Maybee

maybee

Spring Issue 2013

Peek

Inside the Stitch Lab

Pg.10

14

Year-old Jeweler Starts a Career

Pg.33

A New

Twist

On Your Classic Braid

Pg. 26

Pg.16 Career

Crafting

Do what you LOVE for a living

It’s what’s inside that matters.

175years.

-New York-Los Angeles-Chicago-San Franscico-Salt Lake City-Boston-Nashcville -Las Vergas-San Diego-Denver-Seattle-St.Louis-Housotn-Atlanta-Palm Beach-Baltimore -Philiadelphia-Cincinatti-Indianapolis-Pittsburgh -Portland-Providence -Charlotte-Atlantic City-Austin-Tuscon-Richmond-

maybee

table of contents

Stitch Tips A Couple of Crafters Leslie Bonnell Unsewn

Homemade Hair

A Taste of Design Modern Marbles

Upcycling

Braids Made For You Waterfall

DIY: Birthday Board DIY: Zipper Bag

Jewelry

Design

Letter To Editor Bios

Junior Jeweler Jeweler Desktop

Page 5 Page 6 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10

Page 14 Page 16

Page 21 Page 24

Page 26 Page 28

Page 31 Page 34

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LETTER From the Editors

Dear Readers,

If you like creating, designing, and learning we hope that you get satisfaction from reading our magazine. When you’ve finished flipping through the pages of Maybee and feel inspired and ready to craft, then we’re satisfied because we know that we’ve done our jobs. Even if you don’t use any of our suggestions or recommended craft ideas (even though you really should!) we hope that our magazine gets your creativity flowing and gives you something to do when you’re bored. Go see what you can do yourself and youll be suprised by what you can do with your own hands. Satisfaction is what we really want you to get out of reading our magazine, not a cute stuffed animal squirrel you made out of old an old glove. Start reading and we hope that just Maybee you enjoy our magazine.

“Inspire, Inform & Make Crafty People The Norm” The Maybee Team Krista Bangs Deborah Zachgo Ameera Huda Isabel S.

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maybee STAFF

Krista Bangs Krista Bangs was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She has a very good sense of smell and can always guess what you are eating. She loves to dance and can run really fast. She is involved in the LBJ Marching Band and can play multiple instruments. She eats her entire lunch in second period, even though she has sworn she wouldn’t.

She has random laugh attacks and won’t stop.

When you search her name on google images she is the second photo to show up. She loves to craft and spends her summers making crafts she finds on Pinterest.

Ameera Huda Ameera is a 15 - year - old girl living in Austin, Texas and attending LASA High School. She loves going to places out of Texas and spending her free time with her family and friends. She enjoys going outdoors and playing basketball, while currently she is playing lacrosse. She loves singing in choir and any other time she can.

Isabel S.

Deborah Zachgo

Isabel is a 9th grader at LASA. She enjoys playing sports and having fun in the sun. She also loves movies and photography. Isabel is also a writer, working on a book of a collection of her poems. Isabel hopes you enjoy the Spring issue of Maybee magazine.

Deborah Zachgo is interested in crafting (no duh), band (the 2nd tallest flute player!), and clothing and fashion. She even looks adorable in her marching band uniform. She parties hard. She eats her entire lunch in first period, and she enjoys sitting in practice rooms. Deborah also is known as the freshman who bakes really good pretzels and other delicious baked goods!

D E SIG N

Stitch Tips

Straight From the Stitch Lab Having a tough time with your first few projects? Here some tips from Leslie to help you become a crafting machine! These tips are for any level of crafter but will be most helpful to beginners!

Leslie’s Top 8

1.

TAKE CLASSES! Having an expert to show you all the basics and possibilities is a great jumping off point to take you in many directions.

2.

LEARN TO USE A SEWING MACHINE Trust us, it’s a HUGE time saver and prevents inju-

ries! But, be careful when using any crafting device.

3.

START SIMPLE! Don’t overwhelm yourself on your first few projects so you can get the basics down

first.

4.

FOLLOW CRAFT BLOGS. 5.

GO TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. They’re TONS of great crafting books for inspiration.

highly recomends.

Average Jane Crafter has a wonderful blog and links other blogs she

6.

JOIN A CRAFTING CLUB like a knitting group. Check out what’s going on in you’re town and see if any exist or even better start your own!

7.

YOUTUBE! Tons of people share their crafts and tutorials online. Youtube is great because you can see how it’s done start to finish.

8.

CHECK OUT THE STITCH LAB WEBSITE there are links to many other websites and lots of

simple beginning craft tutorials.

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D E SIG N

A Couple of Craft Bloggers

The Beyeler Family-photo Sugar Bee Craft Website

Get an inside view of the life of two dedicated bloggers, Mr. and Mrs. Sugar Bee of Sugar Bee Crafts (Mandy) and So I married a Craft Blogger (Trevor). Here’s a quick peek on how they got started and their busy blogging life!

Mandy and Trevor Beyeler met on a blind date and dated for about a year. Soon after, Trevor went on a two-year mission for his church and when he returned they picked up right where they left off. They were married 11 years ago in May. Still together, they live in Kansas City with four children and make their living writing blog posts and tutorials on their craft blogs.

Mandy started her own blog, Sugar Bee Crafts, three years ago after she kept posting projects on her family blog and felt like it was getting overwhelming, so Mandy made a new blog devoted to crafting. It started small, but her following grew over time and today, her blog is one of the most popular on the Internet.

After Mandy created her blog, Trevor started his.

On his website he wrote “I owe it to all the guys out there to tell their wives what their husbands are really thinking.” His blog is filled with what it’s like to be the husband of a crafter, his favorite recipes, cars, and his monthly interests.

Both blogs provide an inside look at the Beyeler family and what it’s like to have your life surrounded around blogging and crafts. They both state that their goal is to “inspire and motivate their readers.”

Between Mandy and Trevor’s blogs both appealing to different audiences, there’s something for everyone.

“I’ve always loved crafts and sewing,” Mandy said.

“I grew up sewing my own summer shorts and outfits and cross stitching and making friendship bracelets and all that fun stuff.”

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D E SIG N

Leslie Bonnell Unsewn eslie Bonnell has stitched together a career doing what she’s most passionate about. She’s been lucky enough to have been hired as a head costume designer at multiple theater companies and she’s now taken on the challenge of being the owner and teacher of The Stitch Lab in Austin TX. Bonnell has been busy designing, sewing, and constructing since she first got her hands on a needle when she was seven. 20 years later, she’s gotten a degree in design, worked at Zachary Scott Theater, and as of 2001 she’s been busy owning and operating her own business, The Stitch Lab. She lives a very spontaneous life, “I get to pick what I want to do each day and most people don’t have that choice,” Bonnell said “I get to live on the edge a little!”. She jokes about how “dangerous” crafting is but she has her fair share of needle pricks and blisters from glue gun burns but “it’s all worth it,” she says smiling.

“Musicians get blisters, editors get paper cuts, and crafters are lucky enough to get both,” she laughs, looking down at her worn hands after just demonstrating needle felting to a group of children ages six to ten years-old. Her favorite age group.

“They’re so young and have so much creativity, none of them ever say” ‘Ms.Bonnell I can’t do it’ and they absolutely love everything they make!” she explains beaming and looking back into the class.

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“It reminds me of when I was first learning to craft,” Bonnell said. She laughed thinking about her first sewing projects. “The first thing I ever sewed was a doll sized pillow full of pine cones. It was my idea

D E SIG N

D E SIG N to add the pine cones to disguise the mothball scent of the fabric,” Even though only four pine cones fit, Bonnell was very proud of her work.

Today, she still has it and displays her floral printed pillow, her “favorite piece of work” by the sewing station.

“I credit all my success to the summers I spent with my grandma,” Bonnell said. Her grandmother was a firm believer in “making it yourself” and wouldn’t let her buy expensive bracelets or headbands at the mall. Instead she gave Bonnell string and a pattern.

“You don’t need to buy accessories, but because every teenage girl will, making them yourself makes them one of a kind and saves money” Bonnell said channeling her grandmother, which she sometimes does whenever shes stuck on a design.

“I’ve gotten pretty good at the voice” Bonnell said laughing. Because of her grandmother’s influence Bonnell grew so fond of the hobby that she continued to sew at home after she left her grandmothers. Later, she started taking a few classes in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

She spent hours making doll clothes and friendship bracelets, attracting lots of attention at school.

“One day at school a girl asked if she could buy a bracelet from me if I would make for her and I realized that my grandmother was right!”

Bonnell said. So she started selling her bracelets to other kids at school. Crafting stayed with her through middle school and later in high school when she had the chance to design costumes in school productions, opening her up to the world of design as a career. After graduating, Bonnell started working for a local theater in Virginia as an apprentice costume designer and makeup artist. She explained that it was temporary “Everyone’s gotta start from somewhere,”she said. Even though it wasn’t her“dream job,”she was glad to improve her design skills.

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“I wanted more of an adventure and to travel new places,” she explained. So in 1995 she moved to Austin, TX and got a job at Zachary Scott Theater.

“I loved working at Zach Scott!” Bonnell said.

“I got to do everything I loved all in one job,” Bonnell worked at Zach Scott for 20 years and constructed and designed at least 80 costumes, all very detailed and handcrafted.

Even the ones made for peasants were neatly sewn, every rip strategically placed. Her collection is very extensive and fills up two closets in her small home but, she can’t bear to give them away, “Each costume is different and every character has their own personality you get to incorporate into the costume,” Bonnell explained. But the job was very stressful. Between dress rehearsals, deadlines, and buttons falling off mid-performance, Bonnell felt the pressure really getting to her.

All the stress started taking the fun out of going to work “It was beginning to be a chore, and 20 years ago, it wasn’t. When I started costume designing I was so excited that my job wasn’t a normal office job like other people, and that I got to do what I loved all day,”Bonnell said and she decided to try something new.

Resource Center

D E SIG N “I had never really taught before,” Bonnell said “But I had always wanted to teach others how much fun sewing and designing can be,” so in 2001 she started holding sewing and garment construction classes in her Bouldin Creek home.

Soon her classes were overbooked and it was time to expand and hire extra help. Bonnell hired more top notch instructors and added additional classes, such as a Beginning Sewing Series, Hat Making, and Quilting. Finally, in November 2009, the Stitch Lab moved into a bigger location and opened for business.

“It’s my new job, I’m done sewing for others and now I’m sewing for me,” Bonnell said. “I’ve pretty much mastered sewing and I feel that it’s my turn to teach others.” She said. Bonnell has stitched together a “perfect” life for herself and she extremely happy with how far crafting has taken her. She believes that she has many tips and tricks to help new learners with their crafts, and even

Outside the Stitch Lab

Stitch Lab Sign

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HOME MA DE

A Taste of Design

Learn how to make the perfect cookie in just a few simple steps!

Here’s what you will need Decorating tips.

For outlining the cookie use a #2 tip and for flooding I used a #3 tip.

Royal Icing. This is the type of icing you should use to decorate the cookies. You can find a great recipe at this website. http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2010/01/royal-icing-102-or-201-or-whatever.html

Squeeze Bottles. I use these for flooding my cookies. Since the royal icing is very thin at this point, it’s a

much neater alternative to a cut-open pastry bag. Plus, you can put the cap on and save any extra icing for next time.

Toothpicks. You will use them to spread the icing and get rid of bubbles.

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Take dough out of bowl and knead it together. Then roll the dough onto a floured surface and cut into shapes.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Take squeeze bottles filled with thick Royal icing and outline the edge of the cookies. It is best to use a smaller size tip here. Let sit for five minutes.

Shape.

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Bake.

Outline.

HOM E M ADE Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies Ingredients:

Here are some helpful tools!

Rolling pin Easy clean up mat

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 c sugar 2 sticks (salted) butter 1 egg 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Cookie cutters Small spatula

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Step Four

Step 5

Step 6

Fill the squeeze bottle with smooth more flowing icing to flood the cookie. Make sure the icing doesn’t leave the border.

Now you should take a tooth pick and pop or move the bubbles to the edge. This also spreads the icing evenly.

Eat up! Take to the office or school and show off all your hard work to your friends. Everyone will love them!

Flooding the cookie.

Perfecting.

Enjoy.

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HOM EMA DE

Modern Marbles

D

ebbie Oliveira is one of the busiest crafters you will ever meet. She owns Marblies Handcrafted Collectables wIncorporated and has been working making these small collectables for over 22 years. Oliveira wanted a stay at home job so she could be there for her kids as they grew up. Her husband who came to the U.S. from Brazil actually came up with the idea to make small marble figures, because he remembered a similar toy that was popular when he was a kid there. Marblies are small characters such as animals, insects, angels and people; that are all about the size of a quarter or smaller. They have one or two marbles that make up the body of the character and features to make it distinct. Their features include arms, legs, eyes, horns and more.

Before she was married and had children Oliveira lived in Seattle working for a Fish’n Go fishing company. When she married her husband they lived in Seattle for a while and then moved to Scotland.

She also worked as a chef for a short time.

“I worked in a small craft shop making marblies for a while,” said Oliveira. Then after a while her husband and her decided they were going to move back to Seattle. On their way back they passed through Texas and loved the steady consistent weather.

“The climate is great here and crafting season is all year long!” said Oliveira. Texas is filled with small business owners who make their own products.

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HOM E M ADE

Photo taken by Deborah Zachgo Marblies

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HOME MA DE “I actually get my marbles from the last two existing marble manufacturers in the United states. One makes plain marbles and the other makes shiny pretty ones that I use for the snails or other ones where the marble shows,” Oliveira said. The last two companies marble manufacturing companies are Jabo vitro in Reno, Ohio and Marble King, in Paden City, West Virginia. There used to be many more but they have moved overseas because they are in higher demand.

The first step to making Marblies starts off with one or two regular marbles. Then she adds feet, arms and small features for the figure using a special clay. Then she has to take them all outside to spray their base coat.

“It’s hard working for yourself! We don’t live luxuriously, but it takes care of our needs.”

“When they are dry I take them inside and hand paint every one of them. They are all one of a kind,” Oliveira said. Each Marblie is slightly different and shows her hard work.

The process from start to finish takes an entire three days to make a batch of 100, which is about one tray. Oliveira makes about three or four different characters per tray.

“I now have a permanent space on the Riverwalk in San Antonio on Thursdays and Fridays every week with about 56 craft fairs a year,” Oliveira said. Some craft fairs are one day and others take up an entire weekend.

Making the Marblies is a long process but Oliveira says “The craft show part is not bad, that’s where I get rejuvenated.” Tourists come up and tell her about how creative and cute her crafts all the time. “[Tourists] buy the pigs and all the little girls 18

girls buy cats. I also have annuals that buy every year. I can’t imagine what their houses look like,” laughed Oliveira. Her annual buyers come back every year and look for new Marblies to add to their collections.

Currently she has 140 different characters.

Some of her more complicated ones include; angels, dinosaurs, tea set, dogs, snowmen, butterflies, ducks, and many more. She has her own website http://www.marblies.com/ with all of her current characters. Oliveira comes up with new characters about every year so that her regulars have something new. She does retire some of her complicated characters. Oliveira previously made characters from books, movies or cartoon characters but they consumed too much time and they required many meticulous details. “ I like doing the newest ones because they are still novelties. I also like making pigs. They are so easy and the most profitable because everyone loves them,” said Oliveira.

“As a child I was into things like needlecraft, things that don’t make money,” said Oliveira. Now Oliveira doesn’t do anymore crafts for fun because she is too busy with Marblies.

“It’s hard working for yourself! We don’t live luxuriously but it takes care of our needs,” said Oliveira. She tried for the longest time to get her daughters to help her out with the Marblies but they had no desire.

“I even bribed them with money. They both have great artistic talent but are not very interested,” said Oliveira.

Currently Oliveira is working hard to keep her business going with her daughters now in college, she works at home with her husband. Oliveira is a vendor at other craft fairs such as the Pecan Street Festival, Cowan Carnival, Fredericksburg Trade Days, Hogeye festival, Primer Sabado, and Wimberley Market Days.

Deborah Zachgo

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HAI R

Braids Made For You

J

French Braid - Photogragh by Ameera Huda

ennifer Torres, slowly but efficiently, moves her fingers through the strands of hair.

Continuously moving the right strand over the middle, and the middle over the left strand throughout the long black hair.

“Braids are a way of having a new hairstyle every day,” said Jennifer Torres, a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy whose favorite thing to do is making braids.

“Braids have moved from the playground to the red carpet and now, local salons,” said Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, author of, Braids are back: Are your girls wearing them? . From the simplest to most complexes, braids are being used by people mwore often. From a casual and easy look to a party or dinner date, you will have all the information needed about braids right by your side.

“Before starting the braid, it is necessary for your hair to be brushed out properly,” Torres says.

Torres makes this a necessary step because once you start the braid if any knots come out that may cause your braid to not turn out the way you would want it to. After you brushed your hair you may 21

HA I R

Dutch Braid Photogragh by Ameera Huda

Fishtail Braid Photogragh by Ameera Huda

“Different factors matter to know how long it would take to make a braid, like hair texture and what type of braid you are making.Like curly hair would take longer to braid then straight or wavy hair,” Torres said.

Torres means that curly hair takes longer to braid because it tends to have a lot of knots sometimes, which makes it longer to go through all the hair. “I have straight hair and it is very quick and easy for me to do a braid, and this is partially because I can brush my hair out very easily,” said Afra Huda, a student at University of Austin. By this Huda means that straight hair will take much less time, since it is much easier to take the knots out and brush through all the hair. If you have wavy hair it will probably take about the same amount of time it takes to braid straight hair. But instead of texture, the type and the way of making the braid also matters. “Different braids take different amount of time, like a fishtail would take longer than a french braid because of the way the braid is made,” said Torres. This means that since a fishtail uses little parts of your hair at a time, that would usually take longer because there is so many strands of hair being used to construct that whole braid. But along with all of this, the pace that you work in is a big factor too. “For me it is very simple and fast to make a braid since I have practicing for a long time. But if you have just started to make braids it would probably take

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Waterfall Braid Photogragh by Ameera Huda

you a little longer,” said Huda. This is because if you have just started making braids it will take you longer, that is because you are still learning and practicing how to make the braids.

Then once you learn the process it will decrease the amount of time it takes you to make the braid.

To make different braids there are many ways you can practice.

“A friend and you can do braids on each other and this will help you practice your braiding skills, and it will introduce more people to braiding,” said Torres.

This is because working with different types of hair helps you become more skillful with braiding.

Also practicing on others will help you a lot when you try more various types of braids. “ Start by learning how to do the less complex braids, because this will help you learn how to create the difficult braids easily,”Torres said.

There are so many choices of braids to choose from for any type of occasion or just practice.

You just need to know what type of braid you are searching from. If you are looking for casual and simple look you can go for the french or three - strand braid. But if you are going to work or meeting you can do the fishtail or the dutch braid.

For parties and special occasions, like prom or a dance, there is the mermaid tail braid and even the dutch braid. Of

HAI R

Three Stranded Braid Photogragh by Ameera Huda

French Braid Photograph by Ameera Huda

“Wear a new hairstyle for school or any occasion, it is really fun to do new styles with your hair,” said Torres.

When trying new braids remember to not get frustrated if you don’t know how to do a certain type of braid, there are resources where you can search for help and ideas. “hair braiding, with the help of social network image sites like Pinterest has gone viral. We have compiled seven of the more popular hair braid styles and, included a curation of how-to videos for each of them,” said Hartford Mag Staff, author of Hair Braiding Trends.

“Try your best and follow the instructions in how to make a braid if you need help, but most of all have fun while you are doing it and don’t be afraid to try new things,” said Torres.

- Ameera Huda

Waterfall Braid Photograph by Ameera Huda

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HA I R

Steps To a Waterfall

“I wanted to create something detailed that still felt soft, easy and sophisticated,” said Erica Arroyo, a student from Broken Arrow Beauty College. Erica Arroyo is talking about the wonderful waterfall braid, which can fit for many occasions. A waterfall braid can be done for a simple day at work or an elegant dinner party, so it will always come in handy. A waterfall braid is very easy to make and there are many articles that give tips to make your braid look perfect. Such as the article, How to get a Waterfall Braid, by Augusta Falleta, published in New York City in July 2012. After knowing how to make a waterfall braid, you do different things to style it your own way. “The waterfall braid is a cute detail that adds a playful, yet elegant touch to your overall aspect, despite its simplistic, subtle look,” said Emily Victoria, author of How to Style a Waterfall Braid. After you know how to make a waterfall braid, you would be able to use it whenever and in whatever style you would like.

1

All photographs by Ameera Huda.

Brush your hair out, then seperate a little section of hair from the rest of your hair. This will be done at the front.

7

Continue this same process until you reach the other side of your head.

After you secure your braid, this will be your final outcome.

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6

HAI R

2

Then take out two more little sections of your hair, but from the left side of the first section taken out in step 1.

3

Cross the middle section over the first section made.

Every time you take a section of your hair from the top, let it fall and replace it with a new section of your hair.

5

4

Continue doing as done in step 3 once more, then let go of the first section.

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U P C YC L I N G

Do It Yourself:

Birthday Board

This is the perfect craft that requires very few materials and is extremely helpful. You will never foget anothe birthday! It’s very simple and can be made in about 30 minutes. There’s lots of space for decoration and easy to make fun and unique. It’s also a great gift for new families.

What You’re Going to Need Large Board Wooden circle chips Wood Stain (optional) Jump Rings Eyehooks

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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Decorate the main board anyway you desire.

Drill holes in wood chips (if not already there) and stain them if you choose!

Write the name and day they were born of a person with a fine-point sharpie pen. If you want you can write the whole date on the back.

U P C YC L I N G

Use different color chips to make your board stand out!

There are many different ways to decorate and make your Birthday Board POP!

Step 4: Attach the Chips together with the jump rings. They have a slit and you just open them up, slide them through the hole in the disk. To make sure they all face the same way(so they don’t twist sideways), you’ll need a tiny jump ring.

Step 5:

Use the eyehooks to attach your chip chains to the actual board.

Step 6: Hang it up!

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U P C YC L I N G

Do It Yourself:

Zipper Bag

Step 1

Lay one exterior piece right side up, lay zipper (teeth side down) on top with the zipper pull at the left - aligning zipper tape edge to the raw edges of the top of the exterior piece. Tuck in pull side zipper end, bend it 90 degrees. Pin it. Make sure the metal bit of the zipper is just about 3/4” away from the left edge. Layer lining piece on top, right side down on top of zipper.

Pin and baste.

all pictures from noodlehead blog

Step 2

Use your zipper foot and a 1/4” seam allowance.

Sew over basting stitches, but not all the way to the end. At about 1” before the edge of the fabric, stop, backstitch, and then pull the zipper away from the seam,so it doesn’t get caught. Continue stitching along the fabrics until the edge. Flip so that the fabrics are wrong sides facing and press.

Step 3

Lay the remaining exterior piece right side up, lay zipper (with fabrics attached) on top - teeth side down with the zipper pull at the right. Tuck in pull side zipper end, just bend it 90 degrees, making sure the metal bit of the zipper is just over 3/4” away from the right edge this time. Lay lining piece right side down on top. Pin and baste. Using the zipper foot and a 1/4” seam allowance sew over basting stitches, not all the way to the end.

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Step 4

Again, about 1” before the edge of the fabric, stop, backstitch, and then pull the zipper away from the seam, bending it down, in towards the fabrics. Continue stitching along the fabrics until the edge. Flip so that the fabrics are wrong sides facing and press.

Do NOT topstitch along either side of the zipper at this point.

U P C YC L I N G

Step 5

Next, Flip so that the exterior fabrics are right sides together and the lining pieces are right sides together (with the zipper hidden in the middle).

Open the zipper at least half way at this point! Pin and sew around all edges leaving approximately a 4” opening in the bottom (or side) of the lining, using a 1/2” seam allowance. Be sure to get close to the metal zipper ends on one side, and bending the zipper end down into the pouch on the other side making sure it doesn’t get caught in the seam.

Step 7

Pull pouch right side out through the opening you left in the lining. Push lining into exterior. Sew opening in lining closed using a small seam allowance. Press. Topstitch using a slightly longer stitch length (and taking your time) around the entire opening of the pouch.

Step 8

Trim the zipper tail so that you have about 1” of space past the pouch’s side.

Step 6

Box the corners by pinching each corner together and aligning the side seams. Use a ruler and water soluble marker to mark a line perpendicular to the side seam 3.5” long. Sew along that line, trim the seam allowance.

Do this for all four corners

Step 9

For making the zipper pull tab, take a 2”x3” piece of fabric.Press all edges in by 1/2”, slip over zipper end.Fold in half, sew around all four edges of the tab.

Done!

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Abercombie & Fitch

J EW E L RY

Junior Jeweler Isabel Saralegui

E

lizabeth Frey hovers her nimble finger over little boxes of beads looking for just the right one. She strings the glass beads onto a thread, throwing in the occasional oddly shaped or strangely textured, but sticking with the colors of the glass beads. “A friend taught me how to make jewelry in seventh grade,” said Frey. It’s been a short career so far for Elizabeth, but she carries a certain confidence with her jewelry. One that someone should hope to receive, but I’ve tapped into her expertise, so the you, the reader, can someday have that confidence too.

“I like jewelry, because it makes everyone unique and different,” said Frey as she hung her new necklace onto a new hanger type piece on her side table.

Amongst the necklace are dozens of pairs of “dangly” earrings, each one special in it’s own way. Frey mainly makes necklaces and earrings, but dabbles in bracelets and rings when she feels.

Looking at her earrings, Frey tells me a little bit about each one. “These,” she says picking up earrings that are curled copper wire with a bead in the

center. “I saw earrings like this in a book and liked them so much that I went home and made a pair for myself.” Frey makes a lot of her jewelry this way, sees it out in the world and looks at it from every angle trying o figure out just the right way she can make it with her tools.

“I’ll see something I like and and try to recreate my version of it. Sometimes I don’t have the right bead that I want, but I improvise.” Frey gives me an example by showing me a pair of blue diamond like earring in wrapped in copper wire and then shows me the earrings she made. Which are similar in that the center bead is wrapped in wire, but the bead on the inside is much more fun and friendly and casual.

Frey says she’s attempted to teach jewelry to others before, but none were as excited as her about it.

It is true that one must spend a considerable amount of time with jewelry to create their own style such as Elizabeth Frey has. She has a quirkiness and simplicity with her jewelry that makes it marvelous to look at. Most of her jewelry carries a blue or green hue with it, but some break the pattern. For example on her rack of earring sits a pair that are simply film strips attached to copper wire.

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“It’s hard to describe my style of jewelry,” said Frey.

I have to agree. There’s some family resemblance between them all. In color, in shape, in size, but each has something that makes it stick out from the rest. One pair has the same teal like blue and sea glass green as the rest, but the two glass beads are separated by a knotted up spring-like coil.

Frey does currently sell her jewelry(customized), but she hasn’t quite gotten the word out at LASA. She sends out an email to her friends every once in a while telling them of new prices and asking them o forward the email to anyone who may be interested. Each one of her orders comes in a little plastic bag, attached to a little card she has made that says, “handmade by Elizabeth Frey” and some little design in the corners.

When asked whether she would like to make jewelry as a career in the future Elizabeth shakes her head and smiles. “I’ve thought about before for sure, but I want to major in english.” Anything she does do with her jewelry in the future will most likely be a hobby.

Closing up her jewelry box, she neatly separates the

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different beads into their little cubbies. Sets the coils of wire apart untangling the green and yellow thread.

She puts away her needle nose pliers and scissors and sits cross legged on her bed. “I hope that jewelry stays a part of me fora long time, no matter hat career path I choose to take.”

-Isabel Saralegui

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Top 3 Places in Austin to get your Crafting On!

Bead It

Known for it’s wide selection of beads to create jewelry.

Lola and George

Known for interesting designs and modern jewelry.

Joann Fabrics Known for it’s eye catching fabric and selection. So you can find anything you need.

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MUST HAVES ON YOUR JEWELRY DESK

Plyers, scissors, and tweasers, oh my! Everyone has certain things they can’t live without. For jewelrers it can range from something that gives them insopiration to something just to make a quick fix. As you pursue your jeweling career you will find your own, but the team here at Maybee magazine has a few things that we think every jeweler should have.

Carla-Lola And George

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ALWAYS keep your beads organized, you want to know where everything is whenever you need it. The best way to insure this is to have boxes out on your desk. You can take a small sized plastic tub and cut down a wine bottle divider and put that inside your box and there you have it, an organized box with enough sections to seperate your beads.

Beadit Website

It’s good to keep around nick knacks like key and pendants. They add a good accent to your jewelry and are a good conversation piece. Anything small with a hole you can put on a string works! Whatever suits your style go for it!

Take care of your tools. Twearsers can get sticky after a while, so make sure you store them in a place where they won’t rust.

Beadit Website

Make sure you have clamps. If you ever need to leasve a project half done for a bit you don’t want it to fall apart.

Clamps keep thing in order and where they belong!

Keep inspiration everywhere! Surrond yourself with things that make you happy and it will come out in your jewelry. Whether it’s a a set of colors or just a pattern that catches your eyes everything can help.

Beadit Website

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Photo Credits Cover: Deborah Zachgo Biographies: Isabel S. and Krista Bangs Design: A Couple of Craft Bloggers-Sugar Bee Crafts Blog Leslie Bonnell Unstitched-The Stitch Lab Website & Krista Bangs Homemade: Modern Marbles- Debbie Oliveria, Marblies Website, and Deborah Zachgo Taste of Design- Krista Bangs & Deborah Zachgo Hair: Braids Made For You- Ameera Huda Steps to a Waterfall- Ameera Huda Upcycling: DIY: Birthday Board- Sugar Bee Crafts & Shabby Blog DIY: Zipper Bag- Anna Graham Noodle Head Blog Jewelry: Carla-Beadit Website