Sterling Silver Jewelry from Teeda.com Review

I'm always looking for great online shops.  I was so excited when I found Teeda.com to find some sterling silver jewelry. I'm always a little apprehensive when I buy stuff online, you never know the quality from the pictures that are on the site.  I ordered six pieces of jewelry from teeda.com.  One bracelet, one ring, one toe ring, one pair of earrings, one ear cuff and one necklace.  The package arrived yesterday and I cannot be more pleased.  The quality of the jewelry exceeded my expectations.  The prices on the site were so reasonable that I thought the quality wouldn't be that great, but I was so wrong.  The jewelry was each carefully packaged in its own box  (note if you buy wholesale then it does not come in individual boxes).   The boxes were also encased in another boxed and neatly package. The jewelry inside was shiny and well made.   My favorite pieces were the ring, necklace and earrings.  The ring was substantial, thick silver.  The pendant on the necklace sparkled and the chain was delicate yet sturdy.  The earrings were a beautiful pink stone that looks sophisticated enough to wear to work but fun enough to wear out.  The bracelet was well made, not really my style, but I gave it to my aunt who loved it.  There is stuff on the site for all ages.  I gave the toe ring to my daughter and she loved the dolphins on it.  Teeda.com really has exceeded my expectations in delivering fine quality sterling silver jewelry for reasonable prices.  The delivery was fast and reliable.  I received a tracking number from fed ex soon after I placed the order and the package took less than three days to arrive.  Overall I would recommend this site to anyone.  You can get wholesale prices for jewelry, but you do not have to buy wholesale quantities!  So if you are in the market for some affordable quality jewelry for holiday gifts, charity fundraisers, dance performances, giveaways or just your own personal use be sure to check Teeda.com out.

My favorite pieces from Teeda.com

Box was well packaged and delivered fast.

Beautiful earrings from Teeda.com

The jewelry arrived each in its own well made jewelry box.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Teeda.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

Rainbow Loom Bracelets For Adults (And A Tutorial On How To Make A Bracelet Without A Loom)

So you may be wondering if I'm sporting any of these elastic band bracelets that I'm making.  I mentioned in a previous post that I am way too old to be wearing these rubber band bracelets.  While that still holds true for some of the designs, there are a few ways I have made these bracelets so that they are stylish for any age.  Instead of finishing the bracelets with the plastic C clasps, I decided to use a silver link bracelet.  This gives the bracelet a nice finished look.  I actually love to wear this fishtail bracelet now, it actually looks like a bracelet that I would purchase.

I also made this bracelet without a Rainbow Loom.  I just used my fingers to make it!  Included below is a video tutorial on how to make a Rainbow Loom bracelet without a loom.  I have more videos coming of new complex bracelets without a loom, so be on the look out for those.

These colorful rubber bands as well as a Rainbow Loom can be found online on Amazon.com or ConsumerCrafts.com.

Here is the video tutorial on how to make a Rainbow Loom bracelet with no loom.  The pattern it shows you is the fishtail bracelet as seen above.  All you need is rubber bands and your fingers!  So this is great if you are going somewhere and don't want to bring your loom or if you do not have a Rainbow Loom. Video tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO9octNkRD0

Fishtail elastic band bracelet made without a loom.

Instead of putting a C clip just use a bracelet and loop it through both ends of the fishtail and clasp the bracelet .  You want to make your fishtail bracelet half the length of your wrist.

Here is how the bracelet looks on

DIY My Name Necklace

I love shrink plastic.  I made these "my name" necklaces for my daughters a while back with shrink plastic.  All you have to do is cut out the name using shrink plastic, paint them and bake them.  Mine was kinda big (I think I may use it for a key chain instead).  The original size of the name as 8 inches and it shrunk down to 4 inches.  You could experiment with the size and color.  I used gold paint to embellish it a little.  It's not something I would wear to work, but a fun day to day necklace.  It also helped Avery practice the letters in her name.  Avery loved her necklace and its great because shrink plastic is cheap so I don't have to worry about her losing it.

Use Cricut or die cut machine to cut shrink plastic.

Try to fit as many names on one sheet.  If your mat isn't that sticky recutting shrink plastic on small pieces can be disastrous.

Remember to punch holes before you bake!

After you bake you can paint with gold paint.

I applied a thin coat of polyurethane onto seal the paint.

Braided Four Strand Bracelet

I saw this tutorial for a beaded necklace and new I needed to try it.  The instructions were easy to follow and it made a great bracelet.  I added a gold chain and experimented with both a three strand braid and a four strand braid.  I liked both but the four strand braid was a bit harder to work with.  I liked adding the gold chain because it gave it a nice touch.

For full instructions see the tutorial.  If you would like to learn how to braid a four strand braid see video below.  I created the video as a part of another tutorial on weaving a paper ball.

Upcycle Credit Cards and Gift Cards to Make Chevron Earrings

I know we all have them, old CDs, gift cards and credit cards.  I have stacks of old plastic cards that I usually just throw out or let Avery play with when she plays "cashier" at home.  I've been trying to get more into jewelry making lately.  Its actually one craft that I have never tried before.  I have tried beading and making friendship bracelets before, but never really tried jewelry making with jump rings, chains, and actual jewelry hardware.

For this craft I wanted to make it as easy as possible, requiring the purchase of little to no tools.  It's usually very daunting picking up a new craft, as you have to buy new equipment for a craft that you may not really love.  To make these earrings you can use tools from around your house.  I use an utility knife to cut the gift card, a stapler to punch holes into the gift card and nail polish to paint the chevron cutout.  The only materials you may need to buy are jump rings (6 total), earring connectors, a metal chain and needle nose pliers.

Cut two triangle shape out of the gift card.  Note you can just score the card with the craft knife and snap the card to detach pieces.

Mark chevron shape and score with exacto knife.  Cutting credit cards is fairly easy.  Just score the card and snap apart.

For the inside point you want to wiggle it a little being careful not to snap the chevron in half.

Use a stapler to punch holes on the corners of the chevron.

Remove the staple.

To make the hole larger poke the hole through with a large safety pin or needle.  Poke through on both sides picking off excess plastic on the hole.  (File if necessary)

Paint the chevron with the nail polish color of your choice.  Paint edges first and then paint top and bottom sides.  Let dry between coats.  Three coats of polish was necessary to cover all the text on the bottom side of the gift card.

Let chevrons dry for at least two hours.  Attach jump rings to each hole.  Cut two strands of metal about 4 inches long.   Attach metal strands to jump ring.  Find the center of the strands and attach another jump ring.  Attach that center jump ring to earring hook.

No one will ever guess these earrings are made from an old gift card.  You could also use credit cards or even cds.  CD's may be a little trickier as they are thicker.  

How to Make a Personalized Name Bracelet

I made this bracelet a while back when I was making the personalized name tag key chain for Avery's lunch box.  Shrink plastic is my new favorite craft supply.  It's so easy to work with and hardens into a relatively durable plastic, that the creative possibilities are endless.  To make this bracelet I punched two holes on each end of the shrink plastic (before shrinking) and then threaded through a leather bracelet.  Check out the tutorial on how to make personalized name tag key chain to see exact details on making the shrink plastic name.

This is the shrink plastic after shrunk.  You want to read the instructions on your shrink plastic to see how much it will shrink.  You could also do a test strip to test also.

Use a needle and nylon thread to sew the name tag onto the leather. 

Shrink plastic can be purchased at ConsumerCrafts.com, Amazon.com or at a local crafts store like Michaels.

How to Make a Lanyard Bracelet with Metal Finishing

A few weeks ago I was at the mall and saw a young woman wearing a lanyard bracelet.  It wasn't like the fourth grade lanyard bracelets that was tied to a keychain ring, it was more elegant, with metal finishing. I really liked it because it reminded me of childhood, but with a sophisticated touch.  I remember making these lanyard bracelets for months on end in the third and fourth grade.  There was the box stitch, barrel stitch, rope, Chinese staircase, butterfly, cobra and extensions like the double barrel and double box etc.  I asked the women where she bought the bracelet and she said that her sister bought it online somewhere, but she did not know where.  I searched but could not find it so I decided to try to make it. I loved making these back then so making it again wouldn't be that hard.

It wasn't until after I finished my video tutorial and was uploading it onto youtube that I found out that the bracelet was by a company called Helloberry.  I googled "lanyard bracelet" so many times and couldn't find it.  So here is my tutorial on the Helloberry Inspired bracelet.  I changed it up a little, instead of putting links, I put an existing gold bracelet in place.  I like this better because you can make one lanyard and change up the color of the finishing. I even put a silver necklace or a ribbon there to mix it up a little.

Here is the video tutorial: Part 1 and Part 2 (Part 2 is how to finish the bracelet neatly, I really wanted to make it one video, but was having technical difficulty)

Lanyard can be purchased at Michaels or online at amazon.

Put any existing bracelet on the end.

I made the blue ribbon one for my daughter, because she always loses things and
 I didn't want her to lose my silver bracelets.

The Cheese Thief's Whereabouts

Dear Readers (the few that I probably have left),

I know its been a while, a very long while - about nine months.  I've been busy, busy making something that took all the energy out of me.  Crafting something that made me so sick at times, but in the end it was all worth it.  For those of you who are wondering what I "crafted" the image below is a hint.

Here is my new baby girl Alexis.

I hope readers understand why I've been away for so long. Pregnancy was hard on my body and I simply didn't have the energy to blog.  But I'm going to start up blogging again.  I can't wait to share with you some of the tutorials I've been working on.

Below is a simple tutorial for how to take a friendship bracelet and make a friendship ring.

Start with weaving yarn into the desired design as you would when making a friendship bracelet to the length slightly longer than the circumference of your finger.  Here I used a friendship bracelet that I already had.  Cut the woven piece to the exact circumference of your finger at both ends to produce straight edges

Hand sew two ends together to form a circle.  You could also put some fabric glue for a more secure hold.

And here you have your finished ring.

Enjoy.

Eight Petal Flower Bead Ring Tutorial

When I was in junior high, I went to the mall and saw a beaded flower bracelet that I fell in love with.  It was about ten dollars, so it was out of my budget.  I remember going to check it out everyday because I thought it was so cool, but knowing that I didn't have the money to buy it.  I would carefully examine the bracelet, trying to figure out how it was made, then run home and try to replicate it.  One day I finally prevailed and was able to figure it out.  I was so excited about the bracelet I wore it to school the very next day.  A girl in my gym class liked it so much she offered me five dollars for it.  Being short on money at the time, and calculating it out, the bag of beads was only 50 cents, and the thread was free (from my mom) so this seemed like a good deal.  I gave her the bracelet and she said she would bring me five dollars the next day.  The next day came and went and she never paid me.  After a week I asked her about the money and she said "what bracelet?" like the transaction never took place.  I was devastated, confused, and angry.  But I did nothing.  I never told anyone this story because I was so embarrassed at how naive I was.

Every time I see any beaded piece of jewelry I think of this story.  It makes me sad and happy at the same time.  It makes me sad to think that there are mean spirited people out there and that I was so passive I never stood up for myself.  It makes me happy because I know I've come a long way from then and I am no longer the passive scared little girl. 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial on how to make this eight petal flower bead ring (which could be also made into a bracelet).  Maybe you can make it for someone you love to give them a little happiness.

Video tutorial is at the bottom of the post or here is the direct youtube link.