It’s getting warmer out, so why not plan for a stargazing trip? Let’s get your gear ready with some appropriate star earrings with acetate components. Here are two DIY Starry Acetate Earrings to get you started, from the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Trend.
Open jump ring, slide on tassel and eyepin loop. Close jump ring.
On eyepin, slide on pearl bead and make a simple loop.
Open another jump ring, slide on loop you made in step 2, and another loop of eyepin. Close jump ring.
On eyepin you added, slide on gold round bead, flower lampwork and another gold round bead. Make a simple loop.
Open loop you made in step 4 and slide on loop of bail. Close loop.
Unhook necklace clasp and slide necklace chain through bail.
Glass Bead Sun Catcher Tutorial
To celebrate Spring, we have a cute Sun Catcher tutorial you can make with glass beads, crystals, metal beads or all your leftover beads.
A fun way to using leftover beads is by making a Sun Catcher. A Sun Catchers is a mobile that you hang by a window. It is said that sun catchers are a good way to deter birds flying into your windows. For our project, we used our glass bead mix: Z010800 but you can feel free to use metal beads, Chinese crystals, Swarovski crystals or other various products you have. I am guilty of stashing beads and having leftover beads, so using them in this project is great!
Who doesn’t love warm weather and the bright colors of spring? We have two fun and easy projects for you to get you ready for spring weather!
Easy Flower Pendant
Instructions:
With the instant pendant you easily unscrew the bottom piece and slide on the following: Silver bead, pink bead, flower bead, pink bead and silver bead.
Screw back on the bottom piece.
Unclasp your necklace chain and slide chain through top loop of your instant pendant. Clasp necklace chain.
Open jump ring and slide on dangle and through bottom loop of the instant pendant. Close jump ring.
Tory Vezina and So Vang just got back from the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee this past weekend. Here are some photos to recap what happened!
Caught up with some of our vendors.
Took a stroll to TierraCast to see what was brewing! Their recent launches of Botanical Birds and Caravan were stunning! Plus, their NEW Worlds Away collection has versatile hoop components and charms you just want to run away with, literally.
The Swarovski Create Your Style booth had prize drawings for these show stopping piece. So Vang would’ve love the bag and Tory Vezina was eyeing the necklace.
So Vang did two demos at the Swarovski Create Your Style booth using Swarovski two-hole spike beads with beadable cuffs and rings AND hoop links using Beadalon Memory Wire. You can see her demos on the Facebook page. Plus, Sara from Soft Flex Company was there while So was doing her first demo and we caught up with her and her demo.
So Vang found some inspiring peyote stitch tubes at the Miyuki booth.
Tory Vezina hung out with the ladies participating in Candie Cooper’s Coffee with Candie event on Saturday. Her Make & Take class was this a simple wrap bracelet with leather from LeatherCordUSA, memory wire from Beadalon and gemstones from Dakota Stones.
And we assisted Candie Cooper with her Make & Take on the showroom floor, creating this leather and gemstone bracelet.
Thank you everyone who sponsored our demos and Make & Takes. We had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again!
Vintaj Pearl Patinas with Candie Cooper – Video Tutorial
Vintaj Patinas are a water-base paint that is popular to use in painting jewelry components like metal charms and beads. You can even use them on leather, wood or other surfaces. They adhere well after a few seconds or minutes of drying time.
You aren’t limited to only metal charms. As an optional surface, you can check out Metal Blanks with various sizes and shapes and TierraCast Charms is also a fun alternative to textured surfaces for Patinas.
Video Tutorial
4 Last-Minute Mother’s Day Ideas
Don’t have a gift for Mother’s Day? We have 4 last-minute gift ideas for the deserving mother and women.
Whether it’s your Mom, sister, Aunt, Grandmother, wife or other beautiful women in your lives, a small gift can show your appreciation. If it’s handmade, that’s extra bonus points! Plan with handmade jewelry made with Swarovski Pearls, customized glass tiles with photos, easy-to-make beadable gifts or select the many DIY kits available.
Pearls
It’s been a tradition to gift pearls for mothers, so why not on Mother’s Day. While it embodies purity and love, it’s the kind of jewelry that reflects the elegance of a woman. Here are different ways to use Swarovski Pearls.
Wire-wrap pearls to make linked earrings or a waterfall necklace (Wire-Wrap Loop and June Birthstone Trend). Or make cascading earrings with Swarovski pearls and crystals in this stunning lampwork glass earrings (Wedding Jewelry Trend).
Customized Glass Tiles
One project you can get kids involved in making are customized glass tiles with photos. Check out our previous blog how to make customized glass tile for a fun keychain dangle, ring or add a magnet to stick on the fridge.
Bead pens are perfect for moms to slip into their handbag or on their work desk. They are sturdy in weight and customizable with beads. Check out Hot Category: Bead Pens for compatible bead pens and large-hole beads to create one today.
Don’t forget that moms will also love beadable gifts like a letter opener, winestopper or even a beadable keychain. Add large-hole beads and wrap it up for an acceptable gift!
If you can’t decide what to make, pick up a DIY kit. Make jewelry with an easy Earring, Bracelet or Necklace Kit and gift it. These kits are packaged with bead, findings and instructions, so you can even stick on a bow and gift the whole kit for the crafty, beading lady!
We’re in love with bib connectors at GoodyBeads. So is Candie Cooper! Watch our product video where Tory and Candie will show you bib connectors available at GoodyBeads and how easy it is to add beads, charms, tassels and more for a fun and easy necklace.
Our bib connectors are lightweight with detailed designs. They have holes to easily add charms or tassels to with a jump ring. Watch the video below where Candie and Tory will show you the many kinds of bib connectors you can find on GoodyBeads, sample necklaces using bib connectors and they demonstrate how easy it is to add embellishments to them.
One of the most simple jewelry accessory to make are memory wire wrap bracelets. Memory wires are preformed to maintain its circular shape. All you have to do is add your choice of beads, leather, spacers and charms to memory wire and make a simple loop at both ends. Here are some fun examples of how we used memory wire.
Chain link is not only great to add length to necklaces or as chain extenders for bracelets, but they are fun to create fringe with. With its popularity in fashion jewelry and accessories, we have some examples of how we’ve created fringed jewelry with chain.
Dangle chain for some crazy, fun fringe. Keep fringes simple or trail it with beaded dangles. Let these examples inspire the next time you create with chain links.
Pantone® Color of the Year for 2017 goes to Greenery. This yellow-green hue is “nature’s neutral.” While it resembles the awakening of spring and the new life the season brings, it also plays a part to represent “the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”
Colors that can be used to closely resemble the Greenery colors are lime green, peridot and chartreuse. Find out how we transform this color into jewelry pieces for 2017.
We used this lime green cabochon (A016880) and adhered it to a Kabela filigree circle center (Z007181). We even pulled this beaded chain (CH00288) that mimics the hues of Greenery.
We’ve offset the bright green color with earthly bronze and brown beads (A017137) to show-off the vibrancy of the green (A005377) in this stretch bracelet.
The sheen in this green miracle bead (A014932) is paired with the new cross tribe crystal pendant from Swarovski® (SW01518) for a long drop pair of earrings.
These chartreuse seed beads (SB00078) are sewn with size 11/0 galvanized silver seed beads (SB00422) around a drop groovy bead frame (Z019397) to create these simple pair of earrings.
How will you show off Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year, Greenery?
Spring Czech Hibiscus Flower Jewelry
We are celebrating spring with some fresh Czech hibiscus flower beads. Flowers always come to mind when thinking about spring. And tropical hibiscus flowers are the perfect reminder that warmer months are ahead. We have some easy and inspiring spring jewelry projects that use beautiful Czech hibiscus flower glass beads and porcelain beads.
Porcelain and Czech Elastic Bracelet
Designed by So Vang
Here is a perfect bracelet to add to your spring outfits. Made with Czech hibiscus flower beads, Czech leaves, and pink porcelain beads, it is strung on elastic for an easy and wearable bracelet. For additional ideas, check out out our previous blog on elastic bracelets.
It is official! Spring is just around the corner for 2016! Soon the snow will be melting and spring will be knocking at our doors. It’s the perfect time to rummage through your beads and do some spring cleaning: to make way for MORE beads, of course. Here are three different ways to use your leftover beads, findings and chains.
As a beader, you know that you always have extra beads from previous projects lying around. We, at GoodyBeads, are guilty about that! There is a whole shelf dedicated to leftover items of miscellaneous beads, findings, chains, cords, tools, crystals and the list goes on and on. It was hard to not open a fresh pack of new beads or a full length of cut chain or a string of gemstones. But with our wall of STUFF, there were enough items for this spring cleaning project!
An Array of Colorful Beads for a Wrap Bracelet
A perfect way to use your extra beads is to make a quick and easy wrap bracelet. Check out our previous blog, How to Make Wrap Bracelets, for a tutorial.
Designed by So Vang
For this particular bracelet, we gathered similar round 8mm of gemstones and Czech glass beads. Using our used roll of Waxed Cotton Cord and Superlon Brown Thread, we made a wrap bracelet that wraps 4 times. Even check out our button piece. Instead of grabbing a new button, we used a Bali spacer (A021466) and made knots to act as a button piece. Love this idea! What a way to think outside of the box, eh?
If you need supplies, head over to our Gemstone and Czech section. If you are looking for a particular size or shape, we have that option on the left hand navigation under “Size Range” or “Shape.” Or you can even check our selection of Bead Set and Mixes for a quick mix.
Chain Chain Chain
Do you have various length of chain bunched together waiting to be used for bracelet extenders pieces or necklace additions? Make CHAIN the main piece of your jewelry!
Designed by So Vang
What we made here is a multi-chain bracelet. Randomly select a few chain pieces, then measure each chain to your bracelet length. Using a 7mm jump ring to combine each piece of chain end. Do the same to the other end. Use another 7mm jump ring and attach to each end with a magnetic clasp. We have to be honest here and say that we cheated. We did have to get a magnetic clasp from GoodyBeads inventory. You can go ahead and cheat too. We won’t tell if you don’t either!
Another idea is to make a statement necklace with miscellaneous chain braided together. What’d you think?
Linking Bead Dangles
We love our selection of glass beads. The vibrant colors and designs are BEA-U-TIFUL! One way to weed through your stash of beads is to find a HERO bead and play off on the colors and shapes. Grab some eyepins and start making simple loop dangles of the beads you’ve chose. By linking them, you can make a bunch of different jewelry pieces.
Our hero bead was this blue and amber glass bead (A013249). We pulled beads with hues of blue, light blue, and amber as well as some bronze Czech fire polish beads. Using gold eyepins, make a simple loop with the glass and Czech beads. We made enough eyepin dangles until we ran out of the bronze Czech fire polish beads. Plus, we made a handful of Black Diamond Chinese crystal dangles.
Start linking them up to make a necklace, bracelet or earrings. Play with the sequence of the beaded dangles and add chain and different findings. Using up every last beaded dangle and with the help of gold plated findings and chain, we made two necklaces, earrings and a bracelet.
Designed by So Vang
Designed by So Vang
LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea because it gives you the chance to use up beads that you can’t find anymore. Even some of these beads we used are styles that we no longer have. It makes it more unique don’t you think?
Now that you’ve used your beads up, there’s room to buy more!
Get Started with Metal Stamping
A great addition to any jewelry or crafting project is metal stamping. Personalize a piece by stamping a specific name, inspirational quote, special date, sentiment, etc. There are a variety of fun, decorative designs for stamping, too, such as hearts, animals and flowers. The options are endless!
Take a look at our recommended metal stamping essentials to get you started with this exciting jewelry-making trend.
Our friend, Adrienne, from Happy Hour Projects, wrote an introduction to metal stamping and a tutorial on stamping for beginners. Her advice and instructions are easy to follow, so you can start stamping pieces right away. Check out her metal stamping tips.
Don’t feel intimidated by the thought of metal stamping. Once you learn the skill and develop your own technique, you’ll add it to all of your everyday jewelry making ideas. Make your next project meaningful and memorable with metal stamping.
Watercolor Flat Leather Bracelets
Goody Beads has a fun collection of watercolor flat leather. With a touch of soft and vibrant hues and strokes of whimsical patterns, watercolor flat leather projects can be perfect for bright summer days ahead. Here are some inspiring bracelet designs you can do with watercolor flat leather.
Watercolor Double Rainbow Bracelet Have you seen a double rainbow before? I almost lost my head the first time I saw one; which would have literally been a bad idea since I was driving in traffic. To make this bracelet, I chose 5mm squares watercolor flat leather, because it reminds me of rainbows. A double wrap-around style would be prefect for my double rainbow-themed design.
Because I wanted to show a different way to clasp a flat leather bracelet, use this alternative on your next flat leather project: first, cut the 5mm watercolor flat leather at twice the length of your wrist, and add 2-3 inches. Fold over each leather end about 1” and loop through a jump ring. Flatten the each jump ring using a serrated pliers, squeezing the leather together gently. Add another jump ring to each of the leather loops you’ve created. Add fun charms, or create a bead dangle to decorate your bracelet. Finish it off with a lobster claw and you are ready to wrap yourself in a watercolor double rainbow bracelet.
Crisscrossed Watercolor Bracelet Here’s an interesting take on combining flat leathers.
Take two same-length 5mm watercolor flat leather, glue both ends side by side into one side of the clasp. For this project we used a solid color flat leather to enhance the colors of the watercolor flat leather. Keeping the strands straight side by side, thread through the bar slider. Now, cross the watercolor leather over the solid color flat leather. Thread through the second bar slider and glue the ends to the other side of the clasp. Neat, huh?
Golden Watercolor Bracelet This Golden Watercolor Bracelet is simple yet packs a golden glow!
What you will need:
(6) CH00579 – 10mm Brushed Water Color Flat Leather
After measuring your 10mm watercolor flat leather to your preferred wrist length, slide on the gold double bar and then glue the ends to its golden clasp. You can make this simple bracelet in less than a minute and it is sure to brighten your sunny outfit!
