Welcome to my 12 days of Christmas Earrings Extravaganza for 2012. I hope you'll check back often to see what I've come up with. The first pair is a glowing red Christmas tree bead framed with a diamond cut silver ring. For this project you'll need: 2 x 32mm silver diamond cut ring 2 x red Christmas Tree bead 2 x green marguerite beads with hole across the top 2 silver earring wires  2 silver head pins 22 gauge silver wire 2 x 4mm silver jump rings tools: flat nose pliers, round nose pliers, flush cutters Thread the marguerite on a length of wire so that one end is twice as long as the other. Bend the wire where it exits the bead so that it forms a triangle shape. Using the flat nose pliers, bend the longer wire vertically where the wires cross to form a neck. Wrap the shorter wire around the neck twice and trim it flush with the neck. Using round nose pliers, form a loop about 2-3mm above the first part of the wrap. Hook it onto the silver ring. Wrap the wire around the ne...

I've been making leather jewellery over the last couple of days. It's fun to work with but it requires a totally different approach when it comes to finishing your design. So today I have a couple of tips to share with you. How to Clamp Multiple Strands of Suede Lace The first one is for when you are working with multiple strands of suede lace. The easiest way to finish the ends of the lace is to use a ribbon clamp but it can sometimes be a bit difficult to keep multiple strands of lace together whilst you feed them into the clamp to close it. The solution: Lay a piece of tape on your workspace and place each lace in position. Make sure to leave enough space to attach the clamp without securing the tape as well! Slide on the clamp and press it closed with flat nose pliers to secure all the pieces of lace perfectly in position. Once you've clamped it, you can gently peel away the tape making sure you don't pull out the pieces of lace.Then just attach a jump ring and a c...

Here's a sparkly jewellery set that is perfect not only for Christmas, but also the wintery weather beyond. Of course, in the southern hemisphere, we enjoy Christmas in the middle of Summer but that's no reason why we can't chill a little with the cool and icy combination of blue and silver. You'll find the full article in the December 2012 issue of Crafts 'n Things. 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...

It's just over 3 years since I took up residence in my new studio. It seems as if it was only a few months ago.... how quickly time flies! The biggest evidence of how long it's been is the protective plastic cover on the workshop tables. They've been subjected to dozens of resin workshops, hundreds of papercraft and jewellery projects and a fair bit of gift wrapping in that time. They've taken abuse from heat guns, resin spills, attacks by scissors and pliers and just general day-to-day wear and tear. This is just a small section and although it isn't clear in the photo, all those pretty spots of colour are lumpy bumpy spots of resin..... it was becoming difficult to find a level area to work on. So today, it's out with the old and in with the new.  It's lovely to have a nice clean, level surface to work on again. But now it's time to set up for the next resin workshop so we can Christen it! FUN! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of ...

Today's post is just short and sweet... a free jewellery project thanks to the folks at Crafts 'n Things. But hurry, the link is only live for a week. After that it will still be available in the archives to subscribers. Crafts n' things Weekly - fruit of the vine necklace Enjoy! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...

All crafters seem to struggle with storage and organisation, especially as our collection of crafting materials grows. No matter how well you organise, you inevitably have to revisit your storage solutions from time to time. Right now, I'm finding my wire drawer troublesome and it takes too long to find the colour/gauge of wire that I'm looking for underneath all those spools. This drawer needs taming! My wire is stored in a drawer in my BEST Craft Organizer and it's handy so I want to keep it there. I was so pleased when I realised that the insert which fits the deep drawers fits 4 spools of Artistic Wire in each cavity perfectly. This looks so pretty.... and definitely organised. But could organising be this easy? Unfortunately, no! The new larger, flatter shaped spools of Artistic Wire won't fit in the drawers unless they're stacked on top of one other. It's tidy, but you can't see the wire colour. These new spools really need to stand on their sides but...

Here's the second of the two new classes in this month's workshop lineup. This one is for the fashionista who likes to walk on the wild side! Let me show you how to make your own faux barbed wire wrap bracelet using readily available materials. It will certainly draw some interesting comments.  Made from jewellery cord and paint, the barbs are actually quite soft and won't scratch your skin at all, yet it gives a realistic look of barbed wire. Teamed with some glass hearts and silver filigree balls, this goth style bracelet will suit anyone with a little rebel in them. And it's versatile too: not only can it be worn as a wrap bracelet, but it does double duty as a single strand necklace. Please email me to make a booking. 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...

I've added two new jewellery classes to this month's teaching schedule. The first one is working with coloured wire to make a sweet little bird's nest with a clutch of pearl eggs. And the second one I'll tell you about next week. If you've ever had the experience of store bought jewellery falling apart on you, then this class is perfect for you. You will learn how to make wrapped loops at each end of every bead so that your jewellery never falls apart! You get to choose the colour of the wire to make your nest with and select coordinating beads from my extensive collection. There are some really pretty beads to choose from so designing your own bracelet will be half the fun of this class. More details can be found on the Current Class Schedule page at Mill Lane Studio.  Bookings can be made by emailing me . 'Til next time..... If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration,  click here to find my books and printable pdfs...