Accessories

I decided that with the lace on my dress, pearls would be a good compliment for my wedding jewelry. This decision was much easier than expected. I wanted round shaped pearls that were off-white and I wanted dangly earrings. Oh my goodness, folks, this was not easy to find. We looked EVERYWHERE. Department stores, pawn shops, Khol's. I looked through everyone's jewelry boxes. Ok, not everyone's but my sisters sent me pictures of their pearl jewelry and I looked through my mom and grandma's jewelry. Finally, I found a nice necklace and bracelet set from my grandma. She told me she never wore them so I could have them. Double score! Now came the adventure of finding matching earrings. Again, we looked everywhere. I had seen some in a department store early on in the hunt but they were no longer there when we looked again. Dang. Finally, they may have had silver hooks (all my accents were gold) but I found earrings I liked. Seriously, huge relief.

When deciding on what accessories you want, remember this is your wedding and you are the bride! (well, you can be a groom reading this too but I don't think you'll be looking for the same things as I was!) If you're wanting to go with something classic like pearls, don't settle on costume jewelry from the kid's department. Look everywhere. Don't feel like you need to spend a ton on jewelry but make sure what you're buying will look as classic as you want it. If you want to go for diamonds, again, don't settle for costume jewelry. It looks fake. I promise. When I was deciding between gold or silver, I took into account my wedding colors and the metal of my engagement ring. I had champagne color accents in the wedding colors and a yellow gold engagement ring, so for me, the choice was golds. If you want a classic look, don't go towards bold colored jewelry. I would stick with anything white, cream or ivory. My dress was stark white so I wanted an off-white pearl. If you want a touch of color, I would suggest pale colors. Even paler than pastels. You don't want to distract from you and your dress! But ultimately, it's your day. Feel beautiful no matter what!

PS I also got my bridesmaids pearl bracelets from Khol's. That one wasn't as hard of a decision!

Peter Pan Collar Bead Necklace

I've noticed the Peter Pan Collar trend lately and thought a necklace would be a great way to make my own embellished version. I scoured the internet to find a good pattern for the collar, because I knew I couldn't draw one free hand. The best one I found (because it has a scale on it) was made by my sparkle: Removable Peter Pan Collar DIY

Materials Needed for this project:
Stiffened felt
Beads
E600 Glue (don't use the cheap-o stuff!)
Ribbon

I was itching to start that night, so I dug in my craft stash and found some green stiffened felt I used on my shoe clips and elf hat. I had just enough for this collar. I really recommend using stiffened felt. Regular felt is just too weak and wouldn't hold its shape at all. I cut out the pattern and overlapped the two pieces at the center, since I wanted the necklace to be connected in the middle. Then I dug in my beads and found a ton of green beads, all purchased at different times. I laid out the beads in different ways and found something I liked. I decided to go for it that night, and used what I had on hand: super glue.

Here's the first time the craft gets Wayward. Don't use super glue, it's too weak. I've had to re-glue some of the beads multiple times. I finally purchased some E600 and it works perfectly! Don't go through the hassle that I did.

The other Wayward part, I didn't put anything under the felt while the necklace dried. The super glue seeped through the felt and onto my dining room table, permanently altering it (nice way of saying messing it up in that area). So, put a lot of paper/plastic under your working area and protect your furniture!

So my last step was to attach two ribbons to the necklace, on the underside. If you wanted, you could cut out another piece of stiffened felt and cover the back side, as it's a little coarse. I didn't (since I ran out of felt) and I am not bothered by it.

How bout a close up? 

I showed my friend and she was so impressed we went out and bought the supplies and she started making her own, which was SO much cooler than mine!

Here's how mine looked on:

Pretty cute for St. Patrick's Day too! 

I Like Big Beads Necklace

Do you ever make something without knowing what the heck you are doing? That's what I did with this necklace. So I had to make another one as a tutorial.

Supplies:

One strand of medium to large sized beads
Less than a strand of tiny "spacer" type beads
Cord
Chain
Two clam shell crimp beads


Tools:
Needle Nose Pliers
Flat Nosed Pliers
Scissors
Needle

Directions:

Plan your your necklace beforehand, trying different possiblities before deciding.

 

Thread the beads onto the cord, alternating with the small and the large beads.

Make a square knot with the cord on one end. Here's a trick to moving the knot as close as possible to the beads. Tie the knot, but leave it open. Insert a large needle (or other skinny type item) and use it to pull the knot close to the beads. This way you'll always get the knot right where you want it. 

 

Next thread one of your clam shell crimp beads on the cord. Tie a surgical knot, using the needle trick if needed. Finally close the "shell" part of the crimp bead with pliers.  Repeat on the other side.

 

Next take your chain and thread it onto the open part of the crimp bead. Close the crimp bead. Repeat on the other side and you are done!

Ta da! 

Do you like big beads? Do you feel that you cannot lie? I could go on, but I'll stop =)

Christmas Gift Show Off: What I Gave Handmade

This Christmas I decided to make as many gifts as possible. I made gifts for the women in my family which ended up being quite a few! Some people haven’t gotten to open theirs yet so I can’t share them, but here are a few things I can share:

The jewelry making bug has bitten me again. I made these earrings as well as a few other pairs (5?) with other beads. I used a tutorial from here a blog I found on Stumble Upon. By the way, let’s be Stumble Friends! JustJaimeWGC

I made a tank for my sister in law who loves her half marathons (thus the joke). I used the same method as before. This time I did it in my hotel which was a little crazy BUT I think it was pretty cool!

I made this necklace for Brooke. I loved it A LOT and wanted to keep it. Sadly, I had to give away ;) Beneath that is an infinity scarf I also made for Brooke.

I had to model it of course. I really apologize for these pictures. I have a nice DSLR camera, and yet I took all of these with my phone?!

The handmade gifts were so fun. I really tried hard to figure out things that were my family’s style. I learned so much in making these gifts. I’m so excited for next Christmas =)