Cute Minimalist Gift Wrapping!

I love wrapping gifts but I always make a LOT of jewelry and ornaments each year so I don't want to spend a whole year just wrapping them.  This time, I modified last years wrapping to be even better and still remain quick and easy...and pretty!  (Sorry for the photo quality, there was NO sun out yesterday.)

The first thing you'll need are easy-to-assemble kraft boxes.  I purchased mine here but there are a lot of companies that sell them.

Assemble and stack all those boxes and then grab some festive scrapbook paper.  You'll need these self-sealing bags.  You can find them on Etsy, Ebay and several of the large supply companies.  Cut your scrapbook paper so that it is slightly smaller than the self-sealing bag.

 If you are making them for necklaces, cut two slits near the top.  For earrings, use a hole punch.

Next, grab your paper punches and punch out tags and a large decorative piece that will fit on the top of your box.  These punches aren't cheap, so use a coupon at the store if you need a new one!

Stuff some shredded raffia (available at your local craft store) into the box and lay your necklace on top.  Then close the box.

Use double-sided tape to attach the scrapbook cut-out to the top of the box.  (This makes it easy to remove so that the box can be re-used by the recipient in the future.)  Take some decorative twine or colorful raffia and wrap it around the box.  Don't forget to slide your tag on before making a bow!  Wasn't that easy?!?

Have fun wrapping gifts and Merry Christmas!

Diana P.
Suburban Girl Studio LLC

End Of Year AJE Earring Challenge

Welcome to the last AJE Earring Challenge Reveal.  We are so happy that you have chosen to play along with us.  I think there must be many of you who, like me, did not have new earrings every single week in 2013, but who made an effort to keep up with the challenge as best you could.  Congratulations to you!

Some of my earrings displayed in a wooden cigar box that team member, Francesca Watson gave me.

I sold a lot of earrings during my last (and only) Christmas show, so I was glad I'd made so many over the course of this past year. I hope that many of the earrings you made have found new homes too.

Two of my earring displays at a recent Christmas show.

Here are a few of the earrings that caught my eye, from the past 2 weeks.

These earring were made by Claire Fabian.  I love the ancient, rustic look she achieved on her handmade polymer components!

This next pair of earrings, by Alice Peterson features beaded beads by AJE team member Kristen Stevens and lampwork by Dancing Frog Jewelry.  The lampwork and beaded beads look spectacular together.

And finally, I want to highlight this pretty pair of earrings by Mon Urkhart. The beautiful bead-woven Forget-Me-Nots were made by Nancy Dale. I was not familiar with Nancy's work until I wrote today's blog post.  Her bead weaving is gasp-worthy!  You should visit her Etsy shop and blog.

Did some of you manage to get all 52 pairs of earrings made?  Please let us know in the comments below. Curious minds want to know!  And congratulations to all of us who took on such a big challenge.

This will be my last post for 2013.  I want to thank all our readers and my teammates for the many ways you have enriched my life this past year.  I wish you the happiest of holidays.

If you have earrings to share this week, be sure to link up for this last reveal.  Enjoy!

Linda
Linda Landig Jewelry – ArtFire 
Linda Landig Jewelry – Etsy

 

Beadyness from 2013 and Plans for 2014

Hello again! I hope you all are enjoying these last few crazy days before Christmas relaxing with a nice big cup of something warm and your favorite beads… Ha! I know that's just what I'm doing! ;-) Oh well, we can try…

In discussion for our last blog posts for 2013, our fabulous leader Jen Cameron suggested that we each share a new or favorite technique we learned this year and something we each hope to learn in 2014. So here's mine…

I can't say I learned any new techniques per se — mostly I just experimented with some ideas. As you probably already know, I really enjoying painting and have a paintbrush AND beads in hand whenever possible. (And of course paint all over my fingers and whatever surface I happen to be near!)

In my playing, I made variations of these beads — using scraps from past projects and adding a crackle effect with paint — it's a simple technique, but with very nice results. You can see my mini tutorial here.

Then I came up with this idea, doing more painting on the raw polymer surface…

Textured and painted in many, many thin layers and finally crackled to make these colorful "Tattered Butterfly Wing" beads. I'm really loving this effect!

And then one rainy day when my plans to go hiking were soaked, I made these…

Rainy Day Pendants made with tiny hand drawn umbrellas on shrink plastic and embedded in polymer… polymer that was painted, of course. They sure made my rainy day less dreary! These were inspired by Rebecca Watkins of Artybecca. You can see some of her designs here.

And, finally a peek at a technique I have in my sights on for 2014…

Bead crochet! My focus for the past few years has been my own bead making and my poor bead stash of gemstones, glass lovelies and art beads has dwindled down to a very embarrassing teeny tiny amount.

More and more I've been thinking about expanding my jewelry making and recently when browsing Etsy I stumbled across the above gorgeousness in someones favorites and knew I would have to learn how! It wasn't the first time I'd seen bead crochet, but these striking designs really caught my eye and inspired me. These are by Ann Teplova of Chudibeads on Etsy where she shares her beautiful creations and her tutorials.

Her patterns are amazing!

Ann's work got me looking for more examples and of course I couldn't forget about AJE teammate, the talented Kristen Stevens — she is always whipping up some beautifully detailed creation. These are a couple of my favorites…

And, I'm sure you already know about Kristen's beaded beads — gorgeous too! They were the CoM for November and I made these new earrings with the pair she gave me…

Finally, a few more bead crochet designs from Pinterest…

1.Autumn Lariat Necklace 2.Crazy Bead Crochet Rope Bracelet 3.Autumn Spectrum Necklace 4.Bead Crochet Lariat Necklace


So, hopefully for me, this new year brings more beads to replenish my stash and time for jewelry making. What new techniques have you learned this year? Do you have anything planned for 2014 yet? Do share!


Wishing you each a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with lots of time to enjoy family and beads!

Tutorial Tour

For this post I decided to ask my AJE teammates to share their favorite tutorials with me.

Jenny Davies Reazor likes Queen Wanna Bead by Bev Herman.

I'm tickled she likes this because Bev's original piece uses one of my Ammonite Components.

Queen Wanna Bead

Here's Jenny's finished piece she made using Bev's Tutorial.

Karen Totten likes Color Drenched Metal Tutorial by Shannon German of MissFickleMedia.

Color Drenched Metal

I enjoyed the Rustic Beads Tutorial from Ginger Davis Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree.


Rustic Beads & Components

Melissa Allford Meman loves this Gemini Earrings tutorial from Iza Malczyk

Gemini Earrings

Lesley Watt chose this Agean Cuff Bracelet Tutorial by HodgePodegerie.

Agean Cuff

Linda Landig likes this tutorial for Fiesta Chandalier Earrings by Erin Siegel

Fiesta Chandelier Earrings

If you have favorite tutorials you'd like to share please feel free to leave links and info in the comments,

we'd love to know your favorites as well!

As we wind down the year
I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season full of love, laughter and joy
and the most amazing New Year!!!

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Artfire