Book Review: Aimee Ray’s Sweet and Simple Jewelry

I haven’t been this charmed by a book in a long time. Really, get ready for a love-fest, because I’m about to dish about the fabulous book Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry.

Here is what the publisher has to say about the book:

Aimee Ray, the bestselling author of Doodle Stitching—along with top Etsy and indie designers—presents some of the most beautiful, on-trend jewelry projects ever. Designed for general crafters, jewelry makers, and Ray’s legion of fans, these stunning pieces feature a range of techniques, from Aimee’s popular embroidery on felt to tiny tiny needle-felted terrariums in a necklace. Ray even includes the hot new trend of making and using molded cabochons! Filled with inspiring and innovative ideas, this is a book every crafter will want to own.

I would describe it as a collection of jewelry surprises. There are so many unusual materials used in the jewelry in this book… from wool to buttons to shrink plastic. And it isn’t just the materials themselves that are unusual, it is the way they are used. Flipping through the pages of this book is like going through old family photos – you know what is in the pictures, but you haven’t seen them in this setting before.

In the forward of the book, Aimee talks about the inspiration behind it.

She says:

“… a book of projects based on some of our favorite pieces would offer crafters a great way to get started with jewelry-making while giving experienced jewelers a chance to work with materials and techniques they may not have tried before.”

And so Aimee curated a collection of tutorials for some really fun projects. Here you can see some of the projects shared in this book.

When I flip through a craft book at the bookstore, my magic number is 3. The book needs to have 3 projects that I want to try in order for me to buy it. This book more than passed that test. I think I have a half-dozen bookmarks of projects I want to try (in a lesser book I might dog-ear the pages, but I love this book too much to do that)!

For the purposes of this review, I tried one project – the felt and button bracelet. And for some of you, this is where the book will fall short. While Aimee provides a substantial overview of the kinds of materials and techniques used in the book, she does not provide a source list. The biggest reason I fell in love with the felt and button bracelet was the buttons used. But there is no manufacturer or supplier listed for me to source those exact buttons. For some crafters, this is not at all significant. Some crafters just want the inspiration, templates, or basic instructions. But other crafters want their version of the project to look like it jumped right off the pages of the book. That’s not possible here without some serious Google-ing.

So, to make my version of the bracelet, I got a little creative, pulling felt, embroidery floss, and buttons from my stash.

I did make the bracelet according to the instructions, and I do love how it turned out. Here you can see it next to the inspiration piece in the book.

I loved the variety of projects offered in Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry. If you enjoy crafting, and specifically jewelry making, you’re likely to find one (or three… or more) projects that you can’t wait to get started on. The projects are modern, fresh, and appeal to anyone currently addicted to Pinterest.

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