Crafty Cathy

If you know me, you know I LOVE crafting.  Beading is an old flame that I've been with since elementary school when I "grew apart" from papercraft.  I haven't done anything since my sister-in-law's baby shower, when I made her a breastfeeding bracelet (I stole the idea from my old pastor's wife).  My sister-in-law asked me if I'd make her a plain black bracelet that she could use to tell which side was next.  Black?  I don't know if I've ever bought black beads...well, I don't usually buy beads anyway, I usually harvest them from a broken necklace.  Oh!  Mom, thanks for the broken necklace, this will do perfectly!

But the bead pattern is a little too necklace-y.  Let's try taking out the small black beads. 

Big...silver...medium...silver...teardrop...silver...medium...silver...big...

Good good.  Now test it out for size.

Gah!  Too small...and another set only makes it too long...

aww...Bug-a-boo!

Hiya! 

My little guy wants me to know that it's been 3 hours since he ate and he's not inclined to wait any longer...brb...

Okay, now that Timothy's in a milk-coma, back to my pattern/size issue.  Okay, I'll substitute little black beads for the teardrops.
Big...silver...medium...silver...little...silver...medium...silver...big...

Weeellllll, that just looks stupid...  How about forget that part all together?

Big...silver...medium...silver...big...  ....silver...big?  Big?? Gah!!  Not enough big black beads...okay, fine, how about...

Big...silver...medium...silver...medium...silver...big...?

Yay!!  It works!  And, I like that better, anyway... What's that Bob Ross says?  "Happy Accidents!"

Perfect!  It fits and Timothy is still asleep!

So I take my beads off the dental floss and string some stretchy cord through a crimp bead (my new favorite toy and the ONLY good way to finish a stretch bracelet that I've found).

Both ends go through the next bead.  Big...silver...medium...silver...medium...silver...big... and back through the crimp bead.  Now the fun part:

Crimping!  And the not-so-fun part, finishing...

Aww, Timothy woke up.

Hi, Timothy!!

Perfect!  Bracelet down, now I've got to get to work on a pair of replacement earrings from two Christmases ago...

This is one of my favorite designs and I came up with it while I was working at That-place-we-do-not-speak-of...  It's kind of an art deco-y tear drop. 

I pull tiger-tail through a crimp bead, around a earring bail and back again to make a loop with a single bead at the bottom.

Then, I crimp (yay!) the crimp bead and cut off the excess wire.

And I try to make a matching one that actually matches...

Perfect!

Ha ha!  It kinda looks like a surprised face!

Well, Timothy's asking for his afternoon snack and I must oblige!