A few beading projects

Inspired by some links I've found on Pinterest, actually!  I've got a whole board of jewelry inspirations.  There are lots of good jewelry inspiration ideas floating about on Pinterest, and as our heat wave continues on, I've been more into beading and general crafting than knitting - much cooler to work with, at least temperature-wise!  So, I'm being creative using another outlet, and hoping that Fall comes soon :)

First up is a necklace inspired by an Anthropologie piece, the Spinet necklace.  Anthropologie often has such adorable or striking pieces, but such prices!!  Much easier to make on your own!  This one used chain from Michael's, and a string of yellow and cream stones, also from Michael's, and a clasp and accent bead from my own stash, nothing too complex.  The necklace portion is 16 inches, then the chain drops down as a pendant.  I used the accent bead, as I only had 6 of the stone beads.  That left either extra beads, or oddly spaced stones on the 'pendant' portion of the necklace if I used 4 there, with 2 stones on the drops.  I played around a lot with the spacing of the stones and so forth, before diving into my stash and coming out with the brass accent bead - same metal as the chain, same size as the stones, works out nicely.  And I liked the dragonfly accent too, so I'm very pleased with my final result.

 

Another piece is a casual button bracelet.  I liked the monochromatic ones from the original website, Milomade, but found some black and white buttons to use in my first attempt.  This was a completely WalMart craft, actually.  They have blank link bracelets, and bags of assorted, color coordinated buttons.  Perfect supplies to get you started.  All you need now is the eye pins to attach the buttons to the bracelet.

I started with attaching the eye pins to the buttons, then laying them out in a pattern I liked.  The pattern I ended up with is alternating black and white buttons, and alternating styles of buttons within each color.  Black A, White 1, Black B, White 2, Black A, White 3, and so on.  It gives it an artfully random look - not perfectly matched, but not totally reach-in-the-bag-blindly type random.  I like it  :)

If you look at the above picture on the right, you can see how I attached the buttons.  The eye pin is looped through one of the buttons, then the eye of the eye pin attaches it to the bracelet link.  I spaced my buttons on this bracelet to be one per link - 23 altogether.  If you're working with a smaller linked chain, you might want to adjust the spacing of your buttons so it doesn't get too crowded.  This one worked out nicely for 1-per-link.

I've worn this one a couple of times already now, and really like it.  I've enough black and white and grey in my wardrobe that this works nicely as a casual match-almost-all sort of piece.  I've already picked up buttons for another in fall time colors of navy and gold and rust and green.  Thinking a copper chain with that one, but we'll see what looks good :)

Happy Roald Dahl Day!

Every year, Sept 13 is Roald Dahl Day!  Sept 13 is (was) his birthday, so makes for a fitting day to celebrate.  In the UK, they plan all sorts of things!  Some areas even have a whole Roald Dahl Month of activities!  Fun!

My favorite Roald Dahl book was by far Matilda.  Probably a combination of the independent, intelligent female protagonist who loved books, combined with an inner desire to have telekinetic abilities (ranks up there with my desire to have my own dragon... some things I still haven't outgrown!).  Probably why the Roald Dahl books have lasted so long - who ever outgrows the desire to see outrageously appropriate bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good ones?

Fun foods!

In celebration of my birthday this week, I'm sharing some foods I've attempted as some 'Happy Birthday to Me' fun!

The first is my birthday cupcake itself.  I was inspired by the web-famous Cookie Monster Cupcake.  I realize that my Cookie Monster looks a lot more melted than the inspiration piece, but I'm still happy with him.  I didn't use 'decorator's icing,' which makes the difference.  I made cream cheese icing instead, to go with the carrot cupcakes.  Tastes delicious, but doesn't hold peaks as well as the icing typically used on decorative cakes.  But, for whatever reason, I just don't like that icing.  Too rich, too sweet.  Looks beautiful, but I just don't like the taste, a waste of calories.  Oh well.  I think I can deal with melted Cookie Monsters if it means I like the taste of the finished cupcake!  I could have used white candies for the eyes, though, instead of icing.  Would have made them a little rounder, neater.  But seeing as only Zach and I saw them, I'm not worried.

And yes, I am almost 30, and made Cookie Monster cupcakes for my own birthday.  Any problems?  :)

 

And for a main dish (or lunchtime snack, whatever), here are Mini Corn Dogs!  I've seen this recipe posted a bunch of different places, and have wanted to give them a try.  These are delicious, and oh-so-easy!  Only a few ingredients: corn muffin mix, some hotdogs, and whatever corn dog toppings you like!  I used Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, my go-to corn bread mix, and it worked beautifully.  Yum!  

I did find that it yields a few more corn dog muffins than the box says it will yield in muffins.  Makes sense, as the meat does take up some space in the muffin cup, you can squeeze a few more corn dog muffins out of each box of mix.  Does mean that you have to adjust accordingly with the hot dogs you prepare, though - just something to note.  The hot dog part can be hot dogs cut into pieces (I found that cutting them into 3rds fit perfectly in the muffin cups) or Vienna sausage if you like that better.  Just press them into the muffin cups once some batter is in the cup and bake as usual for the mix.  

As for toppings, I like to sprinkle a bit of cheese on top, and serve them with ketchup.  But then, I'm a hot dog purist and don't go for many toppings on my hot dogs.  You can add whatever you want - mustard, onion, whatever toppings you like.  When adding cheese, I added it just a few minutes before the muffins were done, just enough time to melt.  

This was my first time making these, but I definitely know I'll be making these again! They made a good lunch, too.  Two or three of the muffins fit perfectly in my little lunch box, add some fruit, and there you go!  A nice change from sandwiches or casserole leftovers for my lunch at work :)

More Sisterly Bonding

We had some crafty time too, while Anne was visiting, so we played with the beading.  Anne's first time, so learning some new stuff for her and working on a few projects of my own.  Bwa ha ha!  I've started her on a new craft!  The Enabler strikes again! 

This one is inspired by a necklace I saw at Kohl's using yellow beads.  I used light green instead, as I still have bunches of them, and made it a double strand, because I wanted too.  The beads are just linked together, in a relatively random pattern, nothing complex.  I did try to mix up large vs. small beads in the pattern, and the two sides of each chain do mirror each other, but other than that...  The accent beads are just from Wal-Mart, and match the light green beads I had to a T!  Score!  And I've got a sweater in the same light green, so I'm looking forward to wearing this one a lot, assuming it ever becomes sweater weather again in Texas...

This one below was a simple one - just a ribbon with some decorative beads to match a pretty pendant.  Took some doing to find blues and greens that matched the pendant, though!  They aren't straightforward colors, apparently.  More of a blue-grey than a sky blue, for example, and the green's the same.  Still, am very pleased with the final project, worth the effort.  And the funny thing, Anne made a similar necklace with the same pendant in different colors.  Hers is in light and dark roses (rose and mauve? burgundy?) with a burgundy ribbon and silver beads.  Very pretty, and I wish they'd had more than one of those pinkish pendants, as I'd have been making one too!  I do like my blue and green one, though, and know I've got those colors in my wardrobe too, so it all works out.

I do have to say, I think Anne enjoyed this bonding more than the run :)

Sisterly Bonding (and she doesn't even hate me afterwards!)

So, part of the reason I was incommunicado recently, besides the work around the house and the starting of a new job and everything else that was keeping me busy, was that Anne was able to come out and visit for a week!  Huzzah!  Fun fun times abound!  Both of us recognized that we need to have more friends to just play with.  It's so much harder for adults to meet people, you know?  In high school, there are clubs and sports teams, and in college you have dorm life as well.  And throughout school, there are people in your classes that you get to know as well.  Once you're out of school, there's work, and... work.  You have to make an extra effort if you're going to find people to work out with or go to the movies with or have a board game night, or whatever.  So, it was greatly appreciated when a playmate came out here to TX!

Anyhoo, while she was here, there was a 5K on post which Zach and I wanted to run - the oh-so-appropriately named Hotter than Hades 5K.  We gave her the choice of running it (or walking it) or of sleeping in, and she took us up on the offer!  It helped, I'm sure, that the races on post are free ;)

So, we all woke up nice and early last Saturday and went over for a nice jog around post.  First 5K race I've done in MONTHS!  The ones back in CA weren't exactly well-advertised, so I missed some by just not hearing about them; and there were a few that I just couldn't do because of scheduling.  So I was greatly looking forward to the one here, something to hopefully get my lazy butt back in gear.

Here she is at the starting line, still looking very chipper.

 

So how did the race go?  Not too badly, considering I'm trying to get back in shape still!  Getting extended in the desert (that extra 6 months was a motivation killer) and having one of my workout buddies move and another get injured... well, my workout motivation thermometer dropped below freezing.  Now that we're in a new area, I'm trying to get back into a routine, but with my work hours bouncing around with trainings, and this horrible never-ending heat wave, I'm finding it a challenge.  So, a nice easy 5K was needed.  It was indeed Hotter than Hades, but was also held early enough that we could finish before it became too beastly. I was slower than usual, to be expected after 7 months of laziness, but I wasn't a total wreck either.  So, still have some muscles there under the lazy layer?  Let's try and get them going again!

And for Anne?  She survived!  Her first 5K successfully completed, no knees blown, no EMS called at the side of the road, and hey - she can still smile at the end of it!  She hung with me through the first 2 miles or so, and then had to do a bit more walking than running.  Still, not bad for her first 5K!  We made sure to take a bunch of pictures so she could go back home and show her workout buddies that she really did run a race.  She didn't they'd believe her otherwise, as she is definitely not a Runner :)

   

And as a side note, I'm wearing one of my favorite running shirts - a running donut, with the caption "1 Glazed Donut = 6 Miles" - a Target clearance find, actually.  Get compliments on it though! "I'm sweatin' sprinkles!"  Silly donut :)  We both laughed too, wearing our bright pink shirts together.  Made us a little easier to find, but we had to chuckle at how we turn the same color as our shirts as we workout.  Have always turned bright pink when I workout, and now I'm that color from the top of my head on down!  As one of my favorite workout quotes runs, "If you still look good at the end of a workout, you're not doing it right!"

Yes, another one

This one started as a long loop necklace.  I love those purple and silver beads still, and found a fun chain that worked well with them.  Yes, all those silver loops are part of the chain!

 

Then, klutzy me caught it on something and popped part of the chain.  Rats!!  I now wear it as a lariat.  Interestingly enough, it still works, and I'm still trying to decide if I want to fix it!

Thinking of lariats, this one was meant to be one from the beginning.  My rainbow lariat, as I term it.  And yes, you might recognize the silver beads on the end as leftovers from another necklace.  Too pretty to go to waste, and they gave just enough weight to the ends of the necklace.  Perfect!

 

This one was just fun, no other word for it.  Cute kitty pendant, fun mixed assortment of beads, and to top it all off, a kitty clasp!  I did have to make my own bail (the part than hangs the pendant from the chains) but other than that, a very easy project.  I just strung all the mixed beads onto one length of wire, then measured it off into even lengths, dividing the one long stretch of beads into four.  I added the clasp, and then hung the pendant.  Ta-da!

 

So, I think I'm now caught up at the moment with all my necklace projects.  So, maybe now I'll be able to catch Zach and get some help catching up on the knitting project photos!

More beading projects

See, told ya' I'd  have more to share!  These ones are just from kits I liked or ones I wanted to learn from - Artbeads and Oriental Trading Co.

These are just a few bracelets I made from kits from OTC.  I plan to make some stitch markers with the same kits.  After all OTC packages come in bundles, and I don't actually need 12 of the same bracelet right?  And can't let cute beads go to waste!  :)

Next up, a few brooches (pins) also from OTC.  And again, the stitch markers I made with the leftover kits.  The light green pin is one I just put together myself.  Personally, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the bookworms and the "Love to Read" charms, as those just fit so well with both me personality and my job and career aspirations  :)

 

This kit is from Artbeads, to learn how to make a beaded bail.  I like the design of the necklace, but I think I'm going to find some new ribbon that matches the beads and pendant a little more to my taste.  Personally, the ribbon is a little too green, though not quite as green as in the picture below.  It's just not quite as teal as the beads, so I think I can find a ribbon that matches a little better to replace it...

After doing the kit above, I used the beaded bail technique to add the stone heart pendant to a ribbon necklace I had.  Just black beads, to coordinate with the black ribbon.  Nothing special in the construction, other than it was a chance to practice a new technique for me :)

 

This one isn't a kit either, but might have well as been.  It's just a basic leather cord with endings, to which I added a stone pendant I liked which I found on sale.  About as simple as can be!