Guest Blogger - Sweet Sumo Stuff - Washer and Glass Bead Chandelier!

(Not quite finished in this picture!)

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be guest posting over here today. I'm truly in the midst of greatness, with all of other talented ladies who are featured on here, and feel so honored!

I'm Sumo, from Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

My real name is Summer, but my husband nicknamed me Sumo when we were dating. (Should I be offended?) Now he's got all of my family, as well as lots of our friends, calling me Sumo. I think Aunt Sumo sounds pretty great, don't you? I live in Utah with my husband, my beautiful 16 month old daughter, and we have a baby girl coming this March. (Wow, that's next month!)

Growing up, I never used to be all that domestic or crafty, so I think no one is more surprised than my mom at how I've ended up where I am today! I started Sumo's Sweet Stuff last May as a place to keep some of my crafting projects so that my personal blog wasn't overrun with them. Somehow, that developed into a place to host giveaways, share tutorials, share recipes, and feature fellow bloggers' ideas and blogs! I also use my blog to promote my etsy shop, WHICH IS HAVING A 50% OFF SALE, so if you're ever in the market for some baby girl accessories, come on over! (so come check it out!)

Here's a little peek at some of the things you can find on my blog:

Zipper Flower Tutorial

Easy (and tasty!) Bon Bons

Feather Wreath

Chalkboard Block

Seasonal Wood Board

Now, let's get down to business. Since I have one little girl already, and another little girl on the way, I figured that gave me the go ahead to really glam up their room. I've been slowly working on some projects to finish their room, and the last thing I wanted was a chandelier. Well, chandeliers cost money. And since my husband is in school and we're living on loans, I figured there had to be some way for me to create something that would do that trick.

That my friends, is why I am here today:

a tutorial on how to create a chandelier.

I'm not talking chandelier as in lights and wiring and all that technical stuff. This is just a decoration to go around your current light fixture to give the illusion of having a chandelier. If you are a renter and can't change the lighting, this is a great idea!!!

What you need:

- wire floral wreath (mine is a 12 inch; you'll need to get one to fit around your fixture)

- wire

- washers

- spray paint

- glass beads

- trim (I used marabou boas)

- hooks

I made a trip to Lowe's and found a great selection of sizes of washers. It's really up to you how many you get, and what sizes you get. I wanted an assortment, and I didn't want the entire chandelier to be washers. The total for all of my washers was about $5.

My girls' room is decorated in purple, cream, and black, so I knew I wanted to spray paint the washers black to match the room. At the time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the wreath part, so I spray painted it too, just in case any of it ended up showing. I used the $1 spray paint from Wal-Mart and it worked just great! Be sure to do both sides of the washers. (You can see I had two floral wreaths. I had toyed with the idea of somehow using two, but only ended up using the larger one.)

While that was drying, I sorted out my glass beads. You won't want to use plastic beads because they will be so close to a heat source, and we don't want melted beads for a decoration! I had some of these beads on hand, but the rest I got from Michael's when they were 40% off on sale. I don't think I even spent $10 on beads.

Once my washers were dry, I laid them out on my table, and sorted out which beads could hang in the middle of the washers.

After doing that, I laid out how I wanted my strands to hang. I planned on making ten strands, and I wanted them all to be different.

Now it's time to start stringing! I put some small glass seed beads in a little loop, secured with a crimp bead, at the end of each strand. Now the strand I'll be stringing the washers and beads on is doubled for extra strength.

String beads on as you would normally, being sure to put them through both strands of wire.

The washers are a bit different. When it is time to put a washer on, you are only going to put the washer over one strand of your wire. So it will look like you have a strand on the top of the washer, and a strand on the bottom of the washer - like it's being hugged by the wire.

Then you put the bead that is to go in the middle of the washer through BOTH strands of the wire.

On the other side of the washer, again you are going to split your wire around it.

Then you continue stringing your beads along both of the wires. This secures the washers in place.

Do this for all of your strands!

Now you are going to want to tie the wire of your strands around your wire wreath how you want them placed. To do this, I put my wire wreath on a hanger and hung it from my shower rod in my bathroom so that it could hang freely. I then secured each wire by putting a dot of hot glue on it to hold it in place. Crafting in the bathroom - it's the thing to do!

I thought my chandelier looked a little bare, so I decided to make ten filler strands. I used some smaller glass beads I had on hand, and made ten strands of just beads to go in between the larger strands.

Again, I tied them around the wreath and secured them with hot glue.

Now it's time to add your trim. I originally started out with a different trim, but it looked messy and it hung too close to the lights for my liking. I won't even share those pictures - it wasn't pretty!

So I took that off, and decided to use a marabou boa. I already had one, and had to buy one more at Michael's using a 40% off coupon. They were $1.99 for six feet, and I used two full ones. I hot glued the start of the boa, and wrapped it around in between the strands. I only hot glued it at the beginnings and ends of the boas.

Next it is time for your handy husband to put the hooks up around the light fixture and hang it for you!

Now admire your work!

It's no fancy chandelier, but I like that it adds a little bit more to my girls' room!

I love making new blogging friends, so come on over to Sumo's Sweet Stuff! You can find something different each day:

- Market Yourself Monday: I share my latest projects and invite you to link up yours!

- Tutorial Tuesday

- Mouth-Watering Wednesday

- Things to Try Thursday

- Feature Friday

And don't forget to visit my Etsy shop to see if there is anything you want! Especially while the 50% off sale is going on!!!

A huge thanks to Michelle for having me today!

Have a great week everyone!

There you have it! A unique and dangerously awesome way to create a stunning chandelier! How many times have you seen something like that? NEVER!!! Admit it - Sweet Sumo rocks!!! (I want a nickname like SUMO!!!) As you can see from some of her projects and treats, she is talented and has some yummy ideas! With almost two young girls, she is creating many fun things for them. If you like what you have seen here today, go visit SUMO at Sweet Sumo Stuff! She would love to have more friends and followers! And Visit her Etsy shop too! Her 50% off sale is AMAZING!!!!

Linking to: Funky Junk - Saturday Nite Special, Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Round-up