Today's Featured Artist: Helen Slabodukh

We are so excited to bring a new "type" of tutorial to you this week.  We know that many of us (including our very own Elena) dabble in the super fun world of jewelry making.  Well, check out this super cute tutorial from Helen Slabodukh, Craft Project Coordinator for Blumenthal Lansing that combines paper-crafting and jewelry-making for a fabulous final result!

Button Charm Frame Pendant

I  was going through my box of jewelry components and for the longest time wanted to create a frame pendant  and now I have and I'm going to share with you the steps so that you to can create your own button charm frame pendant.  It's easy!

 MATERIALS: La Mode® #5125 - 2 buttons

                      La Mode® #49158 - 5 buttons

                      la petite #26 - 1 button

1 - Connector fame 3/4" x 1

4 - 4 mm jump rings

3 - 7 mm jump rings

Jewerly tools - flat nose & round nose pliers

wire cutter

rhinestone dangling earrings (16 pcs)

scrapbook papers; scissors

Epoxy 6000 glue  

I happen to have from my younger years a mismatched pair of rhinestone earrings  which of course came in handy such as today!  If you don't have a dangling pair - I'm sure there are many inexpensive pairs in jewelry shops...

 

With wire cutters - cut 16 rhinestone squares - trim if necessary.

Next - locate your glue - for this project I used Epoxy 6000 - now remember you will have to allow this to set for 24 hours before wearing. 

Before you begin make sure you have your 16 rhinestone squares - 8 for the top and 8 for the bottom.  Since these stones are small I relied on my flat nose pliers to help me.  

Run a small beam of glue along top - make sure to close the top of the tube it has a tendancy of being very potent!

Dont' worry you will have enough time to realign your stones if they seem a bit off!

Repeat the same procedure for the bottom.

If there are any loose threads of glue at this point pull them off.

One more step before you let this set dry. On my charm there happen to be a clear film strip so I opted to glue ontop my mini buttons:

With your Epoxy 6000 glue 4 buttons to acrylic film.  Remember 24 hours to have it dry.

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Next step - pick your background for your pendant.  Trace, cut and slide under acrylic slide.

So now you are about to add your button charms.  Locate all your jump rings.  Using your jewel tools split apart your jump rings. You will use your 4mm jump ring with the La Mode#49158 buttons.  Use 7mm jump rings with the La Mode #5125.

Attach jump ring to top bail, add your favorite chain and you're ready to wear.  Make sure all your jump rings are all aligned properly  - before you put away all your tool ( I see that I will have to go back and fix that jump ring!). 

So start creating your own button charm frame pendant.  We invite you to post your photos on our facebook page! If you have any questions, comments email me and I'd love to hear from you.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Check back tomorrow for details on Helen's giveaway!