were made for walking and other things...

I must say I've had a lot of published mileage out of my "A Girl and Her Shoes" series. Biker Chic, Geometry, Butterfly, and Spider were the first to show up in the Summer '12 issue of Jewelry Affaire . Dressed Up Pearls soon followed with an article in the Autumn '12 issue of GreenCraft.

And now Autumn Leaves has found its way into the Winter '13 issue of Altered Couture.

I guess this gives this girl one more reason to love her shoes!

There's another reason why this issue of Altered Couture is so special to me...

My Sister-in-Law, Susan from Second Chances by Susan, also has an awesome article in it! She shows you how to transform a pajama jumpsuit into a beautiful dress.

How fun for us to be together in the same magazine!

Thanks for stopping by!
 

I Wanna Be Edward's Girl!

Edward Scissorhands!

Really, what girl watched that movie and did not

fall in love with Edward (Johnny Depp)?

Who wouldn't wanna be Edward's girl for Halloween?!

Thanks to my awesome costume creating son, Brandon,

I already had the coolest part of the costume right at my fingertips

or maybe I should say "scissortips"!

You can take a look at Brandon's

more authentic version of Edward here.

 

Brandon let me use the super cool scissorhands he made by cutting scissor shapes from thin wood, painting them and attaching them to black leather gloves. Oh, I should mention the coolest part about them... he attached all the scissors to a working mechanism so that he could actually move them (together or individually) with his fingers...now that's amazing!

Brandon's clever belt system thingy looked great over my $2.99 thrift store shirt. Just for fun I added a few slashes around the collar - those scissorshands can be dangerous! Throw in a $9.99 thrifted black leather skirt and the outfit is almost finished!

This is a girly version of Edward so, of course, a few accessories were called for! I created a necklace/pendant featuring my "boyfriend" Edward from a $1.00 thrifted silver belt. I attached what was leftover from that same belt to a black headband to add a little "Edward-ish" bling into my hair. I wrapped a couple of thrifted belts around my boots to amp them up a bit and the outfit was completed!

 Just a quick haircut before I head out to the party!

Brandon has won many costume contests and his scissorhands proved to be a huge success once again as I was the big winner at my Bunko group! The prize was a case of tennis balls, which among my bunko/tennis playing friends was a very coveted prize!

Happy Halloween!

Sharing with: Funky Junk Interiors: SNS 159, Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff Saturday, I Gotta Create!: Wildly Original Linky Party
 
 

Mummy - A Charmed Halloween Tutorial

Time for another tutorial in my "Charmed Halloween" series.

 MUMMY

Supplies and Tools Needed:

1 small wood rectangle (about 3/4" x 1")

2 small plastic googly eyes 

scraps of muslin

coffee or tea (to stain the muslin)

24 gauge dark annealed steel wire

Brown ink pad (I used Staz-On)

Round-nose pliers

Flat-nose pliers

Wire cutters

Modge Podge

Paint brush

Scissors

Sandpaper

For tag: small shipping tag, desired images (I found mine at The Graphics Fairy)

1. Tear the muslin into several 1/4" - 3/8" wide strips. Immerse the strips into coffee or tea to stain them. Remove and rinse. Ball them up and let them dry naturally or use a blow dryer. (Wadding them into a ball will give them a crinkled effect). Once dry, separate the strands.

 2. Rub a light amount of the brown ink onto the eyeballs to slightly darken them.

 

3. Wrap wire lengthwise around the wood piece and finish at the top with a wrapped loop. (Find out how to make a wrapped loop here)

 4. Use the Modge Podge to adhere a muslin strip to the wood piece by wrapping it to cover the wood. Glue the eyes into place.

 

5. Loosely glue muslin strips in a messy fashion to cover the first layer of muslin leaving the eyes uncovered.

6. Apply a thick coat of Modge Podge to the muslin to protect it and keep it from fraying. Let dry.

7. Lightly sand the muslin to remove some of the sharpness of the stiffened fabric.

For the Tag: 

Remove the string from the mailing tag. Use Modge Podge to glue an image collage to one side of it. Let dry. Repeat for the other side. Once dried, rub with brown ink to age the images. Use the string to tie the charm onto the tag.

 Front of Tag

Back of Tag

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Be sure to return in a couple of days for the next tutorial

in my "Charmed Halloween" series!

More tutorials from the Charmed Halloween series:

"Watching Eye"

"Potion No. 9"

"Spider"

"Caged Skull"

Sharing with: Fireflies and Jellybeans: show Off Your Stuff , I Gotta Create!: Wildly Original Party, Happy-Go-Lucky: Shine on Friday, Here Comes the Sun: Fabulous Friday, Funky Junk Interiors: SNS 156 & 159, Craft-O-Maniac: Craft-O-Maniac Monday

Thanks for stopping by!