New location!

I have moved to another location, to view what's new go to: jewelry-making-ideas.com

I will still be adding to this occasionally, but more often to the other website.

Thanks for looking!

Creative Jewelry Ideas- Simple Earrings

You can create simple, beautiful earrings at one tenth the price you would pay for the same thing at a store.

What you need:

Tools

Wire Cutters
Needle nose pliers (or Wire curling pliers)

Supplies

Chain

Earring Hooks

Headpins

Your choice of beads

Start by deciding how long you want your earrings and cut off a length of chain. Take one headpin and string one bead onto it. Cut the headpin about 1/2" longer than the bead and curl the end of the wire to make a loop. Now connect the loop onto the end of the chain and close the loop. On the opposite end of the chain, open the end chain and attach it to the earring hook and close the chain. You're done! A beautiful set of earrings in no time at all! You can change the look by adding one, two or three chains of different lengths on the same earring or by adding another bead to the end. The top left photo has shells on the ends instead of beads and has 5 chains on each earring. Play around with this and see what you can come up with.

TIP: Don't throw away the ends of the headpins that you cut off. Use them by curling one end and stringing on a bead and then curling the other end. When you get enough of them you can hook them end to end and make earrings, a bracelet or a necklace, and all you are using is scraps of your wire and a few beads!

Stretchy Bracelets- How-to

If you haven't ever made jewelry before, the easiest AND CHEAPEST place to start is with stretchy bracelets. All you need is Stretch Jewelry Cord (you can buy it from any craft store) and a package of beads. After you have decided what beads you want, make sure you get cord that will fit through your beads. The cord diameter range from .5mm to 1.5mm. I suggest that if your beads have small holes that you get either .5mm or .7mm. This is still strong, but small enough to fit in the beads. If you want stronger, I wouldn't get any bigger than 1mm or you will probably have a hard time finding beads that fit on the stretch cord.

To make, just string your beads and tie a knot in the cord. Either a square knot or knoting both strands together holds best. Just make sure to pull the knot tight a few times so it doesn't come apart!

TIP: Things to think about when buying beads: Will I have anything to wear this with? What colors do I have most in my wardrobe?