Bear Claws

 Faux bear claws that is.

 We decided to recycle some antler tips.

And we know 2 little boys who might enjoy these for Christmas!

I Did It!

I think watching Dr. Who helped. The first one I put on was the hardest, in fact I believe I had to snip that one off. After getting the hang of it all went very well.

The chain itself was an oval, circle, oval, circle pattern. I connected to the ovals and placed something on every other one.

I won't be afraid to do this again!

I didn't have time today but I'll try taking some pictures of how I used the tools to connect and secure the charms.

Today

Today I have some pinto beans soaking. I'll drain them later and set them to sprout. Boy am I loving having packs of safe cooked beans in my freezer!

I also took my #13 knitting needles and loaded them with 130 stitches in the same cotton and started a bigger better scarf. It's so simple, cast on first row, knit 2 more rows in heavier weight, 2 rows of light weight, 2 rows heavy, 2 rows light, 3 rows heavy and cast off. If you use heavier weight yarns use bigger needles.

I've also set up my little table for jewelry making. I've been loading head pins with little flowers, beads and stones. Now I'm gonna see if I can figure out how to attach them to a chain and tie them off. We shall see. I'm hoping I don't regret the small size of my new tools. I'll have some Dr. Who season 4 playing in the background just in case it gets frustrating.

In contrast to other beauty trees out there here is my beauty carpet.

Simple Necklaces

Today I pulled my necklace making stuff out again. Yes I said again because the first time I pulled it out I discovered that the crimps I bought were not going to thread a double thickness of cotton. I don't like the thought of knots coming undone so I went with crimps and I'll show you what I did.

For this project I bought some waxed cotton, charms, beads, lobster claw clasps, closed jump rings (I'm afraid open ones will open) and crimps with the largest hole I could find. The crimps I bought also made nice beads.

You will want to set up your pattern so you're organized.

I started by putting my jump ring on and securing it with a crimp. That wasn't easy. I had to figure out a way to get the cotton back through the crimp.

That's when I pulled out the thin wire. Two inches of thin wire folded in half.

I took the cotton back through the crimp using the wire. Pull the wire with pliers.

Well that's the hard part!

The crimp is pinched with pliers.

It's not going anywhere.

You can string your beads and charms now but do yourself a favor and double check it before you fasten the clasp!

The lobster clasp is put on the same way.

Once everything is in place you can cut the cotton close to the crimps.

Simple, fun and easy.