How to Make a Shell Necklace

I recently got back from a research trip to museums on the West coast to study the deep-sea anemone fauna. While visiting Victoria, British Columbia to look at specimens at the Royal BC Museum I found a beautiful Olive shell. Wanting to commemorate my trip I decided to turn it into a necklace that I can wear.

I will give you instructions on how to make your own keep-sake pendant to commemorate your travels. You will need…

- A shell, or similar small object
- A flat-backed pendant bail, select size appropriate for shell
- Strong adhesive glue (I use Industrial Strength E6000)
- Scissors
- Cord
- Clear nail polish (optional)

1) Apply a drop of glue to the flat/rough side of the bail and push onto a flat surface of the shell.

2) Allow glue to dry

3) Measure a piece of cord that you can slip around your head, add approximately 3 extra inches, cut cord. If the cord looks like it may fray apply a little bit of clear nail polish to the ends.

4) Slip pendant on the middle of the cord, take one end of the cord and tie a single knot around the other end of the cord about 4 inches away from the other end. The knot should be tight but loose enough that it should slide along the chord.

5) Using the remaining free end of the cord, tie a knot around the cord nearest the end that you previously knotted.

6) Once both ends are knotted you can slide the ends together so that the necklace is long and can slip over your head; pull the ends in opposite directions to shorten it to the desired length. (If cord is crimped if you wet it and hang it until it dries it will straighten.)

* You can also simply hang your pendant on a matching chain that you may already have for an equally stunning look!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about directions or supplies.

Happy creating!

Bead My Way To Fiji

After several orders from brides for custom bridesmaids’ jewelry I have been inspired to make more jewelry with the discerning bride in mind. I have been feverishly working away on making new pieces for my “simple pearls” collections. I don’t know how many times I have been asked if I have a simple pearl stud earring, to which I have always replied “um… no”. Well now I will! I have learned how to make them; turns out they are not too difficult and if I do say so myself, they look quite nice!

So, while my husband is busy playing final fantasy, instead of simply pondering why they play the same song over and over again (it isn’t any good either), I have been making all sorts of neat things! I also have a fire lit under my butt to keep up with my Etsy shop and bead bead bead because we have finally decided on where we are going to take our honeymoon … FIJI!!! I am super excited but I need to increase my sales as they are what are going to get us there. Anyways, I can’t wait for Fiji and I can’t wait to finish listing all my new items. In the meantime here is a preview of what is to come…

It's Wedding Time

Nope... not my wedding but it's getting close to wedding season, which I love because I get to do a lot of custom orders. There is nothing more rewarding than making a custom order for a bride; it is nice to play a part in someone's special day. After a month of work I am ready to ship off a custom order full of lots of pearls! Check out the pictures below to see what I have been so busy working on. The inspiration came from a former listing in my shop. The original charm that was used is not longer made so we had to come up with something a little different but I must say I love the result! A matching simple pearl bracelet and coin pearl dangle earrings will finish off the bridesmaids look! I can't wait for the bride to get the order!

Finally, Inspiration!!!

So today while I was shivering from cold inside my apartment I was inspired to make some warm beachy jewelry.

I made a huge mess...... (as I always do) but I had a lot of fun!

I have been wanting to make a pair of fun pearl and chain earrings for a while now and today I stumbled across a bunch of left over pearls from other projects that had great colors, greens, purples, and silver. So I set forth and made those earrings and I must say I think that they turned out quite cute!

I also have these amazing amazonite beads that I have used to make a fun bracelet before (see here http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=22774765) but I had not been able to figure out what else to use them for. Then I saw out of the corner of my eye this adorable silver starfish charm. I had purchased 4 of the charms with the intent to use them to make my garter and toss garter for my wedding; I used two of them but I had two left! This became the centerpiece of a new, wonderful necklace that I will hopefully list on my etsy site soon. I love the amazonite, shell, and silver beads; they make such a beachy look!

Hopefully more inspiration and Jewelry will come soon!!!

My First Blog

Well I have finally given in and will try this whole blogging thing...

My name is Wendy and I am an etsyholic I make one of a kind jewelry that I sell in my shop on etsy http://www.anemonegirl.etsy.com/ . I hope to turn this blog into a place where I can share my thoughts, cool finds, and my own etsy creations while getting some really great feedback!



I have had a bit of beader's block lately so hopefully after starting this blog I will have some inspiration to get in there and start creating again. I'll let you know how it goes!



Let the beading begin.... (Plus it is a good reason to stay inside because it is so gosh darn cold here and won't stop snowing!!!)