My grandmother had a ring with her children's birthstones on it and I always thought it was such a beautiful way to represent your loved ones in a piece of jewelry. Now that I have kids, I wanted to make myself a piece of jewelry with my birthstone and theirs. I decided to add beads in the birthstone colors to my favorite style of woven friendship bracelet, and I'm very pleased with the results.
You can make this bracelet for yourself, your mother, your friend, or anyone else who has kids or grandchildren. It would make a wonderful Mothers' Day, birthday, or Christmas gift. Since this bracelet has seven strings, you can use up to seven different colors. If you don't want to match the strings to the birthstones the way that I did, you could do as many beads as you like, just put more than one on a string.
I used three birthstone colors (mine plus two kids') and matched three strings to my beads. I used a silvery grey string for the four other strings. Here's a list of months/birthstones/colors for you to reference.
BIRTHSTONES
January = garnet = red
February = amethyst = purple
March = aquamarine = light blue
April = diamond = colorless
May = emerald = green
June = pearl = white
July = ruby = red
August = peridot = olive green
September = sapphire = royal blue
October = opal = colorless, white, yellow, red, orange, green, brown, black, blue, pink
November = topaz = brown/dark yellow
December = turquoise = turquoise/teal
MATERIALS
- 7 strands of embroidery floss (or similar string) that are 26" long (or longer if you're adding more than 5 beads, you'll need the extra length for the knots)
- a circle of cardboard approximately 3" in diameter
- scissors
- beads
1. Start with the beads and matching colored strings. Choose one bead to be the center of the bracelet. (I used my birthstone for the center.) Slide it onto the corresponding colored string and center it. (If you're doing an even number of beads, position the bead slightly to one side of center.) Using all the colored strings, with the ends aligned, tie a single knot on both sides of the bead. Slide the next bead onto the corresponding colored string, push it against the knot, and tie another knot on the other side of it. Repeat for the next bead on the other side of the center/start bead. Repeat until all the beads are added, separated by knots.
2. Align the ends of the "background" strings with one end of colored strings. Use the background strings to tie knots around each of the previous knots.
3. Visit this great tutorial for how to weave your bracelet: http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/make-a-friendship-bracelet.html. Pull the beaded section tight to the underside of the cardboard circle, with all the loose strings above. As you weave, the beads will get further from the circle.
4. When you're about 3" from the ends of your threads, pull the bracelet off the cardboard circle.
5. Tie a knot at the end of the weave. Trim the extra thread tails.
6. Repeat steps 3 - 5 for the other side of the bracelet.
7. Tie one end of the bracelet into a knot around the other end.
Pull the knot tight.
8. Repeat for the other end.
These knots will slide on the weave, allowing the bracelet size to be adjustable. DONE.
It's the last week of school here and if you or your kids wanted to make something for their teachers, here's a quick and easy project that you can whip up "last minute". These bracelets are fun to make and your effort is sure to be appreciated.
I quizzed one of my cousins who's a teacher about the best teacher gifts and her reply was simple: something personalized. I chose to use the school colors for the weaving and made it extra personal with letter beads spelling the teacher's last name. You can use whatever colors you prefer, and you could do initials, first name, or the year instead. You can also skip the beads if you're short on time.
Already finished school? Already got/made the perfect teacher gift? These bracelets are fun to make all summer to kill time by the campfire, beside the pool, or when the kids are bored. You'll be all ready to hand these out to friends and teachers at the start of the next school year.
MATERIALS
- 7 strands of embroidery floss (or similar string) that are 2' long
- a circle of cardboard approximately 3" in diameter
- scissors
- beads
1. Visit this great tutorial for how to start and weave your bracelet: http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/make-a-friendship-bracelet.html. It's where I learned how to do it and I couldn't explain it better.
2. When you're about 3" from the ends of your threads, pull the bracelet off the cardboard circle.
3. Slide the beads onto the bracelet and tie a knot at the end of the weave. Trim the extra thread tails off so they match the end you started with.
4. Tie one end of the bracelet into a knot around the other end.
Pull the knot tight.
5. Repeat for the other end.
These knots will slide on the weave, allowing the bracelet size to be adjustable. DONE.
If your Valentine is addicted to the game Angry Birds like mine is, here's a fun treat to whip up for him/her. I chose the red bird and used pictures off the internet for reference.
MATERIALS:
- cake mix and required ingredients or your favorite cake recipe and the ingredients
- oven, mixer, pans, bowls, measuring cups, etc.
- icing (canned, mix, recipe, whatever) in the following colors:
- white
- green
- red (use food coloring paste OR liquid coloring and cocoa powder OR red Jello power)
- brown (chocolate OR add cocoa powder to white) OR black
- butterscotch or peanut butter baking chips
- toothpicks
- a piece of styrofoam or florist foam
- icing bags and tips OR small plastic bags
- spherical candies (mine were sour cherry but gumballs or others would work, it's the shape and color you're worried about); you need at least one per cupcake
1. Make and bake your cupcakes. I used a chocolate fudge cake mix that made 24. I put some baking chips in with the batter. You can start on the next step while they are baking.
2. Stick a toothpick into each of your candies, then stick the other end of the toothpick into the foam. This is so they don't roll around while you decorate them.
3. Apply a circle of white icing to the lower front of the candy. Stick a baking chip (beak) onto the icing at the top of this circle. I iced 5 then stuck on the chips, then did the next 5, and so on.
4. Add two small dots of white icing (eyes) to each candy just above your baking chip beak.
5. Using your chocolate/black icing, draw a V over the eyes for eyebrows. Make sure they look angry. Dot a tiny bit of chocolate/black icing onto each white eye to make a pupil.
6. Blob some red icing on the top of the candy to make feathers.
7. I put my birds in the fridge while I waited for my cupcakes to cool. Once the cupcakes are cool, retrieve your birds. Apply green icing to the tops of your cupcakes. I did mine with a knife but you can use your decorating bags/tips if you want. It should be a bit messy as it's supposed to look like grass.
8. Stick your birds in the green icing.
9. DONE! Clean up all the evidence and hide your creations until the perfect moment to surprise your Valentine.
Want to give someone a unique gift this Valentine's Day? How about a new eBook for their iPad or iPhone? It's a great way to say "I love you" without adding to their clutter or their waistlines and to show them that you're interested in what they're reading. eBooks come in a variety of price ranges and you don't have to leave home to get them - just download them straight from your computer. It's a perfect "last minute" gift or something you can shop for with your loved one while cuddled up together by the computer sharing hot chocolate in the candlelight.
Here's my favorite eBook (okay, so I wrote it, but it's still my favorite ☺) available from Blurb: The Phantom of Lone Pine Lake.
Don't forget that if you want to get a paper book for that special someone you can make your own custom gift bag out of magazine pages by following my tutorial here: DIY Gift Bag from Magazine Pages.
