Simple Link Bracelet Tutorial

Happy Saturday! I recently had a fun time making these little link bracelets. They are so simple and easy to make, so I thought I'd share. I hope you enjoy making some of these for yourself or they would make great gifts, too! One of the nice things about this design, the bracelets can be made with an adjustable closure, so they are able to fit a range of wrist sizes.

What you'll need:

1 yard or 36" of 1mm Waxed Cotton Cord - Fire Mountain Gems

1 TierraCast Rhodium Peace Link - Artbeads.com
1 Silver Greek Chip bead - Fire and Fibers

Tools:
Scissors

Note:
The measurements given in the instructions below fit my wrist on the first loop closure.
This bracelet works best if it's fitted perfectly to your wrist, so you may need to adjust the measurements just slightly to get a nice fit. The adjustable closure helps with that a bit though!

It's simple and I love it. It looks really cute layered with other bracelets, too.
Let me know if you make one....or five. Trust me you'll be addicted!
Feel free to link to this tutorial, if you are so inclined.

Zinnia

I love bright, vivid colors for Summer. Doesn't this cheery yellow just make you smile? :) Yellow isn't usually in my normal color palette to work with even though I like the color. I've seen it popping up everywhere in fashion the past few years, so I've been more attracted to it lately.

This happy, sunny color is in the inspirational artwork for the current Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenge. The perfect opportunity to work with some yellow in a jewelry piece! I love these lemony agate beads paired with this gorgeous Zinnia connector by Mellisa of Chinook Jewelry. The yellow beads really pop with the complimentary deep purple silk beading cord. I added a bit of purple dupioni silk from Ornamentea to accent the connector. I frayed the silk to add a little texture and interest; the perfect finishing touch!

Path of Life

I made a new bracelet design a few nights ago in the studio. I really like it! Here, I strung some blue crazy lace agate ovals, blue agate rounds, some Czech glass spacers that almost have the look of sterling silver, a copper "Path of Life" charm, and a few art beads from some of my favorite artisans: A copper raku ceramic pinch bead by Duane Collins of Elements Pottery and a "Soul Sister" lampwork bead by Kelley Wenzel of Kelley's Beads.

Instead of attaching a traditional clasp, I made an adjustable slide closure with a strand of soft suede lace and a large-hole copper bead. Can you see how I did that there? It's really simple to do. I ended my beading with two sterling rings that I fed the suede lace through. Then, I strung the large hole bead onto both ends of the suede. Lastly, I made sure I could slip my hand through the bracelet before finishing the suede off with a couple of knots.

Plum Passion Bracelet

I created this piece for the latest Artbeads.com design challenge. The theme this time around is 'Winter Enchantment'. Since Valentine's Day is a favorite Winter holiday that's right around the corner, I decided to go with a hearts theme! I love heart motifs, especially in jewelry! I picked out a few favorite Hill Tribe Silver heart charms from the charms section at Artbeads. I added in the Green Girl Studios heart button for the perfect closure.

I've been attracted to plums and purples lately and I do love this color palette for Winter. It does seem quite enchanting! I love the different finishes on these seed beads! I chose a variety of them in shades of purple and plum from the seed bead section at Artbeads and strung them up on my plum color waxed linen cord. I hope you've enjoyed my design! I love how this turned out. I'm looking forward to wearing this to a possible Valentine's Day Brunch with the hubby. LOVE! 

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Beading!


Disclaimer: Artbeads.com has sent me the above mentioned beads, pendants, materials and/or findings to create with as part of their design partner blog program. I have not been paid by Artbeads.com to participate. Thank you.

Marigold Sky Bracelet

Marigold Sky

Leather and Silk Bracelet by Erin Siegel 

I made this little number last night. It's my first design in a series for the new ArtBeads.Com Fall Design Challenge! I love these design challenges from artbeads. I get to try some ideas or jewelry supplies that I might not think of otherwise. For this challenge, the designers were encouraged to use 'Colors of Fall' in our jewelry creations. I chose to be inspired by the 'Fall 2010 Pantone Color Report' for my designs. This bracelet features 'Patone Colors' Lagoon, Golden Glow, Chocolate Truffle, and Oyster Gray. Interesting combination, but I think it works! 

The items I used from art beads are:

2mm Chocolate Brown Leather

100% Silk Beading Cord in Amber

Antique Silver Square Filigree Button

Thanks for looking! Happy Fall Beading! :)


Disclaimer: Artbeads.com has sent me the above mentioned beads, pendants, materials and/or findings to create with as part of their design partner blog program. I have not been paid by Artbeads.com to participate. Thank you.

LeAnn's Dragonfly

Bracelet created with a copper dragonfly charm from Leann of Summers Studio, wire-wrapped turquoise and a strand of suede lace. You can visit Leann's supply shop and blog. Happy Saturday! ;)

Summer Brights Bracelet

I picked up a new color of waxed linen cord at the bead shop, the other day. I saw this charcoal gray color and knew it would go perfect with Keith O'Connor's ceramic beads! I love his beads and ceramic works so well with this bracelet style. These colors just make me so happy!  I'm having too much fun making these waxed linen bracelets! Happy summer beading, everyone! :)

Beaded Leather Cuff

I love, love, love the look of leather cuffs! They are so popular in fashion jewelry right now. I wanted to try my hand at making my own version. I ended up with this little number right here! It's so soft and comfy to wear! I know little about leather working, it's something I'd be very interested in learning sometime. I just fudged around a little to make this one. I did have a pretty clear plan of how I was going to go about making it and just followed that all the way through.

I picked up some nice genuine leather scraps I found at the craft store and some heavy-duty closure snaps from the fabric store. I wanted a leather punch to make holes in the leather for the beads, but the ones I saw were way to large for what I needed for this project. I ended up using a tiny, tiny paper punch that I had already. This hole punch makes about a 1mm hole. It worked OK, not great, but doable.

The first thing I did to make the cuff was I made myself a template out of some card stock. I measured everything out VERY carefully, including extra space at the ends for the snap closure and measuring and marking out all of the holes along the cuff for the beading. This cuff is 1" wide and 71/2'' long, but fits like a 7" because of the snap overlap. Once I had my template measured out perfect, I cut it out and punched out the hole marks on the template. Then, I traced the template onto the wrong side of the leather and marked all of the holes with a pen. I cut the leather out with just a nice pair of fabric shears, cuts like a dream! Then, I just punched out the hole marks with that little paper punch, cleaned up the holes a little with a small pair of sewing scissors and added on the heavy-duty fabric snap, following the directions it came with. Now, I had my leather cuff base! Lastly, I threaded some waxed linen cord through the holes and tied on some Sodalite roundels and Thai silver accent beads with square knots and frayed the ends of the linen.