"Simple Adoration"

This is pretty much a copy and paste from my Stampin' Up! blog. :D

"I hope that you all had a lovely Labor Day weekend that was probably full of traveling, barbequing, and/or working on long overdue household projects. How's that for tradition?

Well, my shipment arrived Friday evening and I have been crafting (when I can) ever since! What I wanted to share with you is my customizable Simply Adorned jewelery from Stampin' Up! I had to put it back into the packaging so it's missing the tiny plastic bags but I wanted to show that each piece comes in a sweet Chocolate Chip box that's also great for decorating and gift-giving.

 

 

I am personally starting off with the 24-inch chain and the 1 inch by 1 1/4 inch charm. There's a shorter chain meant for bracelets and other charms in different sizes and you should check out the store yourself! They even introduced a few baubles and trinkets during the last Holiday Mini Catalog and I can't wait to add those to my growing collection.

Keep in mind that this is Stampin' Up! and as you can see in the picture above, you can decorate your chains with tiny charms, ribbon, and all sorts of goodies. I have seen some of the necklace chains with gorgeous satin ribbon weaved into the links and it's to die for! It shortens the length of the chain but that's okay in my book.

The charms are made of a nickel-plated zinc alloy and the chain is coated in the same alloy but is made of stainless steel. I believe this helps prevent allergic reactions that many people have to jewelry. The glass on the charm is beveled on one side but flat on the other and this allows for me to open up the locket and decorate both sides with inserts!

There's only so much space in between so that is something I have to keep in mind but I have had so much fun this past weekend making my inserts and I am no where near done. I had to tear myself away to start sharing them with you! They make such a beautiful and easy gift (or swap) because of their tiny size. It's right up my alley because I love nearly anything miniature. These have turned into my wearable canvases.

Note: They're not just for wearing! You can use them to accent beautiful home décor or to cards and scrapbook pages. A quick, simple, and classy way to get that "WOW" factor!

I make coordinating inserts in pairs and this is my experimental progression starting from the top pair. I found that I have a few favorite outfits that closely resemble with Rich Razzleberry and Bermuda Bay (now retired). I think that you can tell I'm new to stamping but I've liked the results so far! For the first and third pair, I actually used the cardboard that was wrapped around the Chocolate Chip boxes as my base.

Next, I realized that I wanted to have heavily themed inserts to wear to school because I have yet to develop the ultimate fun teacher-of-young-children wardrobe. As you can see, I am much more comfortable creating with my favorite products: the Card Stock and Stampin' Write Markers! I am free-hand cutting my paper sculptures because that's just how my brain works.

The themes are Ocean Animals (using some of the newest In-Colors: Island Indigo, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder) - Autumn (I'm "falling" in love with using Regals, hardy har har) - and Dinosaurs (I am no paleontologist!)

My absolute favorite out of the bunch I've made so far is this one:

Space! It's not so much that I'm obsessed with space, but how proud I am of the detail and thought put into this pair. One side is my "Don't worry Pluto, I'm not a planet either." and the other is the rest of the solar system! I have to get a little creative in fitting all of the planets but I'm still in love with the end product. 

 How adorable is that?!

I like to put the more detailed of the inserts on the flat side or showcasing one on the beveled side because it just makes things look that much fancier.

On the back of each insert, I try to jot down the date, as many of the colors that I used that I can fit, and sign my little piece of artwork. Like I said earlier, I am so proud of the progression and finished product!

I'm dying to get back to making more because I have so many ideas blazing through my head right now. Please let me know if you have any questions! Even if it's just what colors I used."

There. That saves me the trouble of repeating myself. :P See you soon! <3