Bridesmaid Gift Ideas

A good friend of mine is getting married and wants something unique to give as bridesmaids gifts. She asked for something simple, delicate and sparkly - but not TOO sparkly or TOO flamboyant. I don't know how you can get too sparkly, but I honored the bride's request. :)

After some silver chain, clear glass beads, this is what she got...


Dangling Glass Bead on the Clasp

Close-up of the Bridesmaid's Bracelets

Glass Bead & Silver Chain Bracelet

She loved them! It always makes me happy when my work puts a smile on someone's face.

And yes - I'm wearing the fancy bracelet with my blue jeans. :)

Lamp Revamp!

I found this awesome chandelier at the thrift store for $3!  

$3.00!!

Yeah, amazing! Anyway, it obviously needed a little love. The dangling brown beads were a cool shape, but brown? Really? I needed something... happier.

So I took it outside, removed the brown dangles, and taped off the electrical stuff (chord and sockets). Then, using outdoor quality, metal-adhering spray paint, I colored it a happy red.

Ahhh, much better!

Then for the bling! I exchanged the brown for some clear faceted beads that would catch the light a little more.

The rest was simple - I found 3 mini lamp shades and added them as the finishing touch! Yes, now I'm happy with it.

In fact, I was inspired to do more!

My husband and I decided to switch out our bedside lamps for mini chandeliers! Of course, being a beadoholic, I had to doctor them.

They needed at least ONE BIG bead...

...and since it didn't have anything for me to thread a giant jump ring through, I had to improvise. But who can go wrong with wire wrapping?

:-) Ah, yes. Sweet Satisfaction. If you want to see how I made the mini chandeliers, you can check out my post on Idea Bottle.

Happy Beading Everyone!