DIY Faux Tribal Disc Bracelets

Its a happy time people - the sale season's here!! Intricate, beautiful items on my wishlist calling out temptingly at half price or lesser! I'm sure many of you do the Cart Dance as I do at this time of the year - add to cart, remove, ummm..NO!.. add to card again, remove again!

Now unless one is super-loaded or the Queen of England, one has to prioritize and decide what it most important/necessary to get this season. You know, to have money left over for food and all. Although, it is a very difficult choice! So kudos, to all of you out there who know what I'm talking about (Self-pat!).

Anyhow, kidding aside, I was doing my usual thing with these pretty bracelets and necklaces that seem to be everywhere now:

I'm so in love with the colors and patterns of these African tribal inspired pieces!

Now here's how can make a similar version of these with sequins you bought for sewing projects that didn't get used up!

What You'll Need:

• Your favorite sequins - I had these iridescent pink ones - about 10 grams or even lesser
• Elastic beading cord 
• A pair of scissors

Step 1: Start by pushing the sequins through the cord.

Step 2: Continue pushing till the length of the stack sits around your writs comfortably.

Step 3: Double knot and seal with a drop of glue.

Step 4: This was the easy version - you can even play with the findings and add seed beads that pop out!

Or make memory wire clasp bracelets!

That's a whole bunch of sequins gone and new set of summer bracelets right there! :)

Enjoy!
-J

DIY Faux Precious Rock Bangles

I've been swooning over delicate, semi-precious jewelry lately. Its so much fun to see how semi-precious gems can literally make any piece of jewelry look good. Add in a touch of gold to it and I'm hooked! Pretty stuff everywhere and not a thing to buy! (Damn you resolution :( )

And so I went through the usual routine, (You know the one - dig, dig, dig, surprise and AH-HA!) and found these cute rock beads that I had been saving for a while and decided to finally do something with them.Their pastel-y shades made the perfect compliment for delicate gold bangles. It was done a few days ago and has finally made it here.

Here's what you'll need to start with:

• Memory wire - gold
• Beading wire - gold
• Beads of your choice
• Beadcaps - 2 for each bead

Here's how you can do it:

Step 1: Gently press the beadcaps over the ends of the bead and insert a length of wire through it.

Step 2: Now cut a sectional loop of the memory wire and bend it with small loops as shown.

Step 3: Twist the looped ends up and down, in opposite directions, till they lie flat on your wrist.

Step 4: Now there are two ways you can do this step. You can either directly wrap the beading wire into the bangle loops like this.

Or you can twist the wire upon itself and insert via jump rings like this. This method gives more flexibility to change your beads and bangle design later.

And voila, you have your rock bangle!

Do the same for the other beads and you have your stacking set :)

What say?

Giveaway: Braided Beaded Friendship Bracelet

Enter February, the season of love (at least for the romantics out there!) 

It has been about 2 months since I started this blog and I feel that I'm at the starting line of one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Honestly, I didn't think I'd be disciplined enough to sustain a blog for more than a few entries! But the response I received from you guys was overwhelming. 

I am so grateful for your taking out time to support my baby-blog and I love you all for that :) I would love to hear your suggestions, if you have any, through emails.

In line with this, I'm giving away this colorful ethnic friendship bracelet (because they're here to stay!) which is one of the first few jewelry pieces I made during my early days of DIY-ing. Perhaps as a reminder to myself that there is more to look forward to in the future - now that we've crossed 2012 safely - PHEW!! (Sorry, could'nt resist ;) )

A few things you should know before entering:

• You don't have to buy anything to enter this
• You don't have to pay any postage to get this bracelet
• The contest is open Internationally to all ages and shipping is sponsored by me :)
• Odds of winning are based on number of entries
• You don't have to share your email or personal details
• Once the winner is randomly selected, I will contact you for your shipping details

All you have to do is like Jade Eclectic on Facebook through the widget below so I can contact you on winning! If you already like me on Facebook, you can just enter the giveaway through the widget so that your entry is considered by it.

Enter away here:

This giveaway has ended and I have a surprise for you - another winner!

The winners are: Nikki and Rach. 

Thank you Nikki and Rach ! I'll be getting in touch with you over email to send your bracelets over to you :)

-Cheers