Swiss Cheese Links
I love this design. I might even go so far as to say that it is my new favorite necklace. Can I just say that it was tons of fun to make too? I found the swiss cheese links at Fusion. The pattern calls for 5mm pearls in pink and dark red. I spent a lot of time looking at freshwater pearls. I looked at quite a few different color combinations too. Unfortunately, if I found two colors that went together, I couldn’t find them in the same size pearl. If they were the right size, the colors didn’t mesh. Ultimately I decided to go with the Swarovski Crystal Pearls. I did not realize that Swarovski pearls were available in 5mm, so ordered them in 6mm. So in my necklace, my pearls are a tad wider than the swiss cheese links. I don’t mind though, it is a gorgeous necklace. I’ll be keeping this one for sure!
Instructions for this stunning silver necklace start on page 99 of the Create Jewelry Pearls book by Marlene Blessing & Jamie Hogsett. The description on the book is “Luxurious Designs to Make and Wear” and they mean it! The Pattern design is called “Center of Attention”.
Vintage style bracelet
Lillian is the name that accompanies this bracelet. Instructions for making it can be found on page 37 in the book “Making Vintage Jewellery”, by Emma Brennan. This particular piece is in the 1910s chapter. I chose to make mine with beading thread that resembles fishing line. In the spirit of making it look authentic to its time I really should have made it with the wire that it called for. I LOVE the velvet ribbon that the beadwork slips through. However, I goofed when I ordered the beads so I didn’t have enough to do the matching choker. I will have to remedy that.
Golden Sunset Bracelet, made from a kit
I bought the Golden Sunset Bracelet at a bead shop when I was on vacation in Oregon. The Kit and Instructions were $32. All I needed were scissors. The level is noted as ” Intermediate; peyote experience is needed”. Fair enough. I really like how the kit was packaged. It came in a nice plastic box. The beads were in individual containers, neatly organized in the box. The thread was pre cut. I believe the needle may have already been threaded. It was nice.
What I liked about the kit. The spacer bars are really cool. THe instructions were great. Neatly organized and easy to follow.
A close up of the bead spacer bars.
What I didn’t like: The instructions call for you to stitch 6 to 8 embellished spacer bars. There are exactly enough triangle and Square beads to make 8 spacer bars. So don’t accidently drop one of your beads. It would totally suck to lose one in the carpet if you need all 8 spacer bars. Also, when it says to cut a specific length of thread, you really need to measure it out in inches. I didn’t. As a result I had to make a trip to my local bead shop for more thread so that I could finish the project. The gold and purple look great together. I even have a skirt that matches them perfectly. However, I feel that the button is a poor match color wise for the beads. If you angle it just right in the light it matches, but otherwise it looks more blue than purple.
A shot of the top side of the bracelet
It was a fun project to do. I think I might take it apart and redo it in Blue and yellow. I’m torn. It was a lot of work to just redo, and it looks nice with my skirt.
Modern Earrings for the Modern Bride. The earrings came from the book “Perfect Match”
Instructions can be found on page 147. How ironic that this particular pair doesn’t match. :p
I chose this particular photo because I wanted to show you something. I did fix the difference in length before I gave them to her. The pattern calls for silver chain in a medium length. To me, medium is kind of relative. I initially chose the larger linked chain. I like how the simplicity beads dangle on the longer chain. However, this made for some pretty long earrings.
I decided to leave it up to her. She also liked how the longer set looked, but decided to go with the shorter length for her big day. I tried to get a photo of them hanging, but they have so much swing to them it was difficult to get a clean shot.
I sure hope she likes them.
I had never even heard of the Swarovski Crystal simplicity bead prior to this pattern. I have seen a lot of designs that just cabeads have a lot more class to them. I am totally buying more. I found the silver oval at Fusion Beads.
The bracelet was inspired by one she saw in the book “stringing Style”. It is #16 on page 21. 
That bracelet calls for “U” shaped tube beads. I don’t have any of those and I couldn’t find what I was looking for at any of my usual stores. What I did have was squiggly tube beads. I found a swirled Toggle that tied it together and just went with it. I picked up some silver shade beads to match the ones in her earrings.
I love simple clean lines. I might have to make one of these for myself.
