Clay Guild Beads

These are the beads I made today at the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild meeting. I'm thinking about submitting the instructions for making them to Polymer Cafe magazine.


The image above shows both sides of the smaller beads (which are almost identical). Below is the side of the larger bead.


Anyway, these are all made completely by hand using various techniques (which I can't share, of course, in case I do decide to submit instructions to a magazine), and it's really fun and I hope I can get published. ^_~

Wine Glass/Mug Charms

The first beading-not-jewelry project I'll be showing is for the wine glass/mug charms. I'm going to be referring to much of this jewelry terminology under the assumption that you know what you're doing as far as jewelry construction goes. If terms such as "simple loop" and "wrapped loop" mystify you, or if you are unsure how to properly open and close jump rings (or if you weren't aware of the fact that there IS a "proper" way to do that!), go to http://jewelrymaking.about.com or www.firemountaingems.com to get some basic jewelry instructionals. Actually, I learned virtually ALL of my basics from http://jewelrymaking.about.com almost 9 years ago when I first started making jewelry. Tammy's got a soft place in my heart because of it. ^_~

Here's what you'll need to make charmies like mine:

-Silver plated chain of any kind with holes big enough to add bead charms (I'm using chain that lies flat which I picked up at JoAnn or Michael's)
-Jump rings, preferably 18 gauge, about 5-5.5 mm O.D. (outer diameter) (I get mine from www.firemountaingems.com... these are silver plated)
-2.5mm silver plated beads
-Silver plated headpins
-Various beads (at least enough different ones to make all of the charms different since the point of these is to be able to tell drinks apart--they CAN'T be the same!)
-Basic Jewelry Tools (flat nose, round nose, needle nose pliers, wire cutters)

On the charms below, I made sure that each of the large, bottom beads were different from one another, then I filled in the rest as I desired to do so.

-Cut a length of chain. I made mine 3 links long. Attach a jump ring to the top of the chain. Attach a large bead to the bottom link with a wrapped loop, slipping a silver plated bead to the bottom of the headpin if your bead hole seems to large for the end of the headpin. (I do this quite often, even if I'm just a bit worried.) This keeps the bead on, but also gives the look of the expensive ball end headpins without the expense!



-In the image above, you can see the middle green charm is the one I'm working on. I circled the other charms I made around so that you could see how I arranged beads for different charms. Basically, I put the largest bead on the bottom and arrange the extra beads in pleasing combinations (I hope!) from biggest to smallest up towards the top. I also arranged the top layer of beads relative to the inner layer of beads, meaning the smaller bead of the top row went on top of the smaller bead on the middle row and vice versa. This gives a nice drape to the cluster. Taking the time to play with and arrange your beads before you start attaching them really saves you creative frustration later.


-Attach the two lower beads to the middle link of the chain with wrapped loops as shown.


-Attach the final two beads to the top link of the chain with wrapped loops as shown.

Making the Wine Glass Charm Rings

I hunted all over (at two stores, and called a third, which is usually about the extent of my "all over" when I'm hunting, since I have to carry my 3 year old along with me) and couldn't find ANY premade wine glass charm rings. The closest I found was at Michael's with premade earring hoops, but they were sold in packages of 60 with varying sizes and I didn't want that because some were too big, and some were too small and only a few were just right.

I didn't check Fire Mountain Gems, which probably has them (because they have EVERYTHING!) mainly because I was in the mood to make them TODAY and didn't want to wait to get something shipped.

So, I just sort of came up with how to make these on my own. I'm sure that I'm not the first person to do this (VERY sure, in fact... Tammy might even have a better tutorial somewhere over at http://jewelrymaking.about.com), but here goes. I also tried to use stuff you'd probably have around your house. So any jewelry snobs who want to criticize my technique and say I should have used a ring mandrel because it's the PROPER tool (*sniff, sniff*)--to you, I say, "BLAH!" I DO have a ring mandrel, but decided to use a highlighter, because the average jewelry hobbyist doesn't have a steel ring mandrel sitting around.

You'll need...

-20 gauge wire (I used silver colored craft wire)
-Thick thingie to wrap the wire around (either a big highlighter or one of those big dry erase markers or permanent markers will work pretty much perfectly)
-Basic jewelry tools (flat nose, round nose, needle nose pliers, wire cutters)


-Cut as many 3" lengths of wire as you need. I recommend doing your very first ring with a 6" length of wire. Complete it according to the steps I'm laying out, then measure what you have left over. Subtract that length from the original 6" and you have the measurement you need to make a complete ring. Always add at least 1/4" to that for variations, and to give you room to complete final steps.

-Make a simple loop at the end of your wires, as shown above.


-Here's the big highlighter I used to make these. For ease of typing, I'm going to call this the "mandrel" from now on. Wrap your looped wire all the way around the mandrel. Lay the loop itself flat against the mandrel, then pull the wire tail all the way around, curling it all the way to the end. Do it as tightly as you can, but don't hurt yourself. Let go of the ring. It will spring back a bit, but that's okay.


-Grip the tail of the ring with your pliers as shown above. Let the edge of your pliers rest against the end of the loop. Don't be stretching the ring open. If your tail is all short like this one, grip it with another pair of pliers and bend it straight up so that you don't hurt your fingers.


-When you do this, your ring should look like the above picture. Clip the tail close, but not TOO close, to the ring. Leave about 1/8" of wire bent above the ring, like the picture below. Allowing the bend to be at the end of the loop rather than perfectly centered lets the ring stay closed when you close it because the tension of the wire keeps it pulling against the loop, which keeps it closed.


Here is one completed set of Wine Glass/Mug Charms... Some lucky relative is getting these for Christmas. (Sorry if I just spoiled it for anyone...)


If you're feeling lazy/don't like as fancy of a look, make your charmies like the ones below, using a single large bead instead of clusters. Just attach the wrapped loop component with a jump ring to the rings.


Here are a couple of pictures of these babies in use. Man, I want to keep them now and use them for my party on the 24th!



And one last note on using these: Don't open the loops wide to slide them onto something. Just allow them to open, then gently press against the object you're slipping them onto (the thinnest part of the wine glass/SIDE of the mug handle) and allow the opening to just slide open and then closed again, then latch them. Oh, really one more thing... This works out best (ESPECIALLY on the mugs) if you're doing it when the cups are empty. I just figured it out for the photos. I'm so glad I didn't do this at a party or something and spill hot chocolate or tea everywhere. I'd say have them on the glasses/mugs already when your guests arrive to save time.

Alright, that's it... I'm on to more Christmas presents. I've made two sets of charms and one purse charm so far. But I'll post on that tomorrow or the next day. After all of this typing and photo editing, I'm ready to not be on the computer for a while. ^_~

Beading for people who don't wear jewelry...

Well, first of all, I'm happy to be posting my very first post on my NEW blog which will cover the entire spectrum of my crafts. Because I do so much more than just one thing, I figured I'd have a big melting pot to showcase all of my work and ideas.

Please, if you enjoy my blog, make sure to start following it. And make absolutely sure to leave some comments. I'd love to hear from people who are helped by what I post!

My first posted topic for this blog (all the posts previous to this one were imported from my old blog which was all about scrapbooking and paper crafting) is about jewelrymaking. All in all, it's a very fun craft to get into. But it can get frustrating when Christmas and birthdays roll around and you realize that you have several people on your list who just don't wear jewelry. What to do!?

I've begun brainstorming for just this situation--I've come up with a list of things to make for people who are not jewelry friendly. I'm going to make these projects, too, and I'll post them later with pictures.

-Bookmarks
-Purse charms
-Keychains
-Napkin rings
-Wine glass/mug charms
-Cell phone charms (which are great, but I discover, much to my chagrin, that virtually NO cellphones are still made with a little place to hook these little lanyard type charms to, which brings me to my next idea...)
-Zipper pulls

That's what I have so far... The mug charm was a stroke of brilliance, I thought, because I was going to make a set of wine glass charms for some relatives who like wine, but then it occurred to me that the little charmies would work just as well hooked to the handle of a mug or tea cup, and they'd serve the same function at parties where coffee and tea are the main offerings, rather than wine (which, I must admit, are the kinds of parties I throw/attend most often... I'm not really in any kind of sophisticated circles).

So... what do you all think? (All 2 of you who'll read this... lol...) Do you have any other ideas for non-jewelry beaded items?

New digital stuff/Digital paper freebie

Well, I got a Bamboo Fun tablet for my early birthday present and I have been having TOO much fun with it. It came with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 and I have been having some fun exploring the options I have with that over the 2.0 that I've been using for all of this time. There are a few things (like the quick selection brush) that I am just drooling over (this is how I'm making most of my fun new elements for digiscrapping now), and all in all it's turning out really well!

Here's a page I made that I am so proud of. All of the digital elements were made by me. I am doing so much with sequins lately. Sequins, sequins, sequins... Everything I'm making seems to have sequins all over it. I'm especially having fun creating little digital elements with sequins because it's a lot easier than using tweezers and glue. ^_~


And, just because I feel like it, here's a freebie. It's a .jpeg image, sized at 12x12 at 300 dpi for you to use in your own digiscrapping. Please respect the source, as in, don't claim it as your own, and if you use it in something and post it somewhere, please credit me (Kathy Canuel) as a designer. I wish I could figure out how to upload .png images somewhere for downloading because then I'd share some of my other fun elements.

Basically, click on this image and then right click on it when it opens up in the new window. Click "save picture as" and save it to your computer. I think it's about 7 megabytes.


Happy scrapping! ^_^

Good find for digiscrappers... or not??? Also... newest digiscrapping site discovery!

I just got back from one of the most torturous shopping expeditions of my life. Excuse my vent there. 3 stores with a 3 year old doesn't seem to be a very good idea AND I didn't get one of the main things I went out for because they didn't have it! Urgh!

Again, again, pardon the vent...

Anyway, I found some Dover electronic clip art books at Barnes and Noble. Apparently you just put this CD-ROM in your drive and you can use the images from there in your favorite software program. I'm going to try and use some of these images to create a nice paper for digital scrapping.

I got the "Authentic Art Nouveau Designs" CD-ROM and book. It was $16.95, but with my member discount and the recent 15% off coupon Barnes and Noble just sent to their subscribers, it was cheaper. Barnes and Noble is one of those ones you can subscribe to and it will actually do you some good sometimes. ^_^

My new site for digiscrapping elements that I LOVE is www.peppermintcreative.com. I thought I'd never find one I love as much as www.shabbyprincess.com, but I think they're about equal in my esteem now. They have me so desiring to get my Bamboo tablet and create my own designs!

New contact paper project!

So I promised to post pics when I did something in my house using the contact paper instead of Cricut Vinyl. Here is the wall behind my kitchen table before:


And here it is after:


Here is a clearer shot of the wall art, straight on. I saw this mug in my Graphically Speaking cartridge and KNEW I had to put it on my wall somewhere. I'm not one of those people who loves coffee or loves tea exclusively--I love them BOTH, and they're really a big part of my life. The quote comes from an old song, I'm sure most of you can hum it.


Cartridges used: Graphically Speaking (mine) and Opposites Attract (borrowed from my very generous neighbor--thank you!)

-I cut the letters at 3 3/4", using the upright option on the Opposites Attract Cartridge.
-I did a fit to page on a 12x12" sheet of the contact paper for the mug and it came out at 8 1/2", I believe. The steam was 5 1/2". The "delicious" jumble was cut at 4".

The mug was, by far, the most ridiculous part of this entire thing. I tried to do the very bottom first and then stuck the rest on very, very slowly. You can reposition the contact paper as needed.

I did a lot of measuring and drawing on the wall with my pencil before putting the letters up. I had everything laid out before starting (you can see this a bit on the table in the first picture), and I took measurements of how wide the phrase was, then centered everything and marked the edges of the phrase where it should go. I worked from the outside in, placing "coffee" first along the line I drew, then "me", then "&" on either side, etc.

All in all, this took way longer than I thought it would. (Probably because I'm using the contact paper and therefore didn't have the ability to just wipe all of the pieces onto the wall at the same time like you can with the Cricut vinyl when you use the stabilizer paper stuff they sell.) But I think it was still WAY worth the extra time. (I screwed up an entire sheet of cutouts and didn't have to cry about it, lol.)

So, hopefully your imaginations are getting fueled! And thanks to Nicole for Tweeting my last post! LoL. Maybe I'll get some more followers and start to look important. ^_~

Alternative to Cricut Vinyl--Contact Paper!

So I have to admit to some envy over here as I have salivated at the mouth and had pretty intense chest palpitations over the sheer gorgeousness of things created with the Cricut vinyl. I mean, I have a Cricut Expressions, but I never got around to making anything with the vinyl for several reasons, some of which I will list:

1. Cricut vinyl is way expensive. ($9.99 for a package containing two 12x24" sheets)
a. It never goes on sale.
b. You can't EVER use coupons on it. (All craft store coupons exempt Cricut products.)
2. You actually ALSO need to buy stabilizer in addition to the vinyl in order to do good wall layouts. I think this is so that you can apply the entire piece as one sticker, which helps with your layout.
3. I could never come up with an idea for using the vinyl. (Probably primarily due to concern number 1)

Enter the glorious online community, which came to my rescue. I wish I could remember who it was and where in the Cricut forum I saw a person who said she just used contact paper for her wall art. I wish I could credit her and douse her with kisses but, alas, I cannot. All I can do is share the tip!

Instead of using the Cricut vinyl for your wall art, I recommend contact paper! I got a roll of beautiful black faux leather contact paper at my local Home Depot for about $7.00. It's 18" wide and 15' long. I think it's a good investment!

The other cool thing I was unaware of is the fact that the back of the contact paper is marked with 1/2" grid lines so you can easily cut yourself a piece of 12x12" (or 6x12" or 12x24", depending on your mat size) to work with on your machine.

Using Contact Paper instead of Cricut Vinyl with your Machine

Supplies:
Contact paper (shown in the picture below)
Cricut Machine
Cricut Cartridge of choice
Cutting mat
Ideas


1. Cut your contact paper to the desired size. Don't pull it away from the release paper. Stick it to your mat contact paper side down. You should be staring at the grid marks after sticking the piece to your mat.

2. Make sure your FLIP option is selected. Any text you cut MUST be flipped or it will come out backwards on your wall. Proceed to cut your shapes and text, always making sure you have the flip option on. If you're desiring to cut, say, a flower that's facing left in the cartridge book, and you want it facing right on your wall, cut it without the flip option on.

3. Peel off the individual shapes once everything is cut. Follow the directions you got with your paper for adhering it to things. (Mainly make sure your surface is clean before peeling the backs away and adhering the cut pieces.) Here are the names I did for my sons on their bedroom doors. I should have cleaned the bottoms of the doors before taking a picture. Funny how you only notice these things after you show a ton of people how dirty your house is.


4. I obviously didn't get them as straight as I could. (This is probably where that Cricut vinyl stabilizer stuff comes in handy.) If you were maybe NOT in a rush like I was to see if this would work, I'd recommend lightly penciling a line across where you'll be putting text or images. Make some sort of markings to get yourself centered and straight. (These letters were cut at 5.5", by the way.)


5. You could also cut small images. The letters above were cut with my Storybook Cartridge using the Tall option. They're 1.5". The swirlies you see were also cut using the Storybook Cartridge (shift 7), at 2.5".

As soon as I get more fun wall art finished, I'll be posting pics of it. ^_^ Hopefully someone out there can use this idea and have some fun! I can't wait to get some new colors, actually, so that I can do some layered designs.