HANZZmade Jewelry: secret givings

made for a lovely colleague

It’s been a weird year for me in terms of feeling that holiday spirit… It’s come in waves, mostly infrequent crashes on my yule-tide shore.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that I ran into my first Christmas tree for the year before we even hit Halloween (Thanks Bloomingdales), but today I think I caught a pretty good wave to ride through the season.

Not only did I overhear a perfectly retold outcome and moral to the Polar Express from one of my third graders, but I also had the chance to finally notice the effects of a secret gift exchange that has been going on at work this past week. The two crafts above (along with a (kinda) perfect circle) made up 3 of the 5 presents I passed on to another. When I revealed my elfish ways this morning/afternoon, I knew I made her happy.

And I also got to stop worrying if the bracelet fit or not – so, thumbs up.

December 18, 2011

in christmas, jewelry, necklace
Leave a comment

HANZZmade Jewelry: shiny pretty thing

made two-strands of pretty

This is the most intricate piece I’ve made and my first experiment with chains.

It felt more like a construction project, connecting each bead and chain length one at a time. My charm projects aren’t nearly as time consuming. I gauge my craft-time by the number of episodes I watch on Netflix while at-work and this one took a hefty number of Parks and Rec on Friday (5), and a fair few episodes of Glee on Saturday (2).

There was probably a few Christmas music interludes mingled in as well…

Don’t worry… I’ll see the sun in the spring.

Tis the season!

December 8, 2011

in charms, fruit, jewelry, necklace
Leave a comment

HANZZmade Jewelry: strawberry sentiment

made twice

Today brings another repeat and new life to my series of fruit charms

I think the green wire adds fresh-picked appeal, paired with much neater wrapping on my part… which means more staying power, too, because this one has to last.

This was the only strawberry-like bead left in my collection and I haven’t seen any like it out there in craftland. Maybe one day.

I could probably spend time making lots of other fruit charms again and again if I had the time – and the energy.

For now, I’m looking forward to the holiday revival ahead…

And strawberry season.

December 5, 2011

in charms, jewelry, necklace, wire
3 Comments

HANZZmade Jewelry: a (kinda) perfect circle

made with lots and lots and lots of wire!

It’s not really “holiday”, but it is a present.

If I were to give it to Lady Gaga I’m sure she’d use it as a monocle.

But it is just a necklace charm, made from purposefully random acts of wrapping, knotting and tucking wires around each other. The real skill is dodging the extra length of unruly ends before they make contact with eyeball.

Safety goggles may have to go on my wish list for Santa this year…

not a monocle.