Button Bracelet

I have a confession.

 I have an unhealthy love of a set of glass buttons I bought in Savannah, GA some years back and I've never been able to find a craft project for them that I just felt was good enough. I'd put them on things, sew them into projects, and turn them into little more than vase filler but nothing seemed to showcase them the way I felt they deserved. Then I stumbled across this amazing idea from Obstinate Pursuit  that showed off a charming bracelet made of nothing but buttons. Seriously, go look at her work! It's GORGEOUS. The minute I saw her version, I knew I had finally found something that would not only put my buttons on display but would let me take them everywhere so I could show them off. If you can, I highly recommend following her method but I sadly didn't have any chain with open links so I had to improvise.

I love Paris!

OOH LA LA!!

Ok, I have a confession, I've never actually BEEN to Paris but this does not in any way stop me from loving the idea of Paris. More to the point, I love the concept of French provincial cottages and countrysides, the romance of Paris at night, the thought of all the cafe's, artists, and history that adorn gay Paris like strands of pearls. Alas, I am starting to get a little overly poetic here so I'll stop. Point being, I love adding little flairs of that romantic feel to my home when and where I can so when I saw this great muslin table runner I knew I needed to have something similar. With the winter holidays upon us, my diningroom table was begging for a change of color and the soft white of muslin just called to me. I had some fabric left over after making my own lightbox (more on that in some future post) so I grabbed up what I had, all set to make a glorious runner that would flow off the ends of the table.

Ribbon Necklace

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I'm spending most of this week in classes for about 12 hours a day as I work on getting my Cisco Certified Network Associate certifications. YAY! I've been super worried about this upcoming test but it's the next logical step on my path toward a better career. I won't bore you with that though. Let's get to the fun stuff life crafting! I had mentioned I made presents for people this year instead of buying them for Christmas and I wanted to share some ideas that you can use. Here's a quick, simple idea for a neat necklace that really has some big impact.

Wanna know how to make it? 

It's pretty simple all told. It's just a piece of damask ribbon though any would work. I wanted to go for a delicate French impression though so the swirls of damask just called to me. I picked up a pack of ribbon clasps from Michael's along with some lengths of chain and a pretty hanging photo ornament. Yep. That's what that is. It was a Christmas ornament they sold last year and I just turned it into a pendant. So the rest is pretty straight forward. Just measure out your chain and ribbon so that the chains are slightly longer. That allows the pendant to shift a little and I think it just looks cleaner than the ribbon being exactly half of the necklace. I then attached the ribbon clasps on each end of the ribbon, attached the chain with a jumpring, slipped on the pendant, and then attached a lobster clasp at the back to connect the two halves. 

I added a little dangling piece that I made of a marble star, hematite bead, and marble bead on a simple headpin. It just adds that little bit of extra interest. Here's a closer look.

And that's it. Enjoy!

     

Homemade wreath

It's DONE! WOOOOO!!

For the past few days, I've been working like crazy on this new wreath. I knew I needed one but since the hubby and I are visiting family for Christmas, there was no point buying a live wreath. I decided instead to just make one. I'd been struggling to figure out what to make for my front door when I happened across this post from Home Made. Her idea gave spark to mine and this is the happy result. Click the link to see the tutorial for making your own!

Lose Control!

Oh man am I happy it's the weekend. I slept in a bit today and had a nice leisurely breakfast before starting to tackle my craft projects again. I'm currently making small plastic rings as a side business, I'll post sometime with a tutorial on that, and I started making a wreath for my door that I'm super proud of too. Not to mention the french cottage inspired muslin table runner I am kicking off today, the bracelet I'm making my friend, and the photos I'm getting printed up as gifts. Yeah, I have a lot on my plate at once so I've begun doing 'drive-by-crafting' since I don't have a lot of spare time. After breakfast I hit the wreath with a new coat of high gloss acrylic sealant and while that was drying, I started uploading the photos to be printed. When I get done writing this, it's time to start sewing on that table runner and then work on the bracelet while that's drying. You'll understand the drying part of that sentence when I post the tutorial and photos of the table runner.

Anyway, enough of my ADD inspired crafting techniques. Allow me to show you what I made up recently! 

I miss you, sunny beaches!

So here's the first of the gifts I've made during my silence here. This is a present for a good friend of mine. She had always wanted a hemp necklace but wanted something a little more elegant than a shark's tooth or a few chunky beads. I undertook the challenge and decided to go with a more beachy theme.

I made this over the course of a few days, working for about an hour a night on it. I've never actually done any macrame before so this was a first for me. I knew I would need a good pattern though so I followed the incredibly helpful instructions I found here: Patterns! I went with the figure 8 pattern used in this lovely necklace on the site (necklace pattern) but I adapted it to have my nice center piece. I wanted to give the feel of a warm beach so I went with a light, sand-colored hemp and then chose accents in pretty deep blues to represent the water. 

Once I'd finished weaving the necklace, I attached a lobster claw clasp at the back to complete it. I then took thin beading string and looped on little clusters of 2-3 freshwater pearls in that same pretty blue. I tied them to the hemp weave here and there like jewels on the sea floor. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the result and all told the cost was pretty low. The pearls and pendant were from Michael's Arts and Crafts and I had a 40% off coupon so I got them for really cheap. The hemp can be picked up from almost any craft place though satin ribbon would also be really cute with something like this. 

Have fun crafting!

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HOLY COW!!!

So it's been forever since I've updated, I know. This blog is really just me dumping my brain onto the internet anyway but I've been busily crafting away and thought it was about time I updated here. I'll have some new tutorials soon on a few things like a Glass Button Bracelet, Ribbon Necklace, and more for anyone with enough patience to actually watch this blog. I the meantime, I've been happily crafting my heart out for the holidays.

I think homemade gifts are heavily underrated in today's very consumerist society. Like everyone else, I used to get all wrapped up in the fear and guilt of not getting a 'good enough' present for those I cared about. What if they got me something better? What if they paid more? What if I can't find that rare stuffed rhinoceros beetle wielding a tiny sword that they wanted so badly?! I would stress and wind up putting myself into more and more debt. Well, this year that hasn't been an option and I have to say I'm almost grateful for it. I'm the breadwinner in my family right now and things have been very tight, I'm not afraid to admit. I know that I'm not the only one facing this issue right now either and there's nothing to be ashamed of in that. The shame only comes in thinking that you have to buy someone an expensive present for it to be appreciated.

When I made this decision, I was a little scared of it. I kept imagining that people would be angry with me, that they'd feel ripped off for having given more than they felt they received and there's plenty of negative comments on blogs out there about how homemade presents just aren't as good to give once you graduate from middle school. Thus when I finally broke down and informed my friends and family that I just couldn't afford to get them a lot of presents this year, I was all prepared for the pitchforks and torches I had convinced myself would be coming. The response from my loved ones was overwhelmingly positive though and I found myself shamed for having thought that they'd react any different. Not only did they all understand my position, they all seemed thrilled at the idea that I would take so much of my time to make them something!

So if you're stressing out and trying to figure out how you're going to take out another mortgage this year to pay for gifts, stop, relax, and try to ask yourself "Who am I buying a present for that wants to see me broke and in debt just so they can get a better present?" I'm pretty sure you won't have anyone that comes to mind when you put it that way and if someone does come to mind, are they really someone you want to buy something for anyway?

Anyway, with all that rambling done, I'll wrap up by saying that homemade is the way to go and I think I'll be keeping this tradition from here out. If you're looking for some fun ideas for presents, there's a ton of great blogs and sites with amazing ideas. I'll post the links below. Over the next few days I'm going to try to highlight some of the gifts I wound up making for those I love as well so I hope they inspire you!

Great sites for present ideas:

Madigan Made  - This woman has so much talent, it's leaking out her ears. GREAT place for simple ideas.
Dollar Store Crafts - If you're on a very tight budget, this is a fun place to get ideas on the cheap.
Tip Junkie - If you don't know about this site, welcome to blogland for surely you must be new here. ;)
Pintrest - Another classic with amazing ideas and links galore!