Today I’m stepping a bit away from stamping to bring you a magazine review for Belle Armoire Jewelry. Published 4 times a year from Stampington and Company this publication is filled with ideas, techniques and inspirations for making beautiful jewelry. Project tutorials include materials lists, detailed directions and many also have wonderful step by step photos to help you create each piece. You’ll find projects for earrings, necklaces and bracelets using a wide variety of materials like clay, metal, bark, shells, feathers, beads and leather as well as many different techniques from hammering, firing and soldering metal, stamping in clay, upcycling materials and bead stringing techniques. If you’re a beginner you’ll find some great basic articles in the back of the magazine for things like soldering a glass pendant (one of my favorite jewelry making techniques), working with polymer clay, making wire jump rings and connectors and more. In the current March/April/May issue I personally loved the reuse of metal items like bottle caps and tiny tins, hammered and altered to make beautiful charms. I also liked the Lucky Penny necklace, making a bezel for an old copper penny, this would be a great gift for a bride or for someone on St. Patrick’s Day! The stamped clay beads are something I’d like to try too, I have so many stamped images that would make great little beads.
I love the mix of medias and techniques in the magazine so I was inspired to make this fun Alice In Wonderland themed necklace. Of course I had to incorporated stamping 🙂 so I stamped and colored an image of Alice onto cardstock using permanent ink and trimmed it to fit in a repurposed vintage bezel, sealing it with resin. I’m just learning how to use metal stamps (very fun!) and I stamped the words “drink me” onto a purchased metal tag. I added my two charms along with a tiny blue glass bottle to a chain using jump rings, I’m really pleased with how it turned out!
Be sure to check out your news-stand for the latest issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry or you can order directly from Stampington and Company on line.
-Heather
