Jenneth Wedding Jewels

I had the honor of attending the wedding festivities of Jenny and Kenny (henceforth known collectively as "Jenneth") in lovely Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota a few weeks ago.  Jenny partook of my services for the bridal party jewelry, and here's what we came up with:

 

A mix of shades of blue and yellow beads, some sparkly, some matte, crocheted together on silver wire...  they came out pretty awesome and everyone seemed to love them!  I made them very loosely based on this video tutorial (which I've used before, here and here).  However, I used significantly more beads... probably 30-45 per strand, started with 5 or 6 empty (beadless) stitches and then pulled a bead up on each stitch until I was done with the beads, then another 5 or 6 beadless stitches.  

Here are some of the lovely bridesmaids, Colleen and Eileen, modeling the jewels and doing their best Blue Steel.. hot!:

Congratulations again, Jenneth!!!

Fabric Leaves

I started this fabric leaves project months and months ago, but then my sewing machine ceased functioning in the zig-zag fashion...  it still did straight stitching, so I wasn't too worried about it and clearly got along fine.  But last week something else went wonky and the machine ceased to function at all.  Sigh.

The good thing is, services like sewing machine repair are ridiculously convenient and cheap here in Indonesia.  $20 for a 1-hour home visit from a repairman who not only fixes the machine, but makes it run like buttah?  Don't mind if I do.

Anyway... fabric leaves.  Pretty good use of random fabric scraps you have laying around.  Makes a cute arrangement.  Based on this Amy Butler tutorial.

Lincoln likes it:

More Wire-Wrapped Earrings

I made a couple more pairs of these simple but stunning wire-wrapped earrings... so fast and easy, as well as a good way to use up random stray beads leftover from other projects!

Wire-wrapped Earrings

Wow, it's been a long time since I've made some jewelry.  Months and months, I believe.  Between the packing, the getting married, the moving, the waiting, etc., I've had no chance to bead.  But now that I had my crafting gear, including beads, I am inspired again.   Particularly after seeing this post on wire and bead earrings...

I made these earrings in a total of about 10 minutes, and was able to wear them out to a newly opened bar in our neighborhood tonight.  Finding the beads, wire and tools beforehand was a bit of an undertaking, as I hadn't opened any of my bead boxes since they arrived in my shipment.  Thanks to Chuck, Liz and Meghan, though, all the beads and findings seemed to have arrived unblemished and contained in their original location. Phew!  Thanks, ladies!!

Turquoise and Gold Crochet Necklace

The Lizinator had a birthday this weekend. We had a lovely evening drinking sangria and playing a little bocce on the patio at Vinoteca. I made her this pretty crochet necklace with gold wire, turquoise chunks, howlite barrels and gold filigree beads. We ate chocolate cake with the fudgiest chocolate frosting I've ever had. Good stuff.

Crocheted Wire and Bead Necklace: Take 2!

Using the same methodology I used a couple weeks ago to make that fun, brightly colored crocheted necklace, I made this silvery, glassy, ethereal-yet-funky necklace that I'm super excited to wear to work...I love this technique. It looks amazing, but it is so easy and foolproof. It's very forgiving: it doesn't matter if you keep constant tension when doing your chain stitch, and you can also stretch it out the strands if you don't like how it's sitting.

Crocheted Wire and Bead Necklace

Now that I'm 31, I've decided its high time to start cultivating my old lady crafting skillz. So a couple weeks ago I taught myself the basic crochet stitches, in the hopes of making this cute hat from Threadbanger. I think either I need a few more lessons, or I need to learn how to count better, because it's not going great. Not terrible, but not great. Glad I'm using some cheapy practice yarn for my first try. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress on that hat soon...However, my basic crochet skillz are definitely sufficient for making this super simple crocheted wire and bead necklace. Sweet... This necklace came together in less than an hour, but looks pretty complicated and ornate.I didn't have a letter "I" crochet hook as called for in the video. I had a "K," but it worked just fine.