BeadStyle : holiday

Cool gift ideas, clean conscience

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:53:00 GMT

I’ve just discovered Kumvana Gomani’s fabulous recycled-materials jewelry. Her fashion-forward collection is created from reclaimed PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic and aluminum. I particularly like her snö jewelry, including this necklace and these earrings – what cool holiday gift ideas! Plus you can rest easy knowing that your purchase was an eco-friendly one.

A note about navigating Kumvana Gomani’s site: Click on Collection, then click on any of the three women wearing her jewelry to enter the store.

Old jewelry-making catalogs = New gift bows!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:40:00 GMT

Craftstylish.com recently covered Jessica Jones and her blog How about orange…, which currently features an awesome paper project: DIY gift bows made from magazine pages. I knew this project had to be adaptable to BeadStyle readers, but how…?

Certainly I would never advocate the dissection of back issues of BeadStyle, but there had to be something we beaders have lying around that would make for colorful (specifically “green”) bows. And then my eyes fell on my stack of outdated jewelry-making catalogs. You know what I’m talking about: the catalogs you get every month, with every order, and/or at every bead show? I never want to throw them away, but the truth is I never look at them.

So out came the scissors, and look what I made! Jessica’s instructions are very clear, and the catalog pages were the perfect size and weight. I can’t wait to top my holiday gifts of jewelry with these fun bows!

If you too are starting to think in the direction of holiday gift giving, check out these posts from BeadStyle’s own blog:

• Cathy’s tutorial on turning greeting cards into jewelry gift boxes
• My favorite use for toilet paper rolls and take-out containers

Swarovski holiday project ideas

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:38:00 GMT

Swarovski has released a PDF of this year’s holiday project ideas! Download and print their “Twinkling Yuletide” inspiration guide as a PDF, or view the projects on Fire Mountain Gems and Beads’ Web site. My favorite projects are the ornaments: angels, wreaths, and Christmas trees, all aglow in sparkling crystal! If I start now, I should have plenty of time to make my own holiday gifts this year (emphasis on "should"!).

Crafts, cakes, and creativity in 2009!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:41:00 GMT

In recent blogs, Naomi talked about her creative resolutions for 2009 and Erin gave us the shortlist (which is actually a pretty long list) of projects she has in the works. Now here’s a sneak peek into the creative pursuits on the front (and back) burners of my own craftiness.

A few weeks ago, BeadStyle’s Senior Editor Linda Augsburg had the fabulous idea of cleaning out her craft room, depositing items she wasn’t using in an empty office here at Kalmbach, and allowing other crafters to raid the stash. I picked up a few rolls of seasonal-colored snowman-printed ribbon, and turned them into what I affectionately call Jacob’s Ladder of Letters.

I absolutely treasure the tradition of sending out holiday cards, letters, and pictures in December, but I could never figure out how to display them in a way that was meaningful but not messy. Inspired by a few holiday card displays on sale at Etsy.com, my Jacob’s Ladder of Letters did the trick. Here’s what I did:
1) Used chainnose pliers to bend a piece of 20-gauge craft wire into a triangle, then used 24-gauge wire to securely wrap the ends together.
2) Secured the end of a long length of ribbon to the wire triangle with a button and thread.
3) Installed a 3M Command Strip Hook upside down on the back of a door and anchored the wire triangle in the arch of the hook.
4) Flipped the ribbon over the front of the door so that it reached almost to the floor, then used wooden clothes pins to secure cards to the ribbon on both sides of the door.

I found that Jacob’s Ladder of Letters also works great for birthday cards. Thanks for sharing your stuff, Linda!

And speaking of birthdays, last week Friday was mine, so it was time to dream up another cake to decorate. Those who know me well know that there is a special place in my heart for my favorite Muppet, Cookie Monster. This year, I decided it was time to give my sweet-toothed hero an equally sweet homage, and below is the result.

So that’s what I’ve been working on so far in 2009. Since this post is already long enough, I’ll give you a glimpse of near-future projects in my post next week Monday. Stay tuned!

Dancing, dangling, reindeer dropping beads!

Stacy Hillmer — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:34:00 GMT

From the bloggers who brought you lint ball beads and dead cicada jewelry comes a new beading material that can’t be beat when it comes to going green (or in this case, brown). I’m talking about reindeer dropping beads!

The Miller Park Zoo, in Bloomington, Ill., has been harvesting crops of droppings from the zoo’s two reindeer, Ealu and Rika. The droppings, which approximate the size and shape of marbles, are dried and clear-coated before receiving a coat of festive paint or glitter. Then the beads are strung onto holiday ornaments, such as the ones shown here.

The ornaments are available at the Miller Park Zoo gift shop for $5.00 and come with a certificate of authenticity (believe me, you’ll need it when you show off your ornament to incredulous friends). If you call or visit the zoo, just ask for “magical reindeer gem ornaments,” the official name of the products.

For more information, see this blurb by Yahoo News, also the source for these fantastic photos.

Great gift ideas

Erin Dolan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:22:00 GMT

We have all been blogging a lot lately about handmade gifts, and how fun and rewarding giving and receiving them can be. The past few nights I have been working on homemade Christmas cards to the tunes of Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, and Josh Groban. Giving has never been more relaxing and more enjoyable than when you have made the gift yourself (and when you can listen to Bing in the process, it's even better)!

The one downside of making my own gifts is that I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want. Cathy takes a whole week to get all of her creating, baking, and crafting in!

So many projects on BeadStyleMag.com make simple, fast, and fashionable gifts. The problem changes from "I don't have time" to "I can't decide what to do next!" As Martha Stewart, queen of holiday crafting, would say: It's a good thing.

I went through our free projects and found a couple of quick holiday gift ideas for you to try out at home. Did I miss a favorite of yours? Leave a comment and let everyone know which of our projects you have found especially good for holiday gift-giving! Don't forget that our projects for sale are still only $1.95!

Debbi Simon's briolette bangle

Gemstones briolettes and metal accent beads come together easily with a premade bangle. You can choose colors and stones to match the personality of the receiver. Best of all, the bangle component is premade, making your process a lot faster!

Jane Konkel's tagua nut earrings

These tagua nuts, dyed pink from their natural ivory color, have a funky, playful look when paired with rubber tubes. These earrings would make a great gift for a teenager or a fun friend. Play around with the color of the tagua and the length of the rubber components.

Christianne Camera's citrine nugget necklace

Contrast smooth, top-drilled citrine nuggets with the sharp lines of bicone crystals. Don't have citrine and no time to run to the bead shop? This design will look great with any top-drilled bead. The key is alternating the beads and interspersing them with a contrasting bicone.

Projects For Sale on sale!

Erin Dolan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:53:00 GMT

'Sale' is a weird word when you say it several times in your head, as I did when I did was writing the title for this blog post! But it's a word that gets my heart pumping a bit harder and my feet moving a bit faster. Who can resist a good sale? If you can, then my imaginary hat is off to you, because you are a stronger person than I am.

Did you know that projects from the pages of BeadStyle are all available for you to purchase and download from our website? And right now we are having a big sale on these projects. Each one is only $1.95 (normally $3.95). You can also check out projects from Art Jewelry and Bead&Button magazines. Just in time for the holidays, too!

Here's how it works: Visit the beading, jewelry, and crafts website (you can also get here via BeadStyleMag.com's homepage). Browse the site for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. Then, once you find the ones you want, all you do is click the 'Order' button. Couldn't be easier. That's another thing that gets my heart rate up in excitement: Simple shopping.

These downloadable projects make wonderful presents. Make some great jewelry for great friends, and include the full-color PDF as part of your gift, so your friend can make a piece of their own and get in on the fun! Jane said in her recent blog post that she likes giving homemade gifts from the heart. I feel the same way about giving and receiving. I tend to give out homemade stationery, mini-paintings, or scrapbook pages as gifts, probably because I love receiving these things as gifts, too! This year, I am hoping to make a few pieces of jewelry to give to a few friends. Since I am still a beginner, I know I can trust them to wear my designs even if they're not perfect. That's what friends are for, right? I hope so!