Pay It Forward Exchange

I stumbled on this Pay It Forward Exchange on Sabrina’s blog Ranunkel and this is how it works:

The concept is based on the movie Pay It Forward where acts of kindness are performed without expecting anything in return in the hope that the recipients of these acts of kindness pass on the favor.
So, I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and exactly when you’ll receive it, but I promise I will send it. In return YOU have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will now PAY IT FORWARD to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?!

Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!

By the way, these pretties are from the New York Whole Bead Spring Show. So many plans for this treasure and so little time.

No. 9 Copper Beauties

I’ve always been interested in jewelery made out of materials you find in a hardware store. For these earrings I used copper wire and washers. You could probably substitute o-rings for the washers to make the whole contraption a little lighter. As to the findings, I didn’t have any matching earring findings on hand and made these out of some copper wire bits. They are great for the pictures and it was fun to make them, but my ears are unhappy with this type of metal. I’ll just have to hunt around for the perfect kind of findings until I can wear these. For step-by-step instructions, check out my tutorial at craftydaisies.com.

No. 8 Insomnia

Lately I’ve been suffering from craft induced insomnia. I’ll toss and turn, everyone in the house will be fast asleep while I’m pondering grand crafting schemes. This pair was put together at 1:00 a.m. using variations on the ladder stitch. If I had continued with the seed bead/crystal pattern on top, I could have turned it into a ring. Happy St. Patrick’s Day

No. 7 More Blue Drops

Here is a variation on the blue glass drops. I like the little twirl at the end of a wrap. I noticed it on a bracelet I saw in Manhattan and all of the sudden I see it everywhere.

Isn’t it odd how until something is of interest to you, you don’t really notice it? For example, it wasn’t until I was pregnant that I suddenly noticed all these pregnant women and strollers. The angel has been on my bathroom wall for a while. I took it down to dust it for the “photo shoot” and discovered that it was a Fontanini angel from 1967, which of course didn’t mean anything to me until I googled it. My grandmother gave it to me a while ago and I’m sure she knows all about these things without the almighty Google engine.

No. 6 A Girl’s Best Friend

Well, they aren’t quite diamonds, but they will do for now. These earrings feature a red millefiori bead and some small Swarovskis all chained together with some basic loops. I think this lineup would also make a great necklace. Now I just have to see if I have enough crystals. . .

P.S. The Monopoly game was my Valentine’s present to myself. It comes in this girly jewelry box looking box. The tokens are chihuahuas and movie star glasses and instead of houses you build malls. Just a little something to nurture consumerism in eight-year-old girls early on.

No. 5 Industrial Spring

Lately, I’ve really liked the look of exposed stringing wire. I find it looks industrial and yet delicate. These earrings feature two stringing wires with a faceted bead strung on one of them together with a crimp bead to position it. The drop is strung over both wires and that whole contraption is held together with two larger crimp beads. Perfect for a sunny February day when the crocuses are just starting to peek through the dirt. Happy Valentine’s Day.

No. 4, or how to freak out your fish. . .

This pair uses carnelian (I think) beads in combination with sodalite ovals, Thai beads and bead caps and silver wire. The silver bead hides the twist in the wire that keeps the sodalite oval in place. The two ends of the wire run through the silver and carnelian beads and the bead cap to end in a wrapped loop.

Tag You’re It

Lisa from U-Handbag tagged me as amazing and weird (or was that amazingly weird? Let’s not go there.) So here are seven weird things about me:

1. I can wiggle my pinky toes independent from all my other toes.
2. I think my husband married me because I can whistle using my fingers and once hailed a cab for him when we were first dating.
3. I am compulsive about watching all episodes of a television series in one sitting. I just finished watching 34 episodes of Heroes on Netflix play-on-demand within a little over a week. Needless to say, absolutely nothing got done. (I have met the devil and this feature of Netflix is it!)
4. I worked at Starbuck’s when a small cup of coffee was still called ‘Small’ and you would get a free cup of coffee with every pound of coffee you bought.
5. My favorite task in law school was to edit footnotes.
6. I hide from my snail mail. I never open up the mailbox. That’s Joe’s job. I couldn’t finish the House of Sand and Fog because that described me to a tee. One day I too will end up in jail because I couldn’t get myself to open my mail.
7. I prefer a stick shift over an automatic. That’s generally not a problem except on family vacations when someone needs to borrow a car and no one knows how to drive ours.

So, that’s enough weirdness for today. And with this I tag Candace, Elizabeth, and Tamara.

No. 3 Origami Hearts

A pair of dainty little origami hearts. To make them use your favorite origami heart folding technique and make four hearts. I used 5 x 5 cm paper scraps. Then glue two hearts together, which leaves you with one pair. I varnished the hearts to make them more sturdy. I then pierced them (very dramatic) with a pin and eased a jump ring through the hole. From there on out it’s up to your creativity: turn them into earrings, make a bunch for a charm bracelet, or skip the piercing and glue a pin back to the heart.

No. 2

Clasp Earrings

The centerpiece of these earrings are the two halves of a clasp. Just wear the clasps or pretty them up further with something dangley.