I made another wire-wrapped necklace. This time I used mostly amethyst chips, and two sparkly Swarovksi crystals. I think I like it even better!
I was wearing a purple shirt the next night, so I strung the necklace onto a ribbon that I tied around my neck instead of a chain. Not a permanent solution, but it lets me wear it until I find or make a better chain!
I wore this to my class this week and got two compliments! That's always so fun!!
Labels: jewelry
I finally tried playing with shrinky dinks. There have been some amazing shrink plastic pins
here and
here and so many more that I can't find right now. Since I've never played with free-form shrink plastic, I decided to try something a little larger just to play. Here are my shapes before decorating:
The package said I could use acrylic paint, which I had already, so I painted them up:
They didn't shrink so well. They're mostly all curled, and despite leaving them in the oven like the directions said, they never flattened out on their own.
The flower is especially bad.
And as Peter pointed out, paint doesn't shrink, so some of them ended up with interesting effects:
But a couple of them did turn out neat, if slightly curly:
All of these only used one of the many sheets that came in the pack, so I get to try again. I think next time I'll use colored pencils instead of paint!!
Labels: crafts
A long time back I ordered some silver wire with one of my
Fire Mountain Gems orders so I could try to make a necklace
like this. So far all I'd used it for were the
Mother of Pearl earrings that didn't work with any of my other wires. So, while watching an old episode of Joan of Arcadia since Peter was upstairs playing video games, I made this:
I don't have a good chain for it right now, but by pulling up a longer chain I have you can see what it looks like on.
I think I'm going to go make another!
Labels: jewelry
Look at me, actually doing all the fun craft-alongs out there! First I actually
finished something for
Tie One On and now I made something for
Loobylu's Month of Softies theme for June,
June Bug. Butterflies are bugs, right?
I stuffed it with stuffing I've collected from all of DJ's toys he's ripped up, and I used a little more of that grosgrain ribbon I got on eBay a while back. And I sized it perfectly to fit in my sewing kit:
Labels: sewing
Someday I would like to have a beautiful garden outside my kitchen window. We have the perfect spot for it, and it gets just the right amount of sunlight for just about any kind of plant. I didn't get it started this year, though, so I must satisfy myself with my plant shelf instead.
Now, normally I don't have a green thumb - it's more black. I've killed most plants, even ones that are supposed to be "easy." So I am especially pleased with how well so many of my plants are doing on our patio!
My bell pepper plant even has a pepper:
And look at my beautiful my "ornamental peppers" are!!
As long as I keep watering them every morning, hopefully they'll keep getting bigger!
Labels: homework
This may be the fastest, most successful thing I've ever sewn! I have been wanting to try something with pleats since I saw
this post on
Thimble, so I decided to use my apron for
Tie One On as an experiment. I totally love it, and almost wish it was a skirt, except Peter probably wouldn't be seen with me in it. I will definitely get wear out of it as an apron, though!
I finished after dark, so I'll try to get a picture wearing it during the daylight. Maybe I'll have to bake something to have an excuse!!
EDIT: I got a picture with it on! I had to take it myself but here it is:
I thought it was funny how interested the dogs (yes, we're dog-sitting again!) were in what I was doing...
Labels: clothes, sewing
I ran to Hobby Lobby over lunch this morning and picked up some things for some project ideas I've had. Hopefully the trip will lead to some good crafty posts! I also picked up some fabric for my
Tie One On Home on the Range apron. We have a very relaxed weekend coming up so that should let me get it done by the deadline. Here are a couple of the wonderful finished aprons I have been inspired by...
From
Hillary:
And from
Stephanie:
I'm so lucky to have found such a wonderful source of inspiration in these super crafy ladies!!
Labels: sewing
I have discovered a wonderful motivational tool - before and after photos! I present to you, a photo essay of my crafting areas...
First, evidence that my actual craft area has become so messy that I have overflowed into the kitchen:
Truthfully, I do usually sew at the kitchen table since then I don't feel tucked away from the rest of the house, but my stuff has been set up there way too long because I don't have anywhere to put it away. Here is why:
Considering in addition to one secret weapon (
my shelves) I also have a wonderful closet to store things in, I have no excuse for such a mess. So I spent a surprisingly short amount of time actually putting things away, and I now have this gorgeous space for crafting:
As if I didn't have enough "plans" I have some great ideas for things to hang on the walls in there to inspire me to be crafty. One of these days!!
There is no "after" pic for the kitchen table because I do still have more fabric to cut tonight, and that table is the only one big enough to fit my cutting mat. But at least now I actually have somewhere to put it away when I'm done!
Labels: craft room, homework
I received a sweet thank you note from my cousin, including a picture of my new, um, cousin-once-removed (?) enjoying his flannel blankie:
The funniest thing is that Asher looks just like a photo of my cousin when she was a baby. So far he seems to definitely take after his mother!
Labels: sewing
I made this pink and pearl necklace yesterday afternoon while indulging in my guilty pleasure - Gilmore Girls. Yep, I watch a WB teen drama! Peter doesn't understand why I find the bad acting and totally unrealistic dialog entertaining, and I can't really explain it, but I do! Anyway, here is the necklace I made while I watched:
I like the clasp I used on this one. Not just another lobster claw clasp:
And finally, since the pictures above don't really show how pretty this is, here's an action shot:
I made this one a little shorter than the others I've made recently, and I really like it! Katy, I have enough to make another one if you think this would fill your "pink necklace" need, just let me know! I have something else to send your way anyway!!
Labels: jewelry
I did some more baking this week - this time I made gingersnaps! I decided to try something different on a few of them and dipped them in melted almond bark. They taste great and look really pretty!!
We're heading to Austin tonight and
Schlitterbahn tomorrow with some kids from church. Hopefully I won't get too sunburned! I also hope I'll have time to squeeze in some crafting on Sunday, since we're coming back tomorrow night. I have so many things I want to try!!
Labels: cooking
I finally used some more of my Amy Butler fabric! I made another little zipper pouch for the
swap I'm doing with
Jenn.
The inside is just simple pink:
I hope she likes it, along with the other goodies I'm sending along!
Labels: bags, sewing
I received my swap goodies from
Jenn yesterday!
In addition to the gorgeous fabric that initiated the swap, she sent some beautiful buttons, a fabric fortune cookie, and some other great goodies. Here is a closeup of the fabric:
I can't wait to get going on a project for it!! Now I've just got to get my things in the mail to her... I'm stopping by the post office tomorrow!
Labels: swaps
I had grand plans for crafting last night, but one of my kitties was missing when I got home. We stayed around a while hoping she'd show up (I used the time to mow the lawn, fun!) but when she still hadn't, we walked the neighborhood looking for her and talking to neighbors. No one has seen her. I went to Kinko's about 10:30pm to make fliers, and Peter is staying home today to hang some up and put them in all the area mailboxes. We walked around calling for her until about 1am. I'm really worried.
She's the brown one.
EDIT: Peter found her! Yay!! Instead of crafting tonight I'm going to hang out with my friend and her two week old son - recipient of the
green baby blanket! Maybe a crafty post tomorrow finally!
Labels: family
My sister described some earrings she thought she might like - an understated crystal with maybe a silver bead or pearl, on earring hooks. Here is my interpretation that I sent her for her birthday:
I actually made these the same night as the red necklace, but I wanted to wait until she had gotten them before I posted this!
Labels: jewelry
No craftiness for a few days - I'm off to the beach! Some friends of ours have access to a beach house down in Rockport, so we're going down there for the weekend. It's supposed to be a gorgeous weekend, and luckily Tropical Storm Arlene is headed away from us, so the water should be great, too. Hopefully I'll come back relaxed and just a tad sun-kissed!!
And I do have two posts waiting, they just involve things being sent to people and I don't want to spoil the surprise!!
Labels: travel
These earrings were floating around in my head all day at work yesterday, so I made them right when I got home, just before making the
flower cards.
I might have to make them in several colors!
Labels: jewelry
Several times now I have seen (and bought!) adorable notecards in Target that have little seed beads on them. Here is my interpretation:
Click on the pic above to see all the cards, and closeups. I also decorated the envelopes! They're just blank inside, so they can be for birthdays, thank yous, congratulations, anything!
Labels: paper craft
Let me tell you, working with 3mm Swarovski beads can get quite frustrating! I dropped this bracelet twice while I was working on it, scattering tiny blue crystals everywhere. Luckily I have a sweet husband who held the curious animals at bay and helped me find them all! The result was worth it, in my opinion - a simple bracelet of blue, meeting up at a silver dove:
I put 2mm silver beads among the crystals to tie it all together:
I think I'll have to wear something to work tomorrow that goes with blue!
Labels: jewelry
My order from
artbeads.com came today! I got all the things in it to make a few specific pieces of jewelry... To learn how to use crimp beads, I made this necklace:
I actually did pretty well with the crimp beads. Here's a closeup:
The crystals that look black are actually a garnet red. There are a few places the wire is bent from being packaged - I'm hoping that smooths out over time.
I can see why crimp pliers would be useful, since they have the ability to round the crimp beads after you squish them. With normal pliers, my crimp beads are totally flat, but they're so small that it's not noticeable unless you look closely!
Labels: jewelry
I take pretty much any excuse to bake. I try to keep all the necessities around (eggs are the hardest, since I don't use them for much) so I can make some cookies or cupcakes when I feel like it... I think I mentioned recently that some friends of ours had a baby last week, so I used that as an excuse to bake some cookies! I did keep some for us, so that was an added bonus.
I really love the whole process of dough becoming cookies. This time I made my mom's peanut butter criss cross cookies...
There is something very satisfying about smashing down the balls of dough with a fork to form the criss-crosses.
And they are delicious! Thanks, Mom, for letting me do the smashing when I was little, and passing on the recipe now that I have a kitchen of my own!
Labels: cooking
I wear a lot of black. Black slacks to work once or twice a week, black tops with slacks once a week, black tops with skirts to church... A lot of black! And I hadn't made any black earrings yet! Then I saw
these at
Kelly Meeker Designs and thought of the perfect black earrings!
And they are quite small and understated. Here they are on:
Labels: jewelry
