Carey Burns

I must admit, I love how this pair of earrings turned out. Too bad I don't have much blue in my wardrobe. Supplies: 2 sterling silver ear wires 2 sterling silver components (these, sadly, seem to be discontinued) 8 sterling silver headpins (2 inch) 8 Round Swarovski crystals in Montana (4 mm) Tools: Jeweler's pliers (one or two pairs, depending on your preference) Flush cutters Instructions: 1.  Slide a Swarovski onto a headpin. 2.  With the tips of your pliers, make a 90 degree bend in the headpin just above the bead. Repeat for the other seven headpins. 3.  Trim a headpin so that it is just under 1/2 an inch long. 4.   Use your "scrap" piece of headpin as a quick-and-dirty way to trim your other headpins. Line it up with an untrimmed headpin and cut so they are the same length. Repeat for the rest of the headpins. 5.  Now you'll make your loops. Line the very end of a headpin up with th...

I was looking through my findings, wondering what to make next when I saw a neglected zipper bag of sterling silver crimp tubes. These tubes looked fine on the outside, but when I'd try to crimp them shut, they would break along the fold in the metal. They've been in a sort of limbo where I didn't want to throw them away, but I could use them. Today, I found a use for them: as beads for a pendant! I've added links to where I've purchased items. My source for the small Swarovskis in Dark Red Coral seems to have dried up. Supplies: 3 sterling silver headpins (2 inches long) 1 sterling silver split jump ring (8 mm) 1 sterling silver filigree scalloped component 9 sterling silver crimp tubes (2 mm) 3 round Swarovski crystals in Dark Red Coral (4 mm) Tools: Jeweler's pliers (one or two pairs, depending on your preference) Flush cutters Instructions: 1.  Slide a Swarovski onto a headpin and follow it with three crimp tubes. Repeat for t...