What can you do with Stenciled-Gelli Printed Papers?

After creating some beautiful alternative gelli plate prints, using Cecilia Swatton's amazing stencil designs, (exclusive at Stencil Girl Stencils) this question always seems to arise:  What do you use these papers for?  And I always have an answer.  

There are many uses,  depending on the type of paper that I recycled.  The list is long and includes creating bound art journals, but this week I used these beautiful painted papers to create something new:  "Art Jewelry".  

Easy and lightweight!  These take only a few supplies such as: eyelets, hand punches for the shapes and rounded corners, Glossy Accents if you want the paper to look like polished stone, a cropodile tool to create holes and set eylets, plus miscellaneous jewelry parts to create earrings and pendants such as these.



































But since nothing is allowed to go to waste, even the negative cut-out shapes are put to use.  Here they were used to create some fun bookmarks to give as gifts.  Just need to pick up some tassles of tie some raffia through the eyelet and they will be finished. 

A Gift for You!

At my Friday watercolor class with Sandi Olson, we painted some fun whimsical ice cream cones which I just had to make into earrings for all of my Granddaughters.  Here is a download for you if you would like to make some these darling earrings or charms for your favorite girls.  They are so very easy to make.   Just follow the simple directions on the print out.  Enjoy!
(Creative Commons License is granted).

Gifts of Art Jewelry

These necklaces were very quick to make, except for the drying time of the dimensional lacquer that I used.  I had to fill the bevels twice because of settling, but after three days, they were finished.  Each one was crafted with my DD's and DIL's personalities in mind.  My DIL will be running in her first marathon next month, so I did the bird for her.  (She has wings for feet.) These are very easy to make, you just need the bezels which are available at Hobby Lobby now, some images, rhinestones or other embellishments and some resin or lacquer, like Diamond glaze.  The rhinestones are heirloom vintage and I tried to use every little stone in some sort of jewelry.  These were the last of the lot.

Earring Swap

Lesley is hosting an earring swap over at the Latest Trends. Rusty &/or found objects. Here's a pic of the earrings I made for this swap. I really had fun hunting down the elements to use for these. Somewhere along the line, I managed to either trade for these awesome green flowers or bought them in a bag of other goodies at a yard sale. The cameos were actually buttons that I removed the back of and the red discs are wooden circles that I inked. Join the group and sign up for this swap, there are some pretty amazing earrings already being posted, of which I wouldn't mind wearing!

Dangle Beads

This month over on the Latest Trends, the monthly Not Just Charms Challenge is to create a pair of beaded dangles. It just so happens that also in the Bead on a Wire workshop, (which I am a few weeks behind in), the lesson was to make a pair of beaded dangle earrings or necklace. These will be gifted to someone who volunteered to help me last week with a major overhaul in moving group photos. Hope you enjoy them!

New Challenge

Last week a friend gifted me with these awesome number stamped metal pieces that I thought would make some awesome jewelry. I tried to encourage her to make something with these, but she was determined that I should have them. Well, I did find a use for them and will be gifting the amber beaded bracelet back at her! Thanks Stephanie for your generosity!

Symbols

While playing around one day last week I decided to see what I could create using multiple strands of wire together. With a scrap of paper, a pencil and my jewelry tools, I created this pendant. Using multiple wires posed a few problems that I was able to work out on paper and gave me other ideas for future projects. Experimenting can be lots of fun and rewarding! Give it a try!

Jump Ring Bracelet

I absolutely love creating these twisted jump rings and this project from the Bead on a Wire book was a perfect project for these jump rings. A battery powered drill, some wire and a pair of pliers was all it needed. I was running out of the 18 gauge wire so decided to give the 20 gauge a try. After doubling the wire twice, I inserted it into the drill bit, twisted the wire and cut the jump rings. This worked but, the wire wanted to untwist at the cut end, so I doubt I will be creating any more of these with 20 gauge, unless I need a few in a pinch.

Recycled Golf Shoes?

Well, the cleets are recycled, but no shoes. I found a bag of these cleets in the studio, where they came from ?? who knows. I may have picked them up at a yard sale with the intention of making charms out of them, or recycling these into a bracelet since there are two holes and they would make a wonderful piece of jewelry..hummmm I still have plenty left!

Recycled Charms

The March charm challenge is recycled charms and here are a few of the ones I did. Most of these unique items were sent to me via trades or swaps that I have hosted over the past year. There is a champagne top, a celtic knot embellishment, the butterfly is anybodies guess and the other two are vintage buttons. I had so much fun recycling these that I will have to scour my studio to see what else I can find.

Recycled

The necklace in the post a few days ago was recycled into this bracelet the other day. Unfortunately, this has also been recycled because I used the wrong type of beading wire. Now that I have the correct 49 strand beading wire, I will be restringing this into three individual bracelets instead of one. This was pretty heavy to wear. I just love the amber tube beads in this piece and will definitely be using them up soon!

Bead on a Wire

I am taking a workshop over at the Artists of the Round Table, based on Sharilyn Miller's book, Bead on a Wire...this bracelet was made using the practice pieces from Lesson 5. It is so light weight and dainty you hardly know you are wearing it. I can't say it was easy because I needed 10 pieces of bent wire exactly the same size, but I can say it was fun..the end result was worth the time! Even if you are not participating in this on-line workshop, I would encourage you to buy the book...it will open new avenues for you to explore and give you the best basic knowledge of wire working around!

Coiling Gismo

With the coiling gismo, it is so quick and easy to create a bracelet like this in no time at all. Perhaps it took me an hour or two at the most. I hope to be able to use this bracelet to teach a class in using the "Gismo" at my local bead store, since they carry the very same beads and it is were I bought this beautiful brass over copper wire! I love working with the 18 gauge, much easier, less strength required than using the 16 gauge. LOL!

New Year-New Projects

I started playing around with the
"Gizmo"
yesterday and successfully created this three bead wire wrapped doodah. Not knowing what to do with it, I grabbed Sharilyn Miller's book, Bead on a Wire and got inspired to make it into a brooch. There is an assortment of delicious projects to make, with easy to follow directions, that even a beginner like me, can create some awesome wire wrapped beads. I have only been doing the wire wrapping for a few short months and certainly not everyday, so even beginners can create some fabulous pieces to wear or give as gifts. *See other posts for some Christmas gifts I made this year!

Jewelry

Now that my daughters have received their jewelry for Christmas, I thought I would share these creations with you.

Wire wrapped beaded bracelet

I've started making wire wrapped jewelry based on the easy to follow instructions from the wonderful book titled: Bead on a Wire by: Sharilyn Miller. I've been practicing these techniques for months with the less-expensive craft wire until I felt comfortable with not only the wrapping but with the tools. Now I've switched to the sterling wire and wow, what a difference it has made! I love working with the 18 gauge soft round wire and can't get enough. I've been creating silver jewelry for the past few weeks to give as gifts for the Holidays. I can't post any pictures of these until after Christmas, as my lovely daughters frequently visit my blog to see what I've been up to! This bracelet is my gift to myself for taking the time to learn how to wrap beads. Next step is coil wrapping! I think I'll get the copper wire out for this, along with that handy tool called the "Gismo" and learn how that works! If you have always wanted to learn how to make jewelry, I highly recommend this book! Enjoy!

Chunky Bracelet

I just finished this chunky bracelet of found objects, purchased charms and wonderful old beads from my jewelry box. I had fun making this, even though I doubt I'll ever wear it. It's heavy! I could take half the charms off and make another bracelet, but then it wouldn't have the same effect as this heavily charmed one.