Necklace Display Templates in PDF

So here they are, the templates for the necklace displays that I posted a couple of posts ago. See the previous blog post to see how they are put together. You can attach them with velcro tape or double-sided tape. I hope these templates will give you a lovely yet functional display.

Here's the Low Profile Template

Here's the High Profile Template


Um, I guess that's it. I feel like there should be a picture here or something...

Oh, I know, here's an instagram pic of a teabag tag I had once:

I liked it because it mentioned beads :-D

Glendale and Bust

So Sunday’s swap meet at Glendale College was a bust and I wish I hadn’t stressed out so much about it the night before.  I should’ve taken it as an omen when after I finished setting up, I began to feel so sick and dizzy that I almost passed out. It was quite scary, but after laying back in the van for a while, I felt much better.

There were good points to the swap meet though:  My mom got to visit me which is always fun. I also got a visit from a friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time. She was the one person who bought something. She didn’t have to but I’m glad that she really liked what she bought. Another good thing that happened was that I got to see my new display and booth set up in action. I really liked the way it turned out, despite the fact that I’ve forgotten the connectors for the grate cubes that I was going to set up. It still looked nice though. Unfortunately, I only got the one picture because I wasn’t feeling so hot. Lastly, today's set up taught me what I need to fix or ad to the booth to make it work right. For one, I need lots of little weights to keep things from blowing over. I also learned that if you see someone coming towards you wearing sheer tights for pants (hint, just because they're black does not mean they are not see-through), avert your eyes before you see something you don't want or need to see. 

The swap meet seemed more like individual yard sales all in one lot, a bunch of people getting rid of things they didn’t want. I thought it was going to be more “retail”. You know what I mean?  I spoke to this one vendor who had been going there for several months says that it’s always low sales for her and she regrets prepaying for the next 4 months. But I learned that at the end of the day. It was good though to talk to someone who has been there often enough as opposed to setting my opinion of the site just on my personal observations. I also overheard one lady say that she usually packs up and leaves by 11. The swap meet opens at 8 and closes at 3. If the crowd thins enough to want to leave by 11, then I should be finding a better use for my time.

There’s a few other markets that I want to check out, granted that I have the funds to get a booth at them.  Hopefully I’ll find one that I can attend regularly with beneficial results.

The Long Awaited Necklace Display Entry

Between helping my mom with schoolwork and prepping for the Glendale Swap Meet next weekend, I haven’t had the chance to post this blog yet, but here it is.

So one day, I was looking through Google Images for something, and I came across a picture of a necklace display that I thought was rather interesting. That got me to searching for more necklace displays that I can make myself.  The displays I wound up making were a sort of amalgam of a few I saw plus a few ideas of my own. I fixed some things that I thought could have been designed better or made more practical.

First it started off with sketches of what I wanted to make.

Then, I used Word and the Insert Shape function to modify into the forms that my displays wound up taking.





I printed them out on cardstock and taped the templates together.

I found this poster board and foam board at the dollar tree.

I then traced the templates onto the poster board so I could cut them out and have templates that are one piece, and without tape.

This ankle weight made it easy to hold down the pattern for tracing onto the poster board. I used it for tracing the pattern onto the foam board as well.









After the pattern is traced onto the foam board, use an Exact-o or craft knife to cut it out. Don't use scissors. It will weaken the edges of your display form from all of the squeezing. Also, do it as neatly as possible but do not fret if it doesn't look perfect. When you cover it with shelf liner or whatever you will cover yours in, it will smooth it out enough to not be noticeable.







One tweak in design that I am especially proud of was my decision to use sticky Velcro tape to join the displays so that I can dismantle them to lie flat for transport. The instructions that I have come across used double-sided tape, but that meant that it would stay in it's standing position and be cumbersome to store and transport. This Velcro tape is VERY strong and I don't regret using it one bit!

Use a sharp edged ruler to help fold your display where needed

At Marshall's, I found this awesome shelf liner to cover my necklace displays. I'm planning on using it to cover several other things for my booth, including the earring displays I will be making this week. Included in this picture are some inexpensive cardstock pads I also found at Marshall's for a great price!

(I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of covering the displays in the shelf liner. I might do that in a part 2 if I get the chance to do that soon. I must say though that this shelf liner was VERY easy to work with and ease around corners and such.)

 And here's the finished products. It's hard to tell from this picture but the slope of the taller one is quite steeper than that of the smaller one. I feel the different heights will give my booth a lot of visual interest.

 Another thing I would show in a second entry is how the back of the display looks and how the part that props it up is attached to the back. Hopefully, I'll get to that second post this week but I wouldn't quite count on it because this week will be SUPER busy as I prepare for the swap meet. I also plan to make PDF documents of the templates so that others can use it, that is, if they don't feel like designing their own.

Blog quickie: April’s Homemade bead spinner

This is what the most common spinners look like

When I first heard about bead spinners, a contraption that helps you speedily string up long strands of seed beads, my first response was, “Wow, what an awesome idea!

When I looked them up, my second response was, “They cost HOW much?!?!” Yeah, I wasn’t having that...

Then one day I was stringing up a bunch of seed beads for a project, probably one of my beaded flowers, and the bead spinner popped into my mind. I had already gotten tons of Pringles caps from people because I asked for them to use as trays for beads that I was working with stuck something through the middle of it to use as a spinner handle.

Hey, it works for me! :-D

I’ve used many things as the handle but I have settled on using a large nail.  The cool thing about the nail is that not only is it removable, like most things I've used, but you can heat the tip of the nail to make it go through the plastic cap easier. 

Speaking of heat, if the hole in the cap gets too big or doesn't fit around the nail snugly, I just take the nail out, and pass the hole in the cap over a lighter flame. That warms the plastic enough to be more malleable so you can push the plastic down to make the hole smaller. Much of the time, just holding it over the flame is enough to make the plastic snug up the hole on it’s own.

The Pringles caps work for me now but if I ever need to do much more beads than I normally use, I’ll probably find a new container.  Maybe a yogurt cup, not the Yoplait type but the short wide Chobani type. One day, I’ll probably even try getting the long curved needle to see if that makes it work even easier.

Lastly, here’s a hilarious video of someone trying to use one of the pricier, electronic bead spinners:

Bead Spinner Fail

I'm glad I didn't shell out the money for THAT gem lol