THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Bead and Button Company's $50 or £30 Gift Certificate Giveaway  More Recent Articles  Search The Beading Gem's Journal Bead and Button Company's $50 or £30 Gift Certificate Giveaway Most of you know the Bead and Button magazine which is a US publication.  But there is also a wonderful international online craft store called the Bead and Button Company UK which is based in Ambleside in northern England.  They stock not just beads and buttons, but all sorts of craft items including papercrafts, for knitting and sewing and fabrics. It is a family run business started by David and Ann Cartmell and their extended family.  Eight years ago, it was a physical store.  Then a serious mishap occured after a couple of years. Their then16-year-old son, Michael, sustained a brain injury while playing soccer and fell into a coma. The Cartmells had to focus on his care so they were forced to close the store. They continued to sell their stock from home in order to survive. Their son eventually recovered and their business grew into what it is today. They sent me some of their awesome buttons for review. All but the butterfly heart ones were shank buttons.  One of my favorites from their metal button category has to be the awesome rhinestone flower ones. I thought of creating some macrame cord bracelets with them. But they deserve a more flashy style! I eventually teamed them with Bling on a Rollwhich is a flexible polyester based rhinestone netting - it comes in different widths and in silver, black and gold.  I got mine at a local craft store. Bling on a roll is used in all sorts of home decor, fashion and crafting applications. Why not jewelry? They really make quick and comfortable to wear cuffs as you can see from my designs. I used Fireline and sewed some clear round crystals around the base of the black flower button to keep it level.  Then it was just a matter of using jump rings to attach it to the clasp. The net made this easy to do. I had some soft grey cord so I wove it in and out the netting of the 3 wide of Bling on a Roll for the silvery flower button bracelet. I added some creative half-hitches for the loop side of the bracelet. The vintage style brass buttons were also wonderful for jewelry making.  I made a couple of rings with them. The little cups in their designs were just begging to be filled with resin clay and chatons or flat back crystals.  As you know resin clay is adhesive so it is easy to secure crystals using it.  I used a mix of vintage and modern crystals to fill every hole in the button on the left.  But I refrained from doing the same with the Swarovski crystal ones on the right.  The wire wrapped shank button ring tutorial will be published later this week. The wooden heart earrings with printed butterflies on them were so sweet. So much so I was loathe to detract from them with other design components.  So I made simple all in one hook earrings with them.  This is a fast design to make with 2 hole buttons but not as quick as the all in one headpin earrings I came up with some time ago!  The tutorial for this will also be published later this week. I also came up with a very, very easy way to make your own custom scarf rings using buttons.  As I am on a roll, the tutorial will out as well later this week!  I don`t usually do this many tutorials but the buttons from Bead and Button UK were especially inspiring! Giveaway If you would like to win $50 or £30 worth of buttons, jewelry making or craft supplies of your choice from the Bead and Button Company, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog. Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.  This giveaway is international. Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments. It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday,  October 13, 2014 . I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck! Disclosure Before You Go: How to Make Button Rings Tutorials How to Make Button Bracelet Tutorials How to Make Shank Buttons from Beads ______________________________ Original Post by THE BEADING GEM Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips        Related Stories Beaded Skull Earrings Tutorials Stunning Stamped Friendly Plastic Earrings Tutorial Judy Larson's Snail Trail Wire Wrapped Donut Earrings Tutorial   • Email to a friend • Article Search • View comments • Track comments • More Recent Articles Braided Gemstone and Bead Cluster Bracelet Tutorial Beaded Skull Earrings Tutorials Stunning Stamped Friendly Plastic Earrings Tutorial Judy Larson's Snail Trail Wire Wrapped Donut Earrings Tutorial Bejewelled Aluminum Scale Chain Maille Necklace Tutorial Romanian Point Lace Jewelry Designs by Lorena Balea-Raitz Winner of Ecuadorian Hands' $60 Tagua Bead Giveaway Contact Me • Past Issues • Join This List • Unsubscribe     Click here to safely unsubscribe from "The Beading Gem's Journal." 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