How I determined that I don't like beading.

For Christmas, my family decided that instead of our traditional “draw names” endeavor (which always ended with someone forgetting who they had drawn and either buying things for the wrong person, or forcing us all to draw again), each family would bring a stocking and gifts for the other families.  You had the option of giving family-oriented gifts (like a card game) or individual gifts, as long as they were “stocking stuffer” in nature.  So I, in my insanity, decided to make everyone not 1, not 2, but THREE stocking stuffers with my own two hands.  The stocking stuffers did not include the nieces and nephews - we still gave them actual presents.  But I didn’t want them to feel excluded with the stockings, either, so I - in further insanity - made one stocking stuffer per kid along with their normal present ON TOP OF THAT.  So that was approximately 28 presents that I made for my family alone.  It was a rather huge bite - utilizing mr’s favorite idiom in relation to me - and I almost didn’t finish chewing it.  But a few days of working until 3 AM and one night of not going to sleep at all and it all ended up ok.  Except I have relatively few pictures to show for it.  Sigh.  

SO - for the women in my life, I made a number of necklaces.  Some were simply charms and chains with a small amount of beading or interesting pendants.  (No pics of those).  

Then there was this rolled rose bib necklace I made Lise.  She’s wanted one for a while, but I wasn’t entirely satisfied with how this one came out.  I will most likely be making her a different one at some point (hm... birthday?) and perhaps I can do a tutorial with that one.  I’m sure you’ve seen these around blogland, though.  

I used two different t-shirts and a thin multi-wire necklace with jump rings on the end sewn to the flowers.  I don’t know why, but for some reason I really like it when the rolled roses are a little shabby looking.  

And then there were these.  These beaded demons that made me realize just why I don’t make jewelry more often.  Good golly.  Beads.  Beads are not intended for the use of 29 yr olds who have the hands of an 80 yr old woman.  I am not nimble.  Or quick.  But I AM relatively shaky, quite frequently.

I made this lovely (which I am kind of proud of, sorry if that seems like bragging...) for my best friend, El using the tutorial from Flamingo Toes as inspiration.  She was, in turn, inspired by Anthropologie, and there’s no better inspiration than that, let’s be honest.  

I cheated a bit; I didn’t make a casing out of satin ribbon as she did.  Instead I just used a satin belt from a pair of mini’s pants.  I mean, what 1 yr old really needs a belt?  I just opened an end to slide the beads in.  Instant casing.  It wasn’t quite long enough after the beads and the knots, so I did sew some satin ribbon to the ends and tied in a bow.  I was worried about ruining the whole thing, but I actually really like it.

mr’s little brother got engaged recently, and it seemed wrong to leave his intended out just because she wasn’t around to draw names.  So, I made this multi-strand necklace.

Pretty straightforward.  I just beaded several wires - each with a different type of coordinating bead, wove them around each other, used a crimp fastener to hold them together, and finished it with a faux ivory pendent which I added the red glass bead to.

And finally, my sister had been drooling over something a little like this except BEADED:

pic via

So I set to work beading like five hundred strands with small silver beads. 

I’m kind of a fan when all is said and done.  Of how it looks.  Not of making it.

And then it broke.  Sooooo... I’ll be fixing this one.  And not only will I have time to make it look more like the inspiration piece, I’ll have time to whip up a little something something so you can make one too!  Tutorial coming soon. (ish?)