'Tis the Season (almost) for Holiday Jewelry

This month, I've shared three different Advent calendars made with beads from the 'Tis The Season" beads from Prima Beads, and now I want to share some fun jewelry pieces I've made from them as well.  

Apparently I was in a bracelet-making mood when I sat down to make jewelry:

This bracelet is made from some fun beads that look like peppermint candies.  I used 14g copper wire to string the beads, and half-hard 12g wire to make the clasp.  I particularly like the swirl pattern in the beads, and I wanted to accentuate it in the clasp of the bracelet.  This swirly copper clasp is BIG - approximately 1.5" w x 1" high - and is meant to sit as the focal of the bracelet.  

To bring out the Christmas colors, I pulled out my lime green artistic wire and wrapped it around the candy beads, and added a bit of coiled lime green wire to the clasp.  

I liked how the bracelet turned out so much that I made a matching pair of earrings:

(Tip: Jewelry Making Daily shared a great article sharing how to photograph jewelry - including using fruit for earrings shots - here.)

The next bracelet I made is also in the traditional Christmas colors, but in a much more rustic design:

First I coiled lime green artistic wire onto 16g brass wire and strung the big-hole beads on top of the coil.  Then I did a "messy wrap" around the whole bracelet with bright red artistic wire, added a handmade clasp with a small coil of lime green wire to add color.

The next two bracelets I made combine the 'Tis the Season beads with some of the Trinkettes Collection beads I received in July from Prima Beads.  I wanted to make some jewelry that wasn't so overtly Christmas-y, so these are made to be worn together for a Christmas-y effect or separately:

These bracelets were strung on 12g half-hard copper wire, and have various pewter and silver-plated spacers and jump rings to coordinate with the silver metal on the beads.

The last pair of earrings I made is a festive pair of snowmen that I hung on ear wires from Prima's Silver Plate Collection:

I used beads from the 'Tis the Season line along with some of the findings from that same line, threaded them on silver-plated headpins from my personal stash and simply added them to the ear wires. Love these!

Now I want to share some jewelry that I made using some of Prima Bead's ready-made charms and components, making it easy to create gifts for the jewelry-wearers in your life:

The first is a simple bracelet made with the big-hole beads and charms that easily string on and off to change the look of the bracelet:

This one is made from beautiful wintery blues and silvers and is strung on the Trinkette Bracelet with a toggle clasp.  It would be so easy to swap out the beads for each season with other beads from the Trinkettes Collection.

The next bracelet is made from a pre-made silver-plated bracelet that I switched the clasp out on for a toggle clasp (both from Prima's Silver Plate Collection):

These sweet charms reminded me of the Nutcracker, and I think this bracelet would be a perfect gift for a little girl.

To make these earrings, I simply took the charms and hung them on more ear wires from Prima's Silver Plate Collection:

So simple, and SO cute!

The next pair of earrings are just as easy:

I hung some of the ready-made gold-toned charms on a pair of gold-plated ear wires from my stash - elegant and fast!

The final piece of jewelry I made is a necklace that I thought would be perfect for New Year's Eve:

All I did was to take some silver-plated chain from my personal stash, added a clasp and, from the middle of the necklace, hung another length of chain to use as the base for the charms.

Making sure I paid attention to spreading out the colors and sizes of the charms to keep the design aesthetically pleasing, I started hanging them on the length of chain, creating a lariat-feel to the long necklace.

Can you tell I've had fun playing with all my goodies from Prima?

** Necessary Legal Stuff: I am honestly reviewing the products above which I have received free of charge from Prima Beads, and I have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to them.