Metal Stamping on Pennies!

Metal stamping is the craze these days, and it's fun playing with money. :) Lately on Pinterest, I've seen people stamp pennies for wedding anniversaries and such, but I took these penny charms a step further.

This is a "treasures" bracelet... with a penny charm created for every precious person in your life.

The idea is to simply punch the name or event on a penny that was minted the same year that the event happened, or the year the person was born.

Great gift idea for mom, grandma, or even for a wedding or wedding anniversary! :)

P.S. Want a simple way to get the stamped letters to really stand out without using a patina? Color over the words with a permanent marker. Then use alcohol on a cotton ball to wipe off the excess ink outside the letters. Super easy! Cheating? Eh, maybe. But I always love an easy tip!

The "Royal Garden" Necklace - My New Favorite Creation!

I couldn't help but share a little brag time with all y'all...

This is my latest masterpiece! I used my own little jewelry making tip to create this one - a genius little formula if I may say so myself. :)

Frankly, this necklace came together faster than many simpler necklaces that I've made in the past. Why? Simply because this technique uses a key element - INSPIRATION!



Using this simple formula to make your own amazing jewelry piece, here's a look at the second step - the attributes I picked to make this particular necklace. My inspiration piece has:

- a unique centerpiece
- mixed mediums (some faceted glass beads, crackled glass beads, metal accents, and many more...)
- and movement (from dangling charms)

And here's how I incorporated those features into my own creation:

Unique Centerpiece Pendant

Mixed Mediums
faceted glass beads, Austrian crystals, glass pearls, and metal accents in antique brass, pewter, and silver colors

Movement
dangling metal charms with Austrian crystals

The Results

And there you have it! My new favorite necklace that looks nothing like my inspiration piece, but includes the same attributes. :)

When I was done, I thought it looked like a little flower garden. My husband's first response was "It looks like royalty!" And that's how it got the happy little nickname - the "Royal Garden" necklace.

So check out the 3 simple steps to creating your own masterpiece... then come back and brag about it here! :)

Happy Beading everyone! :)

Jewelry Making Tip - How To Make Your Own Fabulously Unique Jewelry

Here's a jewelry making tip for all you folks looking for simple ways to get brilliant jewelry ideas. All you have to do is look at the jewelry you already love! Here are the steps:

1. Choose your favorite piece of jewelry - necklace, earrings, bracelet, or whatever you want. This is your inspiration piece.
2. Pick 3 attributes that you love about that piece. It can be the color, the length, the bead choices, the simplicity or complexity, the findings, the sparkle, the chunkiness, the bead pattern (large bead, small one, spacer, large, small, spacer,... you get the idea)
3. Build your own jewelry pattern based on those 3 attributes!

With this simple formula, you can make a bazzillion unique pieces inspired by one piece of jewelry. It works better for me than any other formula. I can follow a pattern, but with this technique, I get to make my own patterns.

Click here to see the jewelry piece I recently made using this pattern!

And for you pinners out there, here's the jewelry making formula in an image.

Once you've tried out this simple formula, come back and brag about it in the comments! We'd love to see what you have done with it. :)