Giveaway!! Free Stuff!

I'm an impatient person. And I figure I have 22 Facebook likes and 17 Twitter followers, so that's way over 25, right?! So who wants free stuff?!

The giveaway widget is over to the right top of my blog, just leave your comments on this post so I can find them easily to email the winner! I'm super excited, and hope whomever wins these beautiful Sterling Silver Earrings enjoys them :)

Bracelet Tutorial

All you need to make this bracelet (or anklet depending on how long you make it) is a ~9"x12" piece of cardboard (I used the bottom out of a 12 can flat) and a few different colors of embroidery floss. This bracelet uses three different colors; the more colors and floss you use, the wider your bracelet will be. So here we go! As a side note, if you're new to blogging, to see the pictures larger, all you have to do is click on them. Meaning no offense! I'm new to blogging as well ;)...

1.

 
With scissors make one cut in the middle on the top of your cardboard, and make several cuts on the bottom of your board. The amount of cuts across the bottom of your board needs to be the amount of strings you will have in your bracelet, or more.

2.  

For my bracelet, I cut a ~6ft length of thread from each of my three colors. I like to error on the side of way too much thread than too little (I've been on the too little side too many times...). Once you have your three lengths of thread, fold them to find the center.








3. 

 Now you're going to grab the center of your three strings you just found and make a knot, leaving a loop. Pull tight.










4.

Using the center cut on the top of your cardboard, place the loop and knot behind your cardboard, with the strings coming out in the front. Arrange your strings in the order that you'd like your colors to appear in your bracelet. Separate out the strings, and put each string through a cut on the bottom of your board, make sure they are pulled snug. We're going to start the bracelet with the string to the far left.






5.


Pull the string to the farthest left (green) out of the bottom cut in the cardboard, and make what appears like the number "4" with your number 1 string in the picture.

 Fold your farthest left string back under your number 1 string, and pull the end up through the loop created.

Pull tight.











6.

 With the same green string, make a number "4" again, and this time make your loop around the 2nd string.

7.

Continue the process until you have made a knot on your 3rd, 4th and 5th string as well.









8.

Your first row on your bracelet will appear like this. Now pull the green string you just finished using down through a cut to the farthest right bottom of your cardboard.









9.

You'll now continue the process with the string that is now to the furthest left following steps 5-8. This is the process you will continue until you get to your desired length.









10.

 When you get to where you have no more cuts to the right of your board, shift all of your strings back to the left of your board and continue on.

11.

Once you finish your bracelet and remove your strings from the bottom, it will curl up on itself. If you run your bracelet under water and stretch it out, it will help straighten it out. I've even wrapped bracelets in paper towels and placed heavy books on top of them to dry. Whatever you gotta do ;)







12.

Once your bracelet is dry and flat, tie a knot at the end so that the bracelet will not unravel.









13.

To tie your new bracelet on your wrist, you will basically make a bow like tying your shoestrings. This is if you want to be able to remove your bracelet. If you want to permanently leave your bracelet on, just make a knot and I would suggest putting a dab of clear fingernail polish on the knot to keep it from untying.







Leave me feedback if any part of this tutorial isn't clear enough! Hope you enjoy :)

Sterling Silver Earrings

I got a little impatient over the weekend and ended up purchasing the last thing I needed to start making some earrings, which was sterling silver wire. Which has a whole story to go along with it of a unfriendly cashier that is apparently stingy with coupons. Thanks a bunch.....I have wire on the way through Amazon, but it was taking too long :P. So here is my sterling silver stash!

I then whipped up four pairs of sterling silver earrings over the weekend, one of them being the pair for the giveaway!!

These are all sterling silver except for the silver beads/bead spacers in the earrings. And this is the pair I've decided to use for the giveaway!!...

The blog Facebook page is up to 19 likes, so we only need 6 more before someone can win these beautiful earrings! Start spreading the word :)

Completed Stuff, News....& Upcoming Giveaway!

I have lots of exciting news to share!! Because there are several things to share, this is totally deserving of a list :).

1. I've received some earring findings in the mail! Amazon officially rocks, not that it wasn't official before, but anywho....I got in my sterling silver leverbacks and sterling silver headpins! So I was able to make these beauties over the weekend:

I'm still waiting on my sterling silver wire and sterling silver open jump rings. Once I get those in I'll be able to make some different looking earrings. Pretty stoked!

2. I finished the crochet scarf I've been working on :)

For this scarf I did a double crochet stitch. The original plan was just going to be the center 3 rows, but when I was done I realized the scarf was too short. So then I decided to add the green ends to it, and voila!

3. I finished part of the mystery sewing project over the weekend for the unknowing recipient :D!! Hopefully it'll be done soon so that I can gift it and get some pictures up to share!

4. I've decided to do a giveaway!! If/when my Facebook page gets up to 25 likes, I'm going to set up a giveaway! I'm planning on it being a pair of earrings once I get the rest of my findings in. I will post a picture once I receive the rest of the supplies and make them ;). So start sharing the blog Facebook page so we can get some more likes! Sorry guys that this giveaway isn't exactly geared towards you, buuuut if you do enter and win you would get some pretty awesome handmade sterling silver earrings to gift to a girlfriend/mom/sister :)

Hemp Jewelry

On to a new craft! Hemp jewelry! I've been doing this one for a long time, I can't even remember where I picked it up. I believe it all started with a show called ZOOM on pbs I watched as a kid (I just Googled this and apparently it's still on the air!). They had an activity on the show where they showed you how to make bracelets with thread, and a friend and I really got into making them. I think using hemp just evolved from that. I've only ever done the basic square knot and spiced them up with awesome beads. I've tried several different methods to tie them off and have used various kinds of clasps. Below is a picture of a few anklets I have done:

The three anklets to the right use all basic square knots. The anklet on the left was my first attempt at trying to incorporate a knot called the Josephine knot, or pretzel knot. I was pretty excited about how it turned out for my first try :). I Googled hemp knots (I am a lover of Google), and this is the page I found and used to learn how to do the Josephine knot. The video on the page is very helpful.

For the Josephine anklet, I used a loop and bead as the clasp and for the three square not anklets I used a claw clasp. My secret for keeping knots from undoing themselves is to put a little bit of clear fingernail polish on them, works like a charm :).

Update: My sterling silver earring findings should be arriving soon!! Woop!

Beads Galore!

I have come to the realization that I have crafting ADHD. This blog is like a box of chocolates! You never know which craft you’re going to get next :P….don’t think too hard on it, it makes sense I promise. I’ve ordered stuff from ol’ truthful Amazon, so the actual earring making will be on hold for just a bit. I’ve kind of done some overhauling and have decided that I’m going to do everything with sterling silver. I wore the earrings with the findings (another new word I’ve learned recently!) I bought at Joann Fabrics, and my ears are in serious pain. So I’ve made quite a few sterling silver purchases on Amazon, and it’s just a waiting game….have I mentioned that I am not a patient person?....cause I’m really not. But, I think if I’m going to make earrings and spend money on awesome beads, then I want to do it right and hopefully the earrings will have a long lifetime and not hurt my ears (or someone elses if I get into selling earrings ;) ).

But I have gone bead crazy! Crazy I tell you! There’s a small bead shop in my town that a friend told me about, and it is AWESOME!! Wall to wall of beads from all over the world, and you can purchase as few as just 1 bead, you don’t have to buy an entire string of beads at outrageous prices. One bead can cost you anywhere from $0.03 and up. Joann’s watch out (though the bead place was here before Joann’s, so perhaps the bead shop should watch out….this is a chicken and egg ordeal)! Check out all of the beautiful beads I wrangled up:

I cannot wait to make some beautiful earrings with all of these. I have so many ideas floating around in my head that I want to try out. We’ll see how it goes. Stay posted for finished results! (Hurry up Amazon!...)

Bead Earrings

So over the weekend I made yet another Joann Fabrics run (love it!), I went in for a certain color of fabric for the mystery sewing project that I didn't find, so then I checked out the bead aisle! Ohhhhhh man, so many options! In the past I've used beads to do hemp bracelets/anklets, but I decided to try my hand at bead earrings. And this is what I've completed so far:

I'm kind of in love with all three pairs and cannot wait to finish up some more. I chose the leverback earring kit from Joann's, because I'm in love with that style. They're just so much more convenient, you don't have to worry about them falling out of your ear and losing them. So far these are fairly simple to make, but I'm hoping to try some new things as I become more familiar with earring making.

Let me know what you think so far :).

Quilt Top & Back Complete!!

I am super, uber excited!! I finally completed the top (which has actually been done for a little while now) and backing for the quilt I'm making myself! Here is the completed top:

And here is the completed back:

Again I got this pattern from Fresh Lemons Modern Quilts, it is a free pattern on her website called Kaleidoscopic Kites. I modified the pattern just a bit by adding a couple borders, just to make the quilt larger. I also changed a few things with her color scheme; I used black as my background color, so instead of using brown as one of the colors, I used purple. I didn't really want to mix black and brown in my quilt. I love love love! the fabric/pattern I used as the backing. I think it's just fantastic.

I'm now in the market to find a quilt shop that offers longarm quilting services for a reasonable price. I'm wanting to have an allover meandering quilt pattern, so hoping to find someone that can do it for a decent price. I also need to decide what color thread I want the quilting done in, and at the moment, I'm stumped. It was suggested to see if the quilter would do different colors for the top and backing. But even still, if I use black on the top, it's going to really pop out on the light colored squares. And then white/off white on the back is going to really pop in the stripe down the middle; so I just don't know! Suggestions would be appreciated :). Happy Quilting :)