Beading Chan Luu Style Bracelets

Today I have E and R coming over for lunch and I am going to teach them how to make Chan Luu style bracelets. I learned how to make them awhile back at the Dancing Bear Indian Trader. E has been beading and making jewelry for a long time, but I owed her a favor so I thought I would share the knowledge I learned.

First off is lunch! It's warm today but my patio has a breeze and it will be beautiful for a nice outdoor lunch. I've decided on chicken salad on field greens, some summer fruit salad and Lemon-Lavender Mini Biscuits. Remember my lavender bush that I made lavender wands with earlier this week, well here is another use for those lovely purple blossoms.

The recipe is a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade recipe. You start with 2 of the 7.5 packages of buttermilk biscuit mix, and then add a stick of melted butter and a cup of sour cream. I felt compelled to use fat free sour cream to go along with the stick of butter! :0)

Then add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of the lemon. The recipe called for 1 tsp of fresh lavender - I just added one blossoms worth of lavender and then a pinch of Herbs De Provence. I wanted mine to be more herb than lavender flavored to go with our salad.

They are basically little drop biscuits that you put into a mini muffin pan so don't expect them to rise much. I sprinkled a few more lavender buds on the tops just to make them look cuuuute!

I presented them on a pretty covered plate. I find these covers at the Goodwill shop, they are the glass covers from the old wooden cheese boards that were popular what... 20 years ago? I can find one every time I go to the Goodwill, even if I throw away the wood part due to its condition, it's usually a steal price wise. They fit over the plate stands I make from old plates and candlesticks.

Anyway, the lunch was delish and just right for a summer day.... Here is the "official recipe".

Lemon-Lavender Mini Biscuits from Sandra Lee
Makes about 2 dozen

2 (7.5) packages buttermilk biscuit mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 TBL lemon zest
1 TBL fresh lemon juice
1 TBL water
1/2 tsp dried or 1 tsp fresh lavender (or herbs de provence)

1. Preheat oven to 350'. Spray a 24 cup mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, add biscuit mixes; make a well in the center. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 TBL water, and lavender. Add sour cream mixture to biscuit mix, stirring just until moistened. Spoon about 2 TBL dough into each prepared muffin cup.
3. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned. (My mini muffin pan is a dark non-stick pan and I felt they were done at 15 minutes.)  Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool 30 minutes.

Who is she kidding, I took a warm one out off the pan, put a pat of butter on it and ate it right away! YUM!

Now on to beading.....

We took a drive over to the Dancing Bear to get supplies and pick out some beads. R picked out some really cute pink and brown beads that are tubular in shape. I haven't made a bracelet in this style yet, but R's was so cute I will definitely be doing one soon.

You start by using a button on the end of a folded leather cord. Then SEW the beads between the leather cords until the bracelet is the length that you want. We will be doing only single wraps today so my friends can get the lesson down and finish a bracelet, but on the Chan Luu website you can see many of the multi wrap style and they are gorgeous!

E decided on some round 6mm beads on tan leather with some multi-blue beads, same technique just a different bead in the middle.

It's a really easy technique that I can't explain here, but once you get a few beads on it's easy peasy lemon squeezy. Just over and under with the beading thread and you can do it while watching TV.

I can't show you the one I made just yet as it will be getting sent off in the mail this week for a friends birthday!

.....But I can show you the picture of the finished ones I made when I first learned the technique.

The first bracelet is a Chan Luu style using thread instead of micro filament to sew the beads on.
The second bracelet is a fun side project that wraps twice around your wrist and is a simple
braid of leather and beads with the cutest flower button to close.