Sweet Treats

I bought these sweet little cupcake beads at the Bead & Button Show last spring, with visions of earrings dancing in my head. There's a cute project in this month's BeadStyle that reminded me that I hadn't made the earrings yet. So, I dug the cupcakes out of my stash and put them on my "to go" tray (amazing how many other things I came across in the search!).

I finally had a chance to work on them in the car on the way to our Thanksgiving gathering. I'll post pix soon. I did really simple, linked earrings with a crystal above the cupcake. I'm doing a trunk show next weekend, so they'll be a perfect little impulse item.

Pressed Penny Jewelry

I'm a sucker for those machines where you put the penny (and 50 cents) in the slot and turn the crank to make a pressed penny souvenir. I've always thought I'd do something cool with them, but I end up carrying them around in my wallet for a long time. Eventually, they make it to the spare change jar.

But lookee here! I got inspired to make this pressed penny necklace after seeing a cool, linked version in Cathy Jakicic's book, Hip Handmade Memory Jewelry. Her book is full of creative ideas for making jewelry with your special mementos. (I love the coin project on the cover, too!)

Since my penny has more of the picture at the top, I didn't want to drill a hole there. I used a BeadFix square to stick an adhesive bail to the back of the penny and drilled a hole at the bottom. I mixed silver and copper findings to give the vintage look some updated shine.

This would also make a fun ornament or key ring, if you're looking for stocking stuffer ideas. You could make a pressed penny somewhere that's meaningful for the recipient or check out the ones that are available on eBay.

World's Longest Beaded Necklace

The Portable Playhouse, a non profit organization, has created a unique way to raise money for their specialized art therapy program. Their goal is to create the world's longest beaded necklace. The money they raise will be used to help fund their specialized art therapy beading programs at hospitals and cancer centers across the country.

The Portable Playhouse works with hospitalized children (regardless of their illnesses) and women fighting cancer in outpatient cancer centers across the country. For a $1.00 donation, a bead will be put on this record setting necklace, and they will record your name for the Guinness World Records Book.

Linky Love

Here's a week's worth of beady links for your browsing enjoyment...enjoy!

I've been contributing to the Beadalon blog, check out my recent post about Color Inspiration.

My pal Jennifer Heynen hosted a week of ornaments on her blog. Super fun!

Jean Campbell Jean finds her first piece of beadwork in a junk drawer and discusses how important it is to reinforce your work

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie starts a new project, an upcycled film themed jewelry line called Now Showing! Read the story behind this fun new idea.

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Cindy reflects on how to live life at a slower pace. Her reflections inspire a pair of earrings.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Setting up a table at a craft can be daunting, but Lorelei put together a perfectly Vintage Chic display that will hopefully lure people in.

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi has a give-away offer on "the ugly necklace."

Art Bead Scene November is full of fairies at the Art Bead Scene. Come check out the inspiration painting for the monthly challenge!

About.com Jewelry Making Tammy has another installment of Make It Merry this week.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! In the spirit of the season, whereby "you can get nything you want" as in the famous Alice's Restaurant song by Arlo, you can get some fascinating things at Andrew Thornton's store. Great for holidays to come!

A Bead A Day A surprise package of beads arrives and provides a week of fun on abeadaday!

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off a necklace she made...for herself!

Jewelry & Beading Gorgeous jewelry designs by artist Paula Huckabay!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Using a hand-painted Russian pendant from Artbeads.com, Andrew creates an enchanting response to Art Bead Scene's November prompt: Dadd's The Fairy Fellers' Master-Stroke.

Be My Fan on Facebook

Well, look at me getting with the times...I'm vowing to do better at keeping up with my Facebook page! I've added a new widget to my sidebar over there where you can see my fans. You can also click on the tab to become a fan - please do!

Free Resin & Peyote Project in Beadwork

This Clever Connections necklace is my latest project for Beadwork magazine. (It's the web-exclusive companion to my product review column.) It combines two techniques that I've been experimenting with lately: UV-curing resin and peyote stitch rings.

I made just about every possible mistake while working with the resin. The letter K is a sticker that I pressed onto scrapbooking paper. I thought I could just pour the resin onto it and let it cure (you can use sunlight or a UV lamp). Wrong! I should have researched it more first.

Every source I consulted says you should build up the layers. I should have poured a thin layer onto the sticker, then cured it, then added more resin. I also got into trouble because I tried to use an embossing tool to get rid of some surface air bubbles. That made my sticker lift up. If I had done the first thin layer, it would have held my sticker in place and the embossing tool wouldn't have caused a problem. I also put one of my pendants outside to cure and didn't cover it with a glass, so unwanted debris got stuck in the resin. Don't let resin intimidate you, but do learn from my mistakes and do your homework before you get started!

Once I got the details sorted out, I had fun making a few more pendants, which you'll see here in the coming months. There are so many possibilities! I'm already planning a lucky necklace with an embedded 4-leaf clover...

Wicked Good Necklace

I did it again! Left my costume til the last minute and ended up just making jewelry. Maybe next year I'll actually get to the costume phase...with this necklace as the centerpiece!

The foundation of the necklace is a strand of leather with red large-hole beads strung onto it. The fringey looking things are pieces of leather tied onto the foundation strand using lark's head knots. The crystals are on head pins and attached at each knotted place. The skull from Absolute Crystal Components is attached with an eye pin.