Light coral Swarovski pearl and gold chain bracelet

Was // $12
Now // $9.60

http://www.etsy.com/listing/129962980

What you need:

• thin, delicate silver chain. I picked mine up from Jo-Ann’s.
• silver curved bar bead. Pictured above are 3mm x 50 mm purchased from Beadaholique.
• clasp of your choice. I used a small spring ring clasp.
• pliers

1. Cut your desired length of chain. I wanted my necklace to be a bit shorter, so I cut 18″ of chain.

2. Slide the curved bead onto the chain.

3. Attach your clasp.

4. And you’re done!

Minimal jewelry and silver bar accessories seem to be extremely trendy right now — and I adore how this bead sits on the chain.

Do you have any other awesome ideas for minimal jewelry? Share yours in the comments below!

This week’s featured item from my Etsy shop is the shiny white knotted nautical rope bracelet with silver anchor charm.

The bracelet is made of 4mm shiny white rope, tied in a nautical style knot. It features a petite silver plated anchor shaped charm.

For more information on the item, visit the Etsy listing.

I can facilitate nearly every custom order, so if you’re interested in any sort of variation on any item in my shop, get in touch with me!

The shop front of Helloberry on Etsy

As of late I have found myself often wandering down the children’s craft aisles at all my local craft stores. Since I adore all things bright, shiny and gawdy, there’s usually something within those aisles that draws my attention, and often aids in some much needed inspiration.

I kept noticing these colorful, flat strands of plastic, that I’ve now been made aware are referred to as craft lace. It is ridiculously inexpensive, as I picked up a roll of 100 yards for a mere $2.99 — and that was before my 25% coupon for Jo-ann’s.

It seemed almost ironic that I stumbled across the Helloberry shop on Etsy when I did, as I had been desperate to find a reason to use this stuff. This entire shop was exactly the inspiration I needed, and I have now began executing of a plethora of possibilities.

Summer 2012 mini smoothies // $15.19

This Toronto based shop markets many of their wrist accessories as “smoothies,” which is entirely fitting seeing as though there is a wide array of bright, fun colors.

The only minor drawback about Helloberry’s items is the price tag. But, in the shop’s defense, each item looks as though it is quality made and that appear to have a worthy amount of time put into them.

Gold dust swirl // $36.03

Helloberry lattice in peach // $20.08

Limited edition wishing heart // $20.59

You can shop all of Helloberry’s bright, bold items on Etsy. They can also be found on Facebook, and at www.helloberryinc.com.

This year there has been a surplus of tutorials featuring plain rhinestones painted with colorful nail polish. The effect is quite cool and I had been wanting to give it a go myself.

What you need:

• rhinestones. An assortment of any sort, but preferably clear acrylic. I used 25mm, 18mm and 13mm round stones.
• nail polish. I used three different shades of my favorite color, purple. I also grabbed a clear top coat.
• felt. You will want to use one sheet of sticky and one sheet of regular felt. I chose black.
• findings: two small ribbon clasps, two extra large jump rings, two small/medium jump rings, one clasp.
• ribbon
• super glue
• scissors

Wrap a piece of tape around the tip of a toothpick. This will serve as a base for each rhinestone, making it immensely easier to paint without making a mess. I used one toothpick per stone.

Start painting each individual gem, however many you plan to use in whatever colors you desire. I painted three 25mm stones in dark purple, four in the medium shade on 18mm, and six of the lightest shade of purple in size 13mm. I applied two coats to each stone, and then a clear top coat as well. Set all of the rhinestones aside and make sure to let them dry thoroughly.

Attach the sticky sided felt to the regular sheet of felt. This will serve as a more sturdy base to place the gems.

Place a bit of super glue on the back of each gem and place each onto the felt in which ever way you desire. It’s best to plan this step out prior to gluing.

TIP // Place the gems as close to the edge of the felt without compromising your design. This will make things easier when you’re cutting out your gems.

Use extra sharp scissors to cut your design out of the fabric. Make sure to leave an extra bit of felt at the ends in order to place the ribbon clasps.

Press a ribbon clasp onto either end of the necklace, securing each with pliers.

Decide how long you would like your necklace to be and cut a piece of ribbon accordingly, making sure to leave extra for knots. Tie each end to an extra large jump ring and secure them with two knots.

Attach a smaller jump ring and clasp to one end of the necklace, and just a smaller jump ring to the other. I also tied a bow around one side, as I’m always a fan of an asymmetrical look.

And that’s it!

Have any questions about this tutorial? Use the comments below or feel free to email me (ammame33@gmail.com) and I’d be happy to help!

I will forever be a fan of anything big, bright and shiny when it comes to jewelry. So, it’s fitting that basically any sort of rhinestones or gems are always one of my favorite things to create with.

This year I have noticed a prevalent trend that includes rhinestones and pops of bright color, therefore it is a trend that is right up my alley.

Look for a tutorial focusing on exactly this trend on Wednesday!

The shop front of Hello Zee on Etsy

Friendship bracelets are another trend that are making their triumphant return — and that trend can definitely be found in many shops on Etsy.

They’re coming back with a bit more flare, though, as many DIY-ers now embellish the traditional threaded friendship bracelet with chains or strings of rhinestones.

Lindzey Snyder, owner of Etsy shop Hello Zee, has mastered the art of the nu-wave friendship bracelet.

Each piece in the Hello Zee shop is bright and beautifully crafted. Snyder has one of the Etsy shop essentials down without question — the manner in which she photographs each piece brings her shop together in a very cohesive manner. As I’ve stated before, I love big, vibrantly colored pieces photographed on a plain or white background, which puts this shop into one of my favorites just for that alone.

Neon Violet & Neutral – Chevron Braided Modern Friendship Bracelet // $13.00

Neon Key Lime & Neutral – 3 Looks In 1 // $15.00

Cerulean & Soft Copper Leather – Chevron Braided Modern Friendship Bracelet // $13.00

Ombre Necklace Bracelet Combo – Chevron Braided Modern Friendship Bracelet // $15.00

You can shop Hello Zee on Etsy and find it on Facebook to “like” as well.

There are several different ways to create bows, especially in terms of hair accessories. This week I’ll provide a step-by-step tutorial of how to create one specific kind of bow. It is a bit more time consuming than others, but it results in something really cute — and it’s still really simple.

What you need:

• ribbon. Any kind, any color, any size. The ribbon I used in this tutorial is actually from a spool I’ve had since my senior year in high school. I only remember this because I actually used it when I created my prom dress.
• a gem/a bunch of gems/any embellishment. There are so many possibilities here, almost as many as the choices of ribbon you have. For this, I decided to go with a purple rectangle shaped gemstone, as I felt it complemented the pink ribbon well.
• french barrette
• superglue. I’ll always be a fan of Loctite.
• scissors

The first step is determined by how large you would like the bow to be. I suggest creating one loop of one side of the bow, and then doubling that length. I started with a strip of ribbon measuring 8.5″.

Next, attach the strip of ribbon by gluing about a half inch portion of one side, then connect the two ends.

Cut a small strip of ribbon that will go around the center of the loop three times. This will be the center of the bow, and the place to set your gem.

Place a bit of glue on the inner center of the loop, then press the top part of the loop down — making two even loops on either side to form the bow.

Place another bit of glue on the center and set the smaller piece of ribbon on the front center of the bow.

Glue the remaining extra sides to the back of the bow. No worries if this part gets messy — no one will be able to see the backside as it will be affixed to the barrette.

gemDrop a bit of glue on the back of the rhinestone and place on the middle of the bow.

Cut two even strips of ribbon that will serve as the end pieces. Trim one end straight across and the other diagonal.

Cut a “V” into the straight ends of the ribbon.

Then affix each small piece of ribbon to its respective side of the back of the bow with glue.

Place a line of glue along the top of the barrette and press it onto the back of the bow. Make sure the bow is touching the entire length of the barrette.

And you’re done!

Have any questions about this tutorial? Use the comments below or feel free to email me (ammame33@gmail.com) and I’d be happy to help!

The ribbon aisle in any craft store is a weak spot for me. Most of the time I find myself completely avoiding the aisles filled with colorful spools of every kind of type of ribbon you can imagine — just because I have far too much of the stuff.

This week’s tutorial will focus on using up some of my mass collection of ribbon.

I also love my Galaxy Nexus phone possibly more than any other possession, and its OS, Android, is another one of my favorite things. Obviously, I was really excited to find out that there are Android apps available from both of the craft stores that I frequent most that allow me to conveniently save money.

Before these apps, one had to rely on remembering to print out any coupons available prior to heading to the store. If you’re like me, you’d run the risk of forgetting them at home or somehow misplacing them before you reached the store. Now, all you have to do is have your smart phone handy.

Michael’s

I tend to go to Michael’s more often, therefore have found myself opening up this app a lot more. The app offers a lot of features other than just coupons, like what weekly deals are happening, a store locator, and more.

There is a slight formatting issue, as my phone’s screen is larger than most, and in some of the pages you can see that the content doesn’t stretch to meet the dimension of my screen. That doesn’t affect the way the application runs, though.

The coupons come equipped with a bar code that can be scanned at the register.

The Michael’s app can be found in the Google Play Store either online or through your phone.

Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann’s app seems to be a bit more buggy, but it still manages to do its job. Similarly to Michael’s, there are other features to choose from within the app aside from coupons.

You can view the current coupons and add them to your “wallet.” When you open the coupon it provides a numeric code rather than a bar code, and so far Jo-Ann employees have just asked me to read the code to them.

The Jo-ann app can also be found in the Google Play Store either online or via phone.

Another awesome thing about these stores is that they both accept competitor coupons. Unfortunately, though, to do that they need the actual printed out coupons, therefore these apps don’t work in that aspect.

I’m not a big fan of Apple or the iPhone, but I would bet that they have similar apps, if not the same ones, available as well.

Happy saving!