Wine Charms

I've always held that when you host a party or give a gift, it's the little touches that make it special. Wine charms can be one of those sweet little touches. They can be ridiculously expensive in stores, but they are so easy to make yourself. The bonus about making them yourself is that you can customize them any way you like....charms, colors, etc. I like to customize sets and give them as gifts. I've made a cupcake set, a rubber duck set, and all kinds of other cute sets for different things. I love coming up with different theme ideas (I've done Twilight and Harry Potter sets....I'm trying to figure out what charms to use for  a Hunger Games set too). Even if you don't drink wine, they are fun to use for ice tea glasses or coffee cups too. Even if I'm just home having a glass of wine by myself, I usually put a charm on the glass because it's fun.

Here's what you need to make your own wine charms:

Select your beads or charms....remember that since each wine charm needs to be different, you can use a variety of charms and have the beads on the ring be the same color, or if you want to use the same charm for the set you can just switch up the bead colors on the rings. That way people can tell which glass is theirs.

If you use charms like the ones above, then you'll need jump rings to put them on the wire. If you are using beads or charms with a hole through them, like the beads pictured, then you'll need head pins.

For the wire ring, you'll need ring-sized memory wire. This wire is stronger than normal jewelry wire, and holds its shape when you bend it to put it on or off the glass stem.

I've actually had a hard time finding the ring-sized memory wire at places like JoAnn's or Michaels. I've found it at Artco in Tacoma, but you can also order it from Amazon. You will also need a pair of wire cutters (I suggest getting a pair and designating them for memory wire cutting. Since it's such a tough material, it really dulls the wire cutters), needle nose pliers, and a regular pair of pliers. You can buy a set of these tools in the jewelry section, or just use ones from the hardware store.

Once you have your wire, tools, and have picked out your charms or beads, figure out what colors you want to put on the rings. You can use seed beads of various sizes...less than .8mm usually will be too small though.

Aren't those little beads lovely? I got the set above from JoAnn's on sale a while ago. It's a great little set to have especially if you are starting out with wine charm making.

Since you have everything ready now, the first step is to prep your charms. Since I'm using the beads, I have to make my own charm to put on the ring. I take my head pin, and slide a little seed bead onto it first, then the big bead, and then two more little seed beads.

Next, you'll take your wire cutters and cut the pin a little bit above the beads. This leaves space to create a loop so the charm can go onto the ring.

Take the needle nose pliers and make a loop....make sure the loop is tight enough that it won't slip off of the ring.

Repeat with the other beads...

Next you need to cut your memory wire. This is tough and takes some muscle. Take the coil, and cut a ring that allows the ends to overlap, much like a key ring.

Cut however many you need....I'm making a small set of four this time. Once you have your rings cut and charms made, you're ready to go.

Take one of the rings and, using the needle nose pliers, make a small loop on one end of the ring. I've found that it's easiest to do this by placing one end between your fingers, and hold it firmly to create the loop. Make sure the loop is tight so that the beads can't slide off.

Start putting your seed beads on, filling the ring about half way.

Slide on your charm...

Fill the rest of the ring with beads, leaving about half an inch at the end so you can create the end loop with the needle nose pliers.

You will still have an overlap, similar to a keyring, which is important so that it stays on the glass stem.

Finish your other wine charms...and look how cute they are!

You'll notice that these aren't perfectly even. The over lap on the purple one isn't very long, though it will still work. The blue one's charm is kinda off center....but it's ok! They are quirky and fun. And SO cute on glasses!

It's that easy. It took me some practice to get the loops on the ends of the rings just right, so give yourself space to practice. Here are some sets I've made in the past. The first pic is all the ones I've kept for myself.

 This is the first set I ever made:

 The Twilight set I made. I kept it :). Yes, I'm a Twihard. Don't judge me!

 I LOVE these leaf ones. I actually used them when we had guests at Thanksgiving. They were a very sweet touch on the table!

If you are wanting to make larger sets or multiple sets of the same charm, Oriental Trading Company has a fairly nice selection at good prices. I have tons of the cupcakes, ducks, leaves, and owls left thanks to them. The seed beads I suggest buying from Michaels or JoAnn's...they sell large amounts for pretty cheap. And you know how I love inexpensive supplies that give me leftovers! For more specific charms, like the ones I used for the Twilight set, came from a bead store. If you don't have one near you, check out Shipwreck Beads online (http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/). They are out in Olympia, WA. I have yet to go into the physical store, but I've ordered from them online and had a great experience.

Hope this inspires you to have some fun making your own wine charms. The possibilities are endless, and they are SO EASY!

Sola Deo Gloria!

Spring Apothecary Jars!

I LOOOOOOOOVE apothecary jars! I also had a serious itch to make some spring decorations. The pups got me up at 6:30 am, so I decided to be productive this Saturday morning and do something about the spring decor itch.

A few thoughts about decorating in vases and apothecary jars first:

The lovely thing about vases and apothecary jars is that you don't have to do anything complicated to make them pop. All you need is some filler and you're good to go. The other thing you can do is make them sort of like a little seasonal scene. Either way, not complicated. In fact, I usually use seasonal stuff from the dollar store to fill mine. So I took some inexpensive seasonal items I either already had or that I recently picked up:

 The floral moss, floral foam, and mossy rock thingies (why yes, that IS their official name) all came from the dollar store (I got them last year for a different project). I still see them at the dollar store all the time so you should be able to pick up something similar to these.

 The rafia came from the dollar store this year. The fern basket I picked up on sale at Artco last year for $7. I haven't been able to use it until now, so I definitely wanted to take advantage of it....it's an awesome piece!

 Butterflies....I got these last year for a different project and am reusing them. I think I got them at Artco, but you can find these at any craft store. I don't remember exactly how much I paid for them, but it wouldn't have been more than a few dollars (definitely under $5, probably more like $3).

 The dollar store has an excellent silk flower collection. I wouldn't use them for higher-end decorations, but are perfect for my purposes today!

 No spring decoration is complete without speckled eggs! Dollar store came through again!

 I got all of these little guys at the dollar store. Aren't they perfect?!?!

 Dollar store Easter grass....you could always just run colored paper through a shredder too if you don't want to buy a bag of it. I'm lazy so I just bought the bag.

Last year's plastic Easter eggs (I make a basket every year for Brandon. We don't have kids so he gets a basket instead!).

So I gathered my hurricane vases, apothecary jars, and small cloche, and got busy experimenting. By the way, no crafting morning is complete without...

CHICK FLICKS AND TEA!!

Anyways, the first thing I did was get out some canned goods. They are great for putting in the vases or jars to add height, and you also can use less filler per jar. This makes for cheaper decorating, and you can make more of them with your supplies instead of having to buy more supplies. 

I worked on that small jar on the left first. I decided the little white bunny would look great in it. I put in some moss and sat the bunny on top. I didn't actually leave the can in it because it made the bunny sit too high for the lid.

Isn't he cute?? I decided to not add anything to this jar...less is more, and I wanted the bunny to be the focus.

Next, I worked on the hurricane vases. I put smaller cans in both of them, then filled one with rafia and one with moss. You might have to really stuff your filler down into the bottom of the vase to make sure your can doesn't peek out. Once I was happy with the filler, I set my birds on top. I added three speckled eggs to both vases, moss rocks to one, and was good to go. I did add a butterfly to one of them...it just needed something more. Vases and apothecary jars are really about experimenting until you are happy with them.

By the way, if part of your can is peeking out, just make it the back of your display. Unless it's a table centerpiece, no one will be the wiser for it.

Anyways, I decided to do the fern basket next. This one was really easy...I just stuck a bird in it and some speckled eggs, and it was good to go!

Next I filled the milk-jug looking apothecary jar. I stuck some floral foam in there, along with some moss rocks....

I filled it in with a small rock, some moss over the foam to hide it, some silk flowers, and a butterfly. I just played with it until I was happy with it...

For two of my smaller jars, I just stuck some glitter eggs from the dollar store in them. This is the finished vase and jar collection....

LOVE THEM!! So spring-y and natural. I just needed to do the cloche now. I got out a dinner plate, turned the lid upside-down, and filled it will the Easter grass and plastic eggs. This one is less natural feeling, but it is fun and festive. I added two little butterflies to it after I stuck it on the mantle. I think I may transfer it to a cake stand to add some height.

Here they are in their places:

And here is the giant mess I had leftover after I did all this:

Crafting is messy work, people! :)

A few thoughts about apothecary jars and vases and then I'll sign off. Purchasing apothecary jars and hurricane vases can get expensive fast! Michael's and Joann's has them ranging from $12 to upwards of $45 dollars! That is NOT in my budget! I mostly only have smaller jars right now since we haven't really lived in a place that warranted bigger ones. I found mine at antique stores and paid no more than $6 for a piece. The hurricane vases were leftover from my wedding, and I think I bought those with a coupon. If you want some bigger apothecary jars or vases, purchase them at places like TJ Maxx or Marshall's. They have them for really inexpensive (I think the most expensive one I saw at Marshall's recently was $16, and it would have been $45 at Michael's). I'm putting a few of those on my birthday list since we now have a mantle that is PERFECT for large apothecary jars!!

Other filler ideas for spring: jelly beans, plastic eggs and Easter grass (like the cloche....these would be super cute in a hurricane vase or jar too!), faux speckled eggs, decopauged eggs, small garden gnome, peeps....the possibilities are endless! Pinterest also has fabulous ideas :). Also, it's never a bad idea to buy filler stuff at the end of the season when it's on clearance to use for next year! :)

Wow I just realized how long this post is....thanks for reading!

Sola Deo Gloria!