Little Star Earrings: Wire Wrapping Tutorial

I've been making a lot of jewelry lately, but I realized that it's been a while since I posted a jewelry-related tutorial for you all!  So, here's one of my most recent projects, "Little Star" earrings.  You can make your own just like these, or you can substitute whatever beads you want and use it as a basic tutorial for any wire wrapping jewelry project you have in mind.

 

 

To make your own, here's what to do!

 

STEP 1: Gather your supplies 

If you want to replicate these exactly, my tiny star beads are from Consumer Crafts, and my little turquoise czech glass beads are from ArteBella Surplus on Etsy.

STEP 2: Thread wire through holes at the top of your bead and bend the end upward.

STEP 3: Thread your small bead on, covering both pieces of wire.

STEP 4: Use needlenose pliers to bend wire at a 90 degree angle above your top bead.

STEP 5: Grab wire with needlenose pliers and use your hand to wrap the wire around one side to form a loop.

 

STEP 6: Leave the loop on your pliers and grip it firmly with them while using your other hand to wrap the excess wire around until it touches the top of the bead. 

 

STEP 7: Trim excess wire.  Open ear wire, attach to earring, and close.

If you're not familiar with making jewelry, here's a quick tip.  Whenever you open the loop of an ear wire or a jump ring, instead of pulling it apart, twist it to the side, as shown here.  Then, twist it back into place.  It's much easier to get back together correctly that way and doesn't cause the loop to be misshapen or have a gap.

 

STEP 8: Enjoy!  Now they're ready to wear, or to give away!

 

I also made these in purple first.  These tiny purple beads came from Consumer Crafts like the stars did, and they go perfectly with my jersey on game day!  {Go Ravens!}



I initially made them because I had ordered the beads to make a replica of a gorgeous, fabulous, beautiful bracelet created by the talented Adrianne at Happy Hour Projects.  I bought myself most of the same supplies she had and made this...which, of course, demanded some earrings to match it!

If you want to see how to make this bracelet {you know you do!} and to see Adrianne's original, hop on over and check out her clear step-by-step tutorial...I followed it and I'm so pleased with how mine turned out.



Anyway, hope you like the earrings and that the wire wrapping tutorial is helpful to you if you've never tried it before! 

Happy Crafting!

 



Deck the Walls: Smartphone Wallpaper

Well, friends, if you follow One Artsy Mama on Facebook, you may already know my exciting news: I've joined the world of smartphones! We found a plan through T-Mobile that won't break the bank, and I got a Samsung Exhibit II to go with it.  It may not be an iphone, but hey, it's "smart" enough for me!  Now, I can do all kinds of things with my phone that I couldn't do before, and best of all, now hubby won't have to say, "well, there goes 10 cents" every time I get or send a text...lol.

Anyway, in honor of the new phone, I decided to make up some fun wallpapers for myself, and I thought some of you might like to download them as well.  The trickiest part about it has been that the colors look very different on my laptop screen versus when I download them on the phone.  Do you all have that issue too? 

I decided to go with some fun polka dots, and the motto of One Artsy Mama: "create. share. love. inspire." I made some plain ones for the home screen wallpaper and the ones with text for the lock screen wallpaper.  And you know I couldn't help but make a Ravens version too!  Here they are; help yourself to whatever you like if one of them catches your eye!

 

 

 

 

Here's how to get them onto your phone:

 

1. Right click the image you want and save it to your computer.

 

2. Email it to yourself as an attachment.

 

3. Open it on your phone and download to your gallery.

 

4. Open the edit menu and choose "set as wallpaper."

 

Hope you enjoy!  By the way, I have one other phone-related confession to make.

 

Hi, my name is Amy and I'm an instagram-a-haulic.

If you want to follow along and see some cute LC pics, some craft project sneak peeks, and maybe what I had for dinner, you can find me there with the username oneartsymama!

 

Happy Crafting!



What We Wore: Color Blocking and Family Photos

Since we've been talking about photo Christmas cards, I couldn't help but think of the universal family photo dilemma.

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with family photos.  I love, love, LOVE when I get a good one.  I hate the stress of trying to make sure everyone {especially me} looks good and the worst part of all is figuring out what we should wear.  This year, I was really excited about the outfits I came up with for all three of us...but first, let's take a little trip down memory lane.

2008: The Matchy-Matchy

Look!  We're triplets!  Except that one of us is extraordinarily tall and one of us can't eat solid food...  I had no idea what we should wear for our first official family beach photo, so we went with the old everyone-wears-a-white-shirt-and-jeans option.  Meh.  I was never a huge fan of the outfits {or of that extra baby-weight}.

 

2009: Coordination Citation

This time, I decided we needed color!  I thought royal blue would look nice with the ocean, so I packed a blue sundress and LC's Hawaiian shirt.  I then forced hubby to buy a matching polo at the Myrtle Beach Target.  We didn't manage to get an entire family pic that year, apparently.

 

2010: Opposites Attract

I knew I didn't want the all white and denim look again, so we tried a new option; black and white.  To mix it up a little, I had the boys do white shirts and black pants, while I did the opposite.  Why is it that the random stranger we ask to take our beach photo is the one who has never seen a DSLR camera in his or her life?  And who is apparently unwilling to get out of the comfy beach chair to take the picture...Um, hello, don't mind us, we're just floating in the clouds...

 

We did get this pic, though, which is one of my all time faves...

 

2011: Random Pop of Color

The motto for this one is "I forgot to plan our outfits so let's see what we can scrounge up out of our suitcases."  Hubs and I both had black tops, LC didn't.  So, he was turqouise.  It looked great in his solo pictures, but our family pic was just kind of awkward.  Icky lighting too...sigh.

 

 

2012: Color Blocking SUCCESS!

This year, I think I finally got a winning combination!  I built everything around my own outfit and the idea of color blocking.  I went with jewel tones; a royal blue skirt from Old Navy, a magenta top from NY&Co, and turquoise jewelry I made myself.

 

 

As for the boys...LC had a turquoise polo and khaki shorts, and the hubs had a great plaid shirt from Target that incorporated both the turquoise and the royal blue.  Which meant...we looked great together!  We coordinated without being too matchy-matchy, and there were enough colors to keep things interesting to the eye.

LC and I coordinated on our own, and he also coordinated with his Daddy.

 

 Our entire family beach photo was {once again} a fail...bad lighting, bad exposure.  Sigh.  One day we'll get it right.  For now, our best family photo is the one taken in the hotel lobby.  Such is life.

 

This is by far my favorite outfit combination we've come up with.  I also found that I can easily adapt my own outfit for fall by adding a cute little magenta cardigan and a turqouise belt, along with some tights and boots.  What's your favorite way to plan family photo outfits?

 

And, don't miss out on the $50 Shutterfly giveaway so you can order your own holiday cards!

 



 

Holiday Cards and a Shutterfly Giveaway!

Christmas is coming!  Can you believe it?  Before you know it, we'll be eating turkey, the stores will be playing carols and featuring this year's hottest toys, and we'll be heading full spead into the holidays.  A few years ago, I decided I wanted to make December as stress-free as possible, so that I can enjoy the season with my family and focus on its real meaning.  Which means that I try to have all my shopping finished by Black Friday, and I have my cards ready to go {but not mailed yet} before December hits. 

 

This year, we're ordering our photo Christmas Cards from Shutterfly, and I'm all set to press the button, except that I'm torn.  I can't decide which design I want to order.  So, I'm hoping you can help me!  I'm going to show you my choices and then make you vote at the bottom.  Seriously.  If you've met me, you know I'm uber-indecisive, so you'll believe that I really haven't made up my mind yet and am waiting for you all to do it for me...haha.   AND I've got a great giveaway to offer you too, so read on! 

 

I've actually made them all up with our photos and info, because hey, it gives me {and you} a much better idea of how they'll look than using those gorgeous stock-photo people, right?  We're keepin' it real...these are the cards.

 

OPTION 1: WE BELIEVE

This is the first card design that caught my eye when I looked at the {many} choices.  I love the bright, fun colors, as well as the bold "We Believe!"  I also like that you can get so many pictures on there.  I left them in color because it seemed like some color in each photo tied in with the colors in the letters and complimented it...

 

 

OPTION 2: BLESSED

It's funny, this is pretty much the opposite of Option 1; elegant and sophisticated instead of fun, and black and white instead of color, but something about it really appeals to me.  I like the wording as well as the photo layout.  It's also available with black instead of the red, but I preferred having some color to it.

 

 OPTION 3: ALWAYS MERRY

The big draw for me with this card {and the next one} is that you can put a little summary of your year right there on the front.  The other designs allow you to put a little photo and some text on the back, but this one has it right there for everyone to see.  It saves me the trouble of writing a Christmas letter...

OPTION 4: FAITH AND FAMILY

I like this one for the same reason, the little 'blurb' on the front where you can summarize the highlights of the year for your family and friends.  And I like the "Family and Faith" part.  I may like the colors of this one a little better than Option 3, especially with our beach photos, but I'm still torn.  Aaaahhhh! 

 

*edited to add: Many of you suggested making the top image of Option 4 a colored one rather than the black and white, so here's how that would look:*

 

 



There, do you see why I'm so undecided?  They're all too stinkin' cute!  Hellllllllp!  I'd be so grateful if you'd take a minute to vote and give me your opinion.  I'll be sure to let you know the outcome!  And, while you're at it, you can enter the giveaway below for $50 credit on a Shutterfly order!

 

 

Shutterfly is letting me offer one reader $50 off an order.

{doesn't include shipping and cannot be combined with any other offer}

Rafflecopter will walk you through the entry process; good luck!

Oh, and be sure to check out Shutterfly's special offers too!

 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: I am being compensated by Shutterfly with free product for writing this review.  However, all opinions are entirely my own, and one of these designs will in fact be our family's holiday card.*

Shine on Fridays #51 {and a giveaway}!

 

Can you believe the weekend is just around the corner already?!   Here's what's new at One Artsy Mama, in case you missed it this week!

 

Sign up for the first annual One Artsy Mama Ornament Exchange!



 

Grow Your Blog: Getting Featured...my best tips for getting the attention you deserve!

 

Easy Magnets: A Kiddo Craft

 

Also, stop by Top 10 Thursdays to see ten of my favorite projects from last week's party!  Here's a peek at one of the most viewed links:

A Dozen Family Themed Costumes: Tales of a Trophy Wife

 



Congratulations to Jodi, winner of last week's giveaway, the owl necklace!

 

This week's party is sponsored by Blythe from The Desperate Craftwives, and boy are you going to love her giveaway!  Here she is...

Hi! I'm Blythe from Desperate Craftwives! The Desperate Craftwives blog features crafting tutorials, recipes, party ideas, kids activities and handmade jewelry tutorials. I'd love for you to check it out and maybe follow along!

 

Shine On Fridays is one of my favorite Linky Parties, so I am excited to be offering today's giveaway! My Etsy shop features Custom Hand Stamped Jewelry and one lucky reader can win a Hand Stamped Copper Cuff Bracelet. The bracelet can be personalized with names, dates, quotes, etc. and can have either a smooth or hammered finish.

 

Good Luck!

Now, PARTY ON!!!!!

Thanks so much, Blythe, for this fantastic prize!  Aren't they gorgeous, you guys?  I so want one, lol!  Rafflecopter will walk you through the entry process.  Good luck!

 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok, it's party time!!

Show off your fabulous creations with us and be inspired by what others have created!

Please link up crafts, recipes, home decor, etc.

We can't wait to see what you've been up to lately!!

If you're going to play along with us, pretty please:
- follow both co-hosts

- grab a party button and put it somewhere on your blog
- have fun and visit some other friends
- no commercial sites

- send us Starbucks gift cards {just kidding...kind of!}

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