For the Love of Beads Blog» Holidays Archives

A Love Story

Antonio — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:42:29 +0000

In the spirit of a special day like the one we just celebrated around the world, we want to tell you a love story.

One day there was a young boy who wanted to set up a business in a different city to his hometown. After exploring a few options, he decided to make and sell handicraft items. Although he had no experience at all in such matters, he felt confident that working hard, he could succeed. He heard that once you start working on something, inspiration comes to visit you. So, he looked for a place to make and sell his merchandise and he bought everything he needed. He worked enthusiastically nights and days, devoting all his time to this activity, but sadly, after three months of trying hard to unveil the secrets of the craft he chose, he wasn’t satisfied nor were his potential clients. He had sold nothing during all that time and his savings were coming to an end fast. The situation was precarious and if he didn´t sell anything in the next couple of weeks, he would have to give up to his dream and go back to work in a menial job.

The moment of truth was approaching and only a real miracle could save him, but he was hopeless just waiting for the end of his enterprise. All of a sudden, a girl came to his booth to look around. Although he was in low spirits he couldn’t help to notice that she was very pretty. (When your whole world is about to crash, you don’t feel very conquistador at all.)

They talked and talked and talked and she learned about his troubles. She didn’t buy anything but she suggested doing a different craft and she offered to help him out with this, on her spare time. He wasn’t sure if she could be of some help at that point but he agreed. They worked together in the following two weeks after she clocked out on her regular job and with just a pair of pliers, a few beads and some stringing supplies not only a new business was founded but also began a true love which until this day is still in our hearts.

Hearts in Every Color!

Emily — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:32:21 +0000

Because at For the Love of Beads, we think everyday should have a bit of love in it, we are proud to present these gorgeous hearts in 8 different colors (+ some rustic designs)! Sure to match any outfit or jewelry style, these carved vegan ivory pieces are a great way to add some love to your designs! Pick out the heart you like best and then use our handy color wheel to find beads that complement and match your choice. With these colorful pieces you can have Valentine’s all year round!

From now until Valentine’s day, any order including one of these pendants will get a small, free, surprise for your beading pleasure! For your convenience, I have linked each one of our vegan ivory hearts right here, in amongst these little Valentine’s jewelry ideas.

Hearts Keychain
For something a little different, why not try use one of these heart shaped pendants to create a beautiful and strong keychain, sure to remain beautiful even after lots of use.

Two Hearts Necklace
A beautiful way to say “I Love You”, this easy necklace incorporates hearts of two different colors, representing you and your significant other. Personalize it by choosing each of your favorite colors and adding some sparkle with silver or gold accents. Simply string a slider (that fits snugly) around both ends of a long piece of leather, string a heart on each end , and secure them by folding the leather over and wirewrapping it tightly.

Key to My Heart Necklace
A common theme is to combine a heart shaped pendant with a key accent. Strung on ribbon and tied at the side with a bow, this idea can be dressed up or down with ease! Replace the ribbon with chain for a more grown-up look or, for more color, create a beaded ribbon by stringing seed beads.

Happy Valentine’s & happy crafting!

New Products!

Emily — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:08:37 +0000

It’s always a happy day for me when I can say this! I love new products, they fill my head with ideas and make me forget all about the other things I need to do.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Also, since we are feeling super generous at the moment, our free shipping offer for the holidays is extended to January 4th, so order now to take advantage!

Happy New Year!

Nibbler has something to say!

Emily — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:18:14 +0000

Holiday DIY Chainmail #2: Christmas Wreaths

Emily — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:20:56 +0000

Hello again!

Before we get started, I completely forgot to mention that we are offering FREE SHIPPING for the holidays so order now!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Christmas Tree tutorial ’cause here we go again! Its time for part 2: Christmas Wreaths!

Materials
- 66 green 18 gauge 3/16″ID anodized aluminum rings
- 5 yellow 3/36″ID anodized aluminum rings for decoration
- 1 red 24 gauge 1/2″ ID anodized aluminum ring (helps hold shape)
- 6″ green cord
- 4 red beads

Step 1:
Close ten green rings. Loop ten more green rings through the closed rings to make ten interlocking pairs as shown.

Step 2:
Connect your pairs together into a long strand. Use three rings to make each connection as shown in the first picture below. Now, add a third ring next to every other interlocking pair to add some stability to the final piece.

Connect the strand to the large ring by looping a single ring through a set of three. Remember this connection is through the connectors, NOT the interlocking pairs, as shown above.

Step 3:
Once your strand of chainmail is connected all the way around the large ring, close the circle with three more rings and connect this set of three rings to the large ring. Add some cord with a few beads to one side and you’re almost done!

Step 4:
Add the small rings as decorations. Remember from the tree tutorial, these small rings only fit around a couple larger rings so you will likely have to force them in between some rings to fit them in.

All done!

Happy holidays!

Holiday DIY Chainmail #1: Christmas Trees

Emily — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:00:38 +0000

Don’t you just love the holidays? My mom sure does and her spirit is certainly infectious. This year she asked me to make some Christmas charms for her to give to our family on Christmas Eve. I really like what I eventually came up with and so I thought I would make a tutorial for any chainmaillers who celebrate Christmas (or want to give a small but handmade gift to someone who does.) These are also pretty fast so they make good last minute oops-I-forgot-someone gifts too!

I am working in more of an office situation with the rest of the team (as opposed to in my living room in my PJs) and I am having a hard time finding a place where the lighting is right for my incredibly finicky digital camera. I have honestly considered going back to my 50 year old Minolta SLR and buying a scanner just because I know it actually knows how to focus, but I digress. And now that I have digressed I have an urge to go take some high contrast, black and white, late fall pictures in High Park… I think its the little bit of goth still in me that loves the look of gnarled, old, bare trees surrounded by their fallen leaves. ANYWAY – tutorial time. (Sorry for the wandering mind, I recently rediscovered World of Goo and have been playing a little bit too much… and far too late into the night!)

Materials
- 55 green 18 gauge 3/16″ID anodized aluminum rings
- 4 yellow18 gauge 3/36″ID anodized aluminum rings for decoration
- 3 red 18 gauge 3/36″ID anodized aluminum rings for decoration
- 1 large red ring to hang it from (the size of this ring doesn’t matter very much but if you like the look of these ones they are 1/2″ ID, 24 gauge)

Step 1:
Close eleven green rings. Loop ten more green rings through 10 of these closed rings to create 10 sets of interlocking rings and one little loner: (see below)

Step 2:
Connect one of your interlocking pairs to the large red ring.

Step 3:
Connect two more interlocking pairs to the first one with two green rings. Connect these two pairs together with a single green ring.

Step 4:

Now connect the loner pre-closed ring from before to both of these new pairs. You will now have a little diamond hanging off your big ring. Make it into a triangle by adding interlocking pairs to each side of the loner ring and connecting them to the row above. If you want to make these trees into earrings, skip to step 5 now, otherwise continue your tree by adding a fourth row. You will be running out of room to go through the center loner ring now so just use one ring each to connect the two middle pairs of the bottom row (see picture).

Before making it back into a triangle, connect the middle two pairs to the outside rings of the row above for extra stability. Add two more pairs to the corners to complete the triangle shape as above.

Step 5:
Add the final pair to the middle of the bottom row to create your tree trunk. (This pair could be brown if you are so inclined.)

Step 6:
Add your decorations! These tiny rings will only fit around two of the green rings, and just barely around the interlocking pairs, so pick your locations for them carefully. Once they were closed, I turned them carefully so any tiny little open gap would be nicely hidden inside.

And?

Voila! All done your mini Christmas tree!

Tomorrow I will have a similar tutorial for the mini wreaths in the first picture. If anything is not clear or you have any other comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Happy crafting and happy holidays!