bodner011

I do so love a blog hop! As mentioned in my  last post , the six  Cousin DIY  ambassadors received a package containing identical beads just for the fun of seeing everyone's unique design styles. You never know what might happen during the creative process. So fun! In the bracelet above, I used memory wire to connect to the focal bead since it's pretty lightweight and the beads are a bit heavier. The memory wire helps maintain the structure. Of course, I think the dangles bring it to life! I've never had a bracelet like this before with faux druzy pieces so I'm excited to wear it. Those druzys are pretty spectacular. :) This simple silver necklace may end up being my favorite go-to piece for a while. It's surprisingly striking and would look great at the beach with a bathing suit or on a flowing bright colored blouse. The bright silver spikes make a real statement. And, speaking of spikes... The necklace below totally makes me laugh. I don't always create jewelr...

Beads have arrived...it's time to design!  All six Cousin DIY ambassadors have received the same beads and we're anxious to see what everyone creates. I learned early in my jewelry making journey that EVERYONE sees things from a unique perspective. I had a very sheltered view of creativity in my youth. I didn't have a clue about individuality and the excitement of being different.  The easiest way to fit in with other people was to be like them. There weren't any classes in the old days in mainstream rural Ohio schools about self expression. I remember getting a D in art, my very first D...in art? Wouldn't you think you'd at least get a C just for showing up?                Fortunately, time passed, life experiences happened and I found myself involved in a creative outlet...making jewelry!  Many blog hops later, I'm excited to create something fun and unique! I'm not sure if you can see them clearly, but there's a strand in the ph...

Okay, I admit I was already sort of in love with this blue dangly bracelet BEFORE the photograph, but after...it's a mixture of love and awe. Thank you Brian Chan and Crystal Cousin! During my visit to Cousin Corporation in Florida last year, I had the good fortune to receive a photography lesson by top photogs Brian and Crystal. The best part of the story is this...we forgot to bring a piece of jewelry outside to actually photograph. So, guess who offered to pull a bracelet off their wrist? Ha! They explained how anyone could take great bead and jewelry pics using their simple methods. It's all about the lighting and background! First, the background...Brian went across the parking lot and picked up a large handful of white rocks. Sidenote here, the unplanned perfection of the white rocks and the bright blue beads was not lost on me! I mean...perfection! Now the lighting...filtering the light using a homemade filter - insider secret...fabric attached to a PVC pipe frame. And t...

OMG, I am totally loving this awesome contrast!   When I bought a huge bag of these colorful pipe cleaners at Hobby Lobby, officially called "Spiral Chenille Stems" I figured I would just play around with them until the novelty of the bright colors and the quirky spiral wore off. Sometimes I just like to play with good old fashioned craft supplies for their stress relieving properties.  It just so happened I had these amazing Swarovski spikes laying out on my table too. I got curious about what the stems might look like with beads strung on and twisted around as a focal piece.  To be perfectly honest, it was a week night and I was too tired to dig and sort through all my beads so I just opened the package at hand. Haha, who knew...laziness paid off!! Once I added the clasp to the pink bracelet and had it on my wrist I discovered I needed to try another combo. Now I have one for each wrist. Actually each of these combinations work for different reasons. The pink bracelet w...

OMG...it's a great day! I am loving these charms made with Swarovski crystals!! When I heard Cousin DIY was sending its ambassadors some new Swarovski charms, I never expected them to be so cool and so substantial!  As you can see, these all have a major WOW factor! Each of the ambassadors received five charms. Here are the ones I received. So fab and just perfect for me! I haven't seen the entire collection, but they are available exclusively at Michael's stores. I wanted to make a jewelry project with one of them, but I also had a couple ideas about clipping charms onto other things in my little world.  Because I was so fascinated by the Buddha charm which is even better in real life than in this picture, I knew I wanted to use it for something special. The charm itself is SO sparkly and magical on its own. I use this old Clinique apple-shaped case to hold the mala I use for repeating my mantra. It used to have a little green leaf zipper pull, but I took that off and add...

What better to give a life coach than a sparkly, tasselly Buddha charm bracelet!? This isn't what I originally planned to make when I sat down to bead. I was going to make a version of the acrylic spikey bracelet from the last post. However, all the tassels and the Buddha head charms were sitting on the beading table and I kept picking them up. Before I knew it I was creating something completely different! Love it when that happens and if I haven't said it recently, I LOVE MEMORY WIRE! You don't have to worry about sizing a bracelet when using memory wire and that takes a lot of worry out of the process. As much as I love memory wire, I ALSO love eliminating worry from my life! :)