Tutorial: Flowerrific Necklace with hints of Paris

Yay! I am back with a new tutorial. Stay tuned, because I actually have an important question to ask you guys at the end. I would ask now, but I'm SO PUMPED for this tutorial. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Today, we (or I) will be making this necklace as shown below. There are some closeups.

What you need:

• Sequins
  
• Eiffel Tower keychain. I got mine at Paris. Literally, 5 for a freaking euro. If you don't have this, just get some other pendant like thing or keychain you get from a touristy place.
  
• 2 pliers. It can be a combo, like plier and wrench. You just need 2 clampy things.


• Thread. I used black sewing thread


• Needle


• Necklace Chain


• Necklace clasp. I used a toggle kind. It's like a bar with a loop. Use whatever!


• Jumprings

Instructions

• First, take the keychain and split it apart. You see in my above picture with supplies that I broke it into the keychain thing, the pendant thing, and the middle "tag" that says paris/france on it. You'll need the pliers becuase this metal is very heavy and hard. If you have problems opening the loops, don't force it with your nails and one plier. Use 2. It gives you much more force.


• Now, take the pendant, and attach a jumpring. A jump ring is like a thin ring that's really easy to open and close. Attach this the jump ring to your pendant, then to the middle of the chain necklace. Make sure that this is a link chain necklace. It'll be easier to work with.





• You see the tag? Choose where you want to put it on the necklace. I chose the middle of a side. So assuming you want to put it there, just open a link on the chain, and attach the tag on. You might have to break some links off to make both sides of the necklace on.


• Attach the clasp. Are you still with me? Here is where we should be right now.






• Faaantastic. Assuming that you are at this point, congrats. You can leave right now and have a rockin' necklace. This is where it becomes a bit hairy and time consuming. I'm going to describe it in words. First, make a chain of sequins. You should have 3 sizes. Small, medium and large. Just find a bag of assorted sequins and separate them. You make a chain like so: First, take the needle and thread it. Don't tie a knot because it's not going to be useful. Put the sequin on the thread and leave a little tail. Now, put the needle through the sequin hole so that you have a loop. Don't tighten the loop! Now, pull the needle through the loop twice. Tighten and you have a knot.


• NOW, to make the chain of sequins. Thread another sequin on. Now push the needle through the "up" side of the previous sequin. Push the sequin up through the "under" side of the newly threaded sequin. Repeat. I usually like to do 10 in a chain


• Still with me? You are a brave lady you know. This part isn't really directable. I can give you a starting point, but it's mostly feel, go and improvisation. The sequin that you last sewed on is now "1". Everything else is 2, 3, etc in order. Take the needle and push it through the hole of sequin number 5. You should have a flower shape. If you are using faceted sequins, you should push the needle through the "bowl" side. This means that when you lay the sequin down, it looks like a bowl. Now, just curve all the sequins into a circle and sew it together.
  
• To make flowers, you can layer sequin circles of different sizes together to give different depths and such. Very cool. Now, just sew them on your chain however you like. I actually put two flowers back to back. Here's the picture of that. It's blurry, I know. If you need to, you can gorilla glue the flowers for added strength.
  

Yay! Do you guys like it? Now for my question. It's been a weird dream of mine (not like a DREAM dream, but more of a daydream) to actually open an Etsy store, just to see if I can get some more cash to pay for grossly expensive textbooks. Why are they 100 dollars each, I don't know. Yay for ebay and amazon! Anyway, back to the point. Do you guys think that I have enough talent to open one? How much would this kind of necklace be worth? To ladies who have etsy stores or ebay stores, how has it been running it? Any stories?

I'm not asking for flattery. I'm asking you ladies because we are essentially strangers. I like getting opinions from people I don't know becuase sometimes, I feel like its more honest you know? Since you don't know them, you usually don't feel obligated to say something not to hurt someone's feeling. I want constructive criticism!

Toodles!

Tutorial: Chains and Flowers Necklace

Sorry for not posting earlier, but I was slightly busy and tired. What happened was that on FRIDAY, I passed my driving test! Yay! But I couldn't get my provisional liscence until Saturday, because I was missing a point of identification. You have to have 6 points, and I had my school ID, but not a report card to verify it. So, on Saturday, I spent 1 hour and 15 minutes waiting at the DMV, but it was worth it. I also hit up AC Moore on Saturday, and I was supposed to make this post also yesterday, but... I was tired and I wanted to watch TV.
Anyway, this tutorial is on a necklace that I saw in a Macy's ad in People en Espanol. I like that magazine even though I don't really read Spanish. I do study it in school, but the curriculum in my class is slightly horrifyingly bad. Hence, I just look at the pictures and kinda skim a bit. Picture below:

What You Need:

1. Chain (s)
2. Zipper
3. Pliers
4. Lace
5. Clasps
6. Buttons

Instructions:

• 
  
  Let's start with something easy first. First, take the 3 pieces of lace and braid them together. I took a large piece of lace, chopped it in three and then braided them. There should be two knots on either end. Since this is the back of the necklace, it should be around 6 inches. 

• 
  
  Making the flower is the hardest part and it might not be too easy to get. Sorry, but sewing is the best way to do this. You'll need a zipper, between 2- 3ft long, like the ones on trench coats. Since you'll need 2 parts, if you can just find an old coat, it would be best. But if you want to buy it, then you can probably find detachable ones to make coats. First, you want to make a loop with the zipper side facing out. Sew that sucker on, then with the end, make another loop approximately on the opposite side. Sew, then continue. I have done a demonstration with paper, with the black stuff simulating the zipper side. If you can't get this done, you can always use silk flowers and such! There's an easier way to do this flower, and I'll do a demo on that once I get some more zippers.
  
  

• 
  
  Once you are done, pop a button or two in the center.
• 
  
  Now, to the lace braids, you want to attach the clasps with some thread to the knots and then glue one end of the knot to the flower. This is what it should look like right now. I used Gorilla Glue which I LOVE. You just need to wait a bit for it to dry.

• Now, it's time to attach the chains. I used one link chain that is 100 inches. You can use different chains of varying lengths to achieve this look. Note that not all chains come in 100 inches. Some go from 12 inches to 72 inches, so do read the fine print. I used a pair of pliers to open the links. First you open one end of the link, attach it to the knot behind the flower, measured it as long as I wanted it to be, opened that end of the link and then attached it to the knot. Since the material is lace you should be able to push the link inside. With the pliers, you can close the link. If you have something like a twisted link chain where you can't open the links easily, I recommend getting Jewelry Wire Side Cutters Pliers or Craft & Jewelry Tool - 3 In 1 Pliers which is the one I got from AC Moore to cut the chain. Then you would need some Jump Rings to attach it onto the lace knot. You can buy the jump rings either opened or closed.
• Keep adding the chains of varying lengths and here is the finished product!

Wow that was a long post! Keep crafting ladies! Now I just have to find something to wear it with! Any suggestions? Also, I currently HATE HATEHATEHATHEATHAETHAEHTAEHTHAEHTAEHTAEEhate the new image uploading thing. I wish that they'd bring the old version back becuase this time, you can only do left, right and center, no custom. Now, I hate posting pictures becuase I can't put them next to each other. If I try to do that, the pictures jump all over the place, pictures won't go under each other. I read reviews about now everyone LOVESS the new post editor because it makes it easier to do pictures. That's bull shit. It's only good if you don't have many pictures to upload at once.

Toodles

Tutorial: Perfume Box

Ever since I got that new perfume for the holidays from a friend, I've realized that I don't have a good method of storing perfumes and such. I've got some samples that I keep in a small medicine cup, and some misc. perfumes that I put on my dresser. Except, my dresser is getting so crowded. So, I wanted to make a quick new box for myself. Super simple and easy to do really. I used a old shoebox (kept the cover because I liked it) and wall papered it. Then, I made a small hole to store samples by getting a foam piece, cutting slits in it, gluing 2 walls onto it and then gluing it to the box. Pictures below. Sorry that I'm not doing a super detailed thing, but it's really self explanatory and if you have questions, comment below.

I'm expecting a new haul and tutorials soon, so watch out!

Toodles<3

Flower Power! ~~ Flowery Headbands ~~

Hello everyone! It seems that yesterday, I found some time to make a new tutorial on these headbands:

Let's begin the tutorial! First of all, I won't be workin on the same headband at once, so heads up.

1. Take apart the flower that you want to use. It should be "flattish" so no tulips or those large fake lilies. Just pop off the green bottom and then separate the petals, leaves etcetc. you want to just keep the petals, and maybe the inside thing that represents the pistil/stamens. Everything else should either be thrown away or cut so that it lays super flat.

Flower Before:

Where to pop the flower apart:

Flower After:

2. Start gluing the flower on your headband. Just position it where you want and start by using a hot glue gun and gluing on the first petal, or the bottom leaves. Then, glue the next set of petals, next one etcetc. Until you get to the top. Make sure that you really glue the flower on very tight and flat.

3. Now, glue leaves onto your headband part. As you get towards the end of the headband to the ear portion, you might want to trim the leaves a bit to make it more comfortable for wear. You can overlap the leaves if you want.

And you are done! I plan on doing more things with fake flowers, becuase I just got a bunch from my sis. Make sure to comment below and give some more ideas! I love them!

Toodles<3

Necklace Dupe<3

When I was reading People magazine in Espanol, I came across this very pretty necklace by Stella& Dot. It retails for 44$. You can find this at Stelladot.com

Isn't it pretty? I loooooove it. But, it's also 44$. I can't afford that! So, I dug out some materials and made my own version for around 10$. Most materials I used for previous projects so actually, I spent a total of 0 dollars! It's not that difficult and I took maybe 30 minutes total.

Instructions:

1. You need needles, thread, jewelry plastic-ky thread, faux pearls, and a ribbon with a width approximately the size of the diameter of the pearls.

2. I didn't have a ribbon, so I cut some fabric. Now, cut out 2 pieces of ribbon and tie the ends in a bow. Then, tie 2 knots on each ribbon piece. They should be maybe... 4 or 5 inches away from the bow and should be symmetrical. I circled the bow and knots in the picture.

3. Now, sew your first pearl on as if you were sewing a button on. Don't worry about making it very tight. Now, start sewing your next pearl on. YOu should place it around 1 cm away from the first one. you want to leave enough fabric in between each pearl so that the fabric can wrap neatly around the pearls.

4. Now, when you get to around the halfway point of the necklace, PULL the thread and everything should bunch up like so. (see below picture). Now, tie a knot. And when you get to the end, you want to have maybe 2 inches of ribbon still left over. Do the other side.

5. Now, through each side, run a length of the jewelry thread though. It will reinforce the necklace. When you get to the end of one side, don't tie a knot. Keep running the needle and thread though the end of the second side and up. This will connect the two sides. Once, you're done, sew the two hanging ends together and chop them off.

Yay! Does anyone have any requests for me to do? If you do, you can always email me at chunkyxmunki (@) gmail (dot) com. Or, you can comment anytime!

Toodles<3

Tutorial: Airy Fairy bracelet

Wow, I am on this HUGE tutorial kick! Since it is the summer, I have more time to just relax and well, make jewelry and garden. Some new flowers have just bloomed and I want to take pictures of them.

What you need: A glue gun, beads, clear jewelry thread, 2 clasp like things (you can get similar looking ones at Pearl Paint), and a ribbon.

Instructions:

1. Cut out three strands of the clear thread. Make sure that it wraps around your wrist. Don't make it too tight because you want some leftover thread. I put each thread at 2x my wrist circumfrence.

2. Tie and the hot glue gun the three threads to a clasp.

3. Put one bead on the thread. Glue it in place. Take another bead and string that on, but leave a space between the beads. Now, glue that new bead on. The point of the clear thread and the spacing is to make the beads look like they are floating in air, and not connected to anything.

4. Keep doing this for all three strands. Then with the remaining thread stuff, tie it to the other clasp and hot glue it in place. The resulting project should look like this (below). Also, just snip off any excess thread.

5. Now, take the ribbon (approx 1 in thick) and cut it into 2 approx. 7 inch long pieces. Tie each end onto a clasp.

6. Tie the ribbons together so that you can slip your hand in and out of the bracelet. Don't worry about it being too large. Mine was too large, but I like it. It could probably fit if I layer it over a long sleeved shirt.

Toodles<3

Tutorial: Faux Pearl Necklace

Hello Ladies! I know that I haven't updated in a while, but I'm busy and I will probably update once, twice a week. Just the other day, I went to Pearl's (art store) and bought some faux beads and this vintage-like blue pendant. It is made by Blue Moon Bead. For the record, I LOVE BLUE MOON BEADS. I also like the Global brand because it's so ethnic like and I love it. But I just love Blue moon. They have such a good variety. You can also buy these beads at AC Moore. At AC Moore, they have a slightly larger selection of Blue Moon Beads.

First, you need to tie the pendant onto a jewelery wire thing. You can get a roll of plastic like thread at any craft store. I use that. So, take your desired length and fold it in half. I took maybe 2 ft or so because I wanted it to be a long necklace. Then, put the folded end through the hole. Then, take the ends of the string through the folded end. Pull tight.

Next, start adding beads. Add until you hit the place where you want the second string of pearls to start. When you hit there, stop, then take a second piece of string and tie one end to one side of the necklace. Start adding beads to that.

Now, once you have enough beads on the second strand part, tie it off onto the other side of the necklace. Don't worry about anything falling apart. We will deal with that later.

Keep stringing on beads until you are almost done. When you are about 7 inches or so away from the end of your necklace, tie a cream colored ribbon to each sides of the necklace. Both ends of the ribbon should be about the same length.

Now take the ends of the ribbon and tie them together. They should be sticking up. And when I say end of the ribbon, I mean the ends on ONE side of the necklace.

The ribbon still moves around on the plasticky thread so take that loose thread end( you can kinda see it in the above picture) and tie that off to itself. It's like if you wanted to tie something to a ribbon.

Now, tie the ends of the necklace together. Use a hot glue gun and glue the small bow together so that it lays flat and looks pretty.

Now, I labled all the places where I recommend that you put some hot glue to reinforce it so it doesn't fall apart.

And no we aren't done. Sorry, this is a HUGE post. But yeah. I have a lot of pictures. I'm going to condense this or else I am afraid that I won't be able to fit everything. So, I'm going to make some ruffles in the ribbon. First, make some ruffles with your fingers, hold them. Now, take a needle and run some thread through the ruffles. Then tie a knot away from the ribbon so that when you stretch it out it is the desired length.

And Voila! We are finished. Remember you can always eliminate any step you want if you don't want to use fake pearls, you can use any other beads.

Toodles<3