Happy Beltan everyone!:)

Today Celtic summer starts, lots of bonfires will light up the night.
Here in Belgium, as far as I am aware, you can't set a fire in a woods or fields or meadows, so the only place I can see some flames is my own house;)
So I share with you my little soutache spark, unfinished but energetic, wishing you a great night :)

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

SPRING CONTEST!!!!

Colours always make us more beautiful.
Unite make up and jewelry and the result will be mind blowing ;)
Jovanka- make up artist and me decided to give you a chance to win both: wonderful cosmetics and jewelry. 

How to take part in our contest?
1. Go to the FB pages: mine and Jovanka's and click LIKE:
https://www.facebook.com/SafiyyahJewelryArt
https://www.facebook.com/JovankaMakeUpArtist?fref=ts
2. Subscribe Jovanka's YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwT9qrojY8FWava89gFkwA?feature=watch
3. Take a look at the 10 photos below and pick one that inspires you the most. This will be your base for the make up.
4. Put on the make up and take 5 pictures of it: one of the whole face and with an open eyes, one of the whole face with eyes closed, 2 of the close ups and one with the sign on a paper saying SPRING CONTEST.
5. Send it all to: jovanka.makeup@gmail.com

Pictures will be posted on our FB pages so people can vote and choose the one they like the most- that would be a special prize.
Except that me and Jovanka, we will choose 3 pictures that we like the most.
Little bit about the prizes.
Cosmetics are from Italian, exclusive company-NOUBA plus jewelry made by me.
SO:
-the 1st place: pair of earrings and bracelet, 3single eyeshadows, 1 double eyeshadow, golden eyeliner,  Noubamat pressed powder, 3 bronzers and 4 blushes.

 
-2nd place: pair of earrings,3single eyeshadows, Noubamat pressed powder, 3 bronzers and 4 blushes.

-3rd place pair of earrings, 3single eyeshadows, Noubamat pressed powder and 3 bronzers.

So as you can see there is something to fight for ;) 

Send us your pictures till 30th of May, results will be announced on the 1st of June.

Pictures for the inspirations below:  

 

Earthy set.

As a person who is closely related with nature, eco building subjects, eco-life solutions I decided to celebrate Earth Day(22nd of April) by making something that reminds me of our Mother.

This is how DANU set was created.

DANU- In Irish mythology is the mother of the earth, the gods, fertility, wisdom, wind and of all the Celtic people.



Here I will show you step by step how I created the bracelet.

First the most important part- choosing the stones.
I decided that the main stone will be a beautiful amber.
As you can see on the picture of the final result I did not embroider around the main piece.
I thought it's big and beautiful enough to be left as it is ;)

Except amber I used aventurine and moss agate.

I started with the small amber and 3 colours of the soutache strings on each side. Everything secured with the pins and we can start our fun ;)

Then I added moss agate and aventurine.

As you can see brown strings I left free.
Then I added another amber and started to embroider little plastic RAYHER beads between green strings and brown one- under the aventurine and above last amber.

Next step: adding beads above the first amber.

Next step is adding viscose string around one part of our piece and 2nd layer of beads on our brown string.

And this is the final result :)
2nd part is exactly the same.

In the end the most important thing: attaching the parts to the main amber, adding clasp et voila- bracelet ready :)

Hope you like it!
Good luck with your jewelry!

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

KONKURS!!!

This time post will be in polish.

WIOSENNY KONKURS:
JOVANKA+SAFIYYAH.

Od dziś do 30.05.2013 czekamy na zgłoszenia.

Klikamy w filmik poniżej i stosujemy się do zaleceń;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBolN14ivHA
 
Regulamin poniżej oraz w filmiku.
1. Aby wziąć udział w konkursie należy:
-polubić mój fan page: https://www.facebook.com/SafiyyahJewelryArt
-fan page JOVANKI: https://www.facebook.com/JovankaMakeUpArtist?fref=ts
oraz dodać kanał JOVANKI na Youtube do sybskrytacji:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwT9qrojY8FWava89gFkwA?feature=watch
2. Zainspirować się jednym z 10 zdjęć z filmiku i przesłać na adres jovanka.makeup@gmail.com 5 zdjęć z wykonanym przez siebie makijażem. Jedno zdjęcie całej twarzy z otwartymi oczami, całej twarzy z zamkniętymi oczami, dwóch zdjęć zbliżeniowych oraz jedno zdjęcie z kartką, na której widnieje napis "Konkurs Wiosenny".
3. Przeze mnie i przez Jovankę zostaną wyłonione 3 osoby, które staną na podium. Dodatkowo jedna praca zostanie wybrana przez publiczność na podstawie ilości lajków.
4. Prace należy przesyłać do 30.05, ale im prędzej tym większe szanse na zdobycie dużej ilości lajków pod swoją pracą, a tym samym na nagrodę publiczności.
5. Werdykt zostanie ogłoszony 01.06.2013.
Zróbcie sobie prezent na dzień dziecka :)
6. Nagrody są wymienione w filmiku.

POWODZENIA!

Who wants to win a prize?;)

Spring is a good time to start over or make your plans grow ;)
It's a good time to experiment with colours.
As you know make up and jewelry are the things that highlights women's beauty, that's why
together with a great make up artist- Jovanka, we decided to give you a chance to win wonderful prizes.
More information tomorrow, so stay tuned!
In a meantime visit Jovanka's FB page: https://www.facebook.com/JovankaMakeUpArtist?fref=ts and discover the world of colour.

Soap bubbles :)

As I promised something new today on my FB page and blog.
I came back to Brussels this morning and the day was so beautiful that I couldn't resist to go for a walk.
In one of the shops I saw soap bubbles kit and I had to buy it ;)
Who doesn't love soap bubbles???

Well, seems like in Brussels most of the people! :P
Few of them even asked me very angry how can I do it?! It's only for kids?!
Love you Belgians and your love for fun in life ;)
Anyway...
Ice cream and bubbles were the inspiration for me today.
And i decided to do something different than usual, just for fun and to try new methods :)

I started with looking at the beads with sunny, summer colours ;)

Then I used Chinese soutache string to make something cornet like ;)

To get this effect I used special glue for fabrics.
I started to go around the first ring and then in the end I pushed it up to get a cornet shape.
The back is covered with felt.

Then I glue the beads and this is the final result.

So this is how my little bubble-ice cream cornet looks now.
For sure I will transform it into something else.

Hope you enjoy it.

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

sun!

Believe me or not winter is the worst time for creation. That's why since 20th of March I'm longing for the sun;) and finally here it is,over 20 deg and no clouds.
Now I feel double power to do stuff,ideas are jumping into my head like crazy.
Be prepared for a lots of news starting tomorrow;)
Now I am sending you kisses from amazing Krakow and see you tmrw in Capital of Europe again;)

Queen Beatrice

Recently my best friend started her soutache adventure as well and we both agreed that all we see is earrings ;)
Hello to Peppermint Flavoured Art <3

Every stone, every bead at the beginning is as an earring in our heads.
It is really hard to switch to something else and start making bracelet or necklace ;)

That's why it took me so long to make my first one.
Below you can see the first steps and the final result :)

And this is how it looks on me :)

And in the box:

I have created as well an tiny earrings that match with it :)

Hope you enjoy it!

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

Pearls...

Internet is full of DIY tutorials.
When I saw this one I was sure sooner or later it will join my jewelry collection.
So here they are:
sweet, little ribbon-pearl bracelets .

Pink one found an owner already;)
Black one I made today.

Good luck with your own projects!

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

Chinese seal- bracelet.

Knots are something that always makes me say: WOW.
Today I will share with you a tutorial that I found on YouTube- how to tie a Celtic Tree of Life and a bracelet that I made using this knot.
This post will be very short, though making this bracelet took me 2h ;)

Tutorial you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scU4wbNrDHg
This guy is amazing! 

This is how knot looks using viscose strings:

I used 20cm of the red viscose string.
Then cut the ends and glue them to the rest.

Next I glued 2 grey viscose strings on each side to create a bracelet ;), added a metal coin and the final result-Chinese seal :)

This is my first jewelry using this method but for sure not the last one :)

Hope you enjoy it and good luck with your own projects!


Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE 

100 Likes on my FB page! and SSS-soutache,strings&stones ;)

This week, except my birth day, I have another reason to celebrate- 100 Likes on my FB page!
Thank you guys so much!!

There is one particular material I am always happy to use...
I love natural stones <3
Their energy, look and a fact that all of them are unique, same as the handmade art.
That's why I use a lot of them in my projects.

Today I will show you two ways of attaching stones.

First one requires a piece of felt.

It is not that difficult as it may seems ;)
In this project I used rectangular sodalite.

  
Glue a stone on a felt, cut it around or just leave it on a felt- up to you;)
Then you can start embroidering around it.
I started embroidering with a viscose string- simply cause it's easier than using soutache strings.
Final result-brooch :)
That was my 2nd project using this technique.

Another way to attach stones to soutache strings:
Prepare soutache strings (desired length), stone (here: jasper), needle, pin and threat.
Place a stone between the strings, secure with a pin and start to sew ;)

Make sure that the stone is properly attached and then let your imagination do the rest of the work- add little beads, viscose strings, Swarovski cristals, other natural stones ;)

HINT: try to go through the middle of the soutache strings (see the picture below) with a needle and threat (this is the most invisible and easiest method).

Hope you will find these instructions useful.
Thank you for visiting me and have fun with creating your own jewelry with natural stones! :)


Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE 
 

 
 


 

How to start?

If you are, the same as me a "jewelry magpie", your collection of earrings, bracelets and pendants is way bigger or equal to your shoes collection ;)
Knowing how to make your own jewelry gives you freedom and chance to wear something special and suitable for every occasion and outfit ;) And this is what every magpie loves ;)

How to start soutache?
First of all you have to love handmade things, if you are looking for perfection better go to jewelry shop.
Handmade jewelry has a soul, heart, beauty and all the passion that artist put in it but usually is not perfect.
Accepting that you are reducing your beginner frustration ;)
Frustration...yes it is a part of handcrafting :D So be patient and don't give up at the beginning, practice makes perfect as they say, and here it's the same ;)

But... soutache.
First of all we need strings and we will say a bit about it here.
Soutache strings are available in almost every haberdashery.
I am using  Czech's PEGA soutache strings. Very good quality and beautiful colours (sample card below).

My strings come from Bukowiec shop, which I highly recommend (very nice owner, always something extra in a package and great prices ;)). Website in English and Polish :)
Bukowiec Shop gives you even more: Soutache  SET- you can find in it everything you need to make your first projects.

Before the first use you have to iron them, so the jewelry making process goes smooth ;)
Then we cut the piece that we gonna use and start to work :)

And this is the result of my first work-"Greetings from Tibet"-key chain with natural stone (seraphinite).

Like I mentioned before: it is not perfect and took me 2 days to finish it but already found a new owner ;)

Next time- how to attach strings to the beads/stones.
Stay tuned!

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE

Birthday gift for me and my friends ;)

So here we are :)
Hope you like my little b-day surprise ;)

After months on Facebook where regularly you can find pictures of my works and from my little workshop, I realized that Facebook page is not enough.
Many times I've been asked: How soutache works? How to attach stones, which needle to choose, how it is done in general....Hopefully this place will answer all the questions and show you bright and dark sides ;) of soutache (and not only) technique ;)
For sure this place will change with time (and with my knowledge about blogger) but so far enjoy visiting it and stay tuned, I can assure you-lot of posts will appear in the next few days!:)

Safiyyah Jewelry Art
HANDCRAFTED WITH TENDER LOVING CARE