Home for the Holidays ~ 5 Quick Gifts

Try these quick no muss, no fuss everyone will love it ideas for the holidays.

1. Baby's First Christmas! This is a wonderful gift for new parents or grandparents - make an easy, affordable keepsake with our memory glass frames or let parents update yearly with our memory glass lockets. Simply trim that darling family photo from last year's card, or copy a favorite from a framed family photo in your own home. Place it between the glass panels and you're done. Add jump rings, organza cords, or a simple ribbon. This is sure to be a treasured holiday treat for your friends and family.

2. Memory Glass Lockets Lovely , artisan-quality, reusable 2-sided glass lockets/ pendants with permanent glass panels, beautifully hand-crafted, soldered top bail and a slide close latch. About 5mm thick. Click to see all 5 shapes This is a WONderful idea for holiday presents and ornaments! Thick enough to hold needlepoint, artwork, locks of baby hair, flowers, evergreen sprigs, misteltoe and other small keepsakes. No sealers, no glues, no coating to apply - just open the locket frame, place your art or photo inside, and slide down the latch to close. We stock these little treasures in 5 shapes: squares, diamonds, rectangles, diagonal squares and triangles (crafty note: triangles make a perfect Christmas tree!).

3. Vintage Santa Glass Ornament

We used one of our 2" top-drilled flat glass blanks, our clear Weldbond sealer, a color copy of a vintage Christmas greeting card, and some scissors. To finish: Coat back side of glass blank with Weldbond, apply image face down, coat back side of image with Weldbond. Use several coats (dry between layers) for outdoor use. Let dry overnight. No excuses - this is EASY! :-) Our glass blanks come in (4) shapes - click here to see them all.

4. Personalized Bamboo Bead Pendants!

Great idea by our friend Anne ~ The letter “A” (for Anne!) trimmed from a perfume box, embellished with leaves from her garden, sealed onto one of our mixed bamboo tiles with Weldbond and strung on 1.5 to 2mm cording to match. Finished with a simple knot and a few coordinating beads.

5. Wine Charms ~ Great Holiday Hostess Gift!

Here's a fun and quick gift idea. Use a set of our photo charm blanks available in (4) frame styles.

Add recycled art from magazines, postcards, scrapbooking, return address labels, a little clear sealer and some wine charm rings - a great hostess, holiday, any time gift!Add our wine charm and jump rings to finish. $9.99 for a set of 12 available in 4 different styles, or get 144 (1 gross) $74.99 and get everyone on your list done!

Typewriter Key Antique Charm Necklace Letter of your Choice Ours exclusively! A simple, personalized gift, all ready to give in a cotton-lined box. Arty antiqued typewriter key charm on an 18" silver-plated adjustible leather cord necklace. Gift box included.

Beaded Ladies for Fits of Whimsy

Just in - watch out ~ we can't stop playing with these! (click to enlarge) We just received our new shipment of whimsical fimo polyclay lady heads for making ... well, you name it! I got inspired while visiting our local art festival this weekend and came back to the studio to play with our new arrivals. I beaded these little sillies with our new fimo heads, some beads from our Mermaid Seas, Gold Rush, Ocean, Violets, and Kitchen Sink Jewelry Maker's mixes (depending on colors in the head bead), and added a few of our Matsuno 4mm glass spacer beads onto our 2" silver plated eye pins. There are SO many possibilities ~ I'm going to try some of our downloadable origami on our bamboo tiles for the bodies next. You name it, it would probably work. If anyone gets into this idea - please send us the results - we'd LOVE to add to the beaded ladies gallery and credit your design!

New Bamboo Domino Tiles for Photo, Altered Art Jewelry

Well, we can't get enough of altered art and photo charm blanks and jewelry - Check out our new thin bamboo domino tile beads! Perfect arty proportions, lovely finished surfaces for your artwork, photos, stickers etc. Wonderful to wear, to decorate, to string, to customize ~ Pair with our Weldbond or Diamond Glaze, some favorite photos or clippings, cords, bali beads or crystals to complete your look! For more inspiration, see our Fun With Bamboo Tiles page.

Try our Memory Frames, Memory Lockets for Quick Holiday Gifts!

Try these really quick no muss, no fuss everyone will love it ideas for the holidays made with our Memory Frames, Memory Lockets and Glass.

Baby's First Christmas! Do you know someone under 1? Did you get a really cute holiday card last year from a family friend? This is a wonderful gift for their parents or grandparents - make an easy, affordable keepsake with our memory glass frames or let parents update yearly with our memory glass lockets. Simply trim that darling family photo from last year's card, or copy a favorite from a framed family photo in your own home. Place it between the glass panels and you're done. Add jump rings, organza cords, or a simple ribbon. This is sure to be a treasured holiday treat for your friends and family.

4 Easy Keepsakes, Ornaments, Gifts Using our Memory Glass Lockets, Frames & Charm Blanks

This is a great time to get your holiday gifts made! Here's some simple, fun, and inexpensive ways to put together some truly meaningful gifts ahead of time. No excuses ~ this is EASY!

1. Memory Glass Lockets Just arrived! Reusable 2-sided glass lockets/ pendants with permanent glass panels, beautifully hand-crafted, soldered top bail and a slide close latch. About 5mm thick. Click to see all 5 shapes. Plan ahead! This is a WONderful idea for holiday presents and ornaments! Thick enough to hold needlepoint, artwork, locks of baby hair, flowers, evergreen sprigs, misteltoe and other small keepsakes. No sealers, no glues, no coating to apply - just open the locket frame, place your art or photo inside, and slide down the latch to close. We stock these little treasures in 5 shapes: squares, diamonds, rectangles, diagonal squares and triangles (crafty note: triangles make a perfect Christmas tree!).

2. Vintage Santa Glass Ornament.

We used one of our 2" top-drilled flat glass blanks, our clear Weldbond sealer, a color copy of a vintage Christmas greeting card, and some scissors. To finish: Coat back side of glass blank with Weldbond, apply image face down, coat back side of image with Weldbond. Use several coats (dry between layers) for outdoor use. Let dry overnight. No excuses - this is EASY! :-) Our glass blanks come in (4) shapes - click here to see them all.

3. Baby's First Christmas!

Do you know someone under 1? Did you get a really cute holiday card last year from a family friend? This is a wonderful gift for their parents or grandparents - make an easy, affordable keepsake with our memory glass frames or let parents update yearly with our memory glass lockets. Simply trim that darling family photo from last year's card, or copy a favorite from a framed family photo in your own home. Place it between the glass panels and you're done. Add jump rings, organza cords, or a simple ribbon. This is sure to be a treasured holiday treat for your friends and family.

4. Customized Wine Charms!

Holiday entertaining, parties, get togethers, family events are all just around the corner. Here's an easy way to put together first-quality wine charms as a hostess or holiday gift. Our friend Anne used art from some return address labels to make this fun San Francisco themed wine charm set. She used (1) set of our 1500b photo charm beads (ribbons), 1 set of our wine charm rings , 1 set of 4mm silver plated jump rings, and (optional) 801Z self-laminating clear adhesive sheet . Simply trim your artwork, label, photo, etc to fit the charm window (slightly under 1"). AnyThis is sure to be a treasured holiday treat for your friends and family.

Top 5 Ways to Personalize Your Own Photo, Altered Art Jewelry

Happy summer! Happy crafting! I remember the year I got all of my holiday presents made by August - I had time on my hands, leisurely days - summer was a great time to take care of my special gift list. Here's some easy ideas for creative and personalized gifts

1. Photo Charms - Use just one dangling from a necklace, or get creative, customize several and make a one of a kind photo bracelet for Grandma or an altered art themed charm bracelet or customized wine charms set for a friend! I used color copies of old postage stamps for the charms above. Use our clear sealers to finish.

2. Memory Frames - no sealers, no muss, no fuss. Just place your photo or art or customized monogram between the glass inserts provided, snap shut and you're done. Reversible, two-sided wearable art. The look of a soldered art piece in about....a minute!

3. Photo (Brag) Bracelets, Keychains - OK, if you have a grandma in the family - you need one of these! Ready-made stretch bracelets with 6 photo frames complete with acetate covers. Or, simpler still, beautiful silver plated keychains with ornate frames and matching acetate covers. Cut out your images, place in frames, cover with acetate and you're done! Gift boxes included!

4. Made with Love, Made for You, Inspirational Word Charms - Enough said! Don't forget to seal it with love - we have some wonderful little word charms sure to add a special spark to anything you make!

5. Message in a (mini) Bottle Charms - A really fun and quick way to turn words, pictures, mementos, sand from your summer beach spot, mixed matsuno or crystal beads, etc. into wearable art! Display or hang on our cords in leather, organza, rubber, chain - see more here!