by Guest Blogger Mary Ellen Hughes
Many thanks to the Killer Hobbies authors for inviting me to guest blog. I’ve been reading their terrific tips all week (when I should be writing) and loving them.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m the author of the Craft Corner mystery series that began with Wreath of Deception and continued with String of Lies, then Paper-thin Alibi. The stories revolve around Jo McAllister who owns an arts and crafts shop and, in between investigating murders, gives classes on various crafts.
I included directions in the books for the crafts Jo focused on in each book, such as an original wreath, beaded key chain, and paper-lined gift boxes, and photos of each finished project are on my website http://www.maryellenhughes.com/
But I couldn’t include all the projects I would have liked to, so now’s my chance to offer readers another simple but fun project to do, something that a crafty friend of mine, Karlene Hicks, came up with when I was writing String of Lies: Wine Charms!
All you need are plain earring hoops that are available in craft stores in packs of 10-60 or so; then pick up seed beads, charms, small decorative buttons, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Choose a theme for each set of six or eight wine charms and select charms that fit that theme.
Add a few beads and a charm to each hoop so that they can swirl around the hoop loosely.
Here are some theme suggestions:
- Animals
- Celestial (sun, moon, stars, etc.)
- Garden insects (dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies, etc.)
- Wine & food
- Nautical
- Sea life (dolphins, whales, starfish, seahorses, shells, etc.)
- Flowers/Butterflies in different colors
- Letters or initials or word charms (Live, Love, Laugh, Inspire, and more...)
Remember not to include duplicates in any set because the whole point is to differentiate one glass from another. Place the wine charms in a gift box to match your theme, similar to the ones I give directions for in Paper-thin Alibi, and you have a custom-made gift!
Enjoy impressing your guests with your special wine charms, or delighting your hostess with a unique hostess gift. Have a great summer, everyone!
Many thanks to the Killer Hobbies authors for inviting me to guest blog. I’ve been reading their terrific tips all week (when I should be writing) and loving them.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m the author of the Craft Corner mystery series that began with Wreath of Deception and continued with String of Lies, then Paper-thin Alibi. The stories revolve around Jo McAllister who owns an arts and crafts shop and, in between investigating murders, gives classes on various crafts.
I included directions in the books for the crafts Jo focused on in each book, such as an original wreath, beaded key chain, and paper-lined gift boxes, and photos of each finished project are on my website http://www.maryellenhughes.com/
But I couldn’t include all the projects I would have liked to, so now’s my chance to offer readers another simple but fun project to do, something that a crafty friend of mine, Karlene Hicks, came up with when I was writing String of Lies: Wine Charms!
All you need are plain earring hoops that are available in craft stores in packs of 10-60 or so; then pick up seed beads, charms, small decorative buttons, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Choose a theme for each set of six or eight wine charms and select charms that fit that theme.
Add a few beads and a charm to each hoop so that they can swirl around the hoop loosely.
Here are some theme suggestions:
- Animals
- Celestial (sun, moon, stars, etc.)
- Garden insects (dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies, etc.)
- Wine & food
- Nautical
- Sea life (dolphins, whales, starfish, seahorses, shells, etc.)
- Flowers/Butterflies in different colors
- Letters or initials or word charms (Live, Love, Laugh, Inspire, and more...)
Remember not to include duplicates in any set because the whole point is to differentiate one glass from another. Place the wine charms in a gift box to match your theme, similar to the ones I give directions for in Paper-thin Alibi, and you have a custom-made gift!
Enjoy impressing your guests with your special wine charms, or delighting your hostess with a unique hostess gift. Have a great summer, everyone!
7 comments:
I have so many left over beads from my crocheting to do these. Thank you, what a great idea. Now I know that there was a reason I kept those beads. LOL
Crafter never throw anything away :-) We're probably the ultimate recyclers.
Mary Ellen
Unfortunately, since we never throw anything away, when it's time to move we have lots of "stuff" to sort through! That's what I've been doing this holiday!
Ugh.
Thanks for joining us Mary Ellen. I never realized those charms began with simple earrings.
Tell me about "stuff". We cleaned out our attic recently and I had to decide about old sewing patterns for outdated clothes. (I kept most :-)
Thanks for having me here, Joanna. I'm enjoying it!
Mary Ellen
I can see why you'd hang on to those patterns. They don't take up much space and would be impossible to replace. I used to sew all my clothes and my mothers and whenever I see the pattern books at Joann's I get nostalgic.
If you are a seamstress and have any old, retro, pattern packages from like the 50's or 60's and don't know what to do with them, frame them! They are so cute framed and hung in a sewing room or even a laundry room....maybe even put a littie note card in there saying who you made the item for, when, the occasion, etc......some of those old patterns are pretty neat and bring back a lot of memories!
It has been a great help, thank you so much, now to make wine charms is very easy with your tips. Kudos
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