Shrink Plastic Shark Necklace

Shark Week starts on August 4th, but I couldn't resist sharing this great sharky craft with all of you to get it kicked off early! This necklace uses shrink plastic to create a great shark silhouette pendant that can be enjoyed all year long. Shrink plastic can be found in most craft and hobby stores, as well as at online retailers. Be sure to read the package for the instructions of your specific brand.

To make this shrink plastic shark necklace you will need:

- Shrink plastic (feel free to look for trendy neon plastic to make this accessory really pop!)
- A shark silhouette to trace (google images is a great resource, but so are nature magazines, etc. If you have a cricut to die cut this out, even better)
- Scissors
- 3 jump rings
- a hole punch (standard size)
- jewelry chain (your choice of length)
- necklace clasp
- small needle nose or jeweler's pliers
- permanent marker (for tracing)
- rubbing alcohol (to wipe off excess marker lines)

Start by tracing your image onto your shrink plastic. I cut out my image from paper and then used a permanent marker to trace around the shape directly onto my plastic. I then used a scissors to cut out the shape, and used rubbing alcohol to get off the extra marker lines before baking. If you have never used shrink plastic before, it can be difficult to cut without tearing, so you may want to limit the details on your silhouette. Use your hole punch to make a hole where you want to attach the necklace chain, not too close to the edges.

During shrinking, any small tears will become barely noticeable, so don't get too discouraged! The silhouette will distort a little bit, I found that by using a cooler baking temp and baking longer it limited the distortion and curling of my final piece. My plastic recommended a temp of 300-350 degrees for approx 3 minutes. My best results were baking at a temp of between 200-250 for 5-8 minutes. Don't be afraid to experiment a little or try a test piece of plastic.

The plastic shrinks to become about 1/2 to 1/3 of its original size, above you can see my final shrunk piece next to the hole I originally punched out for the jump ring attachment. Once cool, you can use fine grit sandpaper or a nail file to get rid of any sharp edges if necessary.

Finally, assemble your necklace and add on your pendent to the chain with a jump ring. I cut my desired length of chain, attached my closure to each end with jump rings and then found the center of my chain to attach the pendent. I used my pliers to open and re-close each jump ring. Voila! A great new piece of costume jewelry for Shark Week.

Don't forget to follow me via facebook, twitter, or your favorite blog reader to keep up with all the great Shark Week crafts to come!

Simple Goldstone Necklace

I don't have a lot of jewelry. I was never a "girly girl", and actually had a few jobs after college where wearing jewelry was prohibited (as a safety precaution). Now that I am able to wear jewelry more, I just don't have much of it and I kind of hate spending money on myself. That is where making your own jewelry can really come in handy! Between fancy bead stores and regular old craft supply places you can get lots of materials to make your own jewelry for super cheap!

I found these cube shaped goldstone beads and was instantly in LOVE with them. They are tiny, glittery, metallic, and they were on sale! I thought a necklace with these babies all the way around might be a little overkill, so I decided to just make a little pendant of sorts with a piece of wire and attach it to 2 lengths of chain with jump rings. The supplies I used are pictured below:

-4 jump rings
-2 short lengths of chain (approx. 7 inches long each)
-6 Goldstone cube beads
-1 magnetic clasp
-1 small piece of wire
-small needle nose pliers or jewelry pliers

This was super quick and easy (and I don't have a lot of practice with jewelry making). I think it took me about 30 minutes start to finish. I used my pliers to make loops on the ends of my wire (after the beads were on it of course), as well as to open and close my jump rings to attach everything together. I think with coupons, sale item, etc that this cost me about a dollar to make (I still have a bunch of leftover supplies for future projects too!).

DIY Agate Jewelry

I'm no fashionista, but every now and then I come across a fashion trend that I like and find myself wondering how I can get in on the action without the huge price tags that often go along with trends. I saw this article on MSN.com a few weeks ago and was inspired. I used to do some jewelry making back in high school and college. The real, making your own bezels, setting stones, cutting, filing and polishing metals kind of jewelry. But who has time for all of that?

You will notice that many of the pieces in the article have HUGE price tags as well. Sure, geodes and agates are beautiful and make a statement, but who has hundreds to spend on a piece that probably won't make it to your every day wardrobe? That's where I come in: DIY agate jewelry!

If you are lucky, you have some kind of rock or gem shop locally where you can browse through agate slices at your leisure. You may even have the good fortune I did and find a place that has pre-drilled pieces the perfect size for pendants. If not, you can find places online to order your agate slices pretty cheaply, The Fossil Cartel has some online, but you don't get to select your exact size, shape, color, etc. We happen to have a Fossil Cartel store in town, as well as an independent gem and rock shop. Even when I don't make jewelry, I LOVE going through rock shops. You can find some great natural stone beads and other neat things to hoard away for future projects (not that I ever do that...).

To make my necklace I used a slice of pre-drilled agate, an 18" length of jewelry chain, 2 jump rings, a magnetic clasp and one bail (all store bought). Thanks to some sales, the total for my necklace came in at 8 dollars!

The bracelet was even easier! All I used was a slice of agate, a bracelet cuff from the craft store and some E-6000. Make sure you clean your agate and cuff well before applying the glue (I used rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth), apply your E-6000, position your agate on the band and leave to dry overnight (or even better 2 whole days, but who can wait?).

My favorite part about these two projects, is that you can make them with very little to no real jewelry making experience!

What fashion trends are you crushing on? Do you ever try to make your own cheaper versions?

Rain Cloud Brooch Pattern

I was looking through some of my old projects the other day and decided that this little guy really didn't get the love he deserved. Sure, it's a rain cloud, but it's a cute little rain cloud, right? These are super easy to make, can be customized with lots of different things, and if you don't like hand sewing, just bust out the glue gun!


Here is my cloud pattern if you don't feel like drawing out your own:

The final measurements of my cloud, when stuffed are about 2.5" wide and 1.5" tall.

To make your own cute little rain cloud brooch, cut out 2 of your cloud pattern from the felt color of your choice and sew or glue them together on the edges, filling with a little batting or a cotton ball so it's squishy and soft. I used silver jewelry chain to make my "rain" and added a little blue glass bead to one of my chains. I used a little hot glue to secure the chains in place on the inside of my felt cloud pieces.

Then, I hand stitched a pin back to the back of my cloud to secure it. You could use hot glue, or some other kind of glue if you'd prefer, but not many glues work well for both fabric and metal, so you may find it loosens over time and needs to be glued back on at some point. A few stitches really help make a permanent connection, and most pin backs you will find in the craft stores have a few holes in them to make sewing them onto fabrics pretty easy.

Easy Beaded Necklace

I'm feeling a bit under the weather; body aches, sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. So while I was home today laying on the couch watching Harry Potter DVD's to my hearts content, I made this little necklace to cheer myself up. I am by no means an expert at jewelry making, in fact, I generally just kind of improvise. I tend to end up with stuff that's not half bad though, so I keep at it.

To make this necklace all I used were beads (larger orange ones with some glitter to them, and smaller Robin's egg blue shell beads), some wire, a jump ring, a lobster clasp and some little jewelry pliers (I got them for $1 at Wal-Mart back in the day).

I used my wire to make several groupings of beads (blue-orange-blue), and connected them together to get my desired length. I connected them all together simply by using my pliers and makings little loops at the end of each wire piece, the loops are then hooked together. This gives the necklace the ability to move, rather than stay rigid. One end of the chain of beds then got a jump ring, and the other got a clasp. Voila! New necklace :)

I especially like this necklace because I used my new color combo obsession to make it: I LOVE LOVE LOVE orange with light blue.

Do you have any color crushes at the moment?

Fab Finds on the Internet: MaaPstudio

Ahhh! Look at this ring and tell me you are not absolutely in love with it! I came across this Etsy shop while using www.stumbleupon.com as I was wasting time before work very early this morning. At first glance I thought "Wow, how beautiful, I bet this stuff costs a fortune." Answer: No, it does not. The rings all seem to be priced under 50 dollars and the necklaces and earrings are all also very reasonably priced. I really don't have a reason to get myself such a gift right now, but I know where I will be pointing the husband if he has any want to give me something of the jewelry persuasion.

When I find something like this I have to share it, so please go take a look at the shop for yourself, it is worth a peek at least. The shop can be found here.

Beaded Earrings

Today I threw these together with some beads I liked, craft wire, and some earring hooks. I may wear them to a little event tonight and show them off. You can get the jewelry findings at any craft store (I think even Wal-Mart sells them). As far as beads go, you can find them at rock shops, craft store, bead shops or even take an old necklace you no longer like, but enjoy the beads or stones from and repurpose it into a new necklace/bracelet/pair of earrings.