Way back in our craft fair days, one of Wendy’s big sellers was magnets.  She made them out of everything and sold tons of every style.   So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I walked in the store one day to see this:

Why it took us this long to do this, I don’t know.  Aren’t those some of the cutest magnets you have ever seen?   Of course Wendy made them to match the theme of her store, but you could put virtually any bead onto a magnet.  Just get some of our trusty E-6000 glue, apply to one side, and set on the back of your bead:

After a few hours, they will be ready to use!  Put them on your fridge, your desk, etc.   I like to have a magnet on the back of my front door to keep track of papers that  I need to take to the office so I don’t forget!

This week Brit did a fun project that left me drooling!  She simply took a cheap plastic headband, hot glued on layers of scrapbooking flowers, and added beads.  Look at the darling results:

The other version Brit created is every bit as cute.   This time, just take your headband and glue beads directly to the plastic.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a little girl who LOVES headbands and I can’t wait to make a few of these for her.   A great way to use stray left over beads from other projects too!

If you didn’t catch it in our Halloween post last week, Wendy an I LOVE Halloween!   We get so giddy every year as the holiday season rolls around.  Confession:  last week, we bought MORE Halloween scrapbook paper, just because it was cute.  And it was Halloween, duh!

So our newest fun thing in the store is glass Halloween beads!  How cute are these?

Don’t you just want to have them all?  Get them while they’re hot, because they won’t last long!

I don’t know about all of you, but I am SO loving all of the feminine styles right now– lace, ruffles, and FLOWERS!  I especially love flowers in hair.   My sister is going to the Homecoming dance this weekend and I had some fabric from her dress that I had cut off of the bottom because it was too long, so I thought I would try my hand at making a flower for her to wear in her hair to match the dress.  And of course, I found just the thing from the Glitz Me store to finish it off!

First of all, I have to apologize for the yellowy pictures.  We have lost the charger for our nice camera, so these photos were taken with our point and shoot.

To make this flower, I started by gathering my supplies:  A pendant from Glitz Me, some jewels, a glue gun, fabric, fabric shears, a needle and thread, and a candle.  I heated my glue gun and grabbed the pendant and jewels.

I put a very small amount of glue in each of the spots on the pendant and added the jewels one at a time.  If you have a good pair of tweezers, they would be really useful for this step.

With some of the jewels in place:

When the center was completed, I made the fabric flower.  Start by folding your fabric so you have several layers.  You need to have a synthetic fabric, otherwise it will not melt.

Then cut several circles.  For my flower, I used 12 circles, 6 each of 2 sizes.  These do NOT need to be perfect.  Then cut 5-6 slits in each circle, about 3/4 of the way to the center:

The next step is a little tricky.  The stiffer your fabric is,  the better this works.  This fabric was a little bit too floppy and it was hard to hold it over the flame without burning myself.

To keep each petal separate, I folded all but one petal back and held them in my hand while I held the free petal over the flame.   Once you start, you can find the stream of heat coming off of the flame.  Do not put your fabric right in the flame because it will catch on fire.   Just hold it over the flame and you will see it start to melt.  Move the petal so hat it melts and curls all the way around.

Melt all of the edges on all of your circles.  This step does not have to look perfect either.  I think it is the irregularities that make the flowers look so pretty and so close to the real thing.  This is what the edges of the petal will look like:

When you are done, you will have a pile that looks something like this:

Now we are going to sew them all together.   Thread your needle and poke the needle through the center of each flower.

I like to arrange  the different layers so that the petals alternate rather than being all stacked on top of each other.  Once you have the layers arranged the way that you like, make a wide stitch back up through the flowers.  This will hold all of the layers in place.

Stitch through the layers a few more times and tie a knot to hold it secure.  Take your center that you already made and either glue or sew it into the middle of the flower and here you have it:

It really is much prettier in a normal, less yellow world!  I glued a piece of felt on the back of my flower and added a hair clip.  You could attach the clip right to the back of the bottom layer, but i wanted a little more stability since my fabric was so flimsy.  You could also attach it to a pin, or sew it right onto a headband or piece of clothing.   Now I want to go and make some more!

UPDATE:  Here is another one that I did with a different center.  I think it looked darling in her hair!

How many of you are involved in PTA or have a son or daughter who plays high school sports?  How many teachers are out there?   Jewelry is a great way to show your support for your local school.   Wendy’s Beads is all over that!

Around here, we have several high schools with colors red, black, and white.  Here are some of the things that we have created:

We have a huge selection of beads in any color to help you create Glitz for any school occasion:

And if you’re the type that would rather buy it than make it, not only can you purchase any of the pre-made jewelry above, but we also have other ways to show your spirit!

Visit the Glitz Me online store, or if you are in the area visit Wendy’s Beads and let us help you get ready for the next big school event!