4-Day 20% OFF SALE THANKS to YOU! Thru TUES Dec 1 Midnight

Great news for our DIY crafts, lampwork glass, millefiori and jewelry fans! We're celebrating YOU our fantastic customers ~ save 20% on every item on the site through TUES midnight Dec 1! Use code THANKS09 at checkout!

There's plenty NEW to see for November and December 09 A few of the highlights: Gorgeous new single flower and mosaic millefiori glass bead strands, New Pawprints! Zebra, Leopard, Animal print lampwork beads, amazing new Peacock Foil Millefiori Glass, by request ~ NEW deep-set thick-rimmed photo/altered art charms for use with resin and thick glazes, new 1oz TRIAL sizes of our popular clear dimensional Glaze and Gel, millefiori "thousand flowers" art glass heart pendants gift-boxed and ready to give, great new findings, charms, and color-coated steel beading wire necklaces in 10 rainbow colors.

Time savers! Our ready-to-give gift boxed jewelry items are that perfect "little something" for your beading and arty friends - take a peek!

Newsletter subscribers: Make sure you are registered on our site. Choose the "Sign In" option at checkout when prompted - your promo code box will appear. Enter THANKS09 to save 20% on your entire order before shipping.

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Our Most Recent Newsletters

#1 Make it Tonight 5 Free Project Ideas for You! (Pawprints Necklace)

#2 Make it Tonight! 4 Free Project Ideas for You! (Holiday Jewelry),

#3 Home for the Holidays (Craft, DIY Custom Jewelry),

#4 The Boatload of Beads, Findings, Cords is IN!

Made with Love ~ Our silver and gold plated heart charms are perfect as jewelry components, package toppers, scrapbook embellishments too. Tis the season!

We stock these little message heart charms in silver and gold plated, Made with Love, Handmade with Love, and Made for You!

Click here for FUN Jewelry, Crafts Ideas!
FUN with Bamboo Tiles
3 Easy Keepsake Gifts

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Make it Tonight! 4 New Inspired Holiday Project Ideas for You!

Get inspired! October's a great time to get a relaxed start on gift-making projects. Here's four wonderfully elegant yet simple jewelry ideas ~ easy and beautiful, you can make these tonight. Each project below includes a clickable supply list. Click any picture for detailed view.

Christmas Flowers - Our brand new single flower shaped millefiori glass beads are the inspiration for this sweet bracelet. Cheryl used the flowers as dangling charms and more millefiori glass coins in red and white as the core of the bracelet. Our new magnetic barrel clasps makes putting on your new bracelet a snap.

• 1168 Millefiori Flower Beads
• 1870X Millefiori Glass Coin Beads Red and White
• 1326 Iridescent Glass Spacers
• 1125j Glass Seed Beads, white
• 1505z Ball End Headpins
• 858a Silver Plated Magnetic Barrel Clasps
  

Blossoms of Red & Green Necklace Get in the Holiday spirit with this necklace using our Millefiori Single Flower Glass Beads. These 12mm beads are cut out in single flower shapes in a rainbow of colors. For this project, Cheryl chose the red flowers and green flowers only out of the 30 beads on a strand. Combined with red, green and clear seed beads as well as bright silver ridged spacer beads, Cheryl has created a very festive necklace. She chose to make her design in a matinee length at about 22 inches. We are sure you will be inspired to make your own holiday creations to enjoy this party season.

• 1168 Millefiori Flower Glass Beads
• 514 Bright Silver Ridged Spacer Beads
• 763 Silver Tiger Tail
• 1606R Silver Crimp Beads
• 1606T Crimp Bead Covers
• 1505V Antiqued Silver Metal Floral Toggle

Snowflake Ice Earrings and Bracelet, features our antiqued silver metal snowflake charms. Cheryl combined the snowflakes with our Aurora Borealis Crystal Cube spacer beads for a cool winter look. Add some bright silver ridged spacers and you have a darling set ready to wear or give for holiday parties.

Snowflake Ice Bracelet, features our antiqued silver metal snowflake charms and coordinates wonderfully with our snowflake earrings above. We used another of our super strength magnetic clasps for no fuss easy on/off.

You will need:

• 633 Antiqued Silver Metal Snowflakes
• 716a Clear AB Crystal Cube Spacer Beads
• 514 Bright Silver Ridged Spacer Beads
• 1558 Silver plated french earring hooks
• 1300 Square Rainbow Cubes Mix
  
• 763 Silver Tiger Tail beading wire
• 1505Y Toggle clasp
• 1606R Silver crimp beads
• 1606T Silver crimp covers
• 858a Silver Plated Magnetic Barrel Clasps

About the designer: Our friend and co-worker Cheryl Satterlee wears many hats here - packer, designer, copywriter and inventory tracker. When she's not here, she switches hats to mom and grandmom!

Newsletter subscribers ~ use promo code SAVE5OCT09 to save $5 on any order over $10. Good once per month per subscriber. Click here to join our subscriber list.

Make it Tonight! New Miami and Phoenix Necklace Designs

October is a great month to get a relaxed start on your gift-making and gift-giving ideas. Here's two wonderfully elegant yet simple jewelry ideas you can make tonight ~ easy to string samples and supply lists shown below.

This Miami necklace, by Shenoa Satterlee, makes you want to hop on a plane today! The aqua blue shell beads combined with olive green crystals and white clear seed beads invoke the sky, sea and sand of a tropical paradise. You will need:

• 2 1001A Aqua blue coin shell beads
• 1 1180N 6mm olive green crystal bicones
• 1 1125j 2mm white clear glass seed beads
• 1 763 Silver Tiger Tail beading wire
• 1 1505Y Toggle clasp
• 1 1606R Silver crimp beads
• 1 1606T Silver crimp covers

Phoenix, an orange tabby cat, is the inspiration for this whimsical design A classic combination of bicone crystals and bali bead spacers is transformed with the addition of our cat charms and a cat/fish toggle clasp. Another inspired design from Shenoa. This is an easy project with dramatic results.

• 2 1180W 6mm gold amber crystal bicones
• 1 1503B Bali spacer beads
• 1 1505X Cat face charms Toggle clasp set
• 1 763 Silver Tiger Tail beading wire
• 1 1606R Silver crimp beads
• 1 1606T Silver crimp covers

About the designers: Cheryl and Shenoa Satterlee are our dynamite grandmother and grandaughter jewelry design team. Cheryl wears many hats here - packer, designer, copywriter and inventory tracker. When she's not here, she switches to her most favorite hats of all as mom and grandmom!

Our New Cameo Memory Pendants & Glass Inserts are Here! Squares, Circles, Rectangles LG and SM

JUST ARRIVED ~ our exclusive new CAMEO solid-backed silver plated metal art pendants with matching glass inserts!

I like things to be simple. So simple a kindergartner can do it. Yet elegant enough to give as a gift when I'm done. No such thing? Think again!

I have been wondering how to bypass the poured resin and/or layered Art Glaze method for art and photo jewelry. My world was turned upside down the second I discovered these pendant blanks with superb quality matching glass inserts. Just add your art and secure with clear adhesive or craft glaze - you're done!

Every part of these pendants are beautifully made - heavy frames, solid or patterned backs (on larger sizes), textured interiors to hold adhesive, superb fine-jewelry quality bails, and a raised tray edge which fits the optical lens quality glass covers perfectly.

We had our glass inserts cut and ground by an optical lens factory. The glass inserts are clear, with flat backs and very slightly domed surfaces. The are non-magnifying - your image under the glass is just that - perfectly protected under a layer of clear glass.

Our Cameo tm metal frames and matching glass inserts come in 6 sizes and shapes. Click here to see them all. Rounds, LG and SM, Squares LG and SM, Rectangles LG and SM.

We have easy instructions that go out with every set - just add your art glaze of choice or try our art glazes: Weldbond, Diamond Glaze, 3D Crystal Lacquer or DG3 Art Gel to finish. Complete the look with one of our cords or chains.

Please e-us (rubbernation@comcast.net) with pictures of your finished samples - we'd love to feature YOUR creativity in our new Cameo Gallery on the website!

Collage Sheets for Memory Frames, Patera Pendant Blanks and Microscope Slide Jewelry

Having a craft-challenged moment? These sets take all the guess work out of what to put in those memory frames and charm blanks!

These handy sets (in either VINTAGE or WHIMSICAL) include 6 printed cardstock sheets (opaque) and 6 printed acetate (clear) sheets, each approximately 5 1/2"x 6".

Each set includes over 90 pieces of artwork, contemporary graphic images, as well as ideas for 12 easy and beautiful projects. See our memory frames for coordinating accessories.

This is a great gift idea, or a great place to start if you've just discovered how FUN memory frames and microscope slide jewelry can be!

These images have been designed to be combined/overlaid with each other, creating yet a third image, and to fit both Memory Glass microscope slides and Patera jewelry blanks.

Combine with our memory frames and altered art/photo charm blanks, ball chains, jump rings, neck cords, large-holed beads, bali spacers, jewelry maker's mixes, etc. to make beautiful altered art jewelry in a flash! These lovely papers and cardstock are acid-free and lignin-free.

New Photo Charm Styles Make Great Memory Gifts for Moms, Weddings, Graduates

Just in time for Mother's Day, graduations and June brides - our new photo/altered art charm blanks are here. These designs are slightly larger than some of our other charm blanks. We've found some lovely oval pendant/charm forms that match our 18mm acrylic cabochons very closely! They're solid-backed with a framed edge - able to hold resin and epoxy mediums if desired. Plus, we now offer a double sided blank -perfect for reversible or two-sided charms and pendants - one of our most frequent customer requests.


These also make great keychains! We now stock heavy duty keychains and ball chains which match the metal finishes on our Memory Frames

A crafty reminder - our Memory Frames come in many sizes, perfect for keychains with couple beaded flourishes strung on headpins and looped to top ring. You can finish off any of these little treasures with some of our key chains, Jewelry Maker's Ocean Mix, some jump rings, ball chains or cords, some headpins, bali bead spacers, and some millefiori glass beads from our smorgy selections.

Plan ahead as these are really FUN to put together in time for Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Father's Day ... happy creating!

Save $5 off your next order of $10 or more through end of this month! Type your subscriber's savings code: SAVE5APR09 in promo box at checkout on our site.

NEW ARRIVALS at RubberNation:
70+ NEW Arrivals for May click here!

70+ NEW Arrivals for April click here!

70+ NEW Arrivals for March click here!

How to Make a Custom Photo or Altered Art Charm Bracelet with our New Charm Blanks & Clear Acrylic Resin Bubble Dome Covers

New! 10 silver-plated ACRYLIC based bracelet, pendant beads or forms for altered art, photo jewelry, resin jewelry. Fits our 803G acrylic cabochons. Double-holed for stringing side by side (see sample below). Can be used as elongated pendant form as well. Inner photo/art dimension: 18x25mm. I used a tourist guide from Florida to find colorful scrap art for this bracelet. To finish: 1. Seal your art. If you're using our matching clear acrylic cabs 803G, apply thin coat of Diamond Glaze or Elmer's All-Purpose Glue to back of clear cabochons. Place on art. Allow to dry. Trim around edge with xacto blade. If you're using resin, trim your art, place in frame, pour and finish. 2. Glue your art-backed cabs into frames with our Weldbond, E-6000, or other permanent craft adhesive. Allow 24 hours to fully dry.

3. String with clear stretch craft cord of your choice (we recommend Stretch Magic cord or similar good quality clear stretch cord) and spacers as you see fit. Finish with a double square knot. Finished measurements: A 10pc frame set strung side by side will make a bracelet that fits a medium wrist of about 7 1/4".

The sample shown uses 9 beads, no spacers, and fits my wrist which is about 7". You can purchase these blanks as well as matching epoxy domes here. Please send us .jpgs of your finished samples - we'd love to see what YOU come up with! Happy creating!

Click here to see over 70+ NEW items for April! Newsletter Subscriber's Exclusive Savings Code for April 09: Type SAVE5APR09 in your promo code box during checkout ~ $5 off any order of $10 or more, good once per month per valued subscriber. It's like getting a Bargain Bin item for free, or FREE shipping on your entire order! Happy creating!

Memory Frames as Key Chains

Yet another great use for Memory Frames ~ Key Chains! We now stock heavy duty key chains and ball chains which match the metal finishes on our Memory Frames and foil tape for our microscope slides - take a peek at what our crafty friends came up with by way of recent road trip to rainy FLA. No sun. LOTS of crafts! ....

First one comes from our talented friend Betsy. Made with fashion magazine scraps, back side is a simple wallpaper pattern. A couple beaded flourishes strung on headpins and looped to top ring.

Second one comes from our equally crafty friend Charlotte by way of same rainy road trip. She made memory keychains for each of her daughters - very sweet! More fun beaded flourishes on eye pins to finish.

Last and not least, comes from our friend Loretta who is a self-described NON crafter. She used local tourist guides and magazine clippings to make a fun memento. (For a NON-crafter, I think she made more than all the rest of us combined) ... look at those flourishes! Wow! Crafts can sneak up on you like that sometimes....

We finished off these little treasures with some of our key chains, Jewelry Maker's Ocean Mix, some jump rings, ball chains or cords, some headpins, bali bead spacers, and some millefiori glass beads from our smorgy selections.

Plan ahead as these are really FUN to put together in time for Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Father's Day ... happy creating!

Save $5 off your next order of $10 or more through end of this month! Type your subscriber's savings code: SAVE5MAR09 in promo box at checkout on our site.

NEW ARRIVALS at RubberNation:

Sneak Peek for April click here!

70+ NEW Arrivals for March click here!

50+ NEW in February click here!

Photo Charms & Altered Art Jewelry Q&A

Q. Some of your frames are solid-backed, and some have small openings on back corners. I use mainly scrapbook paper. Would using a glaze such as DG3 or Diamond Glaze work with these?
A. Yes - Apply clear sealer (Our Diamond Glaze, Weldbond etc.) in thin layers - it is a very tight fit by the time you tuck your art underneath the slits in the frame - sealer does not oooze through slit - works great. We also offer clear self-adhesive laminating sheets (no liquid to deal with) . We ALSO stock frame style with NO slits - solid backs - see our lead-free antiqued silver metal alloy frame styles called Romance, Deco or Masterpiece - no slits at all - suitable for all sealers and epoxy as well. We also stock Memory Frames and Memory Frame Lockets which do not require sealers of any kind - simply sandwich your art or collage between the glass, close the metal latch and you're done.

Q. What kind of photo program is needed to do the pictures for the charms?
A. If you're using your own photos, we suggest a simple old fashioned reduction either on your printer or at your photo kiosk. If your cropped artwork is 3" tall and it needs to fit our frame opening of 3/4" - you would need to divide 2nd number by 1st - .75/3.00 = .25 or 25%. Easier still - Some of our best charm samples have been made with found art - return address labels, magazine clippings, postage stamps, fabric samples, wrapping paper, mail order catalogs, etc. We ALSO have many photo and altered art frames with LARGER openings, in larger sizes - up to 1x3" or 2x2" in either memory frame, memory lockets, or even the slightl larger mini-masterpiece style. Hope this is helpful - happy creating to you! Kim N at RubberNation.com.

Possibly TOO Much Fun for Mid-Winter ~ New Glass Mini Bottles and Microscope Slides!

We've just added 1x3" microscope slides , memory foil tape , and lovely Aanraku style pendant bails and ball chain necklaces for making cool customized altered art and photo pendant keepsake jewelry. See our "Fun with Microscope Slides " freebie project page for more inspiration.

We've also just added some really fun slightly larger mini glass bottles - they're been all over the craft channels lately with tons of different uses. Our mini bottles are available in 2pc or 10pc packs - they're great for storing our new collection of encased glass seed beads or our Matsuno "e" beads in style. Very stable - they stand upright on their own. They're great fun to play with - Stick an eye pin through the top cork along with beads of choice and you've got an instant place holder, desk buddy, or a just for fun arty pendant or hanging decoration.

Our talented friends Anne Strasser and her mom Janet Hyland made these really cool beaded lady samples with some of our fimo lady heads, bottles, eye pins, jewelry maker's mix and Matsuno "e" beads. Click images for detailed view.