Playing catch up

Haven't been updating this blog in a while. Had some posts on Facebook though :-)

Made these from the Prima Deli's box. Think it was DD's PC13 from there. I like this cake box 'cos the cardboard's rather thick and laminated on one side. I'm running out of antique bronze O-wires. Will have to use baby blue and pink soon.

iPad sleeve. First one ever. I find it funny 'cos one of the reasons for starting this blogshop was to earn enough to buy an iPad. After a while, we didn't track the revenue/expenses. The desire for an iPad waned. T'was only when DD needed one for school that we finally bought one. LOL! 

These are the Chan Luu-inspired leather wrapped bracelets that are the rage now. Simple to make but so tedious 'cos I used slippery beading string to wrap. You can't see from this pic but I used a 2-hole flower button as the catch. Notice the beads? The larger ones cost less than half those on the right. Don't know why, not familiar with these type of beads.

Zipper pencil cases. Simple in design but lots of manual work to ensure alignment.

CNY mandarin orange carrier.

Fuchsia crochet tote with leather handles. 100% cotton yarn

Blue/green crochet tote with leather handles. Cotton/linen blend yarn.

Grabbed this floral fat quarter when I saw it. Pic doesn't do justice to it's colours (I don't know how to fix it to show the true colours). Paired it with pink gingham. Both are cotton/linen blend so I had a hard time flipping the tote right side out. This is a different size from the other reversible totes 'cos I only had 1 fat quarter. The others are slightly wider than half a fat quarter.

Have a blessed day!

Shades of purple

Purple seems to be the new black. I get more and more requests for purple items. It's a pretty colour, my mum likes it too. Her favourite colour.

Double-wrap 7-strand suede bracelet with a Love charm.

Have a blessed day!

Rainy days

It's been raining the whole afternoon but it has stopped now and the sun's out.

What do you do on a rainy Sunday afternoon?

Made this 7-strand braided bracelet. Actually, I like the toggle. It's super shiny and I like the clean simple lines. It's rather heavy, definitely not aluminium. I initially braided 4 strands of suede but it was too big for the toggle's hole. I switched to 4 strands of Chinese knotting string and it was too small. I tried 7 strands and it's just nice :-)

I have a bunch of these snappy clips and decided to try the fabric button on them. I think I like these better than the paper clips. Hmm, I've not taken a pic of those, it seems. Soon?

Have a blessed day.

ps: I wonder if there'll be a rainbow later :-)

Tassels and charms

Made some bracelets and dust plugs and added charms and tassels.

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: made one more

Point of view

Everyone's entitled to their own opinions despite hearing or reading or even seeing the same things. One man's meat is another man's poison?

I'm musing 'cos there'll be some changes coming. It's not confirmed yet though, but it'll affect BunnyBags. I'm also considering narrowing the range of items I craft for sale and also how they'll be sold.

It's been more than 2 years since I started this. Since then I've lost count of what I've made and sold. I've also forgotten to take pics of them too. I hope many of these items are still in use today. I know DS and DD's items are, many of which are more than 2 years old 'cos I started out making stuff for them.

Random musings aside, I'm still crafting :-)

These are the before and after views of single-wrap 4-strand braided suede bracelets.  

And this is an amazing crystal dust plug. Swarovski elements, the shop said. The shine or bling factor is very high and I don't know how to take a decent pic to show the many faceted capture of light. It's clear when lying on its side but look at it top-down and a burst of colour shoots forth. DD and I were playing with this at the shop. I'll make hers soon :-)

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: made DD's with her choice of size of the Swarovski element which is the largest one I bought. Even the lady at the shop commented that it's a bit big for a dust plug, LOL! I won't take a pic. It's just like this one, but a bit bigger. She chose the multi-coloured one, not the clear one. Bling bling!

Tutorial - braiding suede

Braid your own suede bracelet in Christmas colours!

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Material

12" strips of suede (8pcs)

1" ribbon end (2pcs)

jump rings

lobster hook

Method

Crossing means going under if the one next to it is over, over if it's under.

1. Arrange the strips in the colour sequence of your choice. I used a hair clip to hold everything in place.

2. Clamp on a ribbon end.

3. Cross 5 over 4

4. Cross 3 over 5

5. Cross 6 over 4 and 3

6. Cross 2 over 5 and 6

7. Cross 7 over 4, 3 and 2

8. Cross 1 over 5, 6 and 7

9. Cross 8 over 4,3,2 and 1

10. Cross 5 over 6, 7 and 8

11. Cross 4 over 5, 1, 2 and 3

Repeat steps 10 and 11 with the rightmost and leftmost strips till desired length, cut ends and clamp. Add jump rings and lobster hook.

Have a blessed day!

ps: The finished bracelet was made from a different sequence of colours, not the one shown in the steps. The final bracelet will vary based on the colours you choose and the sequence you arrange the strips. Plain one added for your reference.

In another colour

This reminds me of maple syrup, of pancakes and caramel corn. :-)

I like the simplicity of this bracelet. It wasn't easy at the start but once you get the hang of it, it's rather simple to braid it.

Have a blessed day!

Colour combinations

I didn't think these would go together but these 2 colours were what DD requested. Six braided green and brown. After braiding it like that (3 consecutive green, 3 consecutive brown), it seems quite pleasant. I might try another that is green, brown alternates. I might try an 8-braid, or a 10? I think it's the same method as the 6. I'll need to find the corresponding ribbon ends first though.

 

Remember the top-most gift bag? I used it for the tutorial. Made some more out of Christmas colours. 

Would you have guessed that all these came from a single piece of cloth? It's those 'cheater' patchwork types. The sizes are just nice for these 27mm buttons. Dual loops elastic hair ties.

I just remembered that I'm supposed to update the Pre-Christmas Sale 2012 page with these than post here.

Oh well.

Have a blessed day!

More kits

These 3 are available as a kit. I've just posted them up on Facebook. Found 3 double-sided heart charms to go with them too :-)

These are 3-braid single wrap ones. I don't have other colours at the moment nor others long enough for double-wrap.

It seems that

3-braid, single wrap needs 1 yard,

3-braid, double wrap needs 2 yards,

6-braid, single wrap needs 2 yards and

6-braid, double wrap needs 4 yards.

Anyway, have fun with these :-)

Afternote: I forgot to include instructions (no picture tutorial at the moment)

1. Cut the yard of suede into 3 equal strips. At 12" and even with braiding, this should be long enough for most wrists.

2. Clamp 3 ends with the ribbon end with a pair of pliers. It doesn't matter which end you use, lobster hook or heart charm.

3. Braid

4. When it's long enough, cut and clamp.

Three suede cuffs ready for braiding (18cm, 20cm, 20cm). Affixed with antique bronze rose snap. Make your own following the tutorial I learnt from here.

Have a blessed day!

Braids

Three and six braided suede bracelets. I've yet to attach the lobster hooks and jump rings. There are some other colours that I've yet to make, pinks and purples etc. Two yards are needed for the 6-braided else 3-braided but double-wrap ones. I think I only have 5 2-yard suede strips. There's also the issue of the ribbon ends. I suppose I can sew suede ends so that I can fix a snap onto them but, not now. Not yet, at least? A shipment of delicious fabric arrived yesterday. We were almost home from the iLove Singapore Walk (were you there?) when I saw the Speedpost van. My first thought was, why is it here on a Saturday? My second thought was, what if it's my shipment? We ran to catch the delivery man and lo and behold! It was for us.

Talk about just in time :-)

Have a blessed Sunday!

Green suede bracelets

Braided these two green suede bracelets and crimped the ends with ribbon ends (or what do you call these?). The fixed length one I used a stainless steel lobster hook and rhodium-plated jump rings but the other I used ribbon ends that came with the extension chain. I prefer the extension chain 'cos of the tiny heart but I can't remember where I bought these from :-(

These are so fun to make that I think I'll go back and buy other colours.

Have a blessed day!

Do you like puzzles?

This suede bracelet was made from a single piece of suede. Not 3, not more. Just one. It looked simple enough yet I struggled with it for a while. It's fun so I think I'll make more :-)

I finally started using the antique bronze rose snaps. The one that the supplier shipped only 1 part out of 4 parts of each snap and had to re-ship, LOL!

Have a blessed and very breezy evening.

Afternote: made another one (actually 2 but only 1 pic)

New metal

The gauge of these stainless steel rings are higher so I could attempt a full Persian weave. And a 7-ring Mobius flower too. I didn't bother with aspect ratios again and just started the chain. It's quite fluid but not slinky. I added a stainless steel lobster hook so this bracelet is totally made up of the same stuff as forks and spoons.

I like this and am wondering whether to keep it for myself. I like shaggy bracelets too but there's something about simple clean lines and repetition and sleekness that I associate with chainmaille bracelets.

Hmmm, maybe I should make this mine, LOL!

Have a blessed day!

Afternote: I think this would look very nice as a choker when worn with a collared shirt. If I can find a pretty stainless steel toggle. Hmmm...

Playing with food

Do these look like olives?

DS said the previous black one looked like tiny grapes.

Toho 8/0 seed beads with pink lining and olive green on the outside. Silver tone rings for some brightness and shine.

I think this is the last of the shaggy bracelets for a while. Toho has lots more beads that I would like to try - drop beads, 6/0 beads and all the different colours! Well, if these are popular at the flea market on Sunday, I might just delve into these a bit more.

Meanwhile, my sewing machine beckons.

Have a blessed day!

Giveaway!

Would you like to have this?

Byzantine bracelet made from 5mm rhodium-plated jump rings with circle toggle.

Yours if you guess the correct (or closest) number of rings used.

Till 30Jul2012 3pm.

Just leave a comment here or on facebook.

Oh, max of 3 guesses per person and I'll take the most recent one, not all three :-)

* HINTS *

25Jul2012 hint: There are 14 rings per repeated section.

26Jul2012 hint: There are more than 10 sections.

28Jul2012 hint: There are less than 18 sections.

Down with the flu bug

The flu bug's been around recently with the wetter weather here. Thankfully, this time I didn't get teary eyes so I could make these while stuck recuperating at home. 

Nothing like some really cheerful colours and bling to brighten my weekend :-)

Made this specially for DD out of shell beads and 20 gauge 5mm rhodium-plated rings woven using the shaggy loops weave. Making this has reminded me that DD's wrist is larger than mine. Hmmm. 

I like the bright colours and the shimmery way they catch the light when you move your wrist :-) 

Toggle has longer bar to keep it secure even with excessive jingling and jangling. 

This picture doesn't do justice to these beads. I really need to learn how to use my camera better. Can you tell the difference between the 3?

Each of these 3 shaggy loops bracelet has about 400 Toho 8/0 seed beads. Two on each ring, 4 rings on each link. For the fun of it, I made one with all frosted beads (top), one with all bling beads (bottom) and one with half each (middle). DS and DD like the frosted one most. I can't decide how much bling yet, for me. The rings are the 5mm silver-tone ones so those have a bit of shine already. 

Oh, the ends are not shown here but they're the extension chain with the 4-ring Mobius flower :-)

Bling it on, cheers!

Chunky swirly

I like Mobius flowers. The most number of rings I've tried to put in a Mobius flower is 5.

This bracelet is made up of 4-ring Mobius flowers. I used 14 gauge 10mm rhodium-plated rings to this is not only chunky but heavier than usual. With these larger rings, the swirly nature is clearer.

Have a blessed day!

Almost featherweight

This shaggy bracelet is the lightest so far despite having the most glass beads. That's 'cos I've used aluminium rings this time. 5mm ID 18 gauge bright aluminium rings. I didn't count how many but they're certainly lighter than the rhodium ones. Sometimes value of jewelry is affected by the weight of it but this one bucks the trend by being chunky yet lightweight so continuous wear is not an issue. I like the sound this makes as well, with the soft clinks of the rings against the glass beads. Fun bracelet to wear :-)

Have a blessed day!

Productive weekend

Finally attached toggles to these chains. It's a simple toggle but I like it 'cos it's a bit heavy and has nice clean lines. The hole is in the bar rather than a soldered ring. Would have been nicer if the hole in the ring was incoporated as well. I like it too that this simple toggle doesn't distract from the woven chains.

 

Made a second shaggy bracelet. Only bought two types of long magatama beads. The frosted green one and  this blue one. I like the different shades of blue and teal. 

Another chainmaille belt similar to the earlier one with the 3-by-1 weave. These are larger (and heavier) antique bronze rings. Matched it with a pretty heart charm and flower lobster hook.

Have a blessed day!

Almost shaggy

Found a bag of light blue acrylic chips and decided to make a bracelet using the balance 5mm rhodium rings I have. There was one main problem though, that the 5mm OD was too small for some of the chips. I wanted to have the chips all over the full length of the bracelet but since the chips couldn't fit on the rings, I changed the two sides to a 2-by-1 chain.

No clasp yet though :-(

Have a blessed day!