Bejeweled

I haven't sewn a single stitch this week. You see, I've been on a jewelry kick, and since it's kind of an ordeal to get out and put away my copious beading supplies, I like to make sure it's all out of my system before I clean up and proceed to the next craft project. So at the moment, my entire sewing desk is covered with beads, wire, jump rings, and whatnot.

It all started when I noticed the dreadful state of my boss' lanyard for her keycard to get into our office. It was essentially a ribbon with colorful rhinestones glued to it, and now that most of those rhinestones have fallen off, it's looking a little sad. So I decided to make her a new one. I went to Joann's and grabbed some lanyard clips for $1.12 (25% off $1.49) and two strands of bright, cheery beads at $6 (40% off $10) to supplement some similar beads I already had. Those beads were in the form of this necklace, which I had made several years ago from an old brooch that was my grandmother's. I just never wore it though. The colorful brooch plus the wild beads was just too much bling.

So I took it apart, and used its beads - and the beads I had just bought - to make this brand-spanking-new [and much more durable] lanyard!

Then I added a length chain to the brooch using jump rings. I feel like simplifying the necklace will help keep the brooch the focal point, as it deserves to be.

But as I said, I couldn't just put away my jewelry stuff after two items. So I pulled out this necklace, which a friend had given me months ago. She said she was never going to wear it, so I could have it or re-purpose it if I like.

I'm not that keen on chokers (they're a little too '90s, right?), so I disassembled it and made it new again. I used head pins to dangle the stones from a basic chain necklace. Then I added a second, shorter chain with a few more drop beads on it.

The best part of this one was when the friend who had given it to me complimented it when I wore it on Friday.

Next up was an old bracelet (with I totally forgot to photograph) from a different friend. It was just a basic, single-strand bracelet in shades of purple.

I took all of one kind of bead from it (the rest went into the stash) and put them on head pins. A little chain, some jump rings, and a clasp later, and I've got another new necklace.

After that, I went through my stash and grabbed a few random one-of-a-kind beads.

Dangled on head pins from a bit of chain, and they look like they belong together!

Lastly (for now), I pulled out another necklace I made years ago. This one began life as a pair of clip-on earrings from my Granma's jewelry box.

I had wired them together and strung up a necklace, but the wiring wasn't the most attractive solution, and I wasn't happy with how I strung the beads. The smaller beads at the top just made it look like I ran out of the red and silver beads at the bottom (which I had).

So this time, I used jump rings to join the earrings together and created my own linked chain with the red beads incorporated.

Vast improvement!

Fair warning: I'm not sure it's entirely out of my system yet. So don't be surprised if you see some more beadery in the near future.