The Macs » Blog

the weekend {getting my craft on}

Hope you all had a good weekend. It was beautiful here on Saturday. I love being outside again…and Levi loves it too. Yesterday was rainy and dreary. No playing outside, but it was the perfect weather for a little resting. There were much needed naps for everyone here at the Macs. So nice after an emotionally draining week. Thank you for your many sweet comments and prayers. I can’t tell you how incredible it is to know that so many love us and are lifting us up in prayer. Thank you!
This weekend I also got to spend time with some girl friends. One of my dearest friends turned thirty this week and her hubby planned a little girl’s night for her and her friends. He asked me to lead a crafting time. Isn’t that fun? It has been awhile since I have done any crafting, so I loved planning a craft for us all to do.
I have been a little low on brain bower lately because of the lack of sleep, so I emailed my craftiest friends to get some ideas…to save on brain power, you know. I wish I could have planned an entire craft day because they had so many great ideas. We ended up picking these bird nest necklaces by Sara Ortega. (Thanks for the idea, Julie!) These are the two necklaces I made as examples. I decided I’d better make sure that I could actually make them before I tried telling everyone else how to make them. 🙂
Want to make your own? Here are the supplies you need. I got everything from Michaels. I used 24 gauge wire and was able to cut it with regular scissors. I really could have done the whole project without the pliers, but some people liked using them to tuck in the ends and make the loop for the necklace chain.
I divided the jewelry wire into four yard sections. Everyone had plenty of wire. I would guess most people used two to three yards for the bird nest, but I wanted to make sure that nobody ran out.
For the eggs I had a jar of pearls and a jar of glass beads for everyone to choose from.
I took these pictures outside while Levi was playing and all of a sudden I looked down to find he had added some treasures to my bead jars. I guess he had his own idea of what a bird nest should look like…and he told me he really needed my cup for his rocks. 🙂
I put all the supplies in bags so that everything was divided up already. Each bag had a necklace chain and jewelry wire. I almost went ahead and added a few beads to each bag…because it would have looked pretty, but I left them out so that everyone could pick their own.
I had to add some “thirty” tags too…because thirty is a big deal!!
Here are most of the necklaces that we made that night. They all turned out so great and everyone could make them…even the girls who claim they are “non-crafters”. We probably spent an hour on them at the most and it was easy to wrap the wire and talk at the same time. The perfect “craft night” craft.
Okay, gather some friends and go plan your own craft night. You will be so glad you did. You can find the full tutorial for the bird nest necklace here.
What crafty projects have you been making lately? Please share!
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  • My name is Amee - I LOVE these little birds nest necklaces! I’m going to pin this to my projects to make!!
    Thank you for the tutorial. 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Creole Wisdom - Jess, these are so pretty. I especially love the pearl one. I’ve never done any jewelry making, I feel like I have enough hobbies in my life 🙂

    Recently I filled an old letter press frame with what seems like a hundred photos, I just posted it on my blog here:http://www.creolewisdom.com/my_weblog/2012/03/frame-take-2.html

    🙂ReplyCancel

  • flower power momma - This is a sweet idea. I do love Levi’s ‘hand’ pic though. And that one rock seems to have gotten life..with a face and funny leg.
    I know..I see things differently.
    May this week bring you abundant joy.ReplyCancel

  • Amber - Those are precious, perfect for spring!

    I posted a couple weeks ago about my daughter (about the same age as G) not sleeping and I wanted to come back and post an update.

    I finally found something that worked – and I blogged about it here
    http://lovinglillian.blogspot.com/2012/03/scarlett-sleeps.html

    I know that seems like a shameless plug for my blog but I promise it isn’t! I just wanted to share the info in case it helps you or someone else desperate for some new ideas!ReplyCancel

  • meg duerksen - LOVE THIS!!!!ReplyCancel

  • Lori - Love this. These have been on my to do list for quite a while! Can’t wait to make one of my own!ReplyCancel

  • meg - I love those necklaces!! Thanks!ReplyCancel

  • Beth Ann - I ordered one of these necklaces from Etsy after we experienced a miscarriage in memory of our baby. It brought me so much comfort to wear it and have a little piece of him/her, in a way, with me at all times. It was one of the few tangible things I had to keep that baby’s memory alive. I would love to try to make one…I think they make wonderful gifts.ReplyCancel

  • Mum2twopreciousgifts - Hi Jess. I’ve been thinking of you. Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

    Michelle xxxxReplyCancel

  • Alyssa Hollis - these are awesome! My mom has been making these a while now. I have two that have Mine, My husbands and my sonds birthstone colors in it! everytime I wear it i get an abundance of compliments. 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Mum2twopreciousgifts - p.s. In my thinking of you post above, I forgot to mention my ONE and only ever craft project.

    A pic of it is my profile picture. It is a Christmas bauble wreath that I made following Meg Duerksen’s instructions that she posted on her blog pre-Christmas 2010.

    I’m an Accountant, craft is not my thing. BUT, I love the wreath so much I HAD to make it. AND I did 🙂 Just before Christmas 2011. I was so excited with how it turned out that you would think I hand stitched the Bayeux Tapestry the way I carried on!!

    And then I dropped with shock as family and friends asked me to make bauble wreaths for them. So I now have orders to deal with 🙂

    Who would have thought I’d be crafting? You Kansas Mammas can certainly bring out the strangest things in this Aussie girl 🙂

    Michelle xxxxReplyCancel

  • Erin and Ryan - These are adorable!ReplyCancel

  • Kate @ Songs Kate Sang - Ok. Seriously?! Jess, this is great! I love this idea 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Anonymous - What a lovelly way to spend a night with friends. They are something special that everytime you wear them you will remember time spent with friends.ReplyCancel

  • Amber - Did you see the tree of life pendants? I saw the birds nest and wanted to try that next. I will email you a picture of the tree one I made!ReplyCancel

  • Tara Long - Those are so pretty!! I’ve been trying to come up with a gift for a friend and I think this will be perfect!! Thank you!ReplyCancel

  • sarah - All the necklaces came out so lovely! What a great idea to divide the supplies into pretty bags for a craft night. I’m so happy that you enjoyed the tutorial 🙂
    Cheers,
    SarahReplyCancel

  • UnruhFarms - I love reading your blog! and I love this craft. Great idea! – PaulaReplyCancel