Three Great Christmas Jewelry Tutorials

Hi, everyone! 'Tis the season for giving, and if you're like me, you love making gifts for the loved ones in your life. Let's kick off the crafting with three tutorials for Christmas jewelry. :)

The first one comes courtesy of Rings & Things - a Christmas Tree Window charm! Isn't it beautiful? This tutorial even comes with a shopping list. You could use the charm as a pendant, or make two for earrings, or use as part of a charm bracelet or keychain. It's a very versatile design.

The next tutorial I'd like to share is to make a "quickie" pair of candy cane earrings: Quickie Candy Cane Earrings from Prima Bead (courtesy of All Free Jewelry Making). Aren't they cute? This design is a fast way to add a lot of seasonal style to an outfit, and works great for stocking stuffers.

Last up, we have a video tutorial from Off the Beaded Path (courtesy of The Beading Gem) to make a pair of Christmas wreath earrings using beadweaving techniques. These earrings have a lot of bling to them because of the crystals.

You can watch the tutorial below, or at the link above (click the picture).

I know I'm looking forward to trying these out! Won't they make great gifts? 

More Ideas:
22 Free Beading Patterns for Christmas Jewelry
Winter and Christmas Jewelry Tutorials
3 Awesome Beaded Wreath Earrings Tutorials 

Just a note: I'm not affiliated with any of these sites. These are just tutorials that I like. :)

Aging Copper Wire - The Quick Way

Hi, everyone! So, as I've posted about before, I have a bunch of copper wire that my dad gave me, in a very heavy gauge, and I still haven't done much with it. Here's the thing, though - I'm completely out of chain for my usual designs. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that, so I'm taking another look at this wire. :)

Namely, I'm looking at how to patina it. I know that good ol' Mother Nature can and will take care of adding a beautiful patina to metals, but she takes her sweet time with projects like that (sort of like me, come to think of it), and so I've been looking at some quicker ways to do it.

Pearl over at Beading Gem has done a full-blown experiment on two different patina solutions: gun blue (normally used to keep guns from rusting) versus liver-of-sulfur (a very common patina agent). It's a really interesting compare/contrast between the two. At the bottom of her post, Pearl included links to other reading on the subject of patinas, too.

From The Beading Gem's Journal.

The other post I wanted to share is a more DIY method of adding patinas to your work, courtesy of The Amethyst Dragonfly. She shares recipes for how to add a verdigris patina using household chemicals. The verdigris patina looks really neat!

From The Amethyst Dragonfly.

There you have it! I have no idea when I'll ever get around to using any of this, but now the information is available in one spot for me, haha. And for you, too! If you use either of these techniques, please post your results in the comments - I'd love to hear about it, or see photos of it, if you prefer. :)