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Beekindpleez
Member
07-18-2006
| Friday, December 05, 2008 - 11:40 am
War...that is just it! We would be a wreck and she would be soundly sleeping with the doggy. She refused to have anyone live with her...so it really was quite a struggle. She considered herself to be so independent, but, of course, she wasn't. However, we did feel good that we helped her feel that way. The bracelet thing worked for her, even with the health issues (shaking, etc) much better than the necklace because the necklace was always being bumped or rolled over on, but the bracelet wasn't. Don't know why, exactly. Her button thingy was pretty small, though. So, it wouldn't have worked with a larger button thingy. Hers was maybe 1" by 1 1/2". I strongly believe that whatever we can do to help our elders feel good about themselves and their lives is important. She felt good about herself, so we made that drive and never told her how difficult it was for us.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, December 05, 2008 - 1:53 pm
Oh, been there, you go running in the house searching for her, find her in bed and she wakes up and says, "Well hi, honey, how are you doing?" I totally agree with you. It's important to us she stay in her own home and is healthy and happy. If I have to run back and forth its no biggie. She's happy, she gets to spend time with my kidlets and sis' (lol, I walked in the other day to find her and my oldest niece on the couch, niece with her homework in her lap and aunt helping her and had to giggle, could have been a scene straight out of my childhood!)
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Friday, December 05, 2008 - 4:04 pm
Wargod and Beekindpleez, I hope my nieces and nephews would be as caring and kind as you are. I don't have kids but have been a pretty good aunt and one does think about the "what ifs" as we get older. I also have a sister who is single, no kids with some very challenging health issues so I hope all the kids we've loved and been good too think of us when we get older. They are all pretty good kids/young adults.
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Dfennessey
Member
07-25-2004
| Monday, December 08, 2008 - 8:25 am
I feel the same way as Sugar. I have always been very good to my nieces and nephews in hopes that when I get older they take good care of me. I think the older 2 will, because of the way they are being raised.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 12:34 pm
Inspiration needed:
In this pic, the flash caught the pendant so the colors are way brighter than they actually are.
This one, no flash so the colors are pretty true to the real thing but the pic is a little fuzzier than the first one. I was bead shopping online the other night and came across this pendant on the 50% off page. Paid $1.30 for it. I thought it was pretty cool looking, though I didn't pay much attention to the size of it...50mm! I usually use 4, 6, or 8 mm beads with pendants and charms nowhere near the size of this one, lol. I'd originally thought I'd make a necklace for my aunt, but it's too big and it's heavy (for her) so I don't think she'd wear it. Now I don't know what to do with it. Do I go ahead and make a necklace and try to give it to someone? Should it be on memory wire by itself? Or do I bead a necklace with the pendant as a centerpiece? Or go a totally different route, maybe a pull chain for a ceiling fan? Help!!! I really love it and think it's pretty, I just don't know what to do with it or who to give it to.
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Crzndeb
Member
07-26-2004
| Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 1:01 pm
War, I do a lot of beading, and right now, I am into making chunky stretch bracelets, with a variety of stones. Most of the beads are from 30-50mm and I add bits of chain to the elastic and wire wrap crystals and pearls on to the chain for a bit of dangles. If I knew how to attach pics, I could show you a couple I made. That piece would look beautiful in a bracelet as a focal bead. My next one will be black, grays and whites. Check out Kazuri beads. They are beautiful and look great in the bracelets
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, February 27, 2009 - 11:50 pm
Crzndeb, I admit when I wear jewelry I go for smaller stuff, but even for people who wear bigger stuff, is 50mm too big as a bracelet? I can't do the wire wrap. No matter how many times I've tried I just can't get it to come out looking nice. And that's funny you mentioned Kazuri beads...I was at the bead store today (and was there, er Tuesday or Wednesday and she didn't have them) and she had just set out Kazuri beads, she'd just started carrying them. I spent some time looking through them, they're very pretty. I'm in the beg. stages of planning a project...I need jewelry for a semi-formal event (quincenera) later this year. Haven't decided yet what I want to do, I rarely make jewelry for myself, so I'm starting to look at things that might be good for that. Crz, to post a pic on the board, type \image{imagenamehere} and then click preview/post message. It'll pop up a bar for you to search for your pics, find the one you want, double click it, then click post (I think it's a post button.) Pictures have to be under a certain size, but to be honest, I don't remember how big it can be. Or if easier, you can email me the pics and I can post it/them. I'd love to see what you've done. I made some necklaces for Kota and my nieces (not the St Patrick day ones.) Bead store lady had an angel cell phone charm on sale the other day and I thought, I could do that! So I did, also add a heart charm, a softball charm (since they're playing again,) and pins with the crystals on them. Not the best pic, but for some reason I had quite a bit of trouble taking pics of the necklaces:

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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Sunday, March 01, 2009 - 11:57 pm
These are the pics Crzndeb sent me, I let her describe them:

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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Monday, March 02, 2009 - 12:22 am
Deb, you do very pretty work! If you don't mind answering, I really like the unique beads in the top pic, are you getting those at the local bead store or ordering from somewhere? And in the second pic, the middle bracelet, is that memory wire? Is it easy to use? I've been considering trying the memory wire. My aunt has trouble with the more traditional clasps on her jewelry so I've slowly been replacing all of them (she has a ton of jewelry) with magnetic clasps. But, I've also been thinking maybe doing her some using the memory wire might be easier too. LOL, I'm on a mission. I've always split my bead buying between the local bead store, Michaels, even Walmart and a couple sites online (aunties beads and fire mountain gems.) I love going to the bead store, being able to look through everything and having them to chat with about the projects I'm doing or new products, but compared to online it's more expensive. I've been buying more and more swarovski crystal online cuz it averages out to about 7-9 cents a piece. What I'm looking for now is buying larger quantities. Fire mountain has packs of 48 and 144, aunties 25. What I'd really like to find though is a gross (144) of colors I chose. Both have mixes, but they're either certain colors or totally random. I wanna say, I want 20 of this and 50 of that, etc! Can't seem to find it, except for Ebay which I don't really like. I'm crossing fingers for a big order from my neighbor (told her not to buy the jewelry for all the girls/attendants/whatever they're called) for her daughters quincenera cuz I can do them much cheaper, which is why I'm looking for larger quantities in colors I chose for cheaper, lol. I was quite productive today. Finished two St. Patrick day necklaces and two bracelets, plus a cell phone charm and two angels (which take about 2 minutes to put together.) Sis oh so not so subtly pointed out if I made her more cell phone charms she could change hers often, lol. One of the bracelets I made today (this one is actually for me)
And remember sis and her cell phone charm, made this for her for St Patricks Day:
Dakota found the large bead today and told me it'd make a nice necklace for her. I think it's kinda way too big for her, she's still a little girl for another year or two dammit!, lol, but I have noticed older girls are starting to wear larger pieces. Still not sure what I wanna do with it.
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Crzndeb
Member
07-26-2004
| Tuesday, March 03, 2009 - 10:00 am
A lot of the beads are ones I have collected over the years...some from strands I bought at bead shows, some are Kazuri that I ordered recently for Kazuri West, some given to me, others from my GF's bead store. And yes, that is memory wire. Those are so easy to make and you can put just about anything on them. Just make a loop on the end. You mentioned trouble with wire wrapping...Do you have round nose pliers? And smaller gauge wire or headpins are easier to wrap...like 24g.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, March 03, 2009 - 12:35 pm
Yeah, I can make simple loops and uh, dang what's it called when you put the bead on the headpin then twist the wire to make a loop/hook or I can put the bead on the headpin and bend/twist to curl it but that's about it. I can't wrap beads (I can, but it looks terrible) and I've never figured out how to make a wire piece on the wig jig that doesn't look awful, even when using a pattern. I've seen some amazing wire work that I'd love to learn how to do, I just can't seem to get the hang of it, lol.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - 10:30 pm
Wondering if I should call for Catholics to come take a peak at my question? Or if others will know? I found directions for making a beaded rosary and immediately thought about a friend of mine. Problem is, I'm not Catholic, I have very little clue what a rosary is for (something about help with prayer?,) and I don't really understand the significance of some beads being larger than others. Would it be offesinve to make one? Not cuz I'm not Catholic but rather cuz I really don't understand the rosary?
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 1:00 am
War, I'm about as Catholic as they come and I don't think it would be offensive at all for you to make a rosary. I'm guessing it's for the neighbor girl? The larger beads each signify the mysteries such as the 5 glorious mysteries or the 5 sorrowful mysteries, etc. (There are 4 different sets of mysteries). That's the bead when you say the name of the mystery and then The Lord's Prayer. On the smaller beads in the main part of the necklace you say the prayer called The Hail Mary. You start the rosary at the crucifix make the sign of the cross saying the words and the Creed. At the first bead you say The Lord's Prayer - aka The Our Father. Then you have a cluster of 3 beads where you say the Hail Mary. Then another single bead where you say the Glory Be. rosary diagram and info That pdf will give you a picture of a rosary and explain all of the prayers for each bead. This one is a fuller version of what we said when we were kids and prayed the rosary every day. When we did it, basically the larger beads were for the Glory Be, the announcement of the next mystery and the Our Father. The smaller beads in the middle were for the Hail Mary's. Hope this helps. I think it's very nice that you would want to do this for your friend. I don't regularly pray the rosary but I do cherish my rosary as Sarah loves both of hers and Charlie his. It's almost a love for something which can't be explained.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 1:19 am
Thank you Tess! It's actually the neighbor girls mom, her birthday's coming up and she's very Catholic and loves hand made stuff. I figured if I could get past the "is it offensive or not" question the two older girls will be next, especially since their close to finishing up one of their Catholic classes. That's a great diagram. The directions I found had a pic but only from the crucifix to about halfway up the rosary, not the whole thing. Are they made with certain color beads or can I use anyone I pick?
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 12:01 pm
War, I've seen them made from anything from the finest crystals to plastic beads on string, to wooden beads. I've seen them in all colors as well. On my crystal rosaries and Sarah's as well, the clustered beads are one color (clear for ours) and another color for the beads set apart from the others. A rosary is equally significant no matter what you choose for materials. It is the symbol and the prayers that matter most of all so you should just choose what you think is pretty and I am positive that your friend will love it and love you for making it for her.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 12:38 pm
Wargod, I think that is a nice idea and I commend you for knowing that a rosary is not a necklace. (I personally find rosary as a necklace offensive). When I was in second grade all I wanted for my birthday was a little pink rosary. The nuns gave me one, (I think because my mom was pretty sick) and I loved it! I wish I knew what happened to it. I suppose it got lost or a sibling put it somewhere... I would like to see it again. You've made me think I should make one for my mom as she says multiple rosaries everyday.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 1:34 pm
Heh Sugar, my bil was raised in a non practicing Catholic house (if you ask he'll tell you he's Catholic but he hasn't been in church since he was a toddler.) When I asked him about it, he said to tell the truth I don't know enough about them to tell you anything one way or the other, except that A ROSARY ISN'T A NECKLACE! Up until then I can't say if I knew that or not (it wasn't something that surprised me though) but I had to giggle cuz he sounded just like his mom and I could just picture her wagging a finger at him telling him that. The directions I found seem pretty simple, just put the bead on a pin, make the simple loop and connect it to the next in line. Tess said crystal!! There's some Swarovski rounds that would be very pretty. Of course there's also glass and gemstone beads too. I'll have to look and see what I can find. That's a great idea to do one for your mom, Sugar!
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 11:17 am
Sugar, the only excuse I have for the word necklace is that it was after 3AM for me and I'd been up for 2 days straight with no sleep. We hold our rosary beads in great reverence and always have done. Miss Sarah has 2 sets of beads, one for First Communion and the other one because she loved it so much. Charlie and I also have our childhood rosaries in addition to the ones we got when Sarah made her First Communion. We both even still have our Scapulars which we wore under our school uniforms all through elementary and high school. War, Sarah and I both have Swarovski crystal rosaries. The only differences in them are the color and the medal between the crucifix and the main body of the rosary.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 11:57 am
Hey Tess or Sugar...I was looking at the medals and crucifixes last night and was wondering if there's any differences with them? There were several of each one and I don't know if that makes a difference or not?
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Lumbele
Moderator
07-12-2002
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 12:02 pm
You always learn something around here. Thanks for the "rosary lesson", Tess. Now, I am in serious need of beading expert advise. I love bracelets and long necklaces, but the prices of good costume jewelry is getting to be outrageous. Took a trip to Michaels today and grabbed some stuff I liked. But they don't teach beading classes any more around here which places me up the creek without a you-know-what. Now the question is how the heck am I gonna make these into the desired adornments? Thought I'd start easy and get stuff that will have to go on some kind of string without clasps. So, what do I need for tools and equipment. Any how-to tips and tricks would also be greatly appreciated.

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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 1:31 pm
Oh boy oh boy, Hi Lum! I think to start simple without clasps, I'd go with a stretchy thread/cord. You just string the beads, then knot it when you are done. It also requires no tools other than scizzors to cut the thread. I seem to have trouble with knots staying put so I put a dab of glue on them and then slip a larger hole bead over it. There's also waxed cord/thread that you can use that's pretty thin and should fit the holes in those beads. Were those beads on sale? Michaels often does a 2 for 1 sale and I like to stock up then, lol. My favorite is beadalon wire, though that requires crimp beads and clasps and tools. Once you know how to do it, it's pretty easy. When you are ready for that, you can pick up a set of tools at Michaels for pretty cheap (under $10) that has everything you'll need. This is a good site. firemountaingems They have a beading dictionary if you need to look things up and if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there's a link for free beading instructions (its actually video how to's.) Not only that but they have a ton of pretty stuff, lol!
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 1:48 pm
Hey Tess, I didn't even recall you using the word necklace in your post. I do think it is perfectly acceptable using it in a descriptive context. I was a theatre major in college and we were doing some 1 act plays. One of the guys directing wanted to borrow a rosary for a character to wear as a necklace. Those of us who had been raised Catholic were aghast at such a notion. We quickly explained that it was not jewelry. Can't recall what the play was.
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Crzndeb
Member
07-26-2004
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 5:06 pm
Lum, I only use three tools for beading: flat nose pliers, round nose pliers, and a flush wire cutter. Like War said, you can pick up a cheap set, but if you really get into jewelry making, you will eventually want to invest a bit more in these tools. I use SoftFlex for my stringing. It comes in different diameters depending on weight of beads or stones. I normally use .014 for most of my items. Attaching clasps is very easy once you learn, and it gives the item a nice finished look. Are there any other bead type stores in your area? They usually will give you free quick how-to's or some will have basic beading classes. Have fun..it will become very addicting
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 9:16 pm
War, as far as the medals go, it would depend upon personal preference. On Sarah's First Communion rosary she has the profile of Mary surrounded by red roses. On that rosary, the decade beads are red crystals instead of the clear. On her other rosary, she has a two sided medal with Mary on one side and the Sacred Heart (of Jesus) on the other side. All of the beads on that rosary are clear crystals. I don't remember what medal I have on my turquoise crystal rosary. On my pale pink crystal rosary I have The Sacred Heart on my medal. We also have a hand made one made out of white and black pearlized beads with tiny white seed beads in between the prayer beads. That one has no medal. Instead it has 3 black beads. I think either Mary or Jesus on the medal is pretty standard. I would just pick out one that you think your friend would like.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 11:31 pm
Tess, any chance you could post a pic of the one with the seed beads? So far the only ones I've seen are made with the wire and loops. I'd much rather do seed beads since I'm not all that good with the wire and loops. I was in the bead store earlier looking around at stuff trying to decide on a color for the rosary and what exactly I wanted to use. Then I got distracted buying crystals, lol. I went in for one tube of seed beads (I'm making Kota and her teammates little necklaces in team colors} and walked out with four tubes, er, a few crystals, and dang there was something else I got and now can't remember what. Haha, I did give Darren quite the scare though! I told him I was just going to the bead store for the one tube of beads, the guitar store for picks and a tuner, and that was it. When I got home, I beeped the horn for him to come help carry stuff in (only time I beep!) LOL, he came running out of the house like it was on fire asking what the hell I'd bought at the bead store that I needed his help bringing it in the house. I had decided since I was out to go ahead and stop by the grocery store and do some shopping there as well, lol. The look on his face was great though. Crzndeb, I was just telling Darren yesterday that I'm due to buy a new pair of flush cutters. I keep buying the cheap ones, they get dull, and you can't really sharpen them. We discussed the fact that it would be cheaper to buy a good, expensive set than to keep buying the cheap ones. Lum, I meant to mention earlier that I think it's fantastic you're wanting to do your own jewelry. I get so irrate seeing the prices on some of that stuff, it's marked up so high. I understand getting paid for your time and your expenses, but some of it is insane. I recently saw a necklace I could have made for $20 "on sale" for $250. It was probably a 14", single strand, necklace (it would have been short on me) made of the swarovski crystals, 4mm bicones (black and clear crystals,) on some kind of cord and knotted. Not to mention how fun it is to make it yourself, you can get exactly what you want. I plan to spend most of tomorrow beading. I've got 8 more necklaces for the softball team to make (I've got about 3 weeks to do those though) and sis gave me some angel charms a friend had given her that I need to do something for her with. I should also pull out the necklace I've been working on (still trying to find something for me for the quincenera) but I'm kinda stuck on how I want to finish it.
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