Tag: tutorial

Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday

Quilted Ornaments

Jessica Smith

My grandma made us the prettiest quilted ornaments last year at Christmas. She is a quilter and makes the most beautiful things, and her ornament was no exception. I love it!

Quilted ornament

I was looking for Christmas craft ideas for a craft night with my girlfriends and I came across an excellent video detailing how to make these quilted ornaments. Now, when I share tutorials with you all (even if it something other people have tried) I always share my version. Often, I don’t read other tutorials, I just figure things out on my own because I’m terrible at following directions. But I had to follow the video step by step for this ornament, and for that reason I am not going to give a tutorial because none of it is my own. If you want to make one of these ornaments, please visit Pot Holders and Pantyhose for her awesome video tutorial.

Here are pictures of the steps!

If you need a really last-minute gift and happen to have the supplies on hand (scrap fabric, styrofoam ball, pins, ribbon), these ornaments make a gorgeous addition to any tree.

Quilted ornament teal

Merry Christmas Eve 🙂 Hope you all are enjoying your holiday so far.

Craft Projects, Jewelry

Green mesh-like pendant

Jessica Smith

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

I don’t really know what to call this necklace I made this past weekend, so let’s call it a mesh-like pendant. All in all, it was a little tricky to make, but I think it is pretty and very unique, so here goes!

For this project you’ll need elongated beads (pearls are optional), eye pins (a loop on one side, a pin on the other), and some chain.

To begin, stack one of your beads and a pearl on an eye pin, and close the other end into a loop. Make a second eye pin in the same way and connect the two where the pearls meet. I suggest using a jump ring in the middle (not seen in the photo below because I realize this a few eye pins into the pendant).

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

Now, make an eye pin with one bead and no pearl — take this and connect it to the two green ends of the two eye pins that connect to the jump ring in the center.

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

Continue this process (eye pin + jump ring + connect eye pins) until the pendant cannot go anymore.

With the beads that I used, I couldn’t go in a full circle, so at that point I stopped.

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

At this point, I connected the three ends with chain, then added the entire pendant onto a silver necklace.

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

Pretty, huh?

{A Smith of All Trades} Green Turquoise and Pearl Necklace

And, it doesn’t look half bad on either. Sorry… this was the best picture I could get of it haha. I’m not super used to my honkin’ camera yet!

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

And a crappy iPhone one for good measure.

{A Smith of All Trades) Green necklace

Craft Projects, Jewelry

Geometric necklace

Jessica Smith

Update: I pretty much wear this necklace every day. I love it.IMG_0560

Ever have a project that starts out one way and ends completely differently? I wanted to make a pair of earrings that were inspired by something I saw on Pinterest a week or so ago, so I pulled out my beads and supplies and started fiddling with the beads. The further I got into my project, the more I wanted to create a necklace. I started with one color of bead and a small geometric shape, and I ended up with two tones of gunmetal and a wider pendant.

Onto the tutorial.

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

I started this project with one long eye pin, and 11 head pins (eye pins hav a loop at the end so you can connect them to other things; head pins have a flat or round end meant to stop beads from falling off).

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

On each head pin, I placed a specific number of beads. The number was important because it would help make my geometric shape later on. Here’s the pattern I ended up using (it’s not what I started with). 3: silver, 5: gunmetal, 6: gunmetal, 7: gunmetal, 8: gunmetal, 10: silver, 8: gunmetal, 7: gunmetal, 6: gunmetal, 5: gunmetal, 3: silver.

When each head pin had the correct number of beads on it, I twisted the end into a loop to stop beads from falling off the open end.

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

Next, I grabbed my eye pin and started threading the head pins on the order I specified earlier. In between each head pin, I place one gunmetal bead.

One the entire eye pin was threaded with head pins, I closed the other end using round-nosed pliers.

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

Time to add the chain. At first, I added a long chain so this would hang low in my chest. I later went back and added a clasp so it would hit above my chest (I told you I changed my plans a ton!).

To add the chain, I simply cut the amount I wanted, then opened each end of the eye pin and placed a link in the wire. For the clasp, you can attach it in the same way using a jump ring.

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

I really like this necklace a lot. Now that I have a good pattern to follow, I think I’ll try to make it again in funkier colors.

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

{A Smith of All Trades} Geometric Necklace