M.A.C. Jewelry & The First Charm Bracelet

Some of the MAC jewelry I've collected

You love M.A.C. makeup and getting your face done, but have you ever noticed the jewelry the makeup artist wears? Besides the makeup and great training, when you're an artist (and put in good time) another great benefit is collecting jewelry anywhere from bracelets, necklaces and pins. These are not for sale and are only given to artists who have been certified, a new employee or passing the 1 year, 2 year, etc mark of your career. The colors always seem to stay more in the classic silver and black tones, but not limited. Over the years I've seen the jewelry become chunkier and more extravagant and the creative artists always find different ways of wearing them. Heavy chains, leather straps, charms and their official logo are almost a signature look. Even after retiring as a M.A.C. makeup artist, I don't think any of my co-workers or even myself would ever sell these priceless pieces of jewelry.

Here is a bracelet I made a couple of years ago inspired by M.A.C. when I was mainly a counter artist. (Now freelancer and loving it). Pictured with my everyday essentials of course!  Let's see, if you look closely you can see all sterling silver charms of a vanity, a heel, a makeup chair, the word MAC, a girl in a martini glass (in honor of Viva Glam Spokesperson Dita Von Teese) and a cute corset. I don't really remember how I came across the colors of red, black and white but I'm thinking I wanted a basic look with a little of color so it can easily be worn with anything.

Hello Kitty Necklace

Another great Christmas gift. This was for Linda and her sister liked my Alice in Wonderland 'Drink Me' necklace so I used a similar style. A combination of soft pink, white and black pearls brought together by a pink ribbon bow. I made the pendant myself enclosing it with resin. This one took awhile to make perfect, but in the end, Linda LOVED it.

First Charm Bracelet I Ever Made

So it's almost a little embarrassing for me to put this up, but here it goes. My very first hand made charm bracelet. Theme? none. Color ideas? none. This is pretty much my attempt of putting something together and hoping it turned out right. As unorganized as this looks, at the time I made it, it was the best piece of jewelry I ever made and wore it almost everyday for 2 weeks. I think I used some cheaper materials (notice the falling apart look), thinner jump rings and didn't have much idea of how to put it together. It's amazing to see how things have changed since. I would probably never wear or even try to save this bracelet but it was a nice feeling when my 6-year old niece turns and says to me, "I looovveee it. Can I have it?" Sold!

Gold and Silver Enthusiast

Gold Sweets Remix

Remix (v) to mix again or repeatedly. An alternative version made from an original version. To mix elements in a different way. Either way you put it, you get the idea! My Gold Sweets original bracelet was such a hit, I decided to make another one. Of course you know I never make the EXACT same bracelet twice, so I used some of the same tasty charms and changed it up. As you can see this is called the Gold Sweet Remix. There's just something about that gold and black contrast that I love. Along with the sweet charms of ice creams and treats! I almost kept this one for myself. Available for sale on my Etsy.

Keys to my Heart

Keys and Lockets are meaningful symbols of magical and mystical feeling. They say the lock which can only be opened by one special key has been a symbol of marital fidelity. I've collected quite an assortment of keys, locket and heart charms and decided to make a themed bracelet out of it.

Even though I've included many keys and lockets in my charm bracelets, I've never really taken the time to find the meaning of these tokens until now. A key can represent the beginning of almost any occasion such as your first new home, new car or even holding the key to a chest or safe of your most valuable possessions! I thought this would be a great look and idea for a charm bracelet. It'll hold a great message for the owner of this bracelet. Keys to My Heart

Etsy Treasury Fans

I'd like to thank Sibel Designs and Weirdplush on featuring pieces of my jewelry on their Etsy Treasury Sites. It's great to see other buyers and sellers interested in my designs and becoming fans! They've included my Pink & Blue Skully Earrings and my Love Me necklace set. You can visit their treasury on the links below. Thank you again!!

Sibel Designs Pink and Blue

Weirdplush My Bloody Valentine

Give it up for CoCo

If you didn't know, charm bracelets and their jingle jang styles and peculiar and cute charms have been around for years. They've had their hot moments and cold moments. I can honestly say as of today, they are definitely HOT. She may not have invented the charm bracelet, but icon CoCo Chanel has her signature looks of hanging her jewelry with clinking coins and piling jewelry on with great abundance. This even goes back to 1944 on a photo shoot with Harper's Bazaar Magazine that featured the classic Chanel coin bracelet. I admire her spunk and ambition. An entrepreneur despite her lack of experience and gaining her way to be a part of society without even knowing it, she was unstoppable. 

The work behind my Resin Photo Charms

You've seen throughout my work since the beginning, the use of photo charms in my bracelets. I started off using bubble caps but soon decided the quality and the look wasn't so great and decided to put the extra effort and time into resin. Oh the difference! There is so much time and patience needed to do even the tiniest charm that I decided to give you an "idea" of what goes on during this process. This is not meant to be a step-to-step tutorial, but instead just to let you know about my process of using resin.

So above is just a sheet of photo paper. I usually wait and get a couple of orders in and try and do as many photos as I can at once. I print out the sheet and let it dry overnight. Then I put about 2-3 coats of glue on the top and bottom and wait at least 24 hours for it to dry.

Skipping some steps, I cut out the shapes to the desired fit, (add another layer of glue) and after the photo is in, I add even more glue to the outside edges of the photos. As you can see, there's build up all around and it may make your photo look distorted, but trust me it's not. This will keep the resin from seeping in and this is a step that you cannot rush! I do this about 2-3 times. I'd rather be safe than sorry so I don't mind waiting the extra day to add more. Takes up about 2 days of building the glue and letting it dry. So far we're about 4 days into this process.

Now here comes the resin. As you can see, I have my 2 photo charms ready and dry. Resin consists of 2 different mixtures. You MUST pour equal amounts of each component because if you don't, your final product will be sticky and will never dry. After measuring each of them you pour both into the same container and mix very slowly until the resin becomes clear. This can take at least 15 minutes. Yes, even for this small amount. Mixing resin slowly is important because if you mix it too fast you can cause bubbles and you don't want that in your photos. I like to mix my resin anywhere from 15-20 minutes and making sure the resin is clearly mixed well together. After that, you still have to re-pour it into another container and mix AGAIN for another minute or so before you use it. It's very time consuming but it's all worth it in the end especially if done right!

Sorry for the blurriness of the photos. The finishing product is a great dome shaped, clear coat on your photos. It's the best quality and it will never break off or become unattached. After you pour it on the photos, I wait for 3 full days to make sure the resin is fully dry. Making resin photo charms can take up to almost a week from start to end, but I believe in the quality of my work and all of my customers prefer this over any other ideas. It's a lot of work and believe me, many trial and errors!! I'm finally comfortable with resin and you've also seen resin rings I've made and will be making more of! Bracelets, necklaces and more! These photo charms are also a big fan from my customers. Many of the charm bracelet request I'm currently working on now will have a photo charm. Here are 2 finished necklaces I've made. Remi and Jayden. These were made for 2 of my customers who have also previously have a custom charm bracelet made from me. These were Christmas gifts to match their bracelets. What a great idea!

Hello Kitty Christmas gift

This is one Christmas gift for a Hello Kitty themed bracelet. It's fun and colorful and actually not the only Hello Kitty jewelry I was asked to make. Anything HK is always fun to make because there are so many styles to go with this popular icon. Colorful candy colors, black and white or hot pink. This bracelet made its way to Angelica, all the way to Seattle. To see more details, visit my Custom Charm Bracelets

JenLove♥ 2011

Happy New Years Everyone! I'm so excited for the new look of my site and I still have some slight changes to do, but overall I love it! Welcome back and I hope everyone had a great Holiday. There are so many new things to share in the next month I can hardly contain myself. =P

Flirty & Coquettery

Above is my Flirty & Coquettery bracelet. It's not a new one, but actually one of the first bracelets I made back in April. I've changed the photo charm to resin so it will last longer and is a better quality. I previously had a bubble cap on it so now it's ready for sale! This is one of my popular ones and many of my charm bracelet requests have been based on this style. You can also see a full description on my Charm Bracelets section. You can purchase this bracelet through my Etsy listing. Flirty & Coquettery

One of many Christmas requests I still have yet to post. This was Eileen's request for a gift for Alison's birthday. She wanted her bracelet to have classic black, silver and white colors and an RN them to it. I think this is my 2nd nurse themed bracelet I've made and I know that there are a lot of nurses in this area (including me!) so I can see more of this style in the future.

Gift Certificates Available Soon!!

Right around the end of the month in December I had 2 customers Jasmin and Marissa ask me about gift certificates. For some reason, the thought never crossed my mind. It's the perfect idea and I knew I had to jump on it! It makes sense because sometimes a customer wants to get a charm bracelet for a friend but not sure of ideas or style their friend may want. So now here is the perfect solution. Of course, the first person I thought of about putting this together was Jerrhelyn who is the designer of Love Inspired. She recently made me gift cards and again, I just gave her some basic things I wanted and she came up with the rest! 

I LOVE the design she came up with as a gift card holder. I was not expecting it at all. She embossed the front of it and I think the design goes perfect with the colors. 

When you open it up, it contains the actual certificate and on the bottom flap is a space for a message and my website. I'm so excited about these I already have 2 reserved for this month! 

Love Inspired on Etsy

So new requests and Gift Certificates are just some new things to share, but I have more to come! Yes, more Christmas requests to post and ideas to share. And don't forget I still have some exciting news that I may or may  not post this week!? We'll see!!