Sunday, September 1, 2013

A Few Great Reasons to Have a Beading Party Before Your Wedding

Beading parties are growing in popularity as a fun and female-focused activity to enjoy with your friends and family before your wedding. You can choose to throw a beading party as part of your bachelorette party, as an intimate activity for yourself and your bridesmaids or even enjoy a beading session as part of some pre-wedding bonding with your mom or mom-in-law-to-be. It's a great way to relax, unwind, and have plenty of fun before your big day. Here are a few reasons why it’s such a good idea to host your own beading party, or have a private beading session,  before you wedding.

Homemade Jewelry Makes Perfect Gifts


Your bridesmaids and other attendants are integral in helping your wedding run smoothly: a good bridesmaid will help you get ready on the big day, smooth out any problems as the ceremony progresses, and is worth her weight in gold! It’s likely that you picked your bridesmaids because they are your beloved family members and closest friends. All of this means that it’s important to give your bridesmaids the perfect gift to thank them for being part of your wedding party, and for all of their hard work in the lead up to your big day. What better than a piece of homemade jewelry? Homemade jewelry makes the perfect gift because it shows that you care, especially if you’ve taken the time to make the piece yourself. You can then tailor each piece to the personal tastes and styles of your bridesmaids, leaving them with a piece of jewelry they will love and treasure forever. It's hard to think of a better gift!

Use Beads to Embellish Your Venue Décor


The great thing about making things yourself is that you can think outside the box, and the only thing that you are limited by is your imagination! Who says that you can only use beads to make jewelry? You could make beaded napkin rings to liven up the table décor at your wedding reception: these could then double up as your wedding favor to your guests. You could also sprinkle beads over your table centrepieces so that they coordinate perfectly with these personalize favors. Beaded boutonnieres for the groomsmen have seen an increase in popularity, as have beaded handles or brooches on bridesmaids bouquets. Or even create a beaded flower as the centrepiece for your wedding car ribbon, so that you can ensure it matches your bridesmaid dresses and wedding colour perfectly. Just don’t forget to ensure that your wedding cars have adequate fleet insurance! Your wedding cars may look great with their beaded accessories, but if they break down whilst you’re on the way to your ceremony then you need to know that the cars will be repaired quickly, and that there’s a back-up plan to get you to the church on time!

Match your Jewelry to Your Wedding Dress


The most obvious reason to throw a beading party before your wedding is so that you can create beautiful and personalised bridal jewelry. Whether you want to wear earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, or even all three, you can create your dream wedding jewelry set using swarovski crystal, pearls, and sterling silver plated components. You can ensure the necklace you make suits the neckline of your dress perfectly. You could consult with your hairdresser and create earrings that will match your wedding hairstyle perfectly. There are so many reasons why it’s better to make your bridal jewelry yourself! Do you need any more reasons to throw that beading party? Well, the average American Bride spent $144 on her wedding jewelry in 2012. However bridal beading packages start from just $30 per person. So as well as having your jewelry personalised to you and your tastes, you may also find that making your bridal jewelry yourself could help you save money too!  And don’t worry if you don’t think you’re creative enough because you won’t be attempting this alone:   A Beading Buds designer will work with you, the bride, prior to your beading party to choose the design and colour of the jewellery you want to create at the event. Why not give it a try? You’ll be amazed at all the beautiful things you can create!

By Lisa Fielding

Sunday, May 12, 2013

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.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Make a Crystal and Chain Necklace




Materials Needed:
3 -12 inch pieces of sterling silver chain
17 headpins
68 4mm crystals
Toggle clasp

Tools:
Cutter pliers
Round nose pliers


The holidays are coming and it's time to bring out the sparkly jewelry.  This piece can be a bracelet or a choker, it depends on how long you make it.  For a fun twist, you can do a mix of pearls and crystals instead of just crystals.

Start about an inch into the chain.  Take your pin, put on a crystal, put a piece of chain on (about one inch into your chain), and then another crystal, then next piece of chain (about one inch in), then crystal, then last piece of chain (about one inch in) and then crystal.  Then using your round nose pliers you create a loop at the end.  (see video).  Then repeat this process about one inch down the chain.  You should be able to do this 17 times until you reach the desired length.  Then, using connectors, attach a piece of the toggle clasp to each side.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Beautiful Maruti Beads from India

Maruti Beads 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 Kashmiri Beads

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.

Bracelet Maruti Beads India
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!

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