Holiday Swarovski® Cha-Cha Bling

With the holiday season quickly approaching, it’s time to get serious about our bling and what better way than to adorn with red and green Holiday Swarovski® Cha-Cha jewelry? Expandable bracelets and rings are perfect for every shape and size of gal pal, and who can resist some blingy baubles for your lovely lobes.

Holiday Swarovski® Cha-Cha Bracelet

Why red and green for the holidays? This tradition dates back thousands of years when folks used holly, ivy and mistletoe to beautify and brighten up their homes during the long dark winter. This was also a vital reminder that winter would NOT last forever and spring would definitely come blooming around the corner! The Romans exchanged evergreen branches in January and the Egyptians used palm branches to symbolize good luck. Red represented the color of fire and keeping warm. White symbolized peace and purity in the western cultures.

Items used in Bracelet: A005639, A019691 (2), SW00167 (33), SW00133 (33), SW00105 (33)

Directions:

Slide a bicone onto a headpin and make a simple loop. NOTE: Be sure the loop is large enough to freely swing from the bracelet loops.
Repeat Step #1 for all the bicones.
Open bicone dangle and hook it through a bracelet loop, close loop. Complete bottom row with the following pattern: clear bicone, red bicone, clear bicone, green bicone.
Complete top row using the same pattern and add another round of bicones around this row so you end up with two bicone dangles per bracelet loop.

Holiday Swarovski® Cha-Cha Earrings

When creating our DIY Holiday Cha-Cha projects, we suggest making all the bicone simple loop dangles first. Get comfy on the couch and watch your fave movie or TV series marathon while you’re cranking these babies out. Practice makes perfect in the world of simple loop making! So why not perfect your talents while you’re on a roll and make them all at once?

Whether you believe the deeper meaning of these colors or simply just like how they look, nothing feels quite as festive as sparkly Swarovski® crystal holiday jewelry for your parties, the office or gifts. Of course put yourself first on that gift list, and while you’re beading away remember: one for you, one for your BFF, mom, sister, etc. Well, you get the picture. Now, get going and happy beading!

Items used in earrings: A010233, A019691, SW00167 (14), SW00133 (14), SW00105 (14)

Directions:

Slide a bicone onto a headpin and make a simple loop. NOTE: Be sure the loop is large enough to freely swing from the earring loops.
Repeat Step #1 for all the bicones.
Open bicone dangle and hook it through an earring loop, close loop. Add three bicone dangles per earring loop (one of each color).
Repeat Step #3 until all earrings loops have three dangles.

Terrific Tassels

By Kristal Wick

We love everything about a good tassel here at Goodybeads. You can create the simplest of jewelry designs, add a tassel and violà you’ve got instant glam! Traditionally, tassels were popular for embellishing home goods (Aunt Gertrude’s curtains, pillows, lampshades and even chandeliers), but they’ve “trended” their way into our jewelry and DIY projects — thank goodness! “Tassel” originated from “tassau”, a Latin term referring to a clasp at the neck of a garment that was originally worn by military officers and priests as talismans to ward off evil spirits. Also known as “passementerie” in France, “passamanaria” in Italy and “aziamentos” in Spain, the simple tassel can be traced back to the ancient tombs of the pharaohs in Egypt.

The Chinese incorporated tassels into their woven silks. But it was those trendsetting French folks that turned tassels into some serious ornamentation. In the 16th century, the first Guild of the Passementiers was founded and passementiers had to complete a seven year apprenticeship in order to become a Master in one of the many guilds. Each tassel was made from highly valued materials like silk or metallic gold-and-silver threads, so they became a symbol of wealth, power and prestige. With at least 300 threads per tassel, it is no wonder that the passementiers took such great pride in their work (and you thought seed beading took a lot of time to perfect)!

Tassel Earrings

You can actually make your own tassel (perhaps not quite as elaborate as the passementiers’ version) or you can use ready-to-wear tassels such as these in our earring and bracelet projects. They come in some very popular colors so you can customize to your liking. Earrings can also become dangle purse charms, or make a necklace using a single tassel. Here’s the #411 on how to make these terrific tassel beauties:

Tassel Earrings

(2) Z007553 – 8cm Small Black Suede Leather Tassel

(2) A016387 – 2 Inch Hematite Enameled Copper 20 Gauge Eyepins

(2) TC01903 – Silver Filled French Hoop Wire Earrings by Tierracast

(4) TC00030 – 4mm Antique Silver Quad Heishi Spacer by TierraCast

(4) TC00252 – 5mm Antique Silver Beaded Cap by TierraCast

(1) GS00530 – 8mm Apple Jasper Faceted Rondelle Gemstone Beads from Dakota Stones

Tool: A013734 – EUROnomic 2K German Side Cutter

Tool: A013728 – Classic Wubbers Round Nose Pliers

Tool: A013727 – Classic Wubbers Chain Nose Pliers

Steps

Open eye pin and insert tassel. Close eye pin.
String onto eyepin: bead cap, rondelle, spacer, rondelle, spacer, rondelle, bead cap and create a small loop at the top of the eye pin.
Open earwire loop and add eye pin. Close loop and trim tassel to desired length.
Repeat for the other earring.
Trim tassels to your liking.

Tassel Bracelet

Tassel Bracelet

(2) Z007553 – 8cm Small Black Suede Leather Tassel

(2) A021663 – Small Bead Stoppers

(1) FTBW0002 – Soft Flex MEDIUM Gauge 0.019 Inch Diameter Beading Wire

(1) A012857 – 2mm Crimp Tube Assortment Pack

(2) TC01899 – 3mm Silver Crimp Cover by TierraCast

(1) TC00439 – 17mm Silver Oval Pewter Toggle Clasp by Tierracast

(3) Z011515 – 5mm Silver Plated Round Jump Rings

(1) GS00537 – 8mm Black Silver Leaf Jasper Gemstone Faceted Rondelle Beads from Dakota Stones (20)

(40) TC00030 – 4mm Antique Silver Quad Heishi Spacer by TierraCast

(22) TC01132 – 4mm Black Kenyan Heishi Spacer by TierraCast

Tool: A013734 – EUROnomic 2K German Side Cutter

Tool: A013728– Classic Wubbers Round Nose Pliers

Tool: A013727– Classic Wubbers Chain Nose Pliers

Tool: FTTL0003– Crimping Pliers

Steps

Open jump ring, insert tassel and close jumpring.
Cut a piece of beading wire 12 inches long, add a beadstopper to one end.
String on silver spacer, black spacer, silver spacer, rondelle.
Repeat Step #3 nine more times.
Add black spacer, tassel jumpring, black spacer, rondelle and repeat Step #3 ten more times.
Slide a crimp tube into the wire, add the toggle and pass the wire back through the crimp tube.
Place the crimp tube into the crimping pliers’ notch closest to the handle and squeeze the pliers until you feel the crimp tube squish into a little taco shape.
Place the crimp in the first notch of the pliers so the taco is standing up.
Squeeze the pliers until the crimp is fully squished. Give the wire a gentle tug to make sure the wire is secured.
Trim the wire using your wire cutter so the wire is flush with the crimp tube.
Add a crimp cover over the crimp end and place in the 1^st notch of the crimping pliers. Gently squeeze until the crimp tube is completely surrounding the crimp forming a round bead shape.
Repeat crimping the other bracelet end attaching the toggle bar using two jumprings.
Repeat Step #11 on the other bracelet end.
Trim tassel to your liking.

Easy Halloween Jewelry Ideas

Prepping costumes, buying candy, carving pumpkins, setting up ghoulish decorations and all your yearly routines of getting Halloween-ready, you can sure make some time to whip up some easy Halloween jewelry pieces. We have three fun and easy jewelry pieces to complement this spooky holiday.

#BOO Necklace

One of Goody Beads’ New Goodys for September month are these dainty, cute letters that you can string onto even daintier chain. For the love of Halloween, we choose “#boo” letters to showcase one Halloween’s signature statements, while throwing in a social media reference of course! We cut the 1mm rolo chain at 16 inches and attached a silver crimp with loop to the ends of the dainty chain by folding the crimps. We selected an easy lobster claw to one end and a closed jump ring to the other. You are ready to trend up your outfit with this #boo necklace!

Spider Web Necklace

We started out by choosing one of our many beaded link chains, in our chain section. The CH00281 is perfect in size and theme. We had measured it to a length of 3 feet and used a small jump ring to link the ends together. With another jump ring, we attached a spider and web charm to the chain. And you are done with this easy necklace that you can slip on and off with your wicked costume outfit.

Candy Corn Earrings

Halloween isn’t Halloween without mentioning candy corn. Who doesn’t love candy corn? It’s pure sugar! We dedicate this portion to the love of candy corn by making a pair of cute earrings! Using gunmetal headpins, we threaded on seed beads and iconic candy corn and finished it off with a simple loop. Hooked them onto some gunmetal lever back earrings and you are set to celebrate Halloween!

#BOO Necklace

(2) CH00707 – 1mm Silver Plated Rolo Chain

(2) A021707 – Antique Silver Crimp with Loop Chain Ends

(1) A021625 – Hashtag Beads

(1) A021598 – Lowercase B – Alphabet Initial Bead

(2) A021611 – Lowercase O – Alphabet Initial Bead

(2) A002413 – 4mm Jump Ring

(1) A004272 – 7mm Closed Jump Ring

(1) A014106 – 7mm Lobster Claw

Spider Web Necklace

(3) CH00281 – 3mm Jet Beaded Link Chain

(2) A002413 – 4mm Jump Ring