I'm the guest blogger over at Cousin Corp this week.  I hope you'll wander over to take a look at my post on how to make elfin or almond-shaped earring wires . If you're a regular reader of my blog or if you've ever bought one of my tutorials, you'll know that I like to give you LOTS of step-by-step photos so that you can see exactly how to create the project at hand. So I've included another couple of design ideas below which didn't quite fit the space constraints of the blog post. These pearl earrings are referred to as "ear wires 5" in the article. The bead is threaded on to the head pin before being turned into an earing wire. It's such a sleek but elegant look without a loop on the earring!   And these are referred to as "ear wires 2" - they have a longer tail and a shorter loop section so the point of the earring wire won't poke you in the neck. Cousin are currently hosting a series of guest blog posts from jewellery make......

On my recent visit to Michaels, I found some rather unusual looking ring settings in the jewellery section. These adjustable rings from Cousin Corp have what looks like a stirrup on the top but it's actually a bail with prongs; just the perfect size to hold a Trinkette bead. But it was actually some Crystazzi bling that caught my eye and a quick and easy project was born. This project is so quick that you will go from this...... ........ to this, in not much more than 10 minutes! This ring finding is really easy to use. Just place your selected bead inside the bail so the bead hole and prongs are aligned and then pinch the bail together. To bling up the ring base, glue on some coordinating Crystazzi flatback crystals. Make sure you use a suitable crystal adhesive to attach the individual crystals up the arms of the ring Use tweezers to help you place the crystals. I stopped at two columns of 4 crystals so that it would still be comfortable to wear on your finger. And there it is.........

Today I've got another instalment for my unofficial Cousin Corp week. Amongst the wonderful package of goodies that Cousin sent me is a packet of silver beadelles . I fell in love with these as soon as I saw them.... you know, there's nothing like dangling a bit of bling in front of a girl to dazzle her! But to make this piece pop even more, I've added some turquoise crystal cubes from my own collection. I'm working over a bracelet form which will be perfect for the style of bracelet I have in mind. I've also used 24 gauge non tarnish silver wire . Getting the wire wrap started is the hardest part of this bracelet. I used my flat nose pliers to hold the wire in place whilst I wrapped over the tail to make sure it was secure and then trimmed it away. After that, it's easy. After 5 wraps add a Crystazzi cube and then secure it firmly in place by wrapping the wire around the other side of the bracelet form. I've wrapped it 10 times but you can do it any numbe......

Welcome to the third project in my unofficial Cousin Corp Week. Today I'm using Trinkettes, Small Silver Curb Chain and 6mm round silver mirror beads.  All the findings I've used in this project come from the 59 piece Starter Pack in bright silver. The only exceptions are the bail, and the memory wire. I wanted to do something a little different with the Trinkettes that Cousin provided me with. Trinkettes are large holed beads so they're best suited to bulky stringing materials. But rather than thread them on standard Trinkette chain, I've opted to do something a little different and use the small curb chain to drape around and frame my butterfly focal. I've used a length of turquoise velour tubing from my collection to add colour and also to keep the chain in place. To start with, cut a length of chain 31.5 inches (81cm) long and fold it into 6 equal lengths. Open the end link with pliers.... ..... and join it to the other end so you have one continuous length of ......

For the second post in my Cousin Corp Week , I've created a multi-strand bracelet using a resin butterfly charm as the focal. You can see how I made the charm here . For this project, I've used the Pearl and Crystal mix in green and tied it all together with silver spacers. The first thing that needed to be done for this project was to work out how to incorporate the flat bottle cap charm into a multi strand bracelet. I could have glued one of the silver spacers to the back but they have a high point in the middle and they don't sit flush against the bottle cap back. So instead, I decided to wrap it with a square silver filigree from my collection so that I could weave the tiger tail through the back of the filigree to hold the strands in place. I went for a simple arrangement with the beads and threaded on the pearls interspersed with crystals. The silver spacers keep the strands firmly in place so they don't twist but they also tie in the silver filigree wrapped foca......

Most of the mail in my letterbox these days seems to come in those dreaded window faced envelopes. So I love it when postie delivers me a package instead. And oh how lucky I am - I've received a package of goodies from Cousin Corp to play with! It's full of Crystazzi crystals (sparkle, sparkle), Trinkettes (yum, yum) and beads from the Jewelry Basics range. I've talked about Jewelry Basics before - it's the range of beads you go to for all the jewellery making staples you need, the types of beads and findings you always reach for when you're making jewellery. So with such a bounty of goodies to play with, I am designating this week: Cousin Corp Week . Remember those gorgeous resin butterfly charms I made earlier for International Charm Day? Well, as luck would have it, they will work beautifully with the selection of blue and green beads in my Cousin package. Today I've selected the dangling charms from the Glass Metal Bead Cluster set. This is a selection of ......