Craft Hour at the Beach

I went to the beach this weekend with a few friends and I decided it would be nice to have a good wholesome girl bonding activity to do.  So I came up with craft hour.  It was actually supposed to be 'craft 20 minutes' where I showed everyone how to make an easy pair of earring.  For some people, making stuff was fun, while for others making stuff was hard.  Apparently not everyone is in to crafting.  I won't name names.

Beezus5 gets the gold star in crafting as she finished hers first and with the least help.  Plus they were pretty cute.  Hers are the big ones in the front.  (Everyone else did great too, for the most part.)

Even though some people had a little trouble (mostly with selecting the beads they wanted to use), everyone did end up with a pair of nice fashion earrings to wear out to dinner.  (Although B5 didn't put hers on until after the photo.)

The boys did not participate.

Would you be mad if your friend made you have craft time at the beach?

My Homemade Birthday Present Streak Continues...

Curly J was back from her honeymoon just in time to celebrate her 30th birthday this weekend.  Of course I had to attempt to make her present since I made that goal of making all birthday presents this year.  Plus I wrote about that goal on my blog and she reads my blog. 

I kind of took the easy way out and made some earrings.  It's just too hot for any more t-shirt scarves at this time and I was drawing blanks on everything else.  I also gave her a bunch of photos from her wedding shower, bachelorette party and wedding and an album.  I had big plans to make an album but they fell through.  So, earrings it is.

Plus I made her a birthday cake.  It's my go-to chocolate chip poundcake which I have finally mastered over the years.  And by mastered, I mean it actually came all the way out of the pan instead of getting stuck in there and ripping apart.  Yay me!

The evening started with dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant followed by game night at her house.  B and I were victorious at a game of LCR and scored $7 in prize money.  Have you ever played LCR (left, center, right)?  I was pretty skeptical at first but it ended up being pretty fun.

So in conclusion, Mexican food and cake are good, LCR is fun, and I'm still doing ok on my handmade presents. 

HandMade Birthday Presents by Me!

Because I like a good challenge, I decided that this year I would try to make all my friends their birthday presents.  Isn't that what most people want for their 30th birthday (most of my friends are turning 30 this year)??

So we started off with $hanzles back in February.  This was when I had a lot of motivation and decided I could make hard/awesome stuff for everyone.  So I sewed her this little pouch in NC State colors (yay WolfPack!).  It only took me a billion hours to make.  (That might be an exaggeration.   The pattern is pretty simple).  I also made her some earrings.  I thought that I'd promised to make her yellow earrings.  Turns out I was supposed to make her green ones.  Oh well, now she has some yellow ones and still no green ones.  It's the thought that counts, right?

Then it was off to Curly T and Beezus5, the late April, early May birthdays.  This was when I really got into making t-shirt scarves.  I tried really hard on Curly T's and ended up with something pretty decent.  That is me modeling it below.  It looked much better when she wore it.  She put the flower part up around her neck.

Beezus5's was made at the last minute.  Her t-shirt scarf was still shedding a little when I gave it to her.  But she couldn't be mad because I spent most of my time on her graduation present which I gave her the same week as her bday.  Again, thought that counts, right?

So far, I have been able to make all the birthday gifts.  Don't feel bad though if your birthday is later in the year and I end up making you something really terrible or giving you a gift card.  I'm not sure how long this creativity can last.

Do you like handmade gifts?

PS-The t-shirt scarf is actually pretty easy to make if you want to give someone a handmade gift. 

My New Favorite Earrings...

I have tried making earring wires several times on my own.  I'm not good at it.  Usually I get the wrong type of wire.  I tried beating it with a hammer.  Usually it would just end up breaking.  So I figure if you can't make something, buy it from someone who can.  So I found these ear wires on Etsy (at Shel's Jewelry Supplies) a couple weeks ago and bought some.  I also bought the mini version cause I love mini stuff.

This weekend Beezus5 attempted to take me to her favorite beads store downtown but it was closed.  Fortunately there was another bead store across the street.  So after checking out every bead they had I ended up buying a few.  I made these earrings for myself with the mini hoops.

I like them.  I think the ear wires really "make" the earring.

And here are some more I made for my Etsy shop with the bigger hoops.

What do you think?

Bridesmaid Jewelry

So I finally got my big break as a jewelry designer when my friend Ms. Acorn asked me to make bridesmaid jewelry for her wedding this weekend.  I sent her several photos via email and she decided she wanted something pretty simple. 

So I present to you....photos of me modeling the bridesmaid jewelry...

What?  He wanted to be in the picture.

I am also practicing my breathing.  The dress in my size came with normal sized stomach area and giant size boobage area.  So I had to get this taken in.  The alteration lady told me if I was not going to wear straps then she would have to make it tight.  Apparently that meant tight in the area where oxygen flows to my lungs cause I'm having a bit of trouble breathing normally.  I'll work on in though.  I'm also practicing walking around in my new silver heels.

Ok so here's some close ups of the jewelry.  I used some crystal beads, silver beads, and sterling silver ear wires and chains to make these.

So I hope the other Bridesmaids like them or at least pretend to. 

Also in Hair news, I have purchased a new gadget and am practicing with it this week to see if I can make a low loose bun for the wedding.  My backup plan is a hot ponytail.  Has anyone ever used the Goody Simply Style Spin Pin?  I kept seeing commercials on TV so I decided to go ahead and pick one up.

I'm super exciting about the wedding this weekend!  Go Team A-Corn.

Do you think my bridesmaid jewelry is acceptable?

Or do you think the jewelry will ruin the wedding?

Should I take Hobie as my date because we look so good together or should I let B come with me?

Do you like weddings?

Black and White Earrings

These are my favorite earrings that I have made recently. What do you think?  I used beads that I bought at a cute bead shop when I was visiting Beezus5 and I went on our trip to NYC.  I have also been working on my jewelry photography and I thought these turned out decent.  I was at the beach all weekend and am now tired and headed back to work and having a hard time coming up with things to say.  That is all.  Hope everyone is having a great Monday!!

I made these earrings by stringing 5 beads onto ear wires similarly to the technique used in this Post.

Button Earrings

Button Earrings are fun!

So after my wedding this past August, I got really in to jewelry making. Mostly earrings. I made so many that I started putting them for sale on Etsy. Sales have been a bit slow. One night over Thanksgiving break I had my sister, her friend, my brother, and my best friend all crammed in to my craft room (which was a huge mess by the way). They were all looking at my earrings and someone suddenly decided I should make earrings out of buttons. So, here they are.

These are pretty easy to make. You just glue 2 matching buttons to earring backs, which can be purchased at any craft store. I, however have been using super glue to glue the back on, which has been a little difficult. I always manage to glue a button to my finger, a button to the carpet or my fingers to each other. And super glue does not come off your fingers once it dries. At least not for a few days.

I also attempted to sell these earrings at the flea market a couple months ago. One woman came up to my table and shouted "no, you did not make earring out of buttons". I wasn't really sure how to respond so I just nervous laughed and said "yes I did." She did not buy any but one other woman did. So yay for button earrings. Also my friends and sister seem to like them. And if someone asks you why you are wearing a button in your ear you can always say "uh yeah, how do you think my ear is staying on my head." I said that once. The person looked confused. But anyways, I heart button earrings.

Oh and if you want to save yourself from gluing your fingers together, you can get some here....

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38263028