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/

Beading programs and the Canadian children's arts tax credit

We are all so excited about the new Children's Art Tax Credit that the government has recently unveiled. Since we teach lunchtime programs and afterschool programs at many schools in Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto and all over the Greater Toronto Area, we are so happy that the parents of our little beaders will now be able to claim a portion of what they pay for these programs when filing their taxes.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/txtps/2012/tt120326-eng.html

Beautiful Boho Hoop Earrings

While looking for fun projects to teach at my lunchtime school
program, I came across this super easy and fun video on how to make
beautiful hoop earrings using seed beads and glass beads.

Materials:

2 Earring wires
2 Jump rings
1 spool of bracelet sized memory wire
Size 11 seed beads
4 6 mm beads
2 8 mm beads

Tools:
Needle nosed pliers
Wire cutters

1) Cut the memory wire so that you have one hoop. Repeat so that you have two hoops in total. Using your needle nosed pliers make a loop at one end.
2) String on 48 seed beads. String on one 6 mm bead, a seed bead, a 8 mm bead, a seed bead and another 6 mm bead. Then string on another 48 seed beads.
3) Using your needle nosed pliers make a loop on the remaining end of the hoop.
4) Using your pliers open up the jump ring and put booth ends of the hoop through, as well as the bottom of the earring wire. Close the jump ring. Repeat with the second hoop so that you have two earrings.

This beautiful pair of earrings will be perfect for this spring's boho trend.

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.