Lisa told me her style was “coastal”. She enjoys jewelry (she is a jewelry artisan) and she collects turtles. She likes beading with blues and greens, but tends to wear more pinks and corals. So with all those preferences in mind, I made these for her:
I was originally thinking the jar would make a nice candle holder, but I know when it comes to smells – not everyone is a fan of what someone else chooses. It would also be nice filled with sand and a few shells, or even a personalized catch-all dish (which come in handy when you work with small things, like beads, findings, and jewelry tools). I etched her name in the glass holder, and attached some twine to make it a little more rustic (and of course, couldn’t resist a little turtle charm). I used beachy colors on the wrap bracelet, and finished it with a shell for the closure. Here’s a little better photo (before I totally lost my sunlight):
I just used a natural colored cotton twine and pink cotton thread to try to bring out the pink, and a random mix of seed beads. If you’d like to view my tutorial on wrap bracelets, you should check out my red, white, and blue wrap bracelet or the stone and leather wrap bracelet I made.
I also did a little de-stashing on my beads, and included a mix of different sizes and textures of glass beads and these fun shell connectors. I’m hoping she enjoys making something with them.
Want to see what I got? She sent me my *new favorite* earrings:
They are shell earrings with a cluster of picasso Czech glass beads. It always amazes me the beautiful, simple designs people dream up. These aren’t like anything I own, but these are nice and summery and match about half my wardrobe (I’m even wearing them today, ha). She sent a pair of cute pink earrings too!
I am apparently not great at photographing earrings, sorry. ;)
I will be posting the tutorial for the etched glass jar next week, if you’d like to see more detail about how I made it (and for the record – it does NOT involve any fancy machines!)
Now – I am so excited to see what you’re exchanging! This linky is for Christmas in July posts only – anything unrelated will be moderated out – but do join me for the Happy Hour Friday link party that starts at 5:00 pm EST tonight if you’re ready to link up anything else!
I’ll offer up a button for anyone who wants one for your post or for your hall of fame, but don’t feel obligated to post it if you don’t want to – this whole thing is just for fun, after all!
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Hi love this bracelet also. What size of seed beads did you use for this bracelet.
Darn, I missed the cut-off to show off my project. Oh well, Jenelle will be even more surprised when she gets her gift in the mail.
I just have to jump in and try making earrings. These are just too amazing. Thank you for sharing at Freedom Fridays.
PS I am looking forward to seeing your tutorial on etching.
So fun! What a great gift :) I just linked up my post on the items my partner and I exchanged. Making the items were fun, getting a gift was so exciting (especially because mine came on a day when I really needed a little treat to cheer me up!) but I think my favorite part was getting to make a new blogging friend! Thanks so much for organizing this!
Adrianne – Just saw your post! It was so fun exchanging gifts with you. Glad you like the handmade earrings. I love everything you sent. I was taking pictures of the glass jar yesterday, and just noticed the etching of my name. Not sure how I missed it, but it sure is cool! Your pictures of the jar, etc. are so much better – I'd like to post them on my blog is that's ok. Thanks again for being my partner!
Great gifts! I can't wait to see what everyone else has done, too!
Very nice. I'm a little behind and will be mailing out tomorrow or Monday,…just need that one last thing. :)
Love that bracelet! Thanks so much for sharing this at The Fun In Functional!
I think you did a great job photographing them!
Haha, I actually had a hard time parting with it myself. ;) But a giveaway is not a bad idea! They are so popular right now, and I love to make them…
Oh my gosh! I would love that bracelet! Now… how to steal it…. joking. But they are gorgeous. Do a giveaway with the bracelets soon.
xoxo
did you already do a post on glass etching? great Job Lisa is super lucky!