Top 10 Posts of 2013 Wrap Up

 Hey Everyone,

Can you believe that 2013 has come to an end? Already?

Well I hope you all have had a good year. 

I have been especially busy with my jewelry this year so blogging has been a little slower, but the support has still been fantastic. Thank you to everyone who comes by, visits, comments, follows and pins, you're awesome!!!

 Here are my top 10 most viewed posts of 2013...

No. 10

   Simple Statement Necklace

No. 9

 Champion Cheese Muffins

No. 8

 Beaded Memory Wire Ring

 No. 7

 Wooden Valentine Chimes

 No. 6

 How to Make a Wire Bead

 No. 5

 Up-Cycled Painted Tin Cans

 

No. 4

 3 Step Nail Polish Earrings

No. 3

 Spiral Suncatchers

No. 2

 Nail Polish Pendant

No. 1

 Threaded Valentine Tins

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year in 2014....

Take care

 

xxx

 

Santa's Key

Do you all have chimneys for Santa to climb down on Christmas Eve? We don't and every year the  kids ask how Santa will get in ...they never seem happy enough with our answer of Daddy will leave the door unlocked. 

So this year I decided to make them a magical key to open our back door,  all the way from the North Pole!

I made the key, wrote a letter from Santa explaining the plan and popped them into an envelope addressed to the kids and left it in the letter box for them to find....

Here's how I did it....

I used a fairly large bronze key char, painted the main parts with silver nail polish and while still wet,applied silver glitter . When the key was dry on both sides I added a gold ribbon to hang the key with.

 I drafted this letter in PicMonkey, please feel free to use it, if you would like to send your kids a key from Santa too. Just right click on the letter and save it to your computer.

 Gabe ran up to check the mail this afternoon and made the discovery!

 The kids are so, so excited! They love that Santa asked them help and the keep going to check on the magical glittery key (hanging on the tree for now).

 Are you nearly ready for Christmas? Just a few more sleeps!

Take Care

xxx

 

Linking Up To:

 http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2013/12/sunday-showcase-226.html

 

Frozen Yoghurt Iceblocks

Wow its nearly Christmas!!!

How quickly did that come around guys?

Well its really hot here in New Zealand at the moment and the kids have been looking for cold snacks and ice-cream. 

So I made  healthy little Christmas ice block treats using smooth yogurt. I got the cute little snowman ice-cube tray from K-mart for a mere $3.

  

The kids loved their yummy afternoon tea, a few frozen yoghurt snowmen and fruit. Perfect!

 Loving that snowman mold too, we have frozen all kinds of messy cool things already...

Take Care

xxx

 

Cork Tree Ornaments

 I found the inspiration for this cute craft from this pin and this pin on pinterest but I admit I did not look at the pictures very well, because the crafters used whole corks glued together - I cut mine! But it still worked!

If you decide to make these decorations, please be careful with that craft knife, corks are not easy to cut!

So, you will need 6 cork rounds and half a cork for the base. Arrange the cork pieces into a tree shape on a piece of card and glue them into place. 

Once dry carefully cut around the card and paint.

I added a dab of glue on the top cork and sprinkled glitter over it - to be my star

Then glue twine around the tree shape, make a hanging bit with the ends!

Verdict? Oh so sweet!!!

 The kids were so excited with the cute new decorations for the tree and they seriously were very easy to make!

Stay tuned for more Days of Christmas....

Take Care

 

xxx

 

 

Wire Wrapped Ring Tutorial

Hey Everyone,

Today I want to share as easy as pie ring tutorial, these are great to make as gifts or for yourself!

I was inspired by this  pinterest pin. However the blog linked to the pin is not active anymore but I figured the picture was pretty self explanatory.

All you need is 20 gauge jewelry wire!!!

And something to cut the wire - so pliers too. 

If you have a ring mandrel then you can use that, but I used the lid of my nail polish bottle as it measures the right size for my finger.

 Simply..... wind the wire around the mandrel (nail polish lid) until you are happy with the width of it, then secure the end by winding it a few times around the bottom point of the ring. Use your pliers to neaten it up and tuck away any sharp ends. I gently opened the ring a little as I like that spread out look.

 

I think it looks really nice with my titanium band

 Or on its own...

  Either way its cute, versatile and super simple and quick to make.

What do you all think? It's definitely a favourite  in my jewelry box.

Take care

xxx

 

 

Sweet Snowman Pendant

 

Hey Everyone, 

I originally shared this tutorial at Inspiration Cafe last Christmas.

Here in New Zealand we have a Summer Christmas, so..... no snow!

But our warm Kiwi Christmas' are pretty awesome too...

One year, Sean and I were in England and we got to experience a white Christmas...and I even got to build my very own snowman.

So, today I have a cute, easy and fun holiday inspired pendant tutorial for you. 

  What you need:

2 large beads, seed beads, 1 headpin, a length of jewelry wire, a chain and pliers.

Following the steps laid out in the pictures, so easy!

Thread the 2 large beads onto the headpin,

Bend back to 90 degrees, loop back around with the pliers

and wrap the end of the headpin around and secure it with a gentle squeeze with the pliers.

Thread the seed beads onto the jewelry wire and secure the ends, I just looped the wire back into the last bead on each end.

Mould the scarf around your finger then wrap it around the snowman's neck and press into place.

Add a chain...

 

And there you have a really cute little snowman necklace...

These would make awesome hand made gifts or even Christmas ornaments for a little tree.

I really hope you are inspired to give this tutorial a go.... 

 

Stay tuned for more Days of Christmas....

Take Care

xxx