December 18, 2018

Dazzle them with doll jewelry gifts that are easy and fun to make, too!

All this week, we'll help you amaze and delight the doll lovers in your life with beautiful and unique last-minute gifts — made with Lee & Pearl™ patterns and tutorials, of course.

Today, we're thrilled to present a seasonal Tweak-the-Pattern addition to our Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls eBook projects — pretty, filagree Christmas tree earrings for dolls!

Aren't those lovely?

We got this idea from our local bead and jewelry-making store, The Artful Bead in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here's a tip — though you can find the supplies we used for this project from online retailers and even in big box craft stores, you might find it cheaper and easier to shop the neatly organized bins in a specialized bead store instead. Yes, you'll likely pay more for each tiny bead cap — but you'll also be able to test those caps together, and buy just the few you need and not whole packs of each size.

Plus you'll be supporting a local small business, which is a good thing.

Here are the supplies we used for a single Christmas tree earring drop. (Remember, this is for ONE earring, so you'll need to double these supplies for two.)

First, collect THREE FILAGREE BEAD CAPS in graduated sizes. Look for "cone" or "flower" shaped caps, and choose small to very-small sizes for doll earrings.

Our gold-tone caps are 8mm, 6mm and 4mm wide.

Next, select THREE OPAQUE 8/0 SEED BEADS for the Christmas tree trunk (ours are mossy green) and a SINGLE TRANSLUCENT 11/0 SEED BEAD for the ornament on top (ours is ruby red — and silver-lined for extra sparkle).

String all the beads and bead caps in the order shown on a metal wire HEAD PIN.

You will note that there's one additional 11/0 GOLD TONE SEED BEAD in between two of our bead caps in the picture above. We added that bead to better space the bead caps we chose. You may or may not need such a bead in your earring, depending on the size and shape of the bead caps you choose.

Finally, finish the pendant earring, following the easy, photo-illustrated technical directions in our Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls eBook.

CLICK HERE to see the Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls eBook in the Lee & Pearl Etsy store.

Follow the directions on page 15 to twist one end of the head pin into a pendant loop using a pair of ROUND NOSE PLIERS.

Then follow our directions to choose the proper FIGURE EIGHT LINKS (also called infinity links) to slip your pendant over your choice of STUD EARRING POSTS.

Finally, if your doll does not have pierced ears already, follow our detailed directions to carefully and safely pierce your doll's ears at home — using either a drill for American Girl® size posts, or a push-pin for ordinary human-size posts!

Our Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls eBook is truly a one-stop-shop for all your pretty, sparkly doll gift needs!

And here's another tip — each basic technique from our eBook can be used to make PEOPLE jewelry as well.

Once you realize how fun and easy it is to make your own earrings, pendants, bracelets, chokers and necklaces, you may never need to shop for gifts again!

CLICK HERE to see the Introduction to Jewelry Making for Vinyl Play Dolls eBook in the Lee & Pearl Etsy store.

Remember — you can JOIN US on January 1, 2019 as we welcome the 2019 American Girl® Girl of the Year™ Blaire Wilson™ in person.

Both "Lee" and "Pearl" will be at the American Girl store at the Dallas Galleria on January 1, 2019 — and we'd love to meet you!

We'll be on line outside the store from 9:15 AM CST. If you'd like to swing by and join us as we explore the new collection, click on "Contact Us" above and send us a message — or just look for us on line or in the store. The store opens at 10:00 AM and the Girl of the Year festivities last until 1 PM.

NOTE: The American Girl store is in the parking lot of the Dallas Galleria, at 13464 Dallas Pkwy.

See you next time!

— back to the Newsletter Archive —