Tuesday 20 September 2011

Breakfast Club: Memory wire bracelet, pearly necklace, newts and stuff

It was Breakfast Club day today. The girls were here at 7.15am for a quick breakfast then it was time to play!
I taught Grace how to make a memory wire bracelet. It is a PERFECT project to do with young children! You can buy the memory wire in bulk....see below....my computer refused to upload the pictures in the correct order so scroll down for more info

I use large flat boxes lined with beading mat to keep everything coralled!

Meanwhile, Hope chose to make an elegant pearly necklace. I bought beading wire yesterday and the pearly heart. I'm slowly accumulating more and more to make jewellery. The girls LOVE it!
Even Claire designed and made a fabulous button necklace. I shall have to get it from her and take a picture to share.

Hope loved choosing matching pearly beads for her neclace......

Oh....this seems a bit random....my hallway with boxes of cards waiting for the rest of the designs to complete the orders before they can be sent out. I've been working on the ALL DAY! Some of the boxes have moved to a new 'complete' area to be sealed and sent off tomorrow.


Back to the Memory Wire Bracelet:
The coil of wire is the cheapest way to buy this product. It has 50 coils in it. Ideally, you need three coils to make a bracelet. Memory wire is available in ring size too, making it perfect for wine glass tags
You should use memory wire cutters are the wire is very hard and will blunt your cutters (I don't actually care as mine came from a cheap shop!!!! Ha Ha)

This would be a GREAT thing to do at a children's party. All you would have to do is prepare the loops in the ends of the wires first and then let the children have fun sliding lots of beads on!
  1. Use a pair of round nosed pliers to make a little loop in one end of the wire, making sure you turn the wire outwards, not inwards as it could scratch the wearer's arm if not. This is to hold all the beads on, as you work. You can buy endcaps if you prefer.
  2. Start threading the wire with little beads, flower beads, curved beads, made especially for bracelet making....anything you fancy.You could make your own Fimo beads or cut up old necklaces and jewellery from a junk shop
  3. When the coil of wire is filled with beads, make a loop in the end in the same way as the first end.
  4. Add a little bead that says 'hand made' to make it more special
We love to go to Wandlebury woods at this time of year although it is even better once the leaves are falling off the trees. We haven't been for a while so I was surprised to find they have added three huge blackboards to an area in the car park. There is no shortage of chalk....the ground is full of it!!

And finally.....I showed this big gold fish bowl a few months ago that was filled with tadpoles after Hope requested we have tadpoles on the kitchen windowsill. )(tony quickly moved it outside!!) Later I showed it again when we released froglets. Well, image my delight to find we have also bred baby newts too! Isn't she gorgeous? 

3 comments:

jacqueline said...

Dearest sweet moira, i am so in love with your memory wire bracelet and your breakfast club! Wish i stay close to join you. :) That pearly necklace looks really beautiful too! Loving the huge blackboards at the park. :) Have a lovely merry happy mid-week and love to you!

Jenny said...

I have to echo jacqueline's words and say how AMAZING your breakfast club is!..beads and breakfast...what a healthy start to the day :) I am also so enjoying seeing how your card business is blooming....I have my first trade fair in April next year..and am VERY nervous about it..but its inspirations like yourself that remind me I can do it!
How exciting to see all those boxes lined up and almost ready to go!Must feel soooo good!
Hugs to you x

Sandie said...

What lucky granddaughters you have Moira. The bracelets are a great idea, and I love the line up of boxes. Go Moira!! Hope everything is coming together, it's lovely to see your business developing.