Blog for Beaders

Sherri, the assistant launch coordinator at Artbeads.com, brought in this captivating Christmas tree design to show us something fun and beautiful that can be done with costume jewelry. All of the pieces in this design once belonged to Sherri’s grandmother, who created this tree when she was done wearing the jewelry.

Sparkling bracelets frame the tree, while brooches, pins and earrings create an eclectic interior. If you look closely, you’ll notice that Christmas lights peak through small holes placed throughout the design, giving it a festive glow when plugged into the wall. This piece has weathered many years, and some of the settings have lost their jewels. To restore it, Sherri plans to reset those spaces with cabochons. She also wants to create a star for the top of the tree that will match the rest of the current design.

Making something like this Christmas tree is a great way to display vintage jewelry that otherwise might never see the light of day. You could easily create a design full of meaning using pieces you remember your own grandmother wearing. To add a steampunk feel to the design, try introducing a few fancy keys and clockwork pieces into the mix.

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Julie’s Bead Pen

For this Bead Pen I used the GOOD N PLENTY Fire Designs Hand Blown Furnace Glass mix, the TierraCast Antique Silver 10mm Legend Large Hole Spacer and the TierraCast Antique Silver 10mm Flower Large Hole Spacer. I knew I wanted to use the Good-N-Plenty Fire Designs, but I couldn’t decide between the spacers so I bought both. After getting all the pieces I played with different combinations before I decided to just use both spacers. I love how this pen turned out and use it daily.

Julie’s Earrings

I was inspired to make these earrings by one of my coworkers. This earring is one 7 inch earthread that is wrapped through both holes. I considered different combinations of beads and pendants before deciding on the Swarovski hearts and faceted rounds. Because it is all one piece, you can adjust the length in different spots, or change the beads, to create a new unique earring.

–Submitted by Artbeads.com employee Julie M.

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Last summer, we drove through the beautiful states of Montana and Wyoming. While in a souvenir shop, our 12-year-old son bought two arrowheads, one made of stone and the other made of bone.
Back at home he had the idea to make a pendant with his purchase. I gave him some hemp cord, and he went to work.
You can imagine my surprise when I saw what he came up with! The only help he had was with gluing the knot and the leather necklace behind the arrowheads.
I think he did a great job!

Cynthia Kimura,
President and co-owner of Artbeads.com

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Hi! My name is Teri, I work in the shipping department of Artbeads.com.
We never like to see Summer come to an end. That was the inspiration for my “I’ll remember Summer” charm bracelet. The warmth of antiqued copper in symbols of plants and trees growing my garden along with some animal visitors. From the four foot Ginkgo Biloba tree, I planted for future generations, the giant maple, to the grape arbors. The gemstone dangles are Moonstone and Sunstone with hammered bead caps and 3mm copper beads. Chain by the foot for the bracelet, a simple toggle and a handful of jump rings. The TierraCast pewter charms make it so much fun to put a bracelet together…the hard part is deciding which ones to use!

I hope you’ll be inspired to express yourself with a new charm bracelet!
Thanks for your interest,
- By Artbeads.com employee Teri McCamish

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Hi,
My name is Drew and I work in the Customer Service Department at Artbeads.com. I was inspired by the Renaissance Fair recently to work on some chainmaille jewelry and incorporate some sparkle using the beautiful Swarovski crystals that we sell. This piece has lots of sparkle and it makes me feel sooooo classy when I wear it to work.

Thanks,

Drew Britain

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I work in Customer Service at Artbeads.com. I used the “Butterflies and Bumble Bees” pattern from the Learning Center with a few changes. I used 8mm Swarovski Bicones in Purple Velvet and Tanzanite AB. Those are awesome colors together! I used the Hill Tribe Silver Butterfly Beads (HTS110) and the Small Flower Pendant(HTS048). The accent beads are 6mm Sterling Silver Round Beads (SS-RND6) and Antique Silver Beaded Heishi Spacers (SA-0407). The toggle clasp is also a flower theme (SS-TOG49) to complete this piece.

To see Visit our Employee Gallery of Designs to see more great ideas!

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I work at Artbeads.com. I wanted to add some bling to my little car, so I got a few license plate frames and some Swarovski Flatback Rhinestones. I used the colors Cobalt, Light Sapphire AB, and Light Siam for these 3 frames. I can’t decide on which one I really like–they all look great!!

- Artbeads.com employee Barbara

Do you have a design that uses all or mostly artbeads.com products? Click here to learn how you can submit your designs to our blog.

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Hello, My name is Megan and I work at Artbeads.com in the Product Marketing Department. I’ve always loved the Lillypilly Shell Pendants and a couple months ago I was going through some product and came across the light olive swirling ivy pendants. As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to make them into earrings. To dress them up a little, I added 3 freshwater pearls.

Do you have a design that uses all or mostly artbeads.com products? Click here to learn how you can submit your designs to our blog.

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My name is Barbara. I work in Customer Service at Artbeads.com. I used the Vintage Look Link Necklace pattern from the Learning Center and instead of using Swarovski Pearls, I used Swarovski Channel Set Links and Channel Drops in the colors Black Diamond, Jet and Crystal.

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By Kristy Hager, Art Department Lead

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