How To Create A Morse Code Necklace

Materials:

Seed beads

Bugle beads

Tiger tail or silk cord

Crimp beads

Lobster clasp and ring

Tools:

Pliers

Using a morse code chart (see below) lay out the beads in the word that you would like to put in your necklace.  In the video, the word love is being spelled out.

If using silk cord, attach the clasp to one end of silk cord using the crimp bead and pliers, then string on your beads spelling out the word that you are putting on your necklace (see video).  Then attach the other end of your clasp (the ring).

If you are using tiger tail, attach the clasp to one end of the tiger tail and then fill up with seed beads in a clear colour until your necklace is 1/4 full of beads, then string on the word in morse code, then fill up the other side with clear beads.  If your word is short, you may need to do more clear seed beads before and after your word.  Once you have filled up the other side, attach the other side of your clasp (the ring).

We hope you enjoyed making this necklace as much as we did.  

Jewelry Theme Birthday Ideas

We are often asked by mothers what theme should we do for my daughter's party.  If the birthday girl is 8 or older, we always suggest that she go with the theme of "beading party".  We suggest that the children paint wooden jewelry boxes or make candy kabobs and the mothers often hand out candy jewelry.  The painted jewelry boxes or candy kabobs make a great take home gift and are a great alternative to the traditional loot bag.  We also suggest that the mother make a jewelry box birthday cake or cupcakes with real rings or ringpops placed on top as a decoration.
 
For the younger children, where it is all about THE THEME, we suggest a "Fancy Nancy" party, a "Sophia the first" party or a tea party using one of the above themes.  Both these themes are perfect for 5-7 year old girls.

Fancy china for a Sophia the first tea party.

We are doing a "Sophia the first" beading party for my 6 year old daughter's birthday this fall.  We are going to decorate everything in purple, hunt down vintage china from thrift stores for the girls to use, hand out fancy headbands and feather boas, serve fancy treats and make fancy jewelry that Sophia would love to wear. 

A necklace perfect for a Fancy Nancy
or Sophia the first party.

Spring Button Necklace

Materials and Tools:
Assorted coordinating buttons
Needle nosed pliers
24 gauge wire
Chain
Jump ring
Clasp
2 beads

Spring is coming and we feel like the bright colours of this necklace
put a spring in our step.

Try a few different arrangements to see what you like best.  Take a
photo with your camera or phone so you have something to look back at
in case you forget your design.

Cut 3 to 5 feet of wire.  Start by bending one end of the wire into a
loop.  Wrap the wire below the loop a few times.  String one bead onto
the wire.  Then add your first button.  Bring the wire through the
button a second time to secure the button.   Keep adding your buttons
and linking them together.  When you reach the other end add the other
bead.  Wrap the wire under the bead again.  Cut the wire and tuck it
underneath.  Open a jump ring and attach the chain to one end.
Attach a clasp to the other end of the chain.  Do the same thing to
the other side.

Beautiful Maruti Beads from India

Maruti Beads

Recently through the “beading grapevine” we heard about Maruti Beads, an online bead store owned by Maruti International (India) that sells high quality hand crafted Maruti, Kashmiri and Lac beads.

What are Maruti, Kashmiri and Lac beads?  We were wondering the same thing, all that we knew was that we had never seen anything like it, each bead that we saw was an exquisite piece of art decorated with embellishments such as mirror chips, seed beads, silver plating and rhinestone.

We asked Maruti Intl to provide us with some more information about these unique beads and they were kind enough to not only provide us with the info, they also sent us a few of their beautiful beads so we could see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.   They sent us samples of their Kasmiri beads, Maruti beads and Lac beads.

Maruti Intl told us that each individual bead is handmade on their premises in an artisan’s studio by a select team of master craftsmen, who learned the skill by generations before them.   When we asked them to tell us a bit more about each type of bead, this is what they told us.

Pandora style Kashmiri Beads

Kashmiri beads are made from a mix of marble powder and manufactured resin. Also known as “Bollywood” beads, Kashmiri beads are hand decorated and use a variety of materials for embellishment.  I almost want to say that these beads remind me of the Pandora style beads but the holes are smaller and they are much more detailed.

Maruti Beads artistically blends the beauty of Kashmiri beads with silver plated side caps to culminate in a one of a kind creation exclusive to Maruti International.  

Lac beads are a time-honored Indian bead, handmade in a traditional manner passed down through generations by expert artisans.  Lac is a substance secreted by a tiny insect called Kerria lacca.  Lac beads are made from a mixture of Lac and marble powder, ornamented with silver plating, seed beads and rhinestones: detailed with metal elements, mirror chips and various embellishments.

After spending a couple of days wondering what I should make with these beautiful beads, I decided to make a bracelet so I could highlight all of their detailing.

Our bracelet made using beads from Maruti International

Maruti Beads is giving away $60 of their Kashmiri, Maruti and Lac beads mix (www.marutibeads.com/bead-mixes/maruti-kashmiri-lac-bead-mixes) every month to a lucky winner of their social media share/follow contest (www.marutibeads.com/blog). 

I know I’m going to enter this month!

Amber teething necklaces for babies

We at Beading Buds just love jewelry, and are always looking for the latest trends. Nancy Ripton, from www.justthefactsbaby.com, is sharing with us a trend she came across, amber teething necklaces.
Nancy says, we were recently at a mommy event and we saw a mom and her little baby wearing beautiful matching necklaces. We commented on them and were told that it was an amber teething necklace. We were instantly intrigued and decided to do some research. Amber, a fossilized sap from prehistoric trees that grew as far back as almost fifty million years ago. It is always warm to the touch and has been used for centuries for its healing properties. It produces negative ions, eases pain and activates the healing process. This mommy wearing the necklace was from Europe where babies have been wearing these necklaces for generations.
If you are as intrigued as we are and would like to see how to make one yourself, check out this link http://www.ehow.com/how_2099756_make-amber-teething-necklace.html
For more great baby facts, check out Nancy's blog at www.justthefactsbaby.com/blog/

Flower Bib Necklace

Tools:

Glue gun
Jewelry glue
Chalk
Scissors

Materials:

11 black or/and gold fabric flowers
9 beads
1 sq foot black felt
2 feet black ribbon

Chase away the winter blues with this beautiful and fun necklace.
Arrange the flowers on the piece of felt the way that you would like
your necklace to look. Take the piece of chalk and trace around the
roses and then cut out cutting inside the chalk line. Remove the top
rose on each end of your arrangement. Cut the ribbon in half and glue
one end on each side. Then glue all of the flowers onto the piece of
felt, try not to make the design too uniform. Then using the jewelry
glue attach a bead to the middle of each flower.

If you would like to make your own flowers, check out our past post from January 2011.

Beaded Wire Looped Necklace

Materials:
24 gage wire
6 large beads
14 small beads
1 lobster clasp
1 jump ring
2 crimp beads

Tools:
Flat nosed pliers


Take one of your large beads and thread onto your wire, move bead
about 4 inches in from one end of the wire, that will be your starting
point. Take one end of your wire (the working wire) and pull back
through the bead (see video). Pull the wire tight to hold the bead in
place. Now thread one of the small beads, move it along the wire
until it is the desired distance from your large bead (approximately
one inch) and do what you did with the large bead, feed the working
wire back through and pull tight to hold the bead in place. Continue
doing this for the remainder of your necklace, spacing all the beads
about 1 inch apart, doing the pattern of two small beads, one large
bead, two small beads, etc. Attach the clasp to one end of the wire
using the crimp bead. Attach the jump ring to the other end of the
wire using the remaining crimp bead.