Old metal makeover with the help of the new book- Chic Metal by Victoria Tillotson

This book has page after page of the coolest designs!Chic Metal: Modern Metal Jewelry to Make at Home
By
Victoria Tillotson

All that glitters is not gold–sometimes it’s copper, silver, or brass. With Chic Metal, you can design and create necklaces, earrings, and even cocktail rings out of metals that sparkle and shine. Crafting with metal is easier than you might think. You can make many of these 30 inspiring projects with simple tools you already own, such as wire cutters, pliers, a hammer, and a file. If you love jewelry making and are seeking a new challenge, look no further–you’re ready for some heavy metals.


VICTORIA TILLOTSON teaches jewelry making at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her collection and work can be seen at victoriatillotson.com and on the pages of fashion magazines like Lucky.

This is the first design I had to try this disk of holes:

So off to the old jewelry stash to see what I could find. After just a bit of searching I found these disk earrings that I thought would work great.

I simply put different size drill bits in the drill press and just drilled away-no planning!

I then as you can see I polished up the metal to a sparkly finish. I put my new drilled hole disk earring on a chain to convert it into a pendant.

So if you're like me and getting adventurous with your Dremel and drill press, you will love this book!

Craft Safely!

Memorial Day Crafty Blogger Links-Never Forget

This is a beer sweater made from an old my-size sweater. I like this photo because it also includes the shadow of my hand and the beer in the sweater cozy.

Always remember.

Vickie Howell
Create earth-friendly vases out of re-used mason jars & twine. This one's for both knitters and crafters alike!

Aileen's Musings
Get your groove on with Aileen's tie-dyed deli paper background technique. While your at it download her freebie fractal backgrounds!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
How do you brand yourself and your business? Alexa shares how she brands herself and offers some helpful marketing and graphic design ideas to help you build yours!

Blisstree Arts
Many of Cyndi's favorite Photoshop tricks!

Cathie Filian
Forget about "gone fishing" signs and "golf anyone" trinket boxes. Grab some fabric paints, freezer paper, iron-ons and get creative making one-of-a-kind fashions for your pop, pal or hubby.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off an oldie but goodie, her old Kenmore sewing machine.

CraftyPod
Sister Diane shares some tips for using Twitter and Facebook to market a creative business.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Connie's Grandmother was a quilter and she's created a special chart to memorialize her. Stitch it up for the quilter in your life.

Naughty Secretary Club
Inspired by Marty Stevens-Heebner’s new book Altered Shoes, Jen gives a pair of white cotton Mary Janes a full makeover.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has the first in their how to video series, Look, Learn & Create with this week's guest Christi Friesen author of Polymer Clay and Mixed-Media Together at Last, as well as some inspiration and tips for working in series, wordless journaling and a free deer stencil from the new book The Art of Paper Cutting with a how-to for a pattern slider card.

The Crochet Dude
Drew talks about what could be better than a crochet cruise to the Caribbean!

The Impatient Crafter
Madge is giving away a melange of beads from her Bead Board of Wonders and shares a fun mixed media project!

The 7 deadly sins cross stitched in latin with scissor accents

OK my cross stitch peeps, here is my latest finished cross stitch, I love Latin and I am on a mission to bring it back!

This is the seven deadly sins with little scissors on each side with a row of stitching. My letters are just a bit different than the printout (I filled in the serifs) I thought that looked a bit less country.

The translation is to the right and the DMC floss color number out to the side. Feel free to download and use if you like!

Crafty Blogger Links to warm your creativity

About Family Crafts
Discover how you can create your own fancy, garden stepping stones.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Swelldesigner shares with you why you need a mini idea book !

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a new tutorial perfect for teen birthday parties!

Blisstree Arts
Digital art calls for a creative framing method!

Cathie Filian
Cathie whips up a "no calorie cake" with a few items from the dollar store!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Are you cutting coupons these days? Then make this simple little crochet coupon holder to keep them organzied.

CraftyPod
Sister Diane shows you how to make a quilted fabric pendant.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Connie's been in a Sci-Fi mood lately - check out her Out of This World Patterns.

Naughty Secretary Club
Love the look of the groovy spaghetti string lamps from the 60’s? Make your own with Jen, some yarn, a balloon and a little fabric stiffener.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Inside peeks into the new books: Mosaics: The Art of Reuse and my shotgun and sea shell stepping stones, SKETCHBOOK and a few of my sketchbook sketches and their end result, Re-Bound and the story behind this month's San Metao Maker Faire (30th and 31st) "Makeready" journal we will be giving away in our booth, and a Sweater Surgery Hello Kitty Sunglass case how-to.

The Impatient Crafter
Style Guru Brini Maxwell and The Impatient Crafter Margot Potter want you to join them on their Crafty Cabaret Carribean Cruise in Fall of 2010! Here's the 411!

Vickie Howell
Need a home decor, quick-fix? Vickie shows you how to use fabric scraps to over those otherwise drab, light switch plates!

Sweater Surgery in the Pratt Institute Magazine and Bookmarks You can make at Maker Faire with me!

Yey! Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters is in my alumni magazine The Prattfolio!

Wooo Hooo! How cool is that!

And to celebrate that and my appearance at Maker Faire on May 30th and 31st at the San Mateo County Expo Center. I have a tutorial on how to make a bookmark out of recycled felted wool sweaters that are a perfect accessory to the cool journals that will be given away in our Craftside booth!
Grab yourself a bunch of old wool sweaters and wash them in hot and cold water, then throw them in the dryer to felt 'em up good!
Then I did a combo of free form and die cutting using my fabulous Hello Kitty Die Cutting machine and a variety of dies (that I will have with me at Make Faire so you can play too) to cut out shapes from the felted wool sweaters.

I then needle felted the elements together and added a scrap of yarn to make the bookmark/ place holder in my journal.

To read all about this cool journal that's made from recycled book paper, pop on over to this post at Craftside.

Oh and in addition to making cool bookmarks out of recycled felted wool sweaters I will be signing and giving away free copies of
Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters

and there will be more make and takes with some of the other uber-cool Quayside Publishing Group Authors so don't forget to come by and MAKE stuff with us!