Layered Evil Eye Necklace DIY TUTORIAL

Evil eye jewelry as become a very popular trend in the last year. The ancient symbol has been popping up in jewelry lines all around the world and many celebrities have been spotted wearing the protective talisman. According to ancient beliefs, the evil eye symbol provides protection against negative energy from others, whether it be intentional or unintentional. The symbol has been found in many cultures, starting in Greece and Rome thousands of years ago. An evil eye amulet or talisman is believed to ward off negative vibes from the envious eyes of others, protecting the wearer's physical and emotional well being. I can see why so many have been latching on to the idea. Who couldn't get behind that concept?

Layered Evil Eye Necklace
by Erin Siegel designed for OandN Craft Supplies

The ancient symbol of protection is paired with authentic Greek ceramic beads, findings and leather. This modern, multiple strand necklace gives you a stylish layered look in one easy piece.

Materials:
26 matte turquoise Greek ceramic 5mm rounds
1 gold plated enamel evil eye charm/pendant
1 18K gold plated curved tube bead
1 set of 18K gold plated cord ends
1 18K gold plated lobster clasp
1 gold plated 6mm jump ring
2 gold plated 4mm jump rings
50" of dark brown 1.5mm Greek leather cord

Tools:
Pair of chain nose pliers
Scissors
Ruler
E 6000 adhesive

Instructions:
1: Cut the leather cord into two 16" pieces and one 18" piece. Set aside. Attach one 4mm jump ring to the lobster clasp. Attach the other 4mm jump ring to the previous jump ring. Set aside. Attach the 6mm jump ring to the evil eye pendant. Set aside.

2: Use both 16" leather cords to string the tube bead to the center of the cords as shown. Set aside. Use the 18" leather cord to string 13 turquoise rounds, the jump ring on the pendant and 13 turquoise rounds to the center of the cord as shown. Set side.

3: Fill one cord end half-full of glue. Insert one end of all three cords into the cord end. Let dry. Repeat entire step for the other side of the necklace. Attach the the lobster clasp to the loop of one cord end as shown.

Resources:
Greek ceramic rounds, evil eye pendant, tube bead, cord ends and clasp: O and N Craft Supplies. Greek leather cord: Ornamentea.com

I love Greek beads and leather. I've been using them in my designs for years. So, when Tina from O and N Craft Supplies contacted me about creating a project and tutorial for them, I said yes right away. Located in Athens, Greece, O&N Craft Supplies carries a nice selection of Greek ceramic beads, metal findings, enamel charms and pendants as well as a tantalizing selection of cords and stringing materials. Ooo...Yummy. I receive my order quickly despite the supplies were traveling all the way to the US from Greece. I knew I would love the Greek ceramic beads I ordered. What surprised me was how much I fell in love with the gold plated findings and the enamel pendant.

The enamel evil eye pendant is gorgeous. It's beautifully made, excellent quality. I love the weight of it. I also love the gold plated tube bead, cord ends and lobster clasp. The findings are sturdy. I like the heftiness of them. The metal is thick, not thin or flimsy at all. The 18K gold plating seems to be done well, too. Overall, I'm extremely happy with the materials I received from O&N Craft Supplies. I will most certainly be back to sample some of their other items, especially the luscious cording. I also love that I can get my favorite Greek beads straight from Greece!

Visit O&N:
www.oandn.etsy.com
www.oandncraftsupplies.com

Oh how I would love to travel to Greece someday. This inspiration board from a new blog I recently discovered, Smart n Snazzy, brings me there just a little...

Inspired by Greece by smartnsnazzy featuring mediterranean home decor

Happy creating!   

Boston Bead Company

I'm so lucky to have a bead shop in the town I live in! I think I must have made that an unconscious priority when considering where we would live. The two consecutive towns I've lived in for the past 10 years have both had bead shops in them and I've been intimately involved with both in one way or other. I mean, what jewelry designer fortunate enough, wouldn't want a relationship with their local bead shop? I know that's something I've always been passionate about.

I recently made a connection with the owner of Boston Bead Company, Carson Eddy. She has two gorgeous store locations in Massachusetts. One in Cambridge and one in Salem, where I live. Carson's shop is beautiful and well stocked with findings, components and beads. She holds exciting events, like bead trunk shows and also features local bead artisans, like my friend Keith O'Connor. Her staff is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Oh, and the classes rock! I've taken several classes here. I regularly fall in love with the projects they select to offer.

Recently, Carson graciously invited me to celebrate the local Salem Arts Festival with them by hosting a book signing for my book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry and offering to have me teach a class as well! I'm so honored and grateful that she extended this invitation. I didn't waste any time saying "Yes!". Since our initial email contact, I've enjoyed several meetings with Carson and her staff while we were planning the book signing event and the class. Carson is so friendly, inviting and easy to talk to, as is her team of employees. It was a pure joy to work with them. I couldn't be happier with this collaborative event and every effort that was made to make it a success!

Although, I wished more local people would have come out to our events, I loved meeting and chatting up the few folks that did come. I was content to just put myself out there and participate in my town's art scene. I'm also happy I had more time to visit with Carson and her amazing team. We had a fun time chatting about family, business, books, beads and the beading community and craft industry. It's nice to have someone local that "gets it" to talk to. I've had some interesting enlightenment during our conversations about such things as well as some confirmation on some of my own thoughts.  I feel fortunate that I have a great business owner like Carson who cares deeply about her customers, her community and local artists. I'm thrilled to pieces to now have my book sold in both of her shops. I'm proud to have her business establishment in my community and recommend it to you.   If you are ever in the New England area, Boston Bead Company is a can't-miss-it, must-visit and a must-shop bead shop!

Guitar and Bass Bangle DIY TUTORIAL

 Some things belong together: guitar and bass, ripped jeans and spikes, and silver and gold. This tasseled bangle looks at home on your wrist no matter where you are headed. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create a tassel using leather lacing and metal caps. You'll also work with easy-peasy memory wire.

Purchase a kit to make this project from Ornamentea.com. Kit includes all materials and step-by-step instructions to make the bracelet. Purchase the kit here!

Ingredients:

1 strand of chrome or silver coated size 8 charlotte beads

1 strand of gold coated size 8 charlotte beads

2 antique silver 8mm bell cap w/ loop

1 pack of bracelet memory wire

36” of black 1/8” deerskin leather lace

12” of black waxed linen cord

E6000 adhesive

Tools:

Round nose pliers

Chain nose pliers

Memory wire shears (note: memory wire must be cut with special shears, it will damage regular wire cutters.)

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions:

1: Cut the leather lace into eight 2” pieces. Using a 6” piece of black waxed linen cord (shown in orange for demonstrative purposes only), bind the leather strands together by tightly wrapping around the ends. Tie the binding cord off with a square knot, pull tight and trim close to the knot as shown.

2: Fill 1 end cap half-full of glue and insert the bound leather end. Let dry. Trim the leather lace about 1” from the end cap as shown. Set aside.

3: Repeat steps 1-2 to complete the second leather tassel.

4: Cut about 6 loops of memory wire with memory wire shears. Form a simple loop at one end of the memory wire as shown.

5: Use the memory wire to string all of the chrome and gold charlotte beads as shown and form a simple loop. Attach the tassels to the simple loops and you're done.

Own this idea:

String pearls or larger glass beads on the memory wire and use chain to create tassels instead of leather.

Make a choker using necklace-sized memory wire.

Wanna see more projects like this one? Check out my new e-book, Punk Chic Jewelry: 16 DIY Jewelry Projects to Add an Urban Edge to Your Wardrobe available on Amazon.com now.

 

And to make it super easy and convenient for you to make the projects in this book, Ornamentea.com has created limited edition kits for ALL the jewelry appearing in Punk Chic Jewelry! The kits contain all the materials you need, including the step-by-step instructions. How awesome is that? Each jewelry project is available for purchase separately. You can buy a kit for just one or two of the projects you are interested in or you can get all 17 kits! 

 Click here to shop all the jewelry kits! Hurry, these are limited edition kits. Once these are gone, they may not be available again.
 
Need some inspiration for Punk Chic Style? Follow our board on Pinterest!



 Happy Creating!

Book Signing Tomorrow Night!

I'm participating in my local Salem Arts Festival starting tomorrow night! I'll be doing a book signing with Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry at Boston Bead Company in Salem, Ma. on Friday, June 6th, 2014 from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please come by and say hi and enjoy some spicy refreshments!

Then, on Sunday, June 8th 2014 from 10:30 am - 1:00 pm at Boston Bead Company, I'll be offering my "Spice Trader" Triple Row Macrame Bracelet class. Learn a fun macrame knotting technique to make this colorful, spicy bracelet!
Register for class online at www.bostonbeadcompany.com

Come on out and celebrate the arts. Hope to see you there!

Introducing Punk Chic Jewelry

With lots of help from Ornamentea, I've authored my first e-book! I'm extremely excited to present to you, Punk Chic Jewelry: 16 DIY Jewelry Projects to Add an Urban Edge to Your Wardrobe. The book is available on Amazon.com as a kindle edition e-book. Anybody can read kindle books, even without a kindle device. Simply download the FREE kindle reading app for your PC, Mac, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Just look for the Kindle Reading App on the right sidebar of the Amazon book page. I don't have a kindle and I downloaded the app, myself. It was quick and easy! 

These are 3 projects from the book. I'm just giddy to tell you that Ornamentea has created Limited Edition Punk Chic Kits for ALL the jewelry projects in the book! Whooo Hooo! How cool is that? Click here to see all the projects and all the kits!

I had an absolute blast coming up with jewelry projects for this book. It was such a thrill to explore the design style of “Punk Chic” and how I wanted to interpenetrate it. Punk is an exciting, hard-edged genre of fashion that I felt drawn to create around. That’s interesting because I would consider punk to be a little outside my comfort zone. I think that’s exactly why I find it so intriguing! The projects you’ll find here are the result of a personal journey. I pushed myself just a little. I challenged myself to design something against the norm and outside my usual aesthetic, while still being relevant and fashion-forward.

Modern punk fashion or “Punk Couture” is a mix of anarchy and glamour, a more grown-up version of old-school punk. I created jewelry that is street cool yet sophisticated , edgy yet elegant, tough yet pretty and sassy yet playful. I adore every piece. In fact, I can’t wait to order more supplies from Ornamentea.com, recreate each piece for myself and add them to my own collection of jewelry to wear all the time. With a palette of shimmering gold and silver tones, mixed metals, black, white and neutrals, the jewelry pieces in this book are versatile. They’ll go with anything in my wardrobe and they mix and match well with each other. Most importantly though, these projects are easy and fun to create and the finished jewelry makes me feel hip, happening and oh-so-chic when I wear it!

I’d like to thank Cynthia Deis, Queen Bee of Ornamentea for believing in me and my ideas. Because of her, I’m able to design whatever I want from Ornamentea’s vast inventory of supplies and materials. Cynthia makes it easy for me to create fun, fashionable DIY jewelry projects. I love designing for her. I’m proud to consider myself a member of the big O family. I look forward to our journey ahead and continuing this wonderful partnership. Click here to read Cynthia's blog post about our journey to creating this book! I’d also like to thank Caitlin Palmieri. My tutorials for Ornamentea and this book would not be possible without her. She works graphic magic! Her eye for style and design are right on point.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank you, the reader of this book. Without you, none of us would be here doing this. Thank you for your interest in this work and for your support. I appreciate you more than you know. I hope you enjoy the projects in this book as much as I did creating them for you (and me).

 Need some inspiration for Punk Chic Style? Follow our board on Pinterest!

Stacked Bracelets and Jewelry Stringing Summer 2014

Ever since my friend, Tracy Statler issued her Wrapped, Stacked and Layered Bracelet challenge back in 2012, I've been kinda obsessed with the arm party. I know I'm not alone! The popular trend is still going strong with no signs of fading out anytime soon. One reason for that I think is no matter what your fashion sensibilities are, there's a bash of bracelets to match it. It's become another way to express ourselves and show our style even when wearing a simple outfit.

Recently, I was inspired to share some of my bracelet collections on Instgram and Facebook. Others seemed to enjoy them, so I thought I'd share them with you here.

  I hope I can inspire you to put together some of your own bracelet stacks.

And speaking of making your own bracelet stack, I'm proud to have my "Leather Couture" bracelet project published in the Summer 2014 issue of Jewelry Stringing magazine! Find a full materials list and instructions to DIY my edgy, but glam bracelets. The new issue features a whole section of "Stylish Stackables" you can make yourself. Pick up a digital copy to start creating your own arm party today, as well as plenty of other cool jewelry projects, too.

 Leather Couture

Bracelet stack set in the "Stylish Stackables" section

Jewelry Stringing Magazine Summer 2014

 All supplies and materials to make these bracelets from Ornamentea.com!

 If you are looking for more inspiration...

 Follow my Bracelet Stacks Board on Pinterest!

Book Signing and "Spice Trader" Macrame Bracelet Class

Hello all! I'm participating in my local Salem Arts Festival this year. The festivities have a "Fire and Spice" theme. I'll be doing a book signing for my jewelry-making book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon, and Cords at Boston Bead Company in Salem, Ma. on Friday, June 6th, 2014 from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please come by and say hi and enjoy some spicy refreshments while we chat. I'd love to meet you!

 Then, on Sunday, June 8th 2014 from 10:30 am - 1:00 pm at Boston Bead Company in Salem, I'll be offering my "Spice Trader" Triple Row Macrame Bracelet class.
 Description: Learn to make a unique 3-row, square knot macrame bracelet with Irish waxed linen cord, colorful glass rounds and metal beads. Finish off your bracelet in spicy style with a loop/button closure and a beaded tassel!

Register for class online at: www.bostonbeadcompany.com.

If you are local or in the Boston area, please join me for these events. Hope to see you there!

Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry now has a FaceBook page. Click here to Like us on FaceBook!