Wire Spiral Snowflake Ornament

Tis the season! Here's a fun Artistic Wire snowflake ornament that works up surprisingly quickly. You'll find the materials list and instructions over on the FaveCrafts blog, where my pal Linda is offering an ornament every Tuesday during the holidays.

Linda also asked for 10 fun facts about me for her blog. I love reading those kinds of lists about other people, but it was a challenge to put one together for myself! I ended up writing five about work and five about family. Here's one, but you'll have to read the FaveCrafts blog to see the rest: One of my favorite children’s books is Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 3: Blossom Necklace

Greetings, Sizzix Blog Hoppers! This week, we're using Brenda Pinnick's lovely Beauty Bloom Originals Die #655455 from Sizzix. You can see the original, paper version below. I used part of the die to create the layered flower on this Blue Moon Beads pendant. This is a quick and easy way to put your personal touch on a store-bought pendant or piece of fashion jewelry. (You know I love to customize!). It's perfect for last-minute gift-giving.

To personalize the pendant Blossom Necklace, I used a needle and black thread to attach a 12mm crystal sew-on stone to the center of the magenta fabric die-cut flower. I used a black permanent marker to outline the recycled denim die-cut flower. Then, I glued the flowers together and glued them to the pendant as shown.

To attach the pendant to the velour tubing necklace, I cut a 6" length of 18-gauge fuchsia Artistic Wire and twisted it together, then used it to make a large jump ring (use a jump ring maker or wrap it around a dowel.) You can attach a clasp directly to the tubing or run a piece of beading wire through the tubing and attach the clasp to the wire.

My original plan was to create the flower from fabric, attach it to a pin back and pin it to a card for gift giving. I did try that and it was okay. Then, the muse struck for real, so I tore the pin apart and made this necklace instead!

I'm going to miss the Triple Play Blog Hop next week, but I'll be back the following week with another idea mixing die cut shapes and jewelry making/packaging. I hope you're enjoying these posts! I used to do a lot of scrapbooking and cardmaking, so it has been fun to revisit the "paper" part of my crafty life.

Katiedids™ in Michaels

Here I am in Michaels with my Katiedids™ Creative Components. Beadalon is doing a special variety pack that's in stores for a limited time, so my sweet husband* and I stopped there to check out the scene last week. And, yes, I am as cheesy as this picture implies. It was so exciting to see those little packages in the store! I can't wait to see what people make with them.

The packs are $5.99 and include five pieces: one long stick, two curves and two donuts. All of the styles are meant for use with 3-4mm beads, but also make great settings for polymer clay, resin, fibers, or wire. I'm hoping they'll sell so ridiculously well that they become regular items. Fingers and toes crossed!

If you don't have a Michaels in your area or are interested in purchasing more of each style, they're available from a variety of online sources including my website, KatieHacker.com; Amazon.com; and CreateForLess.com.

Simple necklace using Katiedids™ Creative Component curve shape

*Craft stores aren't his favorite places to hang out (says he's scarred from hours sitting at the fabric store's pattern table as a child), but he still gets a kick out of finding one of my books and shouting down the aisle, "Katie, here's the book you wrote!"

Watch Beads, Baubles & Jewels Anytime!

This is one of my favorite projects that I designed for the 13th season of Beads, Baubles & Jewels. It's a long, knotted pearl necklace that incorporates my Katiedids™ Creative Components and crystal accents. Our theme for the series is "design inspiration." In episode 1307, we talk about getting inspiration from nature. This piece is inspired by the ocean, both in materials (pearls) and color (shades of aqua). I love the beach and I have to be careful to use colors other than these, because they're my go-to palette!

The new series is airing on some public television stations now. Let's celebrate! Pre-order your Beads, Baubles & Jewels series 1300 DVD on my website to receive free shipping and a sample of Katiedids™ Creative Components. (DVD's will ship in December.)

Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 1: Candy Cane Lane

For the next few weeks, I'm participating in the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop using die cut shapes created by my fellow craft designers Eileen Hull, Brenda Pinnick and Karen Burniston. Since you know I'm all about the beads, I'm planning to share some cool ways to use these fun shapes as packaging for your jewelry. This week, I offer you the Candy Cane Lane die cut house and beaded earrings:

To make the house, you'll need these supplies from Sizzix: House, 3D Pro Scoreboards Die by Eileen Hull; 12x12 white matboard, and a Big Shot Pro die cutting machine. The house is really easy to assemble and then it's just a matter of decorating it however you choose. I glued stripey patterned paper to the roof, the door and around the base as shown. It needed a little sparkle, so I raided the kids' craft supplies and applied red glitter glue to the edges of the roof, the windows and the door frame.

I love candy-themed Christmas kitsch! I blame it on my childhood fascination with the Sugar Plum Fairy. I picked up these darling mint candy glass beads at a recent Rings & Things Bead Tour Show because I just knew they'd come in handy sometime between now and the holidays.

To make each earring, pass a head pin through a mint candy glass bead and make a wrapped loop to attach it to an ear wire. Easy! I used a beading awl to poke holes in the front of the house to display my earrings. I'm thinking this will make a fabulous door prize for my holiday jewelry open house!

This week, 60 crafty people are also decorating their own versions of this cute little house. Click on the blinkie in the sidebar (over there on the left) to hop over to other blogs and see what's cooking.

Beads, Baubles & Jewels 1300 Series Preview

1311-4 Kerry Bogert shows how to choose different gauges of shaping wire

I've been previewing some of the episodes from the new series of Beads, Baubles & Jewels and there's really something for everyone! We have wirework, stringing, seed beads, metalsmithing, polymer clay, precious metal clay and more. Plus, every show features interviews and lessons from some of your favorite jewelry makers, authors and artists. To take a sneak peek at these segments from series 1300 on the Beads, Baubles & Jewels YouTube channel, just click on the numbered links below:

1302-3 Wyatt White shows a precision technique for creating wire-wrapped links
1303-2 Leslie Rogalski shows how to use Miyuki Tila beads with right angle weave
1304-4 Mary Hettmansperger shows how to do wire Viking Knit on a teardrop pendant
1306-4 Mark Nelson show how to customize charms using pen plating

1307-3 Candace Gates shows how to use stamps to make an easy metal clay ring
1311-3 Marlene Blessing interviews Kim St. Jean on location at BeadFest Santa Fe

Even though this season is just starting to air, we're already getting ready for the next series and I want to hear from you! What do you want to learn next season on Beads, Baubles & Jewels? Who do you want to see?