Little Indian Headband

Recently, Kayla went to a craft birthday party and came home with a bunch of pretty feathers.

She really wanted to make something with them. 

I bought these leather straps while on holiday,

 so I thought they would be perfect for making a

 little Indian feather headband.

I found some beads with large holes and trimmed the tips of the feathers to fit.

We braided the leather straps,

 then put it all together.

One happy little Indian Princess!!

Creating a Bead Necklace Stall for the School Fair

Armadale School Fair

 Necklace Stall

Early this year I was asked to come up with ideas for my son's School Fair to raise money.

So with a few weeks to spare, I ran around to my favourite shops for some inspiration.

I knew that wooden beads were on trend, and as 

I didn't have any, I made the above beads with counting blocks.

 Melbourne cafe, Mondocherry necklace and some school supplies
were my design inspiration.

I had this awesome neon cord in my work shed.

So I started to play around with ideas that kids might like, 

and maybe even a Mum or two as well.

My son's school loved the idea.

But then I couldn't find the beads anywhere!!! 

I finally found someone in the USA who shipped them directly to me, 

but they were smaller and more difficult to paint.

So back to the shed to figure out a way the little ones could still enjoy this stall.

Dots....

were a perfect solution.

Design concept done.

Less is sometimes so much more....

This is the Stall on the day of the Fair.

It looked amazing

and we had some awesome Mum's help run the stall. :)

Just want to say thanks again to them.

The girls loved making the necklaces,

and coming up with their own designs.

Happy Fair Goers!

Mini Bead Weaving

A creative friend reminded me about the little mini loom she used to make jewellery on.

I was inspired and went home to give it a go myself.

I dug up some beads I had from way way back.

I also found a necklace that I would never wear again and took some pretty turquoise beads from that.

I made a tiny loom from a piece of wood and little nails.

I took some design inspiration from this candle I just bought while in the USA.

I thought the Aztec design was just what I needed.

I beaded each row onto the loom.

Then the difficult part was weaving each and every thread back into the woven piece so it wouldn't come apart.

I must admit that part took forever!

I bought a silver chain from the bead shop and here is the finished product.

I love it!  

Something a bit different and gets lots of compliments when I wear it.

Too fun!

Now to make another....

Jewelry Box Makeover

Sterling Silver,
crystal and wooden beads
 on a neon pink string.

 I am pretty sure most of us have a jewelry box somewhere that needs a major make over.  Some of the items in my jewelry box are very precious and some are just costume, but all of it goes unworn on a daily bases.

I sorted through the items that were special and the ones that I could pull apart.  I also looked for real silver that needed a polish...like the one in this photo.

 After a bit of tarnish remover,

 I thought this silver and pearl pendant

 would look nice on another necklace

 I just stung together with bits and pieces I found.

or add some yellow...

Randomness was my objective of the day, 

which worked well since I only had a few of anything to play with.

I even raided the kids bead collection and found some neon yellow and pink wooden beads.

I also found a black pearl I never where
which didn't look that bad either...

I took all the best precious pieces I could find,

 like this round jade bead I was given years ago by my best friend.

 I made it into a special pendant for this necklace I made with other

random beads I found.

These ivory beads were once my Grandmother's!

 Back in the 90's I made this choker style necklace with

them.  Yes...I loved it then, but would never where it now!

Time to restring these with some other special finds......

Can't wait to wear this tomorrow. :-)

Clay Bead DIY Party

Every colour I could possibly find

Hand Painted Cords

Busy at work drilling beads

We mixed our own colours

The beads look amazing on the hand painted neon cords

Hand painted cords for the beads.