Handmade Felt Jewelry Bag Tutorial

I like making things special for my customers. As the Mothers Day is approaching, I wanted to make A Cup of Sparkle jewelry even more special. I designed and handmade this cute red jewelry bags with an addition of a Handmade hand charm.  I don't have a sewing machine at home; so, I did hand-stitching. It is such a fun project... I cannot wait to get different colors of felt and make it in different colors.

Here is my short tutorial if you want to make it on your own. Once you make the first one, making more takes less than 15 minutes.


Materials: Felt, velcro tape, coordinating embroidery thread, needle. handmade charm, scissors

Step 1: Cut your felt to 6"x 4" (16 cm x11 cm) -for a rectangular jewelry bag

I used this size, because business cards fits inside the bag very nicely.

Step 2: Fold the felt lengthwise, to where there is ~1.5" is left for the top part.

Step 3: Stitch each side with hand. Keep the tension on the thread very loose for big stitch look.

Step 4: Fold the top part outwards less than 0.5" and hand stitch the folded line horizontally.

Step 5: Place a felt flower or a button in the middle of the top closure and hand stitch it securely 

Step 6: Place the velcro at the center of the top and bottom parts.

Add a bit of more cuteness with a handmade charm..

Step 7: Va laaa...  Now, open inside and enjoy your cup of sparkle...

TIP: You can use this bag as business card holder, lipstick holder, or coin purse, or.. many other ways.

Blue Flower Bouquet Inspiration Story

Puya Alpestris at
Berkeley Botanical Garden 

Blue Flower Bouquet Necklace
by ACupofSparkle

I used to think that if I see a blue flower in a bouquet in a flower shop, that must be not natural. Purple flowers are pretty common such as lilacs, hydrangea, lavender, iris, ... but; 'true blue' is very rare to find. One of my visits to Berkeley Botanical Garden in California, I have seen the most unusual, beautiful blue plant. I captured this photo with my camera. This plant is called Puya alpestris, also known as sapphire tower. It's hard to resist touching the aquamarine blue petals to make sure that they are not plastic. The colors are so irresistible and vibrant.

    This amazing flower is simply the inspiration to A Cup of Sparkle blue flower bouquet necklace. The flower cluster is composed of blue bell flower beads and natural Mookaite gemstones in yellow, orange and red colors hanging on a long bronze chain.

What do you think about blue flowers? Do you like them? 

Are there any others that you know of?

Mother's Day Handmade Gift Ideas - Custom Handmade Keychains

Mother's Day is approaching soon. Did you pick a present for your mom yet?
I have made some unique keychains using my bird nest designs special for Mothers Day. The selected Mother's Day jewelry and accessories are on Sale at A Cup of Sparkle. Not all the women wear jewelry, but; we all carry key chains. It is hard to go wrong with gifting a keychain to someone. You can personalize these handmade nests with different colors and different number of beads.  You can also add different charms on your keychain: birds, leaves, initials, .. They are so much fun. I am planning on making one with 5 eggs as a gift to my mother-in-law.
What do you think? Do you like them?

Custom Personalized Handmade Keychains by A Cup of Sparkle

Earthy Tones: Brown

What color tones would you say that expresses your individual style best?

I found brown very earthy that is easy to match things with; grounding well with oranges, reds, beige and bold blues. When combined with different shades, they create a earthy, classic and elegant look. One of the first browns that comes up in my mind are:

• Coffee
• Skin
• Chocolate 
• Soil
• Fresh bread
• Potato
• Caramel
• Autumn

Do you have any favorite browns in nature?

   I have recently added the brown crystal circle earrings and necklace to my Etsy jewelry shop. I accented dark browns with light brown keeping the casual and contemporary style in sterling silver.  The wire-wrapped tiny Swarovski crystals looks so stylish that works great for a day or an evening time. You can also find this circle designs in blue, opal, black and green colors at A Cup of Sparkle.

Brown Crystal Wire-wrapped Necklace

Brown Crystal Wire-wrapped Earrings

Movie Inspired Handmade Jewelry

Hollywood stars wear some amazing jewelry in movies; usually lots of sparkles. When I mean sparkles, I mean "Diamonds". As a jewelry designer,  I always pay extra attention to jewelry worn in the movies I watch. It is hard not to....

   My all time favorite is the heart of the ocean necklace by Kate Winslet in Titanic. 
The other one is the ruby and diamond necklace set Richard Gere has given to Julia Roberts in the Pretty Women movie. Not only the beauty of this pieces, but also the romantic, memorable scenes in these movies makes those two my favorite celebrity movie jewelry.

Do you have any favorite jewelry worn by some of your top movie stars 

in some top films?

     Recently I watched two movies that has given me inspiration. I will start with Eat, Pray and Love or I should say: Eat, Pray and Accessorize. I absolutely fell in love with the beaded jewelry Julia Roberts worn in this movie.  Have you seen the movie? What do you think? I came up with this carnelian necklace that I recently posted on my Etsy jewelry shop. I relate this necklace to the theme of a women's journey for self-fulfillment and happiness.
As I name it, it is pretty jewelry for pretty women.

Carnelian Beaded Gold Accented Necklace by ACupofSparkle

The next movie that inspired me is Black Swan. Natalie Portman looks glamorous with beautiful Swan costumes and sophisticated make-up. While my jewelry designs is not the actual jewelry worn in Black Swan, it's has got the fragility, femininity, poverty and grace you will see in the ballerina characters captured in Black Swan.

   Dancing Chains Swarovski Crystal Silver Earrings inspired by Black Swan

                            Black Swan Inspired Circle Necklace by ACup of Sparkle

It is raining in Seattle! Best of the week: Etsy finds by A Cup of Sparkle

It was raining when I woke up this morning. It is one of those days in Seattle: a rainy day. I looked at my phone to see how the weather will be this week. I was not that surprised to see that it will rain the whole week. Seattle averages 158 days of measurable rain and 226 days of some cloud cover every day. That is lots of rainy days. 

        The rain inspired me to make this raindrop crystal necklace today. I also looked up on Etsy to see rain inspired arts and found this beautiful art print by enduringarts. I picked this inspirational art print for the Best of the week Etsy finds by A Cup of Sparkle. I absolutely loved the quote and the text font&blue colors.

Does the rain inspire you? Make you happy?

Dance in the rain art print 
by Enduringarts

Raindrop Swarovski Crystal Necklace 
by ACupofSparkle

Caribbean Blue Sparkles

One of my coworkers came around last week wondering if I would make matching necklace for the Caribbean blue crystal earrings in my A Cup of Sparkle Etsty shop. She likes wearing necklace and earrings together like I do. Here is what I came up with. I used the same circle design that completed the spring/summer look. I am very pleased with my first custom design. 
What do yo think?
For the picture below, I actually used one of the photographs I have taken from my vacation to Caribbean as the background. The colors are so charming. I absolutely love the blues.

A Cup of Sparkle Custom Jewelry