Sunday, March 31, 2013

Custom Prom Earrings




This weekend I worked on some custom earrings for a friend's daughter.  She needed earrings to match a necklace she planned to wear to a prom.  The necklace is a stunningly jeweled and bold statement piece with lots of glass beads that are what I would call aqua or mint green.  There is a fair amount of silver in the design as well with multi-stranded chain and findings.  Here is what the necklace looks like:




Of course, as usual I deliberated on just the right combination and colors of beads from what I had on hand to match up with this design.  I ended up making three pairs of earrings each with different beads and design.  All three designs have about a two inch drop and are on sterling silver filled earring wires.  I plan to let my friend's daughter choose which design she wants, and I will list the other two in my Etsy shop.

Here are pictures of all three finished designs side by side:




And here are some close-up views of each design:
Emerald Green Glass Teardrop Earrings
This design features faceted green glass teardrops, Swarovski crystal bicones, and antique silver bead caps. The emerald green glass teardrops are a bit darker than the glass beads on the necklace but seem to compliment them nicely.  The Swarovski crystals are a color called Pacific Opal and match the glass bead colors almost exactly.  



Teal Green Glass Pearl Earrings
This second pair of earrings features teal green glass pearls, the same Pacific Opal Swarovski crystals as in the first pair, and antique silver bead caps.  Two sizes of pearls are used - a large 12mm and smaller 4mm.  This design is somewhat bold in keeping with the bold look of the necklace.  Again, the teal green pearls are not exactly the same color as the beads in the necklace but have a nice contrasting quality.  And the Pacific Opal Swarovski crystals tie the colors together very nicely.



Jade Green Crystal Pearl Earrings
The third and final design is a bit more delicate with Swarovski crystal pearls in Jade green, the same Pacific Opal Swarovski crystals, and small antique silver bead caps.  The pearls are 6mm and 4mm size.  This design has beads that most closely match the colors in the necklace.

Which pair do you like best with the necklace?  I would love to hear feedback!


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Pinterest Group Board For Altered Dress Forms

All this past week I  have had a wonderful time attending The Polka Dot Closet's Dress Form Ball.  It's been such fun seeing all the lovely Belles decked out in all their finery!

It was so much fun in fact, it has inspired me to create a Group Board on Pinterest just for Dress Forms.  I have invited everyone who presented a dress form at the Ball to join in Pinning on this Group Board.

There have been some people I could not locate on Pinterest but I want to invite anyone and everyone who has a dress form they would like to Pin.  So if I left your name off, contact me with your Pinterest name and I will add you to the list!  I have already Pinned a couple of people's dress form, but feel free to add more.

So Pin away!  Visit this Board now!


And in case you haven't visited The Polka Dot Closet's Dress Form Ball, drop in now!


Thursday, March 14, 2013

How To Verify Your Pinterest Account on GoDaddy Website Builder


Have you had trouble verifying your Pinterest account on GoDaddy Website Builder's Economy site?  I certainly had some difficulty in the process, but finally after quite a while of experimenting and searching on Google, I have been able to get it done.  Now, note that I have GoDaddy's Economy version - the Free account - and an upgraded Paid account might be much easier to verify with.

Why is verifying your Pinterest account important?
  • It builds credibility and lets the world know your business is legitimate.
  • Your URL will be more prominently displayed making it easier for Pinners to find out about you and engage.
  • It improves your search engine rankings.  Enough said!
One important note - for some reason Google Chrome and Firefox would not work for this process on my Mac.  I had to use Safari.  Not sure why, but just know Safari was what worked.  I'm not sure if the process will be less or more cumbersome on a PC, but here's how I did it on my Mac:

1.  Log into your Pinterest account.

2.  Under your Profile name at the top right of the screen, click on "Settings."

3.  Beside your website URL name, click on "Verify Your Website."

4.  You will be taken to a screen where you are given a choice of either uploading a HTML file or adding a Metatag.  Choose Verify with a Metatag.  (If you have the Free Economy version of GoDaddy, verifying with a Metatag is the only method that I could find would work.)

5.  Copy the Metatag code.

6.  Go to your GoDaddy Website Builder site and click on "Launch Page Designer."

7.  Click on "Pages" at the top of the screen.  Then click on "Page Properties" and then click on  Metadata.

8.  In the Keywords section, paste the Metatag code that you copied from your Pinterest account.

9. Click "OK" then make sure you Publish to save the changes.

10. Go back to your Pinterest account and click on "Click here" to complete the process.

FINALLY, I'm verified!  Click HERE to see my Pinterest Profile complete with Verification!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Invitation to a Dress Form Ball



I've been invited to a Ball ... well, not me, but my altered vintage style dress form I made a few weeks ago has been invited.  And you're invited too!

In case you missed my post a while back, here is the link to how I made my dress form:
How To Make An Altered Vintage Style Dress Form.

And here's the link to The Polka Dot Closet's blog post and tutorial that gave me my inspiration:  How To Make a Romantic Lace Covered Dress Form.

So hop on over to the The Polka Dot's Closet 2nd Annual Dress Form Ball and see all the other belles who are attending.  There is quite an impressive collection of beautiful dress forms.

And if you have an altered dress form that you've transformed, you can sign her up to attend.  There's a sign up link near the end of The Polka Dot's Closet's post.  The Ball starts today March 11 and goes for six days.

Ta ta for now ... hope to see you at the Ball!


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Tutorial For Altered Bottle Jewelry Display

This project evolved from my pursuit to find a unique and attractive jewelry display.  Although I sell many of my designs on Etsy at DJAjewels.etsy.com, I also sell some in two brick and mortar shops: Ruby's Gift in Charlotte, NC and Siopa on Main in Clover, SC.


The idea for this project was found on Pinterest.  I followed the Pinterest trail to the original source ArtfullyMusingBlogspot.com and followed the directions with some revisions along the way.  My revisions were made for two reasons:

  • To individualize my design, and
  • I want to use my altered bottle as a jewelry display whereas ArtfullyMusing's bottles are more for pure decoration.  

I do suggest you read her blog post as well as mine and view her beautiful altered bottles!

Here is how I made my altered bottle jewelry display.



Supplies:

  • Bottle and bottle cap - any clean glass bottle with labels removed.  I used a pretty green olive oil bottle.  
  • Frosted Glass spray pain.
  • Gilder's Paste.
  • Sponge - I used a make-up sponge as recommended by ArtfullyMusing.
  • Aleen's Original Tacky Glue - I bought mine from Michael's.
  • Hammer.
  • Nail or screw.
  • Heavy gauge wire - I used 12 gauge which I bought from Michael's in the Floral section of the store.
  • Medium gauge wire - I used 20 gauge gunmetal wire - not pictured.
  • Embellishments - I used flat back acrylic rhinestones and stickers (but your imagination is the limit - you could cloth, paper, ribbon, etc.)
  • Paint brush and paper towel - sorry, also forgot to include this in the supplies picture.
For the bottle:
1.  Remove all labels from your bottle and clean well.

2.  Use your paint brush with the end wrapped in a paper towel and push it into the bottle opening so you can use it as a "handle" to spray paint your bottle.

3.  Spray your bottle with the Frosted Glass holding your paint brush handle and rotating it to give it a good coating.  Make sure you are in a well ventilated area - I did this outside.  Allow to dry - it only takes about 10 minutes to dry.

4.  After the Frosted Glass is dry, apply the Gilder's Paste.  I used a color called Antique Gold, but it is available in other colors as well.  Gilder's Paste is a wonderful pigment which can be applied to a variety of surfaces to give an antiqued or vintage patina.  You can buy Gilder's Paste at a variety of sites - I bought mine from Vintage Jewelry Supplies.  Use your sponge to dab and pat the paste onto the bottle.  Use as much or little as you want.

5.  Allow the Gilder's Paste to dry - this does take about 12 hours.

6.  Now add your embellishments.  I bought a "Bucket of Bling" from Walmart with acrylic flat back rhinestones that I glued to the bottle using my Aleen's Original Tacky Glue.

For the bottle topper:
1.  Place your bottle cap on a firm flat surface and then hammer a nail or screw through the center to make an opening.  Then screw the bottle cap back onto the bottle.

2.  Cut four lengths of your heavy gauge wire - I cut my wire to 8 inch lengths - my bottle was 9 inches tall.  You can adjust according to the height of the bottle, but basically you want the wire long enough to extend well into the inside of the bottle.

3.  Now make your hooks on the ends of each piece of wire by bending them over something round to make a loop - you can use anything such as magic marker or candle.  It's best to do all four pieces of wire together in order to make the loop uniform in shape.  Then bend the tip of each wire away from the loop to make a small hook - this part can be done individually rather than as a group.  You can use your fingers or a tool such as flat nose plier.

4.  Cut two pieces of your medium gauge wire - each about 5 inches.

5.  Hold your four pieces of heavy gauge wire you have made hooks with together and wrap them together near the top using your medium gauge wire.  Repeat this with the other piece of medium gauge wire an inch or so below your first wrapping - doing two separate wrappings makes it more secure.

6.  Mold and shape your hooked ends into a four prong topper by just pushing the hooks around in different directions with your fingers.

7.  Now insert the tails of two of the wires through your bottle cap.  Spread the other two pieces of wire outside the bottle in opposite directions - these will be used to wire wrap the bottle cap.  To wire wrap, simply wrap each tail of wire around the bottle top.  I used a flat nose plier to help with this and then made a small decorative loop at the end which I pressed up against the bottle top.

Here is a close-up view of the wire topper:





And here's the finished design - viola! You now have a pretty altered bottle jewelry display.  Use it to hang necklaces, earrings or whatever!