My Scrapbook Paper Necklace

I love finding new ways to create jewelry. I wish my public library had a bigger selection of jewelry making books. I think I've already checked out all the jewelry making books they have. This lead me to splurge on some books at the book store and today, I'm so glad I own the books that inspired me to make this necklace that I am sharing with you today.

I already wrote a blog about how much I love Margot Potter, The Impatient Beader. I own that book as well as Beyond the Bead. For the pendant of my necklace, I started with the chipboard pendant idea from Beyond the Bead. Margot Potter goes above and beyond using art supplies that I have never seen before to decorate what started out as a plain piece of chipboard and turn it into a beautiful pendant. Because I didn't have the all the materials Margot used for her project, I improvised and took shortcuts because I'm probably more impatient (a.k.a. "lazy") than Ms. Potter.

The pendant of my necklace is made from scrapbook paper and reused junk mail. I used a paper punch to make six circles from the junk mail (heavy cardstock) and two circles of the scrapbook paper. Then I stapmed a design on the scrapbook paper circles. I made the bail using 24-gauge craft wire. I made a wrapped loop and then made an "S" with the tail. I used the most porous circles to be the core where I would sandwich the bail. I dabbed a bit of E6000 glue on the wire and adhered it to the paper circle, then smeared some Mod Podge on top of that and sandwiched the wire between two circles, making sure the edges were completely sealed. After the bail was set, I added the other layers of junk mail circles and the scrapbook paper, again taking care to seal the edges. Then I applied a layer of Mod Podge on the front and back (let one side dry first) of the pendant. To add a super glossy finish, I used a dimensional adhesive on both sides.

Because I had a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper with two holes punched out, I decided to use the same paper to make beads. I have a copy of Making Beaded Jewelry by Barbara Case. Ms. Case has instructions in her book for making your own beads. I wanted to try her papier mache beads, but I didn't want to mess that comes with papier mache. So I created my own method to acheive the same result. I cut six 12x0.5 inch strips and started coiling the dry strips on a toothpick. When I got the coil started, I applied glue to the whole strip using a basic glue stick. I removed the toothpick and continued coiling the strip using my fingers to keep the coil straight. Then with wet fingers, I smoothed down the seam. With the paper wet, I tore a tiny bit off the end to acheive the "seemless" look as suggested by Barbara Case in her book. After making six beads like this, I let them dry for about two hours. Then I dipped them in Mod Podge and used my fingers to smooth it all over. I used a head pin to make sure the hole was clear before I set those to dry again.

Now that I had my pendant and matching beads, I found more coordinating beads in my bead boxes and here's the end result. I didn't discriminate the beads I used, since the main focal bead is paper, this necklace has paper, glass, plastic, and metal beads. Here's a closer look:

A close-up of the pendant.

The opposite side:

A closer look at the beads:

The clasp:

One last look:

A lot of love went into creating this necklace. That's why I decided to blog about it. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Sweet Inspiration

I'm Filipino and I've been to Jolly Bee exactly two times. On both occasions, we went to the Jolly Bee in Vallejo, CA. That weekend, it was very hot, around 90 degrees. After we ate our Chickenjoy, we ordered halo-halo for dessert. It's my favorite Filipino dessert and I would eat it every day if I could, especially during the hot Summer weather. The shaved ice and milk, ube ice cream, and fruits and beans was perfect for cooling us off.

If you ask anyone familiar with culinary arts, the color of your food has to be attractive to make it more appealing to others. The same applies for jewelry. You have to match your colors in a way to make it appealing to other people. If halo-halo is appealing because of its colors, why not use the same colors to make jewelry? So this is what I came up with:


And this one, too:

These are my halo-halo-inspired bracelets. I didn't have all the colors on hand that I wanted, so this is what I came up with using the beads I had on hand. If I wouldn't have eaten a halo-halo at Jolly Bee, I probably never would have thought to put these colors together.

So what do you think?

Maria's Wedding Necklace

I made this necklace and earring set while we were driving to the Bay Area. We were on our way to my friend Maria's wedding. I needed something to match with the dress I was going to wear, so I threw this necklace together. Because I made it for Maria's wedding, it's even more special to me and that's why I decided to blog about this particular piece.

The shell pendant was originally a pair of earrings that I bought at WalMart. I'm not a fan of huge earrings, so I ususally buy them and turn them into pendants. This particular pendant is heavy and not something the average person would want to hang on their earlobe, but is ideal for a pendant. It was an awesome find!

The dress I wore was black with pink flowers and green leaves. So all I had to do was add some black and green with a little more pink. I also used some clear AB bicone beads to give the necklace just a touch of sparkle. I made the pendant bale out of green seed beads and a metal flower bead. This necklace is designed to be a choker and is 14 inches, but I added an adustable chain and lobster clasp it is adjustable to 16 inches.

The earrings are simple and sweet. In my jewelry world, the acronym KISS means Keep-It-Simple-and-Sweet. I used the same pink bead to be the main focal point, then added a small green bicone and a round black bead. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm very happy with the way this set turned out. This is my personal souveneir or Maria and Justin's special day, so it is not for sale. I do have the other earring (soon-to-be-pendant), so if you want me to make a duplicate, ask me. I hope from the picture, you will appreciate the beauty of this set. Let me know what you think!