How to Make A Unique Custom Photo Glass Cabochon

As I told you in my last blog post, I want to share how to take any picture you have and edit it to make a photo glass cabochon.

Choose Your Photo

First you need a digital photograph that you would like to use for this project.  For the purposes of this tutorial I will use the picture below.  I chose this one that was sent to me by a customer because it is way too big and contains more in it than we would want to include in the photo glass cabochon.

We will select the face of the kitty, whose name is Kernel, for this photo glass cabochon.

How to Make a Photo Badge Reel

Photo Glass Cabochons 

Badge Reels made with photos supplied by my customer

Many of the id badge reels that I sell in my shop are made with photo glass cabochons.  These are very popular.  A photo glass cabochon  is made by placing a photo or graphic design under a glass disc.  These are used by many jewelry artisans to make photo glass pendants and earrings.  I use them to decorate the top of id badge holders.

Five Benefits of a Well Made Beaded Lanyard

I enjoy creating lovely beaded lanyards, and I hope many of you like them as well.  However, a lanyard is not just a decorative item, it is a functional item as well.  It gets hard use every day.

How Long Should a Fashion Lanyard Be?

Too Short or Too Long?

Many of my customers ask me about the length of a handmade beaded or chain lanyard that I make.  A fashion lanyard is an attractive accessory for the clothing you wear at work.  It should also be comfortable and useful for its function.

An id badge lanyard must perform a task other than adorning our outfits.  That is what makes selection of just the right length so tricky.  There is no perfect length in terms of inches that works for everyone.  So how do we decide the length for ourselves?

Where on the body should a fashion lanyard end?

For most people the end of the actual  lanyard not including the id badge or keys attached to it should fall just below the breast. Then the actual id badge or key will lay immediately below the breast above the upper abdomen.

If a fashion lanyard is too short, and falls at the breast or above, then the id badge and keys will stick out from the breast emphasizing that area of the body.

If the fashion lanyard is too long, then the id badge and keys may lay in the lap when seated.  Another problem with a lanyard that is too long is that it gets caught on a desk or table when you get up, tugging on the strand.  Although it may not break immediately, it does cause the wire to fray over time and finally break.  I have been asked to repair lanyards put under this constant stress.   This can be done, but really involves a total restringing of the lanyard with new wire. Basically it means starting all over to make the lanyard.

The fashion lanyard displayed on the mannequin below is really too long for the mannequin. But Matilda, my mannequin, is quite petite so I don't judge the length I will make a lanyard by her size. Don't I wish I were so tiny!

What are the most popular lengths for fashion lanyards?

I have sold many fashion lanyards in my shop over the last five years.  Most of my orders are for 36" lanyards.  I provide choices to my customers of 32", 34" and 36" lanyards.  These measurements are all the way around the strand of beads or chain plus the drop of the lanyard focal beads and clasp.

To decide which length you need, measure with a tape measure from the middle of the back of your neck to just below the breast in the middle of your body.  Then double that number. For me that length is 17", and I am 5'6" tall.  That means I should wear a 34" lanyard.

Here is a guide based on height for the length of lanyard you should wear:

Your Height	Length of Lanyard
5'2"-5'3"	30"
5'4"-5'5"	32"
5'6"-5'7"	34"
5'8"-5'9"	36"
5'10" -5'11"	38"

You may wish to read more about the construction of my lanyards.

I have many fashion lanyards available for you to purchase in my shop.  You can select the length you want from the drop down box, or if you need it longer or shorter, let me know in a note when you make your purchase.  

What is your favorite length of a badge lanyard?

Rhinestone Badge Reels - Bring on the Bling!

Do You Like Sparkly?

Bling is sparkly,bright, fun and popular.  Rhinestones are pretty. I am on the band wagon with that for fun badge reels. I am making and selling badge reels that feature rhinestone buttons. I do them as magnetic or clip on badge reels.

I purchase rhinestone buttons for these.  My hubby goes down to his work room and removes the shanks from the buttons. Sometimes this is a quick snip snip process, and sometimes I hear the grinder running.  On some of the buttons he cuts off what he can of the shank, and then grinds the back down smooth.   When he is finished he has a smooth back to the button.

Then I take the button and glue it to the top of the badge reel.  For the larger buttons, I glue them directly to the badge reel.  For the smaller buttons I glue them to a decorative pendant base or to a metal ring.  Then I glue those items to the badge reel.

Some of the rhinestone buttons have a glass pearl cabochon in the middle and rhinestones around it.

Grandma wore sparkly rhinestones

I have not personally favored rhinestones in the last thirty years or so because it reminded me of what older women were wearing and what was popular when I was a child.  In addition, I thought rhinestone jewelry was cheap and gaudy. Some of this jewelry was cheap and gaudy, but I was sadly mistaken to believe all rhinestone jewelry was or is unworthy.

Did you know that rhinestones were from the Rhine River?

I decided to do a little research into the history or rhinestones and found that they originally were small colorful pebbles from along the Rhine River in Europe. Antique Jewelry Investor describes these as " razzle dazzling little pebbles, originally found along the Rhine River."  As I read further, I was delighted to learn that Swarovski in Austria furthered the refinement of rhinestone jewelry with his invention of a glass cutting machine that would cut facets.  Swarovski crystals are the finest crystals, and I have never thought of them as

rhinestones.  Swarovski does market flat back rhinestones as well as faceted crystals.

The rhinestones used on my button badge reels are not Swarovski crystal.  

They are just lots of fun and sparkly. Have a fling and treat yourself to some bling !

Vintage Inspired Beaded ID Lanyards

Vintage Inspired Jewelry is a Favorite of Mine

I have been inspired by vintage type of jewelry ever since I first started using Etsy back in 2006.   I emulated much of what I saw to make earrings and then necklaces. Now I specialize in creating and selling id badge lanyards.  I was missing... no, I was aching, to make vintage inspired jewelry again.  So I thought, why can't I create vintage inspired id badge lanyards.

Antiqued brass findings are often used in this type of jewelry, and heaven knows I sure have a lot of those in my stash of supplies.  I decided to make a lanyard using some of the antiqued brass findings and some beautiful blue green glass teardrop beads.  I also incorporated some small complementary crystals up around the neck.  I am delighted with what I did here.  I plan to do more in the future.

Here is a close up view of the teardrop beads with the antiqued brass beadcaps.  Notice how I layered two fancy beadcaps, then a crystal, then a small spacer above the teardrop bead.  This adds charm to the design.  You can also see that I used a small round antiqued brass bead at the bottom of the teardrop bead.  The beads are wirewrapped with antiqued brass wire to the antiqued brass chain.

 Since vintage inspired jewelry has a lot of embellishment, I added small crystal beads and small round antiqued brass beads further up the strand to repeat the colors and forms used on the main beads.  The lovely antiqued brass mother son chain adds to the charm of the design. I enjoy mother son chain because it uses large and small links of chain in a pleasing repetition.

Vintage Inspired Lanyards Sold in the Past

I have made some vintage inspired lanyards in the past, and those are sold.  Here are some photos of them.  If you find that you are interested in something like these, please contact me for a custom order.

Pink Flower on Brass ID Badge Lanyard 

Peach Flower on Antique Brass with Beaded Lanyard Strand

Vintage Inspired Rose Buttons on ID Badge Lanyard 

  

Say Something with Your ID Badge

Say something with your ID badge and let people know a bit about you. Wear a badge reel that conveys a message.  You have an id badge hanging from the reel,  but the badge itself can express something about you if you want it to.

I am using flat back buttons on top of badge reels to make these.  These flat back buttons are like the buttons used for campaigns or other pin on buttons.  They do not have a pin on them, but are flat.  This allows me to glue them to the top of the magnetic badge reels.  Very nice looking!

Right now I have several types in my shop.

Say Something about - Independence Day

Say Something about a cause -Teal Awareness Ribbons

I was not aware of the large number of awareness ribbons available.  The teal on has many causes associated with it.  A full list of awareness ribbons is published on Wikpedia.

Say Something about your profession -Lab Techs - Phlebotomist

Say Something about your profession - Pharmacy Tech

I hope you enjoy these new badge reels. Let your ID badge reel say something that you want to communicate.  Are you looking for a certain theme or message for your id badge?  Please let me know in the comments what you would wear.

Needle Minders Completed for You to Buy

Needle Minders Ready for Mother's Day

If you have been following my blog, you know that I discussed needle minders in my post of April 14. I finally completed a line of needle minders that you can purchase as a good gift for Mother's Day.  Many of us do some sort of stitching and the pesky needle gets away when we get up from our project to do something else.  We come back and find the needle and thread are missing.  Sometimes it falls into the folds of fabric, sometimes down the side of the chair, and who knows where else.  If the needle and thread are not attached to the fabric, it can be even a greater problem to find the needle.

We all like pretty things even when we are doing our stitching craft.  So why not dress up the fabric with a needle minder?  I have made three different sizes of these and three different price points.

Visit my shop to see the full line of needle minders ready for you to purchase for your Mother's Day gift.

I am thinking about expanding my line of beaded needlework accessories.  If you have ideas of something you would like to see me make, please let me know. Your comments mean a great deal to me.  Thanks.

Radiant Orchid - Glorious Color for Spring

Radiant Orchid Jewelry for Spring

Anyone who has followed me on my blog, Etsy or my Plumbeadacious shop has probably noticed that I use shades of purple and pink fairly extensively on my website as well as in my items that I sell.  So it is very exciting for me to see that Pantone named Radiant Orchid at the Pantone 2014 color of the year.

Pantone creates color palettes for the fashion industry, and their leadership sets the tone for what the designers and manufacturers will be creating and selling.  This spring you may see this beautiful orchid color almost everywhere.

Jewelry in my shop in Radiant Orchid

I created this chain lanyard with radiant orchid button pearls a few days ago and listed it in my shop this morning. You can purchase one of these at my shop, Plum Beadacious.

Do you plan to wear radiant orchid in some way this spring?  If it is not your color, you can add a splash of it to your outfit. Browse my shop to find your favorite radiant orchid accessory.

Needle Minder-Good Gift for a Seamstress

Have you ever put your needle work or hand stitching down to get up and do something else, and when you return to the project, you cannot find the needle?  This happens occasionally to most people who work with a needle and thread.

One of my customers, Annie, is a quilter extraordinaire.  She has challenged me to think beyond my normal product line to create items useful to quilters and seamstresses. With her guidance for the design and length, I made her several scissors lanyards.

Annie asked me if I could make a needle minder (aka needle nanny) similar to the badge reels that I make and sell.  It took me awhile to catch on to how these work, but once I did, I really liked the idea.  The picture of the blue birds on a pendant holder above is the needle minder I did for Annie.  She was kind enough to take this photo for me showing the needle minder in use.

You can visit Annie's blog, Annie's Ruby Slipperz, for some fun reading about making quilts.

How the Needle Minder Works

The needle minder works with a magnet.  There is a metal piece on the back of the decorative round piece and a 1/2" neodymium magnet that sticks magnetically to the decorative piece. The seamstress places the magnet under the fabric with the decorative piece on top.  The needle is then placed between the decorative piece and the fabric.  It will stay there until you return to your project to resume your stitching.

Gift for Mom

With Mother's Day approaching very soon, May 11, wouldn't this be a wonderful gift for your mother or grandmother?  Many of our mothers and grandmothers sew.  I was thinking it would also be a nice gift for a grandchild to make for a grandmother.  I purchased my neodymium magnets from a seller on Etsy, Sun and Moon Crafts.  She will deliver to you very promptly.  Then you can find something to make the decorative top.

I also did a Google search for needle minder, and found a number of sites where these are sold. In addition I found this blog post from Little Bit Funky about making your own needle minder.   Crystal, the author of the blog, places the needle on top of the needle minder and does not use any metal in the decorative piece.

What do you think about needle minders?

I am thinking about making more of these and putting them in my shop for sale.  I need to move quickly to do this, so you can purchase in time for Mother's Day.

If you sew, would you use something like this? Do you like the idea of giving a needle minder to someone as a gift?  Leave a reply for me below to let me know what you think.  I always value your opinions.

Etsy Shop Sales in the Last Nine Days

My Etsy shop is hopping with sales!

Here is what is selling well for me right now.  This month, since April 1,  I sold seven id badge lanyards, six magnetic id badge reels and two eyeglass chains.  For me as a handmade seller on  Etsy, this is good.

My sales have increased in the last six months.  Part of this is due to repeat customers (thank you so much to those customers), some is due to new items in my shop, and lots is due to my increased marketing efforts through this website, and social media.

Take a look at some of the items I sold through my Etsy shop.  Most of my sales still come from the Etsy shop.  I am beginning to make some sales on my Plum Beadacious website that is on Shopify, an ecommerce shopping cart website.

ID Badge Lanyards

The photo below is of a chain lanyard I created using cute little silver plated fish beads and blue pearls and crystals.  I have one more of those available in my Etsy shop.

This next lanyard is a practical one for everyday that will go with lots of different outfits.  Black is always a good seller for my lanyards in my Etsy shop.  I also have one more of these available in my Etsy shop.

Two of the lanyards I sold during this time  are my very best seller of all times.  It is the Simple Silver Chain Id Badge Lanyard pictured below.  These are very popular because they go with anything and they are lightweight. I try to always have a supply of these available for sale.

Magnetic ID Badge Reels

Customers also bought a number of magnetic id badge reels this month so far.  Three of the eight that I sold in my Etsy shop were the beautiful Silver Filigree Cabochon badge reel.  This item is very popular as well as the Simple Silver id badge lanyard for similar reasons.  It is also silver and classic in design.  It can be worn everyday.  This is one of my stock items.  I just keep making them so I always have them available.

Thanks for looking at what I have been doing lately.  All of my sold items from my Etsy shop are available for you to review here.

New Magnetic Badge Reels in My Shop

Check out the newest magnetic badge reels available in my shop.

As you may know I specialize in making accessories for working women.  Most of these consist of magnetic badge reels and lanyards.  Today I want to show off some of the newer badge reels I have listed for sale.  These are all magnetic retractable badge reels.  These are my most popular items because they can be placed on a shirt or uniform, and they hang straight.  You can learn more about them in my product information in my shop.

Pink Button Decorative Badge Reel

The magnetic badge reel above is a new type of design for me.  I purchased some beautiful buttons with a bright pink pearl in the middle and rhinestones around the edge.  Then I found some lovely silver metal rings decorated with a hexagonal design that includes some flowers, and then scroll work around the edges.  My husband used his trusty grinder to remove the shank from the button.  Then I layered the button over the silver ring and glued all to the top of the chrome badge reel.  This is such an elegant piece for a professional to wear to work to hold her id badge.

Beautiful Photoglass Badge Reels

The next three magnetic badge reels are becoming more popular with my customers.  These are photo glass domes over a picture printed on heavy paper.  Then these are glued to the badge reel.  I like these because there are so many beautiful and fresh designs available.

Nautical Compass Badge Reel

The blue magnetic badge reel below is another new idea for me.  I found these clever compass charms from an Etsy seller.  Instead of hanging the compass from a necklace, I carefully removed the connector ring from it, filed it smooth with a jewelry file, and then glued it to a blue badge reel.  Very nautical.  Ahoy, mate!

I currently have over seventy different magnetic badge reels for sale in my shop.  Please visit my shop and check them out.  These make good gifts for your working friends.

How do you prefer to display your id badge at work?  Do you wear a lanyard, a badge reel, or some other type of clip?

New in the Shop - Polymer Clay Beaded Lanyards

New Polymer Clay Beaded Lanyards

Beaded lanyards are popular, and I am always trying to catch up on my stock of these.  Since I hand make these, and many are one of a kind, it keeps me busy.  Polymer clay beaded lanyards are especially popular.  I purchase handmade polymer clay beads from various artists on Etsy.  So these lanyards are truly unique.

Here are the newest ones.  Each of these is available at my shop, Plum Beadacious.

Boot Scootin' Jewelry

Boot jewelry - my newest jewelry creating passion

I first became aware of boot jewelry when I was coming home from visiting my son in San Jose. At the San Jose airport I kept passing by a young lady in the security line who was wearing boots and a bracelet/anklet on one of them. At one point when we were stopped, I asked her about it. It was beautiful, made with stones and a bit of bling. She told me she had purchased it at a shop, and that it is a boot bracelet made for wearing over boots.

I was intrigued and when I got home started a search on Etsy and the world wide web for boot bracelets. There are lots of different ones. My favorite are those made with a double strand of beads and a charm dangle. I now have made a number of these.

Green and Tan Stone Boot Bracelet

The picture at the right is one I made for a gift. The charm is a cute silver boot.  Then I used some silver beads, pearls and green twist beads to complement the larger stone round disc beads.

The side sports a large flower clasp and ring.  I added an extender chain after I took the photo. Since I already gave the gift, I don't have a pic with the extender chain.

Turquoise, Silver and Pearl Boot Bracelet

This is another gift I made.  You can see the extender chain on this one.  Again I have incorporated a boot charm, pearls and silver.  Turquoise is the stone.  It looks so southwest!

Turquoise Blue Boot Bracelet

The boot bracelet to the right is one I made for my daughter.  I think it has a bit more of a delicate feel to it.  She is a petite lady, so I chose turquoise blue elongated beads, pearls, small round turquoise blue coin beads, elongated decorative antiqued silver beads, and a leaf charm.  Very feminine!

I am selling these in my Plum Beadacious shop.  Although I have a limited stock right now, I always enjoy custom orders.  I am also making more, so check back often for different ones.

Eyeglass Leashes are a Solution for your Reading Glasses

Where are my glasses?

If you wear eyeglasses, you want to be able to lay your hands on them at any time. It is not fun to squint at a book to read it, to wrinkle up your nose with the needle and thread mere inches from your eyes trying to thread the needle, or to use a magnifying glass to see the important fine print on a medicine bottle. For those of you who have reading glasses that you take on and off all day, consider using an eyeglass leash to keep them with you at all times.

I wear my Walgreen’s reading glasses quite often when I work on my beading projects. Wires and beads can be tiny. It is quite frustrating to try to place a wire through a seed bead just to miss the hole. No matter if you have drug store reading glasses or fine spectacles from the eye center, they deserve a place of honor to hang on an eyeglass leash.

How Eyeglass Leashes are Put Together

Eyeglass leashes are a simple design consisting of a piece of beading wire, an assortment of beads, eyeglass holders, and crimps.  Eyeglass holders are not very glamorous, but they come in a variety of styles.  Some are a rubberized loop with metal around the middle.  One end of the loop is attached to the eyeglass leash, and the other attaches to the glasses frame at the temples.

Another style of eyeglass holders is a round corrugated metal ball with a tiny metal loop and a small cord loop at the opposite end.  The metal loop attaches to the eyeglass leash, and the small cord loop attaches to the glasses frame at the temples.

Here are some photos of eyeglass leashes I made.

If you would like a custom eyeglass lease, please contact me.  I would be happy to design something for you.

If you have made an eyeglass leash, send me a photo of it.  I will post it on my blog.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Magnetic Badge Reel - Plain

Sometimes I look way past the obvious.  I have over 40 badge reels posted for sale in my shop.  But today a man contacted me about making a plain black magnetic badge reel.  He works at a gym and likes the idea of a magnetic badge reel, but doesn't want a fancy cabochon on it.

It was easy-peasy for me to provide him with a plain black magnetic retractable badge reel.  I will start carrying these in my Plum Beadacious shop on a regular basis.  This is a great gift for a man or woman, and is smart for wearing to the gym on an outdoor hike or other activity where you want a magnetic retractable badge reel, but don't want anything fussy.