DIY Sequin Flower from Just Between Friends

My name is Jonie and I blog over at Just Between Friends.  I am a self proclaimed DIY-er and I LOVE a good project!  I am so excited to be here today to show you a fun new flower tutorial that is perfect for any outfit that needs a little BLING.  Let's get started!

To make this flower you will need:

*Sequins (I got mine at Hobby Lobby.  They need to be the kind that have the tiny hole at the bottom

                 instead of the kind that have a hole in the middle.)

*2 felt circles (4 inches)

*matching thread

*crystal beads

*needle

Begin by folding the sequins in half with the hole at the bottom. 

Next, using your needle and thread, begin attaching the sequins to the felt in a circular pattern starting on the outside.

Once you have the center sequins in place, use a little dab of hot glue to attach the crystal beads.

The bottom of your flower will have all the thread showing.  To give it a more finished look and more stability, hot glue the other felt circle to the bottom.  Last, attach whatever kind of pin or clip you would like and you are finished!  Now it's time to try it out!

I thought it would be fun to wear it on a scarf.

And of course this flower would look great in the hair as well.  (Yes, I made a pink one too.)

There you have it!  Some bling that would be the perfect accessory to jazz up any outfit.

Thanks to Megan for having me over today!  It was fun to come up with an accessory for "Bling it Month"!

Hope you'll stop by and visit sometime! 

You can find me here:

{Blog} {Facebook} {Pinterest}

DIY Rocker Chain Necklace from Vintage Wanna Bee

Hello Friends!

I'm Nichelle from Vintage Wanna Bee! I'm excited to be here on Brassy Apple, and to show you an awesome necklace tutorial! Today I will be showing you how to make your own "Rocker Chain Necklace". This necklace will add a little fun to any outfit

Let's get started!

You will need:

Scissors, Jewelry Tools, Jump Rings, Long Necklace, Different Sized Chains, 

Find different sized chains for necklaces, I used some from my craft supplies and an old bracelet. Use whatever you have in your house. Cut your chains to different lengths for dimension and for a "layered" look for your necklace.

Add jump rings to the end of each chain to add to the necklace.

Put each individual chain on your necklace, arrange as desired. I put the largest chain in the middle.

Add as many chains as you would like until you like the overall look!

There you go!

Now you have a fun rocker chain necklace, to add a little glam to any outfit!

I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks so much for letting me hang out over here!

XOXO

Nichelle

You can find me here:

{SHOP} {BLOG} {FACEBOOK} {TWITTER} {PINTEREST}

DIY Necklace with Sumos Sweet Stuff

The DIY accessories tutorial kicks off another great week with Sumo's Sweet Stuff! Take it away Summer!

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited/honored/happy to be posting over here. I just adore Megan, and think she is so much fun! I've only met her once in real life (which is sad; it should be more), but it's been fun getting to know her a bit over the interweb. Isn't the internet great?

I'm Sumo, or Summer if you wanna get formal. (In case you are wondering, my husband nicknamed me Sumo when we were dating. Maybe I should have been offended?)

I blog over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

It's a blog I started to share my crafting and creating. I also like to host giveaways, feature other bloggers, and maybe share some crazy ramblings about how much I love Diet Coke, or my relationships with Veronica and Lucy (my sewing machine and CAMEO). Some other things you should know about me are that I'm married to my best friend, I have three beautiful little girls, I'm kind of in love with my minivan, I think every seamstress should own a pair of Ginghers, I'm addicted to Pinterest, and I would make a great professional fabric shopper.

I'm excited to share this necklace tutorial with you. It is so versatile, and gives you tons of options! 

Here's what you need:

- beads, beads, beads! (Yes, I realize that's a lot of beads. No, it's not even close to all the beads I own.)

- chains of varying sizes

- two large lobster clasps

- one smaller lobster clasp

- crimp beads

- scissors

- crimping tool

- beading wire

- split rings

The large flower bead had holes for two wires to string through it. So I measured the chain that would be going around my neck on one side, strung it through a small piece of wire, and then put both sides of the wire through the large bead. (Sorry, I know the picture if fuzzy; I couldn't get very good clear shots today for some reason. I'm probably one of the last bloggers on earth still using a point and shoot!)

Then I took a large lobster clasp and put it on a split ring. On the two pieces of wire that have come through the large bead, string together with a crimp bead. Then loop the wires around the split ring and back through the crimp bead. Use your crimping tool to press the crimp bead down, securing it all in place. Trim any excess wire.

Measure a second piece of chain to go around your neck. Open up one of the rings and put a smaller lobster clasp on. This will connect the two sides on the back of your neck. At the bottom of the second piece of chain, attach another split ring with a lobster clasp on it by opening up another ring and close the ring around it. My crimping tool is handy for this! This is what you've got so far!

Now it's time to start making the fun bead strands! Take a piece of wire, put a crimp bead on it, loop the wire around a split ring and back through the crimp bead. Press the crimp bead down, securing your loop around the split ring.

String on your beads to the length that you want. Secure the end with another crimp bead and split ring.

Here's how it looks attached on to your base necklace pieces.

Measure different lengths of varying sizes of chains, and hook those on to your necklace. You like?

But maybe you don't feel like wearing those clear beads. How about a strand of black pearls?

What's that? It's almost spring, and time for bright colors? Okay, done.

Or you could always keep it classic with regular pearls.

For a simple look, maybe you just want a few different chains hanging on.

This strand may be my favorite: an eclectic group of clear and silver beads.

So there you have it. A boutique style necklace, with lots and lots of options to make it work for you! 

Thanks so much to Megan for having me over here today. I hope you'll come follow along at Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

Make it Monday #18

Let your creativity shine!!! Thank YOU for all the FUN projects linked up last week! I shared several on the Brassy Apple FB page, twitter and pinned some too!

Last weeks most viewed link was Music Sheet Paper Roses from Robins Nest:

What will next week's be? I can't wait to see! until then show off what you've created lately!

1. share a direct link to your tutorial

2. no shops or selling please

3. include a MAKE it MONDAY logo button or link on your blog somewhere or post

<a href="http://www.brassyapple.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/mycreations/Blog/makeitmondaylogo.jpg" /><br /> </a>

Valentines day with the Dating Divas!

The Dating Divas LOVE February! It's like Christmas for them! They have collected some of the BEST ideas to make this Valentine's day memorable for you and the ones you love! Get the "pinning" finger ready!!!!

check out their GIFTS Round up...

(just a peek at some of the ones they have featured!)

And their DECOR Round up...



and of course FOOD! check out the yummies!

and for those that wait for the last minute - QUICK and EASY ideas (30 mins or less)

and the Divas have their awesome ebooks available for purchase too! Snatch up their great ideas for dating and being romantic! 




Enjoy your weekend!

Zilick GIVEAWAY $100 gift card

Have you heard of Zilick? It's a new up and coming company and they want to connect with you! 

Zilick is a website that promotes local businesses in Utah. They support small companies and give them the opportunities to sell products, feature their business, and do giveaways to promote what they sell or do. Their site also provides a first class way to sell classifieds safely and securely by creating user profiles for the buyer to see. But to keep it exciting Zilick does one BIG giveaway every week. All you have to do is register and leave comments on the posts. They continually feature tons of giveaways every month so keep going back and support local business.

Help spread the word about Zilick and you could win a $100 gift certificate to Nordstrom! 

to enter:

1. Sign up for a free account at Zilick
2. Leave a comment on their site HERE for a chance to win the gift card

you can also find Zilick on Twitter

good luck!!!

DIY Chain bracelet from Somewhat Simple

 

Hi everyone! I'm Stephanie from Somewhat Simple and I'm excited to be here today to share a {simple} bracelet idea.

The inspiration for today's idea came to me while browsing one of my favorite stores- Lowes! I was walking down an aisle that had shelves full of boxes and rolls of chains.

 

I grabbed the first person in a red vest I could find and asked him {very nicely} to cut 2 feet of this chain for me. From the 2 feet of chain (for only $1.40 a foot) I was able to get 3 bracelets. (The worker actually cut the 2 feet into 3 pieces for me so I didn't have to buy my own tools- yay!) I thought the chain I chose is perfect for a chunky bracelet, but still delicate and feminine.

I had an image in my mind of what I wanted to create with this chain, but when I got home, I actually just started playing around with some ribbon and different weaving methods to see which bracelet I liked best.

 

Here is just the basic method of weaving a ribbon in and out of the chain and tying a bow at the wrist. Simple.

 

This one I created simply by slipping ribbon loops up into each chain link. I really liked the way this looked, but I should warn you to keep this type of bracelet away from kids- it will hold up fine until someone pulls on the loops, then the entire thing comes undone. It's easy to fix, but just be careful.

The last method I tried was probably my favorite.

 

I took this fun trim and just wrapped in and over both sides of the chain. I left enough ribbon hanging from each side that I was able to tie a bow and slip it over my wrist! This one would be for more casual days, but using this same method, you can dress it up with fancier (or more plain) ribbon and embellish it with pearls or buttons for a fun kids bracelet. Or, to see more of the chain, use a skinnier ribbon. {Maybe even spray paint your chain before hand to make it extra matchy!)

 

I love how versatile this project can be.

Jewelry from the home improvement store, who would've thought? :)

Anthro Knockoff Necklace from Flamingo Toes

Hello Brassy Apple Readers!

My name is Bev and I blog over at Flamingo Toes!

I am so excited to be here as part of this Bling It series!! I think Megan is just amazing (and you do too of course) so I was very excited when she asked me to be a part of the fun!

I am pretty addicted to Jewelry - especially DIY jewelry - and knockoff's especially. I love finding inspiration at overpriced boutiques and department stores and recreating something similar for a fraction of the cost! And that's just what I have for you today! An Anthropologie knockoff!

Here's my version of the Anthro Frozen Globes Necklace:

And here's the original - which sold for $42. (it's not available anymore)

The other thing I love about DIY jewelry is that you can make it they way YOU want. According to the reviews of the Anthro necklace - their "globes" were just a little smaller than a golf ball. And the chain was pretty long. I don't really want golf-ball size globes flopping around on my chest. Which sounds awkward when you type it out - but there it is. So mine are smaller.

Here's what you'll need to make your own necklace.
You can choose the size of the globes you want. Ahem.

• Metal tube beads
• Small silver beads
• Large beads for globes - these are about 1/2"
• Large Silver Rings - mine are 1"
• Beading cord
• crimp beads
• Jump Rings
• Head Pins
• Chain for bottom section - 7" long
• Lobster clasp
• Ribbon

(All my supplies came from Michael's except the Ribbon, which came from the Ribbon Retreat)

To start we're going to make the strands on the sides of the necklace. If you want to skip this step you could use a pretty chain instead.

Begin by cutting 4 lengths of Beading Cord - 12" long. With the first length of cording, loop one end through a jump ring. Feed both ends through a crimp bead.

Flatten the crimp bead with flat nosed pliers, close to the jump ring.

Begin threading the silver tubes and beads onto the cording. Slip the cording end into the beads also to hide it.

Alternate the tubes and beads until the strand measures about 8 1/2". Finish the other end of the cording with another crimp bead and jump ring.

Make another bead strand and attach it to the same set of jump rings.

Repeat these steps to make a second set of two strands.
Once you've done that, carefully open the jump ring on one end of each of the strands. Add your large silver ring and close the jump ring.

Add two jump rings to each end of your bottom chain. Add these jump rings to each silver ring.

Now we're going to do the beads.
Add a small silver bead and your "globe" bead to a head pin. This is just a straight wire with a flat end.

Bend the wire slightly to the left, just above the bead. Hold the wire just a little above the bead with round-nosed pliers.
Wrap the end of the wire around one side of the pliers and cross it over on top of the bead. This will make a loop.

Clip the end of the wire off with wire cutters, at the point that it crosses over the back wire.

Once you clip the wire, make sure the cut end touches the wire to form a closed loop.

Add a jump ring to the loop. Then add the bead to the large bottom chain on the necklace. Continue with your other beads until they are all attached to the chain.

Add a lobster closure to the top rings of the two necklace strands.

Cut a length of ribbon and tie it to the necklace strands just above one of the large silver rings. You can make it as large or small as you like.
I love that you can easily change out the ribbon too if you want to coordinate with different outfits.

And that's it! You have a pretty new Anthro Knockoff to wear!

I hope you like it!! I'd love for you to stop by Flamingo Toes and say hi - you can check out my other tutorials here.

Thanks for having me over Megan!!