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Contest

Weave Got Maille Rings & Things Postcard Contest

May 12, 2014

Just send a postcard to

Attn: Nate

Rings & Things

304 E 2nd Ave

Spokane, WA 99202-1402

and you will be entered to win one of two prize packs which includes a Weave Got Maille bracelet making kit and two pairs of EURO TOOL pliers. Two random cards will be drawn. Make sure that your return address is the one you want your prize shipped to. Postcards must be postmarked by June 16th, 2014 to win. I will be posting some of the postcards I receive on our Facebook Page. ~Nate

Click Image to Enlarge

Weave Got Maille Postcard Contest

Weave Got Maille Postcard Contest

This is one of the bracelet design kits you could win by Weave Got Maille.

frolic

Frolic Bracelet by Weave Got Maille.

 

 

 

 

Scavenger Hunt Contest

September 6, 2013

*Winners at the Bottom*

A Big thank you to all who entered.

Enter for your chance to win a $100 dollar or $50 dollar gift certificate. Contest runs from today through Monday 9/16/2013 @ 3:00pm PST.  To enter, all you have to do is answer 5 questions that relate to specific portions of our website. When you have the answers, you just write them as a comment at the end of this blog in the “Leave a reply” section and please include your contact email address (only used if you win). Don’t worry if you don’t see your entry at the end of the blog; we are keeping those hidden until the contest ends, so the answers are not given away. Easy enough, right? Here are your questions:

1. When do we have our Las Vegas Bead Show this year?

Answer: 11/04

2. In the Education Station section of our website, what tools do we list for using with compression rivets?

Answer: Metal Block, Leather Hole Punch, Rivet Setter, Brass Hammer

3. What size loop does the 1-Step Looper make?

Answer: 2mm loop

4. In our Design Gallery who created the “Belle Starr Leather and Turquoise Bracelet?”

Answer: Mollie Valente

5. What color/texture of the new TierraCast leather strips do you most enjoy?

Could of been any answer from this category.

https://shop.rings-things.com/cart/pc/TierraCast-Leather-Strips-c6253.htm

 ~ and now just for fun ~

6. What is your favorite Halloween themed item that we carry?

Find all your answers on our site here:

WWW.RINGS-THINGS.COM

  Good luck!!

Contest Results

First Place Prize – $100 Dollar Gift Certificate – given to the first person who answers all 5 questions correctly.

  • First place winner was Lisa (last name not given). She was the very first person to answer everything correctly.

Second Place Prize – $50 Dollar Gift Certificate – given to a random person who answers all 5 questions correctly.

  • Second place winner was Lucia King. She was randomly chosen out of all the other correct answers.

See respondents’ comments and favorite items!

Spring 2013 Pantone Color Trends Giveaway

April 29, 2013

Pantone Spring 2013 Giveaway

Enter to win our Resin Flower Gluing Kit. Just comment at the end of this post  — by May 6, 2013 — with your favorite Pantone Spring 2013 Color Trend to be entered into our drawing.

win a resin flower gluing kit

In celebration of Spring, here are the Spring 2013 Pantone Color Trends. Just click on any of the color swatches below and find the treasures available in our online store. Also visit our Design Gallery  for all the designs you see here and many more. All designs are FREE – no login required!

banner-spring13_emerald banner-spring13_grayedjade

banner-spring13_tendershoots  banner-spring13_lemonzest

banner-spring13_nectarine banner-spring13_poppyred

banner-spring13_linen banner-spring13_africanviolet

banner-spring13_duskblue banner-spring13_monacoblue

Comment now with your favorite Pantone Spring 2013 Color Trend to win. Contest ends May 6, 2013.

~Jan

Pretty in Pearls on Pinterest!

July 10, 2012

Hi bloglandia! It seems every new breakthrough in technology divides people into 2 groups – those in the know and those who aren’t! The most influential new site is Pinterest.

floral-toggle-clasp-sterling-silver

Once you start pinning…either you’ll be really inspired – or completely glued to your computer!

Either you are busy pinning your favorite jewelry designs, wedding cake toppers, nail polish colors and mason jar DIY crafts – or you have no clue what all the fuss is about!

I think Pinterest is tons of fun for those of us who like pretty things (hi there, jewelry designers!!). Rings & Things has added new design boards for each of our Crystal Jams SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS bicone crystal bead assortments, and I must say, once you spend a bit of time searching for color-coordinated items, you start seeing the world in a whole new way!

peach-gray-pearls

I braided four strands (4mm pink coral, 3mm light grey, 5-8mm rice pearls and 4mm bicones, with a few sterling silver rounds here and there) to make this statement necklace.

For example, I started pinning to our Kiss From A Rose board, and suddenly the world just looked peachier! The more I looked, the more I found (and loved) examples of peach with gray.

It led me to create this “Peachy Keen” necklace with pink coral and grey crystal pearls, freshwater pearls, and the Kiss From A Rose Crystal Jam. I finished it with a sterling silver floral toggle clasp and
Santa Me´ cone ends.

cone-end-sterling-silver

The gorgeous cone ends hide the messy cluster of cord ends and wire.

Follow Rings & Things Design Team on Pinterest to see all our color inspirations, plus boards devoted to new tools and techniques.

kiss-from-a-roseThen, Pick Your Palette and enter our design contest! The winners receive Rings & Things’ gift certificates and could be featured in our future catalogs! Happy pinning! ~ Cindy

Summer Road Trip part 3

June 29, 2012

Hi bloglandia! Today is the deadline for entering the Vintaj Summer Road Trip design challenge. Mollie was a little late in getting her inspiration piece completed…seems her idea of a summer road trip is wandering in the woods. There are no clocks or calendars in the wilderness! Her “Day in the Woods” necklace is well worth waiting for, however. She combined a number of sweet little elements together to make this piece. We’ll have to look closely to see them all, as the sunlight can be a bit distracting!

blends-with-nature

The vial hangs with a cluster of wire-wrapped bicones in shades of smoky blue and gray from olive green velvet ribbon.

n-is-north-mollie

Mollie painted a wee brass feather charm with Vintaj Patina in a muted blue-green color before hanging it inside a glass vial. The vial top is adorned with a Vintaj bead cap, Swarovski rhinestone wheel and a crystal bicone from our new Idewild Blue Crystal Jam mix.

decoemboss-leaf

A DecoEmbossed Vintaj leaf and a metal stamped and dapped round Vintaj charm complete the grouping.

ribbon-ends-vintaj

And here is a view of how Mollie finished the ends – ribbon clamps (simply flatten with pliers -the teeth inside grip the ribbon securely) and a Vintaj clasp.

With jewelry this pretty, who wouldn’t want to wander in the woods? Hope you all have a lovely weekend! ~ Cindy

Vintaj Summer Road Trip Jewelry Inspirations part 2

June 26, 2012

Hi bloglandia! For me, a summer road trip means just one thing: camping. I’ve never met a national park I didn’t like, but I especially love Yellowstone. However, I never saw a bear the whole time I was there. Fortunately, the National Park Service has an amazing online archive of public domain images which includes vintage photos of bears in Yellowstone! I put the image in a bezel, covered it in resin and layered it over a stamped Vintaj natural brass disk to create my centerpiece.

Cindy's Bears bezel necklaceFor the tassel, I hung clusters and clusters of wire-wrapped crystals from our new Wild Flower Crystal Jam with a few imperial jasper rondelles. The way the dusky rose, green, tan and slate hues of this particular jasper coordinates with the crystal mix was what inspired this whole design! The cover for this craziness is a Vintaj bead cap.  I really like our drawn cable chain because the links open and close like jump rings – so the whole thing is connected by chain links!

tassel-closeupMulti-strand designs can become kind of high maintenance, so I like to layer coordinating pieces together instead. And since knotting is a jewelry technique that is super easy to do on a road trip (so long as you’re not the driver!) I made a long strand of jasper on 0.5mm natural hemp.

hempknottedjasperThere a few 6mm crystal metallic light gold rondelles randomly interspersed on the strand to add a bit of bling.

 You know what I am really terrible at?  Taking photos of myself. Hence the blurry headless photo above. But I wanted to show how the two pieces look together, and laying them on a table just wasn’t working. This probably isn’t much better, but I hope you get the idea…and that you are busy making your own Summer Road Trip jewelry ideas into reality! Only a few days left to enter… ~ Cindy

Vintaj Road Trip Design Challenge!

June 20, 2012

vintaj rings & things road trip design challengeHi bloglandia! We are really excited to be partnering with Vintaj for their Summer Road Trip design challenge this month. Visit their blog to see the great jewelry their designers created by pairing beads & components from Rings & Things with Vintaj products. The Vintaj blog also has all the details about how to enter the contest! Submissions are due by NOON (CST) Friday, June 29. But wait – don’t go yet!

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll share some of our own Summer Road Trip jewelry pieces, starting with Sondra’s “The Trail Less Traveled” bracelet:

trail-less-traveled-bracelet

This mixed metal bracelet contains all kinds of mementos!

She used so many fun techniques that I’m sure I’ll miss a few, but here are the highlights:

sondra barrington vintaj swarovski pressed penny

The Vintaj luggage tags were DecoEmbossed with the Sizzix BigKICK. Sondra punched holes to in the tags to link them with textured locking jump rings.

postcard-bracelet sondra barrington vintaj swarovski pressed penny

She curved the postcard charm and souvenir penny using bracelet bending pliers.

vintaj-bee-soldered-crystal sondra barrington vintaj swarovski pressed penny

The Vintaj bee and several other charms have the tips of rhinestone crystal head pins soldered onto them for extra bling.

vintaj-turtle-charm sondra barrington vintaj swarovski pressed penny

The memoir stamp bezel from Vintaj is filled with a scrap of map coated with SuperClear resin.

vintaj-leaf-crystal-clasp sondra barrington vintaj swarovski pressed penny

The rest of the sparklies are from our Karma Chameleon Crystal Jam. Check out our Crystal Jam color themed design boards on Pinterest!

Ok. Now you can go get started on your own Summer Road Trip design challenge piece! We can’t wait to see what you create! ~ Cindy

Floral meadows filled with handmade jewelry!

May 22, 2012

vintage june 2012 challengeHi bloglandia! Our friends at Vintaj have a blog challenge every month. This month the theme is “Vintage Meadows.” We created a special category in our shop to make it easier to find vintage-y meadow-y components to create with, but it is really just a small sampling of what we have. I also thought it would be fun to show you a few of the jewelry designs we’ve made here at Rings & Things. Hopefully their vintage-y meadow-y feel will help get you inspired!

busy-bees-bracelet-rt

Vintaj hammered rings, bead caps & bee charms, linked with sturdy 10mm jump rings, make up the Busy Bees & Blueberries Bracelet. Use a quality hole punch to make the second hole in each hammered ring.

galileo-figaro-earrings

Vintaj game piece bezels with bone flower buttons. The sparklies are 4mm bicones from our Bohemian Rhapsody Crystal Jams mix. Understandably, they are named Galileo Figaro Earrings – but if you go!oh!oh!oh!

bell-flowers-bracelet-rt

Czech glass flower bead caps, antiqued brass head pins and antiqued brass leaf chain compose this sweet Bell Flowers Bracelet.

tequila-sunrise-earrings-rt

And finally, my favorite: Tequila Sunrise Earrings. These also use the hammered brass rings from Vintaj, plus their small bird charms. I love the gemstone colors (rainbow new jade and olive jade) layered with the brass.

The deadline is fast approaching for the Vintaj Vintage Meadows challenge, so get busy! AND – do you follow Rings & Things on Facebook? You should! Right now we are having a May Flowers design challenge. Simply post a floral jewelry piece that you’ve created on our wall by 5/31 for a chance to win great prizes!

Five designers: Five very different gemstone and chain jewelry pieces!

November 9, 2011

We’ve recently changed our jewelry design contest at Rings & Things. Instead of just one big contest, we’re now going to have a series of jewelry design challenges peppered throughout the year. The first of these is our Rock n’ Rollo Design Challenge. The rules are simple: just use any style of our rollo chain and either rainbow amazonite or larvikite gemstone beads in your design! And also – the design doesn’t even have to be jewelry! Any type of art or craft is eligible, so long as it incorporates the challenge supplies.

Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying “A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.” Design challenges like this one really highlight this truth. Given the same basic building blocks, it might seem like you’d end up with the same basic designs. Not true! Five of our designers created inspiration pieces that meet the contest guidelines, and all five use chain and gemstone in completely different ways:

etched-copper-bird-necklace“Wee Bird” riveted metals and rainbow amazonite necklace by Mollie Valente

A sweet etched copper bird pendant, riveted to brass. Mollie used a mesh choker for the back of the piece. Rollo chain is used as a stylish alternative to jump rings to link the gemstone connectors.

copper-clay-gemstone-necklace“Unfurled” copper and rainbow amazonite necklace by Cindy Morris

I created the leafy bead cap with copper clay and strung a river of copper and swirly gemstone oval beads flowing from it. I used chain in the back to keep the necklace from feeling and looking too heavy.

black-labradorite-ribbon-necklace“Reverse Stack Effect” larvikite necklace by Amy Mickelson

Amy combines a lavish and unexpected mix of materials (larvikite, dotted lampwork glass squares, wavy silver-plated disks, chunky rollo chain, hand-dyed silk ribbon) into a colorful statement piece. The full parts list is available in our newly reformatted design gallery. The gallery is now integrated with our online store, so it is much, much easier to find and buy the supplies that catch your eye!

larvikite-chain-bracelet“Slated for Chain” larvikite and silver-plated chain bracelet by Val Nygaard-Pouzar

Clean and classic: the shimmery larvikite (or black labradorite, as it is commonly known) gemstone bead anchors this symmetrical design.

ceramic-enamel-eye-necklace“Eyeball in My Martini” necklace by Polly Nobbs-LaRue

With a “raku” ceramic flying eyeball, C-Koop enameled gear and swirly TierraCast copper links, you might not even notice the rollo chain and single rainbow amazonite bead on this necklace!

No matter what type of jewelry you design, I hope you will stretch your imagination and enter the 2011 Rock n’ Rollo jewelry design contest! With hundreds of dollars in gift certificates (and the possibility of free advertising for your work!) as prizes, and nothing but a emailed photo required to enter, why wouldn’t you rock out a stunning rollo chain design? Be sure to check out the contest page for all the details! ~ Cindy

Copper and brass bracelet design challenge results

August 8, 2011

So simple, yet so fun! 6″ long, 1/4 and 1/2″ wide strips to make all kinds of jewelry with.

In July, we sent ten of our blog partners sample packs of our new 24-gauge metal bracelet strips. With summer in full swing, it isn’t surprising that not everyone completed projects (at least not yet) … but the WOW, those who did really brought their A-game!

Textured, layered and beaded cuff bracelets by Helena.

Helena Fritz hammered, riveted and even bead-weaved her way to an armful of gorgeous bangle bracelets – her lovely blog has more photos. Helena specializes in beadwork, which makes her first attempt at metalwork even more impressive.

Carole shows her polymer prowess.

Carole Carlson stepped out of her comfort zone and into the world of polymer clay with these fun bracelets. She found that the copper was easier to work with than the brass, which makes sense since it is a softer metal. Check out her blog for more info.

Just one of the bright and bold bracelets Carolyn created.

Carolyn Fiene also used polymer clay, but she preferred the brass as a base. Even though it is harder to form, she felt is held its shape better. Link to her blog showing other designs that combine chain and bezel cups with polymer coming soon.

Layers of “ruffled” metal dress up Jan’s brass cuff.

Jan O’Banion made several great designs by layering different elements onto the bracelets. She used recycled tins to make flowers on the “Trashy Tinsel” bracelet above. Visit her blog to get a peek inside her creative world.

1/2″ wide copper forms the base of this lampwork glass ring by Lubica.

Lubica Vinicenko used the strips as the base of some truly elaborate rings. You can see more pictures at her blog.

As you can see, these metal “bracelet” strips are extremely versatile and fun to experiment with. Am I the only one surprised to see polymer clay and seed beads combined with sheet metal?

The back of my layered stamped bracelet. I curved short strips with my wood dapping set to make the matching earrings.

I’ve been having a blast stamping and texturing them. You can see the front of – and how I made – the “Earth Laughs in Flowers” bracelet in our design gallery. Texturing metal with
brass texture sheets is great stress relief, I must say!

Although July is already behind us, we’re always happy to see and share what you create. Be sure to send us some photos of what you make with these metal strips! ~ Cindy

PS – Molly Alexander posted her etching and mixed metal results to a photostream on Flickr – be sure to check them out!