Swarovski Crystal Lanyard

I just realized the other day that I have not had a jewelry craft post since I started my blog. That is changing today! I used to be real big on making jewelry but I have only made a few pieces for special occasions in the past few years. To me jewelry making is fairly easy and somewhat relaxing. There are frustrating patterns and pieces but for the basic stuff it is pretty simple.  With that said this will be my first jewelry tutorial post and hopefully not the last. J

Last night I decided to make a lanyard for my work badge. We are required to wear our badges at all times and it has to be visible from the waist up. The only problem with that is we have to use our badge all the time to get into different areas of the building so it is easier if it is on a lanyard or retractable clip. I decided to combine the two into something fashionable (well as much as a badge can be! J ). Here is my lanyard that was issued with the badge.

Not so pretty, right?

Supplies needed:

34-40 inches of bead stringing wire (I used Beadalon 7 strand that I had on hand)

2 crimp tubes or crimp beads (whichever you prefer)

2 jump rings

1 large split ring (key chain sized)

1 small split ring

1 retractable badge clip

Jewelry crimpers

Chain nose pliers

Lots of beads or crystals (I used all Swarovski clear crystals, 4- 12mm cosmic bead, 6- 16mm Cosmic bead, 21- 3mm Helix bead, 15- 10mm Helix bead, 18- 6mm Bicone bead, 12- 6mm Round bead, 7- 8mm Round bead, 16- 6mm Briolette bead, 4- 12mm Graphic bead and 12- 10mm Disco Ball bead). This part is completely up to you so be creative.

All of these items can be found at any craft store. The bead choices will vary by store and I buy my Swarovski crystals from Bluemud online because they have a huge selection and are reasonably priced.

Okay to begin you need to figure out how long you want your lanyard. I am tall and didn’t want the badge to be up too high so I measured out my wire to be 40 inches, plus you want to be able to take it on and off over your head. This gives me the length I want plus extra wire to play with when crimping and finishing off the end. My actual finished lanyard is 34 inches.

Slide your crimp tube/bead on the wire and hold it in place towards the end of your wire. Take the end of your wire and slide it back into the crimp tube to make a loop.

Make sure you have excess wire (1/2 inch) on the other side of the loop and crimp tube; this will be covered by the beads and gives extra support at the end. Now take your crimpers and crimp the bead and then round it.

*For novice jewelry makers look at your crimp tool and notice that it has 2 different shaped notches, the bottom is the crimper (elbow macaroni shaped) and the top is the rounder (circle shaped). You place the crimp tube/bead in the crimper part first and squeeze and then place it in the rounder and squeeze to make it pretty.

You should have a loop like this:

Now you can start stringing your beads. This is the easy part!! Make sure your first couple of beads cover up the 2 strands of wire that are at the end so that none of it is poking out.

I used a bunch of various shapes and sizes and I did not do a particular pattern when stringing my beads. You can do it like this or you can use a bead board and design a pattern to follow. I just used my bead board to separate my types of crystals.

As you are adding beads keep in mind the length you want it to be and work from there.

Once you have finished stringing the beads you can string your other crimp tube. You will want to do the same as you did in the beginning by stringing the wire back through the tube and making a small loop.

(I left a little bit of room for my beads to move around because I still have to add the retractable badge clip to the middle.)

Crimp and round the bead as before. You will now need to trim the excess wire or if it isn’t a lot then you can just string it through the beads to hide it.

Now take your 2 jump rings and open them up a little with your chain nose pliers. Slip the loops from your lanyard into the ring and then close it. Be sure it is fully closed so that it can’t slip out. Before you close the second jump ring attach the first closed ring to it so that you have a necklace that can slip on and off of your head.

Now you just have to add the retractable badge clip. Take your large split ring, the one that looks like a key chain ring, and hook the clip to it. Now slide your small split ring onto the large one.

Lay your lanyard on a flat surface and find the middle of the necklace. This is where you need to attach your small split ring that is attached to the badge clip. I just slide mine onto the wire like you do when you attach a key or a key chain to a split ring. You may need to use your chain nose pliers to create an opening if you aren’t a pro at taking keys off of key chain rings. (Be sure that your badge clip is facing the right way before you attach it).

Voila!!

Now you have a beautiful and fashionable lanyard for your work badge!

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Healthy Wrap for Lunch

I just wanted to make a quick blog post about these awesome wraps I recently discovered called Flat-outs. A friend of mine at work goes to Weight Watchers and she was told about these Flat-outs and all of the awesome things you can do with them, plus they are healthy. So of course I went out and got some! I bought the Light version in Original, only 90 calories for one wrap and they are good size. Here is a quick recipe that I made for lunch the other day, the best part is the turkey wrap I made was only 236 calories and very filling:

1 flat-out (Original Light)

1 wedge Weight Watchers Jalepeno spread cheese

3 thin slices Jennie-O Cracked Pepper Turkey Breast

a handful of baby spinach

3 slices of a Roma tomato

1 1/2 slices turkey bacon (cooked and refrigerated)

Spread cheese on entire flat-out, lay turkey breast on top of cheese. Spread spinach evenly on the turkey, then add the tomato slices. break the bacon up into pieces and lay on the top. Then roll the wrap up and wrap in saran wrap and pack in your lunch box/bag.

I brought some carrots with mine but you can bring anything with it. Delicious!!!

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops

Tonight for dinner I made crock pot ranch pork chops, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes and oven roasted green beans. Yummy and super easy! This one is a keeper.

I found the pork chop and mashed potatoes on Pinterest and changed the potato recipe a little, click here to see the original recipe from Chef in Training. The green beans are a go to recipe of mine that I love. I have shared all three here.

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops:

4-6 boneless pork chops (I used 4)

1 can Cream of Chicken soup (I used Campbell's Healthy Request version)

1 packet Ranch Dressing mix (I used Hidden Valley)

Place the pork chops in the crock pot and pour the soup over them. Add the ranch dressing mix and stir together. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes:

My recipe is quite different than the one I linked above because of how I like my potatoes. I used less milk and did not roast my garlic. I also do not use a mixer to make mashed potatoes. I don't think you need a mixer, use a little muscle and they are fine. :)

6 med-large red potatoes (about 2.5 lbs)

1/3 cup skim milk

5 Tbsp. of margarine

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Peel and cut up your potatoes, place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring potatoes to a boil and boil them until fork tender. Drain potatoes and put them back in the pot. Mash the potatoes with a masher, and then add the milk, cheese, garlic and margarine. Mash and stir all ingredients together.

Oven-roasted Green Beans:

1/2 lb fresh green beans with the ends snapped off

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1/2 tsp. of kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse green beans and snap or cut the ends off. Place them in a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to make sure they are all covered. Lay them out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, halfway through stir.

This is a great, quick and healthy meal. I hope you enjoy it.

Linking up to:

Tatertots & Jello

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Serendipity & Spice

Positively Splendid