Mulberry Wood sneeky peeks

Not long to go until the launch of this fabulous new range form Crafters Companion.

Here are a few more ideas of how to use the Cd for making jewellery. I printed off the epiphany pages and selected the designs I wanted and then using the round tool for the earrings and the square for the necklace pendant I created the main focus of the piece.

For the necklace I used the square epiphany tool and added a jump ring and attached it to some silver chain, available from the Beaders companion website.I then attached some silver beading wire and added some red seed beads and then some silver and red gizmo coils and finished with some oval silver fake pearls and attached a clasp at the back.The earrings were made with and eye pin which I attached the round epiphany image to and then some more red seed beads and silver pearls.

To finish I created a matching gift box using one of the decoupage images from the CD. A great christmas gift complete with its gift box

The completed set

The next project was very easy and just involved selecting my images from the epiphany section on the CD and putting them into the matching domes and metal frames. These created little charms which I then attached to a length of silver chain using jump rings. I then made a small gift box to make it into a perfect gift. The box was made from centura pearl card and I cut out the top and bottom with my trusty cuttlebug and spellbinder dies of my chosen shape and size. I then created the box using the ultimate and glued it all together. A topper was then added onto some coordinations  card and some ribbon wrapped around the box to finish. You could always make this harm bracelet using photos of your loved ones for that extra special gift.

Box and charm bracelet using the epiphany tool.

 The last one for today is a quick make and is a key ring with a square epiphany charm. The charm is just attached with a small jump ring.Again this could be the photo or picture of someone special. I made the coordinating box as above but in a smaller size.

Key ring and box

Thanks for stopping by and for all your lovely comments and i look forward to seeing all your creations once you get this great CD home. Lots of love Cathyx

Mulberry Wood Another Sneeky Peek

Here is another sneeky peek at the wonderful Mulberry Wood CD that will be launched on Friday.

This time I made a card using one of the card companions from the CD and some backing papers and Coordination's card stock. To fulfill my brief as a link between Beaders Companion and Crafters Companion I added a little pocket on the right hand side and made a beaded bookmark. The metal bookmarks are available on the Beaders Companion website. To this I added a jump ring and attached some silver beading wire using a crimp bead. I then added the beads of my choice , in this case it was some red seed beads and some silver oval imitation pearls. I added another jump ring at the bottom using the same method as above and then added a round Epiphany image to match the card topper.I then popped it into the little pocket I had created. So here you have it a card with an added gift.

Card with matching bookmark

If you are new to jewellery making check out the Beaders companion website and You Tube for some great tips and techniques from Sarah Millsop.

Mulberry Wood

Welcome to the world of Mulberry Wood. As you know I am a new member to the Design Team of Crafters Companion and Beaders Companion but my job is different to the other design team members in such that I have to create jewellery from designs on the CDs.

You are going to love this new Cd and stamps that will be launched on Friday. The papers, toppers, epiphany tool shapes and the card companions are all so cute and easy to use.

I created a jewellery set with coordinating gift box. I printed off one of the backing papers and cut out the desired shapes and then rolled the paper beads which were then varnished and left to dry overnight. To make the necklace I had a memory wire necklace from the Beaders companion website, which are so easy to use if you are new to jewellery making. To create the pendant I made a coil using my Gizmo and silver wire and then opened up the coil to insert the paper bead. It was then all put back together so that the paper bead was now wrapped in the wire. I used silver bead caps top and bottom of the gizmo coil to give a neater finish. I threaded some more wire through the bead and created a loop at the top to attach to the memory wire and a coil at the bottom to stop it falling off. To find how to do these techniques visit the Beaders Companion website for full instructions from Sarah.

Once the pendant was put onto the memory wire it was just a case of threading on beads of your choice. I used some silver oval beads, more paper beads enclosed in wire gizmo coils and even a gizmo coil with silver seed beads added. Once I was happy with the design I just had to make a coil in each end of the memory wire. Due to the weight of this piece I have added a clasp at the end just to give it extra security. 

The bracelet was made in the same way using memory wire again and just threading on the beads. The coordinating earrings are made the same way as the pendant. And there you have it a full set of paper bead jewellery.

I made the box using centura pearl card and some of the papers and toppers from the CD and my trusty ultimate pro. To finish I added another wire wrapped bead to the gift tag.

The complete set of paper jewellery

The last Post

Hi all,

This is my last post of the day with samples from the A May Zing Nigel Mays christmas CDs that will be launched on ideal world tonight at 9pm.

The 1st piece is a floating necklace made using some of the lovely blue coordinating backing papers from CD1 printed onto light weight card. The beads were rolled and then coated in Hard Glaze varnish and left to dry overnight. These beads were made on a metal needle as they needed to be quiet thin so that they were not moving around on the necklace.

Firstly I created the pendant using an headpin and a small gold bead and then the paper bead. I then created the loop and added an eyepin and attached to the headpin with the bead already on. I then formed a loop at the top of the eye pin to attached to the silver beading wire. To hold the pendant in place I added 2 silver beads and then 2 crimp beads which were squashed to hold everything in place and stop it from moving around. I then decided where I would like to place my beads and built up the pattern. This involved adding a crimp bead and once in desired location squashing it, adding a silver bead, then the paper bead and another silver bead and then another crimp bead which is squashed to hold it all in place. This is continued all the way up the necklace until I reached the desired length. I then added 1 crimp bead, 3 silver beads, another crimp bead and then a jump ring. I passed the beading wire through the end crimp bead and through the jump ring and then back down the crimp bead and remaining 3 silver beads and the other crimp bead. Once I was happy with the positioning the crimp beads were squashed and the fastener applied.

The earrings were very simple to make using just a small gold bead and a head pin. I put the gold bead on 1st to stop the headpin from going straight through the paper bead and then added the paper bead and created a loop at the top to attach to the earring finding. One floating necklace and matching earrings;

Floating necklace with matching earrings

The final piece today is very masculine and organic as it is made of wooden beads from my stash and the paper beads and I have used cotton coated cord to make up the piece. The inspiration came from the papers I had chosen from  the CDs as it looked like wood grain.

Firstly I created the pendant as in the blue and green piece I had shown yesterday using the cotton cord instead of beading wire. I made the beads on the wooden skewer as I needed the hole to be big enough for the thread to go through. They were coated in varnish and left to dry overnight.

Once the pendant was made I created knots on either side of the last wooden bead to stop them moving. I then tied another knot about 2 inches up on both sides and added a wooden bead, a paper bead and another wooden bead and then tied another knot. This was continued until I reached the desired length of the necklace. To finish I used the square knot technique used in the Shamballa style bracelets. There is a download on the Beaders Companion website that shows you how to tie a square knot and once you get the hang of them its easy. Once I had created the 'fastener' I added a wooden bead to the ends of the 2 threads and tied a knot in it. And here is the finished piece;

Paper and wood bead necklace

I have had a great time and a bit of a challenge making this jewellery out of paper but it shows how paper crafting can be taken a step further and combined with jewellery making. I look forward to my next challenge. Cathy xxx

Launch Day

Well tonight is the launch of the wonderful christmas CDs by the amazing Nigel May. The fun starts at 9pm with Nigel and leanne Chivers and then at 11pm with Sara Davies. If any stock is left there are shows planned for tomorrow
Please check ideal World/ Create and Craft website for full listings. You are going to LOVE these CDs. The papers, toppers, sentiments......well all of it is fantastic and will give you hours of crafting fun.

Remember that the CDs can be used not only for paper crafting but for jewellery making as well. There is a section on the CDs for paper beads and all you have to do is cut them out but for demonstration purposes and as I wanted bigger beads all of the projects that I have shown, they have been made from some of the backing papers and coordinating papers. I have printed them onto a lightweight card so that they are firm but not difficult to roll. Once they have been coated in some Hard glaze varnish and left overnight to dry they are ready to play with.

The necklace and bracelet set that I have made is slightly more complicated than the earlier projects but is easy enough to do. If you go to the Beaders Companion website and see the wonderful instructional demos Sarah has done there is also the you Tube videos to help.

I arranged my selection of beads on my bead mat and then using some gold beading wire I firstly threaded on the 1 paper bead on the pendant and then 3 gold beads either side. I then added another paper bead but put both ends of the wire through the bead in opposite directions and pulled tight. This was repeated until all 3 beads were in place. I then added 3 beads to either end of the wire and started making the sides in my chosen pattern using the paper beads and gold and silver beads all available from the Beaders Companion website. Once I had the desired length I added a crimp bead and then put the thread through a jump ring and back through the crimp bead. This is where it gets a bit fiddly if you are new to jewellery making. You then thread the ends of the wire through the top few beads to give added strength and once all the wire is covered with beads and you are happy with the positioning you just squash the crimp bead and then attach your fastener. This is the same for both sides and with practice it gets easier. Just trim off any excess wire or thread it through the beads.

The bracelet was done in a similar manner using the gold thread. I mounted 9 beads onto this piece of thread and used the same method as the pendant. Once the 9 beads were in place I used some stretch elastic and threaded through one of the end beads I then added some gold and silver beads and a paper bead and then threaded the ends through the end bead at the other end and tied off. To secure the knot I applied some clear nail varnish and once dry I trimmed the ends. One stretch bracelet. I only had to use very thin stretch elastic as the beads are so light. That is one of the advantages of paper beads,they are so light and dont feel as if you are wearing anything so great for everyone with bad necks who cant tolerate heavy necklaces.

Paper bead necklace and stretch elastic bracelet

I hope that you like this project and will give jewellery making a go as it is a wonderful hobby and a great way to make gifts to go with all the lovely cards that you can make from this A May Zing CD.

Cathy xxxxx

Shamballa style bracelet

Hi this is the second post from me for today. This is another piece of jewellery that I have made using the great Nigel May,s A M Zing Christmas CD.

I printed out 1 page from the coordinating backing paper section on the CD. It is printed on lightweight card as I mentioned before it cant be to thick or you cant roll the beads. I cut out the triangle shaped strips and then rolled them on a wooden skewer as I wanted the middle to be slightly larger so that I could pass the thread through it.

Then following the instructions for the Shamballa bracelets from the Beaders Companion website I modified it slightly and put in the paper beads instead of glass or clay. The paper has had 2 coats of varnish for extra strength and I just popped some silver beads on the ends to add some bling. You could go really sparkly and add glitter or spray and sparkle, available from the Crafters Companion website. You can really let you imagination run wild. 

I hope you like it and I will see you soon with some more creations. Lots of love Cathy xxx

Shamballa style bracelet.

2nd project for Design team.

Well My 1st project went down really well and I am glad that the feedback has been so positive. Now for number 2;

I printed 2 pages of the coordinating backing papers in Crafters Companion purple from the fantastic Nigel May's A May Zing christmas CD. I printed them just onto a light card about 120gsm as any thicker and they get difficult to roll. I cut lengths of the card lengthways in triangular shapes, the same as the beads on the CD but much bigger. These were then rolled and its amazing how different each one comes out even though they have been cut the same way but this all adds to the uniqueness of the piece. These were then coated in the hard glaze varnish and left to dry overnight.

Once dry I then laid the design out and had a play about until I was happy with the way it looked. To make the pendants I used 1 head pin with a small gold bead at the top and I then formed the loop. I opened the bottom of an eye pin and attached this to the loop on the headpin and then closed once connected. Onto the eye pin I added another gold bead, my paper bead and other gold bead and then made the loop as before. I made the 2 other droplets in the same way but using slightly different beads.

Second Project

Once happy with the pendants I got a small section of gold chain from a Create kit findings pack, available on the Beaders companion website. I attached the pendants using the small jump rings also in the pack. To finish the necklace I used some gold beading wire from one of the other create findings kits and using a crimp bead I attached it to the length of chain. I did this on both sides.I then used a selection of the paper beads and the gold beads to complete the necklace. I used a clasp from the same kit as the chain.

The bracelet was made with a small section of the same gold chain and I added  the little beads to the chain. I made the 'charms' using small paper beads mounted onto a headpin with a gold bead at the base, formed the loop at the top and attached to the chain using jump rings from the findings pack. The earrings were made in a similar way but attached to fish hook earring findings which were also in the chain kit.

I hope that the launch of this great CD goes well but sadly only my 1st project will be on display as I did not have enough time to complete any more before the deadline.

I hope you like this second project and watch this space for more coming your way. Cathy xxxx

Design Team

I am delighted to announce that I have been asked by Sara Davies from Crafters Companion and Sarah Millsop from Beaders Companion to become a member of their design teams. But not as we all know it!!!! I have a challenge to undertake and that is to make jewellery out of paper and to make cards with jewellery. The mission is to show how all the paper crafters who have purchased Crafters Companion Cds can see how they can now make jewellery using some very simple techniques. Most of the items used will be from the Beaders Companion website but will also use items from the Crafters Companion website. My box of goodies arrived late on Friday afternoon so this first project has been done very quickly.

Now the 1st challenge;

The wonderful Nigel May is releasing his Christmas A May Zing CD on Tuesday and on the CD are paper beads which I will be using in future projects but for my 1st project I thought I would make something A May Zing...so I printed off 2 of the coordinating backing papers from the CDs and cut them length ways into triangle shaped strips. These were then rolled onto a large needle, a cocktail stick can be used but I needed a uniform finish so the needle was better. A small amount of PVA adhesive is applied at the beginning and you then just roll them up and put another drop of PVA at the end and then put them on one side to dry. At this point I put them onto the tips of cocktail sticks that were standing in some foam.

Once dry I coated them in clear varnish. You can use Spray and Shine available from the Crafters Companion website and even clear nail varnish but for a sturdier finish I used hard glaze wood varnish, clear embossing powder can also be used if thats what you have in your crafting stash. These were then left to dry again.

Once all dry you are ready to start making your jewellery. I had a single chocker length of memory wire so decided to add the beads onto that but I 1st made them into droplets. This just involved the very basic jewellery techniques of creating a loop in an eye pin. I selected the desired paper beads and some gold and silver beads available from the Beaders Companion website. These were then put onto head pins and eye pins and I created 5 pendants to hang from the chocker. The empty gaps were then filled with more of the gold and silver beads and some red bugle beads also from Beaders Companion. I added some more of the paper beads around the chocker and finished it with some simple loops in the memory wire so no difficult tasks like attaching to clasps and crimp beads. So that was the necklace and now for matching earrings and a bracelet.


Again I had some memory wire for the bracelet and just threaded on my chosen beads in my desired pattern and coiled the ends of the memory wire. The earrings were made in a similar way to the pendants on the necklace using and head pin for the bottom drop and an eye pin for the top and using a fish hook earring finding.


I hope that you like my 1st project and if you would like more information about how to make paper beads there are some great websites with detailed instructions.


I look forward to Nigels Launch of this great set of CDs on Tuesday and I will try to post more samples over the next few weeks to give you the inspiration to take up jewellery making. Remember all off the techniques used are very simple and Sarah Millsop has got You Tube clips showing you how to make the loops etc.


Thanks for stopping by and see you soon Cathy x

Blog Challenge winner

I am delighted to announce that my entry to the Beaded jewellery challenge was the winning entry and I look forward to receiving my prize of some more Jewellery making goodies and would like to thank Rachel for organizing the challenge.

The winning set

The First Day

Here is some more of the lovely Humphrey from me. This is another image from the everyday collection of die cut decoupage from Crafters Companion. The image I have chosen in" The first Day "and just perfect as a wedding card.

The image was made up using the collall 3d glue gel and mounted onto 2 coordinating pieces of coordination's card. On the 8X8 card base I matted and layered again with coordination's card and with some of the lovely papers from the Humphrey CD. I added a paper doily to add some softness and romance to the card and finished with some ribbon, paper flowers , card candi and some swirls cut from Coordination's card using my cuttlebug and here it is;

Wedding Day

I will be entering this card into the Crafters Companion blog challenge x

Humphrey

Dont you just love the gorgeous Humphrey and friends. I had the everyday decoupage sheets from Crafters Companion and over the months have spent the odd evening putting the toppers together. As the wedding season is upon us I thought I would make a  thank you card that would be great for a bridesmaid.

I used a 8X8 scalloped card base and some of the papers off the great CD. These were matted and layered on coordiantions, of course.lol. I then added a paper doily to add that bit of softness and romance to the card and to finish added some paper swirls cut with my faithful cuttlebug and some paper flowers and a tiny hint of ribbon.And here is the finished card which I am entering into this months Crafters Companion blog challenge x

Bridesmaid card

More Luminarte

I had another little play with some luminarte sprays yesterday. I do love the lovely sheen they give but you have to enjoy messy crafting to use them as there is a tendency to get ink everywhere. 


The colours I used to make this card were apple blossom and copper with a small amount of warn lipstick distress ink around the edges. I then used one of Sheena Douglas's stamps and stamped the image and then embossed with Crafters Companion gold Twinkle embossing powder.


Once dry the image was matted and layered onto gold mirror card and some red coordinations card stock. I matted and layered some coordinating papers from my stash, added a bit of ribbon and some paper flowers and gems for that bit of sparkle.


 This is the finished result;

I am entering this into the Crafters companion Blog Challenge so wish me luck x

Time to Embellish

The wonderful people at Crafters companion are running a blog challenge this month with the theme of "Time to Embellish". So I thought I would get to work and make a card to enter the challenge with the chance of winning some vouchers to spend on the Crafters Companion website which is very easily done.

My 1st entry

The card I made used some papers from my paper stash all mounted onto coordinations which I sanded to add some texture. Then using a piece of Neenah card and some faded jeans distress ink I inked the edges of the card and then sprayed with Sheena Douglas's Luminarte ink sprays in blue and green.

Once dry I stamped on the swirl ,which is one of Sheena Douglas's stamps,with versamark and then embossed using Crafters Companion Gold Twinkle embossing powder. This was then mounted onto coordinations card.

To make the flowers I used my trusty Cuttlebug and big scalloped circles dies from spellbinders and some of the matching papers and cut out and embossed them and then added  a button to finish. The swirls are made using coordination's card and a Sizix die. The final touches were some blue sparkly gems and some brown twine that I pinched from my hubbys gardening shed..oops.

Wish me luck xxxx

What a challenge.

I have had a pretty tough few weeks and sadly have not felt like crafting at all but at long last today I thought I would have a go at a Jewellery Challenge. The theme was the colours purple ranging into pink so I had a look through my beading stash and came up with this;

I used my trust Gizmo and made some coil beads using purple and pink wire and the small mandrel. I made  8 cm long pink coils and then threaded on the purple wire and coiled again creating the 2 tone effect. The pendant is made of glass with a lovely pinks/purples swirling through it and I added some small glass beads to finish it off. The purple circle beads are from "raysbeadsandfindings" and are metal covered in a lovely purple metal affect sheen that sadly the picture does not do justice to. I used 2 strands of beading wire and added some small seed beads to create extra texture to the necklace. I hope you like it and I will be entering it into the beaded jewellery challenge, so wish me luck xxxx