candiecooper, Author at Candie Cooper

Geode Necklace Tutorial

July 29, 2015 By candiecooper 9 Comments

This post brought to you by Beadalon.The dog days of summer are here. Barefoot, I walked outside this evening to get something out of my car and the pavement was still plenty warm. Visits to the farmer’s market and dinners of garden veggies. Yes, this is summer.

Poking around on the internet, I’m still seeing plenty of boho style. That’s what I do–look at fall fashions, dreaming of scarves with fringe and ankle boots. In reality it’s so hot you want to sit around in your underpants. I like to layer clothing and the sweltering summer temps don’t care.
Today I’m serving up some boho pendants using agate slices. These go together in seconds. Let’s celebrate Beadalon’s new 21 g. flat Artistic wire.
Beadalon also has a new small hole punch tool (on the left). Hole punches make my heart flutter if you can’t tell from this last post.
You can eyeball the length you want your wire or you can measure. Either way this flat wire cuts easily with wire cutters.
Use a file to knock off the corners so it’s not sharp.
Hammer the wire piece on a steel block and the round end of the hammer to add a planished texture.
This is a cool jump ring mandrel. Use it for forming jump rings (not just a clever name), ear wires, wire wrapping or to bend this bail piece.
Punch a hole with the metal hole punch (psst…you can use it on leather too!). Again, I’m eye-balling all of this. Don’t tell my boss.
Use a micro bolt to hold the agate slice in the bail.
Twist the nut onto the bolt.
This is obviously too long so cut it, leaving about 1mm above the nut.
CAREFULLY hammer the cut end to create a rivet head so the nut can’t come off. Take care to protect your eyes should you accidently hit the agate slice. That would be bad. Real bad.
String it onto a leather strap. String it on a chain. With beads. Without beads.

Treats:

Artistic wire for bail

Hole punch tool

Jump ring mandrel

Filed Under: Crafting, Jewelry, Uncategorized

Forming Leather Part II

May 31, 2015 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post brought to you by Leather Cord USA.Did you happen to catch the last Leather Cord USA post? It was all about forming and altering flowers with water and scissors. In this installment, I’ll show you a few more fun ideas that play with these cute little leather flowers to make more embellishments.
Bust out those hole punches! You can leave the flowers flat or form them first with water as seen in the last post. Most of these are hole punches that you can use for paper except for the one on the far left. That one is made for leather tooling and I got it at Harbor Freight. It’s great because it can make multiple hole sizes.
SO easy! I like to have multiple size hole punch tools to add variety and interest to the individual flowers.
This tool is especially great when tube riveting because you can make the hole the exact same size as the rivet.
Another idea is trimming the edge with pinking shears. This changes the hole look of the flower in seconds. These would be so sweet to use in millinery crafting.
OK, time to put it all together. These are special stick pins with a glue pad. You can string your stack of flower pieces and what not onto the pin.
Just like this! I love mixing in other elements like metal flowers and beads.
Be sure to use a multi-purpose epoxy to glue the elements onto the pad part of the pin.
Wouldn’t be a blog post without a jean jacket appearance!Do you remember that post on painted tassels? I applied the same paint with a stiff brush in white on a flower to add a little texture. Glued all the pieces up at the top and voila….
A sweet stick pin! The thing I love the most about these flowers is each piece is 24 cents, so you can build these little pins for less than a dollar in most cases!!
Check out all the flower options at Leather Cord USA!

Filed Under: Tutorials

How to Form Leather Flowers

May 18, 2015 By candiecooper 1 Comment

This post brought to you by LeatherCord USA.April showers bring May leather flowers. This is part I of a two part post all about working with leather flowers to make jewelry and embellishments. Get excited because these things are like super yummy calorie free candy! Who can make the sunshine, already!?!These are just some of the flower colors available. I love all the fun shapes and the sizes make them perfect for stacking!To be honest, I’ve never been able to leave well…well enough alone. So welcome to my brain where I think, “how can I ~~wreck~~ alter these flowers today?” First up: FORMING.

Soak the flowers in a bowl of water for a couple minutes.Then you can push them into shaped containers while they dry so they hold their shape or….squish, pinch, fold and twist them with your fingers. SO many options!One idea will lead to another and another…. Did I mention this is a two part post?Second way to ~~wreck~~ form the flowers is to cut and fringe said flowers. You can re-wet the flowers at any point to form them more.One of my most favorite findings are tie-tack findings with a glue on pad. I’ll warn you now that if you plan on selling these, you’ll hear over and OVER that they will leave a hole in your shirt. My response: thank you for the day you were born (but I’m still doing it my way). For this piece, I cut the back off of a button and glued it to the tie tack.Then you can start stacking the leather pieces behind it.Yes, I know it’s going to make a hole in that purse. Thanks for letting me know (and the day you were born).Sweet right? I think these would make the cutest bridesmaid clutches. I got this linen clutch at the craft store P.S. You could also stencil it first with an accent color and then embellish with the leather flowers.It’s my birthday this week. I think I just made myself a present. 😉

See all the leather flowers at LeatherCord USA here.

Filed Under: Crafting

Leather Jewelry Making

April 26, 2015 By candiecooper 5 Comments

This post brought to you by Leathercord USA!Tonight finds me with an Eric Church song stuck in my head. I didn’t even like country music until I met my husband and now it’s stuck in my head? The things we do for love.

Know what else I love?

Blank leather cuffs! That’s what I used to make this project for LeatherCord USA–Sari ribbon wrapped cuff bracelets.
Check out all the colors and sizes. You can even pick the snap color. In my eyes, these cuffs are blank canvases. The sky is the limit. I’ve got a list of things I want to try out on them. You can get some of your own HERE.
I fell in love with the red brown color and the distressed tan color cuff bracelets. That’s what I used in the post.
One of my favorite art tools is a nail file. The fine grit makes it perfect for distressing surfaces, like the red brown cuff I have here.
You can embellish it with the sari silk ribbon. Leather and silk go together like peas and carrots. I use hot glue to secure the ribbon to the back of the cuff like this…
Now start wrapping! It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t have sari ribbon, you can cut strips of silk from a shirt or scarf.
Add other colors and patterns of ribbon on the sides,
gluing and trimming as you go.
This is a punch especially used for leather. I got it at Harbor Freight. It was super cheap and went right through the ribbon.
How about that?
For a little bit of flare, I’m adding a concho I picked up in Taos. Did I ever tell you that I went on a road trip with my family across America last summer? Actually I met them along the way in Albaquerque because I was doing Jewelry Television. From there, we went to California and back to Indiana. Basically, I spent 5 days in the car straight with my husband, mom, dad, sister and her kid. Yeah. And we still love each other!

The concho has a screw that goes through the leather to attach it. If you want a permanent bond, you could add epoxy to the screw.

To add a little bit more flare, I added some LeatherCord USA deertan lacing. This stuff comes in a ton of earthy bright colors as well as various widths. That’s why I love it.
You can knot it like this or knot it on the front and glue the ends on the back like I did for the other cuff.
I wore this one today with a blue maxi dress and cowboy boots. Cue Eric Church…
Here’s the link to LeatherCord USA cuffs!

Filed Under: Leather, Tutorials

Just For Fun-Rose Opal Earrings

April 26, 2015 By candiecooper 3 Comments

Yesterday the rain hammered down on the roof. I did a bit of housecleaning, picked up some nice things to eat for dinner and then surrendered to the couch. Oprah’s channel was having a “Where Are They Now” marathon. I’d never seen it, but watch one episode and you’re hooked. Seven hours later…. LOL There were lots of other things I could’ve, should’ve been working on, but instead I just spaced out. I think I was in need of some couch potato time after working the last two weekends.

I feel better.

Now about these earrings… Remember those sparkle statement bracelets I made awhile back? I made some earrings with the same findings. SO EASY! You can whip them up in 5 minutes. Great for DIY brides and party goers. This is especially on my brain because I’m off to a bridal shower at noon.

Materials from Jesse James Beads:

TUTORIAL

Rose Opal Chain

1 set 13mm Slide Connectors

Ear Wires

Check out the tutorial bove. For the earrings, remove the clasp findings from the slide connectors. Slide in chain and trim to desired length. Open the ear wire and string the focal piece.

Filed Under: Jewelry, Tutorials

DIY Layering Bracelets with Bracelet Boutique

April 15, 2015 By candiecooper 1 Comment

It’s so exciting to finally share a project I’ve been working on with Jesse James Beads called Bracelet Boutique. We started collaborating on it a year ago and I’m thrilled to say it’s available in Joann Fabrics stores now (direct links at the bottom of this post).Basically, this is a 1 + 1 program where you can make a bracelet that suits your style in seconds. Great for beginners, girls night out activities, and seasoned makers can use the components in different applications such as links, earrings, macrame’ focals and so on.

There are 42 focal pieces with 10 different bracelet options which makes for 420 combinations.

Picture me doing the Roger Rabbit dance move.For Easter, hubs and I picked out some bracelet pieces to make our moms. This is the first one I’ll show you. It’s a bird image with tiny crystals set in the resin. All you have to do is open the jump ring and attach the bracelet sides. Everything you need to make the bracelet is included.You can leave it like this or….attach a dangle to the extender for a little clasp embellishment.
It’s that easy! You can make bracelets to match your other handmade jewelry in a snap.

Bracelet Boutique is on a skinny tower in Joann Stores now. Look for the blue cards! The paisley with brown cord bracelet is also part of the Bracelet Boutique collection. Happy day!

MATERIALS:

Bird Link

Bracelet Links

Filed Under: Jewelry, Tutorials

How to Make Tassels

April 15, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by Beadalon!I spent the last day of ~~Spring~~ Beadalon Break at Bead Fest in Oaks, PA!

Guess what? Beadalon was there too!

So I got an up close look at their new Tassel Making Tool! This thing is great for jewelry makers and crafters.

I put Madeline Roddy on the spot and asked her to walk me through tassel making basics with the tool. It was super easy! Watch and see…Suction the tool to your work surface. I think we all have a bead box (or 75 laying around) that we can stick this thing too like Meredith did.Wind the desired amount of cord (check out this twinkle thread from Beadalon) around the two mandrels. You can change the distance to make shorter fringed tassels (or make them long and custom cut the length). When you have enough cord wound, thread a short piece of cord through the wound threads and tie off next to the mandrel.

Cut the bottom cords open next to the mandrel.Now you can hook the tied piece to an eye pin and thread it through a bead cone to give it a nice finished look. This bead cone was made with the ConeTastic.Check out this fancy pants tassel piece I spotted in the Beadalon booth. So pretty with the metallic thread!