Simply Charming...

With little time to work this week, I chose my book partly because I could accomplish a project in little time. As it turned out, I was having so much fun that I wound up making five necklaces!

The book, "A Charming Exchange" by Kelly Snelling & Ruth Rae (North Light Books) is a delightful book full of charms created for exchanges. After the exchanges, the charms were used to create amazing bracelets and interesting necklaces.

I have long wanted to make Ruth Rae's "pearl bird nest" charm. It is an elegant design, lovely to wear and simple to make. My first one was finished so quickly that I decided to make a second, using different color pearls. I strung one on leather cord, the other on silk ribbon. I see myself making many more of these for gifts!

I also loved the button stacks and made my own version of the design. I had so much fun that I made three of them, all strung on vintage seam binding. It was fun to dig through my button stash to find the right color & texture buttons to use. I combined the buttons with a few beads, used gel medium to attach a word and tied snippets of seam binding for added texture. They are adorable!

My photography skills still need work - I took photos with the old camera but they are all blurry. I have yet to load the software for the new camera so I can't post photos from that one yet. Here's hoping I get that done on Saturday so I can show you what I've made.

I love this book and I'm SO happy that I've finally made the pearl filled bird nest charms that I've been wanting to make for so long. Here's hoping I can post photos tomorrow.