DIY Rose Dangle Earrings Tutorial

I just loved making these pretty rose themed dangle earrings, but my favorite part was creating a themed and functional flower vase earring card holder for this gift. I got to finally use some long lost card making supplies to create an earring card holder in a floral theme to mimic the earrings. I learned many new techniques such as using embossing powder and watercoloring with Crayola markers.

For these dangle earrings you will need:

• 2 two – three inch head pins
• 2 rose themed beads (I purchased at Michaels)
• 2-4 bicones or rondelles, size 4 – 6 mm
• 4 metal disk spacers, size 2-4 mm
• 2 French style/ fish hook ear wires
• round nose pliers
• bent nose pliers
• flat nose pliers
• nipper tool/ flush cutters

These earrings are ultra simple to make once you get the hang of the various tools and using your wrist to re-position as you either create a simple loop or a wrapped wire loop. I prefer the wire wrapped loops because they are more secure, more snug to the beads and offer a lovely spiral/ circular design element in the wrap. You can extend your wrapped loops to create a bead cap scenario if desired, but I would suggest only doing that for large beads over the size 18 mm.

Click here to view the earring jewelry making tutorial. Please follow it over directly to my YouTube channel, then comment, thumb’s up and SUBSCRIBE to help support my handmade business and future craft tutorial projects.

Have a sparkle-riffic day and happy beading!

DIY Mother’s Day Earring Card & Flowers

I meant to have this posted yesterday, however, the workshop and website grand re-opening have consumed my editing time table. lol.

I created a special cardmaking project that stretched me a little bit outside of my regular jewelry making and instruction comfort zone. The end result taught me several new artistic techniques, gave me some wonderful ideas for future holiday workshops and allowed me to use several of my scrapbooking supplies that had been previously unused and just languishing in my closet.

I was asked to teach a Mother’s Day themed workshop at one of the local community centers here in El Paso at Galatzan Park. Although there was not a lot of advertising time to really get the word out, there were about 20 responses which will hopefully pave the way to future fun classes at that location. I’m excited for the upcoming Father’s Day Workshops at the Don Haskins and Galatzan Centers.

This project involves various regular and glitter cardstocks, floral and bright scrapbook paper stacks, Crayola markers, Daisy punch by Fiskars, Mason Jar  and Retro Flower punches by EK Success, embossing powder, Versamark clear ink, sheer ribbon, glue, foam dots, water, paint brushes, Bead Landing earring punch, and earring jewelry making components in a rose theme.

For video tutorials on how to assemble this fun floral card vase and rose earrings, please visit my YouTube channel to watch, comment, like and SUBSCRIBE! Click here to purchase the rose dangle earrings at Etsy.

I hope everyone had a sparkle-riffic Mother’s Day!

 

Sweepstakes Link to Fire Mountain Gems Jewelry Supplies Giveaway

Sweepstakes: Win $500 of Jewelry-Making Supplies from
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads!

Enter to Win!

Enter 1 time every day* until March 30, 2016  for your chance at beads, Accu-Flex® beading wire, Swarovski® crystal, pearls, tools, Zebra Wire™ and So. Much. More!

If any of my fellow beading friends are interested, I just got the message above that Fire Mountain Gems is having a free beading supplies giveaway. Please just click my affiliate referral link here or above so I get credit. I’d sure appreciate it. You can enter every day at least 1ce. Good luck and have a sparkle-riffic day!

DIY Storage Gift for Crafters: Bead & Embellishment Tin Video Tutorial

After taking a beading class several years ago, I wanted to share the sparkles about this little gem of a gift. A now dear friend of mine who taught the class, gave me a bead tin and even included a little pair of scissors with a darling bead dangle on it. I still use that bead tin and scissors to this day! I have also now made several more bead tins for myself, as functional gifts for friends and my own jewelry students. So, special thanks to Gloria for giving me this great gift idea!

Special tips:

1. Using E-6000 jewelry glue instead of hot glue reduces your chance of lumps underneath the felt or beading mat (hot glue cools VERY quickly on the metal lid).
2. For bead weavers, felt may snag on your thin beading needles. A better alternative is to cut your circle piece from a bead mat made of velvet, velour or foam.
3. Lovely gift giving idea is to include a small pair of beading scissors and/or a few strands of beads for the recipient.
4. Reuse, reduce and recycle by using up some of those clanky tins you’ve got cluttering up your kitchen cabinets!
5. This is also a great gift idea for scrapbookers that attend scrap parties and swap embellishments.

Please watch the video tutorial over at my YouTube channel, give me a thumb’s up there if you like it and please SUBSCRIBE for more crafty content.

If you make this for yourself or as a gift for fellow beading or scrapbooking enthusiasts, please hashtag your photo #SparkleByMonica at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram so that I can see your designs! Have a sparkle-riffic Valentine’s Day and happy beading!

A Sparkletale…The Sparkly Beader

So…as usual…I’m late to the technical guru partay, but I have now officially tried my hand at iMovie via my lovely Rose Gold Apple iPhone 6S Plus. I must say that I think this little sparkly fairytale a.k.a. sparkletale turned out to be pretty cute.

I included a mix of current projects and past designs with a little help from some friends and maybe a cat or two. So, grab a frosty beverage and prepare to be sparkle-fied, my speeps (that’s sparkly peeps)! lol

Special thanks to my friends and family for allowing me to showcase some jewelry designs I made using their photos, as well as my previous models Joan, Amanda, Linda and Troop Tritapoe.

If you’ve previously received items from me as a gift or purchased them directly and would like to be included in future showcases, please hashtag #sparklebymonica at Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on a photo of you wearing the piece(s). Have a sparkle-riffic day, everyone!

Help Me Choose and Score Some Sparkle!

UPDATE: Sadly, I didn’t have much participation in this contest. The few entries received did not use both hashtags for the contest. So….maybe next time? Sniffles. Gotta get more sparkly peeps engaged in my giveaways. I’ll try another one soon. Thanks to the two gals who tried. I appreciated your response in the survey, too! 

I’ve been working my sparkly fingers to the bone updating my old website to get ready for a grand opening, complete with eCommerce directly on my new site. In the course of sparks flying off my keyboard and beading mat, I’ve decided to offer a giveaway in return for some much needed feedback for what to name my new collections.

Please take about 3-5 minutes to answer these two questions which will help me choose the names of my handmade jewelry collections. This will also offer valuable insight into trends and potential avenues for me to expand my brand.

Simply take the survey between now and noon Mountain time on Tuesday February 9, 2016; like/ follow me and then share the survey link via Facebook or Twitter with the hashtags #scoresparkle and #SparkleByMonica. (If you are already a fan or follower of my social media above, you are halfway there and can just use the hashtags mentioned). This will allow me to see who has entered so I may contact the winner.

I will be giving away a sparkle-riffic Valentine themed piece of handmade jewelry (either a bracelet, earrings or necklace) to a randomly selected survey respondent.

The winner will be announced Wednesday afternoon February 10, 2016 by 5:00 p.m. Mountain time. Have a sparkle-riffic day and good luck!

Ten Things You Shouldn’t Say When Pricing Handmade Items| Re-blogged & Expanded

I loved this article about handmade pricing issues. I make handmade jewelry and know that I have under priced many items. I began making jewelry for some party favors that quickly turned into a new hobby, which has now developed into a full time job and beading obsession!

Because I have mainly sold on Etsy until recently, my low pricing was a necessity because there is too much competition and dilution regarding jewelry items. For instance when I began, there were a gazillion Twilight charm bracelets. Today’s search only yields 223, of which only 1 of my designs shows on page 5 of 6. This is because I removed “Twilight” from my tags and titles to avoid trademark violations with that term (a topic for another blog post). Therefore a person searching for “Twilight charm bracelet” won’t see me in the search results because mine are tagged “vampire charm bracelets” or some other derivative.

Now that I’m transitioning from a hobby to a full time business and putting eCommerce directly onto my website, I am adjusting the pricing at my site. My new price formula will more accurately reflect a desirable hourly pay rate when factoring in my time. I will keep the same pricing of previously listed items at Etsy, but it will be the fresh pricing model for brand new items and collections directly on my site.

I think those of us that make handmade items get suckered into the feeling of offering “friends and family” pricing. We keep a hobbyist mentality, instead of using our business sense the same way that we do regarding regular hourly employment. This is either because of our own uncertainty due to inexperience and confidence or because customers complain about our items being too expensive. (This much chagrined statement comes to mind: “I can get this for $5 at Wal-Mart” – admit it…you’ve heard this one before). 

If you work for a business for more than a year, you generally expect some sort of raise in salary. In the handmade realm, however, you are responsible for pricing to include increases for cost of living, supplies, shipping, packaging, breakage, liability, overhead (if you sell at craft fairs or have a store front), etc. Too often we try to be the nice guy or maybe we’re just assuming a value (you know what they say about that)…and we undercut ourselves to the point of not making a genuine income. 

Research your industry, be vigilant about your SEO keywords, join handmade groups and communities to see what your peers are doing, read trade magazines and invest in training to increase your skills. By making yourself more skillful and knowledgeable, you can build your confidence to more accurately price your products, which in turn validates your authority to create a respectable income for yourself.

Have a sparkle-riffic day, everyone!

Source: Ten things you shouldn’t say when pricing handmade items | Life’s Big Canvas

Crafters Unite: Beading Storage Tool Box & Inexpensive Findings

So glad I came across a fellow YouTuber’s review vlog of some handy storage container carriers and findings. I followed her lead and ordered the headpins and jumprings multi packs (along with a bunch of neat lampwork glass Christmas beads) from Oriental Trading…and went to Harbor Freight to pick up these 10 Tray Utility Boxes with my 20% off coupon. The 1,000 bulk pack headpins and jumprings may sound expensive at $17.50 and $12.99, but they actually average up to or a little over 1 cent per piece. All excellent purchases!

Since The Frugal Crafter’s video didn’t get much into the size of the boxes, I decided to make this brief vlog to fill in the blanks. So far, I’m loving my purchases and may even go back to pick up a few more boxes at Harbor Freight.

I’m not sponsored by Harbor Freight or Oriental Trading, but I sure do love their products for organizing and creating my handmade jewelry! Thanks again for your tips, Lindsay Weirich- The Frugal Crafter! You rock!

From Harbor Freight:

• 10 Tray Utility Box: http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-compartment-utility-box-40528.html

From Oriental Trading:

• Multi Pack headpins: http://www.orientaltrading.com/big-pack-headpins-a2-68_45481.fltr?Ntt=headpins
• Multi Pack jumprings: http://www.orientaltrading.com/big-pack-jumprings-and-mm-mm-a2-68_45482.fltr?Ntt=jumprings
• Rainbow jumprings: http://www.orientaltrading.com/rainbow-jumprings-a2-13661027.fltr?Ntt=jumprings

The Frugal Crafter’s Product Review Video: https://youtu.be/59-CBeqOFMk

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Visit my website: http://www.sparklebymonica.com
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Halloween Duct Tape Hair Bows Video Tutorial

I hope you enjoy many spooky sparkles this Halloween and remember to stay safe while you are at parties or taking the kids trick-or-treating. Darth Vader (a.k.a. the hubby) and I shall be spending another exciting Halloween evening at home with our four cats tucked safely indoors while I beg him for the 23rd year of our relationship to actually watch The Excorcist, to no avail. LOL.

This will be the first time in about 8 years that we won’t be giving out candy, but next year will be “killer” once we finalize our remodeling to the front entryway. He’s not much of a party person, so we’re opting out of this year’s festivities since our relocation to Texas last November.

Speaking of scary sparklies, I recently made some last minute Halloween themed duct tape hair bows using Camouflage and Polka Dot tape designs purchased from the Dollar Tree. (See my Fall Craft Haul video for more goodies I got this year). I also coordinated the tape with some cool alphabet monograms from an Etsy shop called TicTacTogs. I made 10 hair bows and 2 bow ties to give to friends and family for the holiday festivities. Please watch my Halloween Hair Bow video tutorial for this DIY as well as tips for flattening bottle caps, differences in glue, and other tidbits. It’s about 26 minutes, so be sure you get a spooky beverage and candy of your choice to enjoy my insanity. If you want to skip the flattening bottle cap and tips about images and glue, then click to 8:35 on the time while playing. I also reveal my inner Penelope Garcia in an homage to one of my fav Criminal Minds TV characters while mimicking her cute pigtails in my hair bows. Don’t forget to watch in HD for maximum spook effect!

Now I’m off to go teach my wire wrapped candy corn earring class today at Michaels west side location on Sunland Park Drive in El Paso. Have a safe, spooky and sparkly Halloween, everyone!

Fall Haul Bead & Craft Supplies Video Plus Awesome Autumn Hairbow and Sunflower Necklace

I decided to make my first ever craft supplies haul video, as that seems to be a popular request from my sparkly shoppers as well as what is done by my fellow YouTubers, such as Lindsay The Frugal Crafter (whose channel I love- so please check her out, too!). I was actually inspired to do my video based on The Frugal Crafter’s recent haul, because her video reminded me where I’d stashed my recently purchased (and lost) Halloween ice trays to make my resin pieces. Craft hoarding is a sickness, y’all! hahaha.

In my video, I am displaying some spooky sparkles and awesome Autumn themed crafty items I picked up recently at my local El Paso, Texas Dollar Trees, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, K-Mart, Katz Beadz, & Western Traders stores. Warning: Evidence of major craft hoarding is displayed.

Of all the fall themed goodies I’ve picked up recently, my favorites are the rubber ice cube trays, fake leaves and duct tape. I plan to make resin pieces with the ice cube trays and for $1 each, that is a great deal for the detail in each tray. When you calculate purchasing other trays specifically for resin or candy making can run between $5 – $35 a piece! Just remember once you use a food grade ice tray or candy tray to make resin, you can’t go back to making chocolates or ice with them! Tip: Use a mold release spray or a cotton swab to rub some baby oil in these rubber trays since they aren’t as easily removable as silicone trays made for resin. This way your pieces will pop out easier from the molds.
 

I also took some time to create a cool seasonal hair bow for Fall with the fake leaves, raffia and leaf themed ribbon that I purchased at the Dollar Tree. I mixed those items with coordinating ribbon I already had on hand as well as one of the Hobby Lobby wooden pumpkin embellishments. The leaves come individually in mixed packages. Once I layered in a staggered pattern, I hand stitched them to a scrap piece of Grosgrain ribbon so that would fit nicely into my Bowdabra bow maker for easier layering.

I also made a necklace pendant from one of the felt sunflower stickers that I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Very easy! I created a spiraled wire wrapped bail and hot glued it on back. Then I hot glued a spare button over top of the bail to hide the glue glob, although that wasn’t necessary. I do preferred the neat handmade finish that the button gives to the back. Since this is a multi-layered sunflower, the 3D effect makes a lovely accent piece on any chain or necklace material you prefer wearing.

Enjoy the goodies and don’t forget the best items and coolest gadgets can sometimes be found at your local dollar stores! Especially holiday themed goodies. I’m not sponsored by any of these stores, but I sure do love shopping for crafty cuteness there!

Please be sure to like & comment on my video, but also subscribe to my channel if you’ve not already done so. I try to post craft, jewelry making and candy making tutorials each month, but also post jewelry look books of my handmade designs plus these new craft supply haul videos.

I appreciate your time. Please visit my website for more information about my handmade jewelry, links to my social media and places to purchase my designs such as Etsy, inSelly and my brand new Amazon Handmade. I love to make unique and custom themed pieces, so please let me know if you have a special design request. Have a sparkle-riffic day!