Happy Dia De Los Muertos!

So, I have had a busy couple of weeks trying to get ready for Halloween festivities.

• I had to make my halloween costume which consisted of a purple, black and green tutu, a corset top, a shrug with chains on it, purple hair extentions, purple and black striped tights and some thick chunky mary janes. I only made the tutu but it took me awhile to perfect it. This is a picture of the tutu about 3/4 done.

• I also had to make jewelry for Blair's bday present:
• I also made a few little 2 row peyote stackable rings that were in different combinations of pink, green and black (her favorite colors). I love these because they are fun, but low key and will fit under gloves for those who have to wear disposable gloves for work (I'm a nurse :P and she's a dental assistant). I didn't get to take pics of them before they made it into the gift box though.
  
• I also made a necklace a chainmaille necklace! First real attempt at chainmaille, but I think it turned out really well. I posted it on Etsy today, so go check it out at my shop SeedToBead!
  

• I also ordered supplies from Sun and Moon Crafts to make scrabble tile and glass pendant goodies. I made a glass pendant necklace with pink and white cherry blossoms and a green background for Blair's bday present. It was really cute, but was one of those things I didn't get a picture of before the festivities...(I know, smack me. hehe) I also played around with different papers and such and made a Jack Skellington and Sally square glass pendant with a simple "chain" made from montana blue seed beads that I purchased from GSBoutique on Etsy. This one I'm keeping for myself :)
• 
• I also made a glass tile ring with an asian print on it.

I think that's it for now, I hope you all had a lovely Halloween and have a great weekend!

Wow. This is pretty nifty

Melted Pony Bead shapes
Ok, so a friend of mine who is slowly becoming my partner in crafting crime showed me this link to someone's blog that found a new use for those cheap plastic pony beads that everyone has, but doesn't know what to do with. She melted them down to make a shape for a necklace. I found this pretty interesting, so I figured I needed to try it out.


The blue circle shape was made with a shimmery blue star shape which when it melts looks like a soccer ball the way i placed the beads in there.

1. I preheated my oven to 450 degrees
2. put some aluminum foil on a cookie sheet
3. put Metal Cookie cutters on the cookie sheet (very important that they are metal or they will melt also...)
4. I made eyelets out of some jewelry metal I had, but a jump ring works too or you can buy some eyelets too. I found that it works better if they are on the outside edge of the cookie cutter or a good 10mm in because the beads won't melt around it right and the edges come out wierd. But that could be considered added character I suppose.
5. Spread out the beads evenly. I laid one layer of beads in the cookie cutter and that worked well, except the tiny one where one wasn't enough so i had to put two on top of each other.
6. I set my timer for 15 minutes. Someone mentioned on the website I got this from that she let them cook for 6 minutes and then put more beads on top and then let those melt for 8. I tried this for the second batch and I would recommend it because you can kind of see where they are melting and plan accordingly.
7. Take them out and let them cool. You will know they are starting to cool because they will start making a cracking noise because they are pulling away from the cookie cutter.
   
8. Once they are cooled, they should just pop out. Depending on the shape of the cookie cutter, you may have to play with it a little, so just be careful.
   
9. Now you have this great shape you can create something with!!!

One of the hearts I made looked like stained glass

I especially liked how the clear glittery beads melted.

This is the link to the tutorial I followed, but it wasn't very detailed as far as heating instructions and such... http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/barb_wire_wrapped_heart_necklace