Gold and Pearls - A dangle earring tutorial!

Some new earrings have shown up in my Etsy shop and I am in love!  If these do well, I may start doing a lot more pieces like them.

Because I love them SO much, I'm going to tell you how I made them!

Materials

•  5 - 6 inches of 20 gauge gold wire
• 2 Glass pearls, I got some vintage ones for a steal at a thrift store
• Gold earring findings (Or you could make your own with wire)
• Clear Crystal beads, side drilled hole

First thing, I took my pearl and put it on a looped finding.  Then, because I like the look of wrapped loops, I used my round nosed pliers and made a loop a bit above my pearl.  I then wrapped the rest of the wire down until I got to the pearl and I clipped off the excess.

 

Next, I did a briolette wrap on the crystal bead.  I had a side drilled crystal but this process would work beautifully on a front to back drilled one as well.  For a tutorial on how to do a briolette wrap, check out this super informative website!  How to Make Beaded Jewelry

Lastly, the easy part!  I opened the non-wrapped loop on the pearl bead, this should be on the bottom side, and put the loop from the top of my crystal on it.  Close the loop.  Then I opened the loop on the earring post and put the wrapped loop on the top of the pearl bead on that.  Close the loop.

TA-DA!  You just made some super pretty, super simple earrings!  These are sooo cute for formal occasions, but you could wear these just about any 'ol time.  These would also be really pretty with different colored beads and crystals, or silver wire!  Experiment, have fun!

If you are interested in buying some of these lovelies for yourself (or a friend!) please check out my etsy shop by clicking the link in the sidebar.  

**THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, DO NOT MAKE THESE AND ATTEMPT TO SELL THEM.**

Have fun and make something pretty today!

 

Button Earring Alert!

A few weeks ago, my sister and I were crafting up a storm and I decided to make a ton of adorable button earrings!  These are so cute that we both ended up keeping a pair, I wear them more than I'd like to admit!  Here are some of my favorites!

These are so sparkly and cute!

Diggin' the nautical theme of these buttons!

Polka dots... be still my beating heart!

The scroll work on these is just so pretty and intricate!

To see more and purchase some for yourself (or a lucky friend!) click on the link in my sidebar labeled "etsy shop!"

Or you just click this link!

uniqueOLIVE at etsy.com!

hello world.

Well here I go.  Started up my new blog today, here is hoping that it doesn't suck too badly or that I forget about it all the time, like my old blog...

In these pages you'll find crafting tutorials, ramblings, shameless advertising for my etsy shop, uniqueOLIVE, and disgusting personal details about my life.  I'll try and make it informative and funny, but it will probably just be that last bit.

Coming soon is a super awesome tutorial on the already over-done freezer paper stenciling.  Mine is different though... it's a multi-layered approach that I may or may not have learned from graffiti stenciling.

OH and let me tell you a bit about myself, before I space off and eat my second lunch.

My name is Nicole (hi, how are ya?) and I live in Iowa near our capital city of Des Moines.  It is a pretty quiet life around here, for now.  My husband, whom I will refer to as Bean, and I have two awesome dogs, Roxie and Mel.  They are both rescue dogs and we couldn't love them more.  Also, we have a terrible awesome cat named Hobbes, who is mostly a douche but can also be classified as a fat orange tabby cat.  The fella and I are also pregnant (and by we I mean ONLY ME) with our first kidlet.

Some thoughts on pregnancy - only believe half of the horrible stories people tell you and none of the good ones.  So far, I've gotten pretty lucky as far as the crappy parts of pregnancy are concerned.  I have some stretch marks on my thighs (BOO) but they are minimal.  None on the belly area yet, thanks to Bean's constant cocoa buttering.  Boobs are massively huge now, Bean loves it, I hate it.  I started at an already pretty awesome 34 D and am now sitting uncomfortably at a 36 DD.  I have very little in the way of varicose or spider veins, which is cool.  I'm at about 30 weeks right now and have gained a massive 20 pounds to my not-so-huge frame.  People tell me I look beautiful and that I don't look close to 7 months pregnant, but what the hell do they know.  I started at my highest ever weight, roughly 140 pounds and am now ringing the 160 bell.  It probably is going to piss someone off that I'm complaining about it, but to each their own.  I hated being at 140, my ideal weight is more in the 115 range... and now I'm at 160 and still climbing.

The baby is cool and healthy and whatnot, but being pregnant was not something that I was fully and completely mentally prepared for.  More to come on this.

If you are reading this, you probably stumbled here by accident, but thanks.

- Nicole