Let's Make A Statement (Ring)!

My three-year-old daughter is all girl.  Her dress-up trunk is full of frilly, sparkly, lacy things (along with the fire helmet, a pirate sword, etc.).  Last year I got an email from Etsy titled "Girl's Best Friend."  In it there was a link to a completely cool statement ring made out of white leather.  It was shaped like a diamond and embroidered with black cord.  Now, as I write this the ring has long since been sold so I don't have the original photo to show you, but trust me when I say it looked really neat.  I almost bought it for myself.

Well, it immediately gave me an idea for some dress-up accessories for my daughter.  I used felt, embroidery floss, and little ponytail holders to make her some jewels of her own.  They were a big hit!

She loves the bling!  (Notice the wings in the background.)

You can make some for  your little gal!  Here's the how-to...

The Materials

• Felt 
• Black Embroidery Floss
• Ponytail Holders & Elastic
• Needle and Coordinating Thread

Paper Patterns

You could use any sturdy type of material you want (such as leather), but felt is soft, readily available in lots of colors and patterns, and  very inexpensive.  The ponytail holders are the perfect size for little fingers.  Even I can slip one on without my hand getting too uncomfortable. This is a great project to do to use up felt scraps. 

Choose what type of jewel you want to make and pick the appropriate color of felt.  I went online and did some research about diamond cuts to get a basic idea about facets for different  styles.  I blew each of them up to approximately 2 inches across to make my patterns.

Cut two of each shape out of felt.  Using the thread, sew a ponytail holder to one of the felt pieces.
Use the embroidery floss to stitch facets into the other piece of felt.
Stitch the two pieces of felt together to make a ring. (You could also try using fabric glue to attach the two sides of the ring together.)

Stitching the facets.

 I did not try to transfer the facet pattern to the felt before I stitched.  I just eyed it.

The finished top of the ring.

A look at both sides of a ring.

Sometimes the ponytail holder matched the jewel color (like the topaz below), and other times I tried to pick something close.)

A close-up look at the collection.

Notice the "diamond" pictured above is much simpler than the one above.  I learned that it is best to keep the facet stitching as simple as possible.  

The entire collection!

There are diamonds, sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, topaz, rubies, and pearls.  The pearls in the necklace were stitched to a long elastic cord. 

She loves to wear her baby bling.  She eve went to church a few weeks ago wearing the "amethyst marquise" ring.  It really complemented her outfit!

Here is one last look at the hardware!

COOL! THANKS, MOM!   (Even Pink Woobie thinks so!)

Have fun making your little one some bling of her own!

6-year Easter Eggs

O-K!  One of the reasons that I started this blog was to finish all of the projects that I had laying around.  (Believe me when I tell you there are A LOT.)  This particular project I began when I was staying home when I was home on maternity leave after my son was born.  He is six.  That's right, six.  SIGH!  I got the idea for this project from my Martha Stewart Magazine.  There was this completely cute arrangement of thread-wrapped carrots, bunnies, and eggs.  I knew that I could do that!  HERE is the link from Martha's website. (I still have the pages from the magazine that I pulled out for reference.)

I spent several days wrapping eggs - 40 of them.  Then, I moved on to another project before I could finish decorating them.  SIGH!  Fast forward several years.  I was finishing my old projects, trying new recipes, blogging about my efforts when I was pulled up short.  Decorating these eggs was on deck waiting to become my next accomplishment when I got strep throat.  Everything came to a crashing halt.  After that, it seemed pointless to finish an Easter craft after Easter so I put it off again.

Now,  I can finally say...HOORAY!  I finished another one!  Of course, I readily admit that I am about six years late with this project, but it is done and that is really all that matters right?  Right!

Eeek!  Huge thumb!

I don't have any photos of the wrapping of the eggs because I wasn't thinking about blogging then.  I will tell you the technique that I used to wrap the eggs.

• Start by putting a straight pin in one end of the egg (or sphere).  
• Brush around the pin with a thin layer of glue (I used white glue) about a half and inch or so.
• Leave a tail of thread about 2 inches long.  Brush it with glue to secure it to the side of the egg.
• Begin wrapping the thread around the pin.  The first few wraps are the most difficult.  
• Continue wrapping around the egg until you get to the middle.  
• Stop wrapping and begin again at the other end of the egg (or sphere).
• Finish the wrapping in the middle.

Make sure you keep the glue layer very thin.  While it does dry clear, too much glue will saturate the thread fibers and affect the sheen of the thread.  This cannot be fixed once it is done without removing the bad thread and starting over.  This would not be as much of a problem when using larger cord or yarn.  I used embroidery floss so it was a definitely something I had to think about. 

Once your eggs are dry (no need to wait 6 years)....DECORATE!

I used both white glue and hot glue to stick down the decorations.  I used various small ribbons, trims, and other embellishments to decorate the eggs.  Here are some photos...

Gluing on the decorations.  I got the above bag of tiny trims for $5!  Amazing!

I had some "help."

Lots of "help."

(I still haven't finished organizing my ribbons and things after all of this help.  :) I see a post in that mess somewhere!

Now...the moment you have all been waiting for...here are the finished eggs!

I cut the long ribbon of trim into individual daisies. 

I like the effect achieved by the flash off the corner of the glass.

More "help."

You can see darker spots on the upper blue and green eggs where the thread got too saturated by the glue.

Here is a favorite.

You want to use flexible trim to decorate the oblong shape of the eggs. 

You can add screw eyes to either the top or the bottom of the eggs to make them suitable for hanging.

I really like the look of this bow on the top of the egg,

Here I used a vintage button.

Well, that's it.  These are my eggs.  I am glad that they are done (finally), and I am pleased with the way they turned out!  I can now truly enjoy the fruits of my labor instead of feeling guilty about the bag full of undecorated eggs lurking in my craft closet year after year patiently waiting for me to get my act together. 


Finish a project that you have been putting off.  You'll be glad you did!  I know I am!

I would love it if you became a follower of my blog.  You can also find men HERE on Facebook and HERE on Pinterest.  

If you enjoyed this springtime post you might enjoy this post on Making a Fabric Flower Wreath or this post to make a Bunny To-PEEP-ary.  You could also try this post fora fun Teacher Pencil Bouquet. 

Let's Do Some Necking!

There is a cutie, cute girl at church who has the best sense of style!  Her name is Sammie!  Sammie wears great outfits that are accessorized perfectly.  I have admired one particular necklace from afar for quite a while.  Finally I decided that I simply must recreate Sammie's pink necklace.  Once I got started I made several versions of the Sammie necklace because they are soooo easy to make.  (You could seriously make this in about an hour.)  Here are my versions of the Sammie necklace...

Well, what do you think?  Which one is your favorite?

They completely simple and totally fast to make!  (They would be perfect for a quick craft night.)  Here is what you need to make your own Sammie necklace...

6" of lightweight gauzy fabric (I don't know what it is called)  I know, shame on me!
10 clear marbles
A button or other embellishment
A needle and thread
Some sort of flame
Maybe some fabric glue or hot glue (I didn't use this.)

 

Here are your materials!  I went a different direction and didn't use the vintage earring in the foreground.

Use scissors or a rotary cutter to cut the material into two pieces:  one 4" wide, the other 2"  each the entire length of the piece of fabric.

Take the 2" piece of fabric, fold it in half, and sew it into a long tube.  Then set it aside for later.

You will definitely want to pin the edges because this fabric is slippery. 

Count out 10 marbles and grab the 4" piece of fabric to make the necklace.

I think the marbles look really cool in this photo!

Divide the 4" strip of fabric in half lengthwise.  Wrap a marble at this spot in the fabric strip and tie a knot close to the marble on each side.  Alternate sides and add the marbles one at a time until all of the marbles are tightly wrapped and knotted into the fabric.

Here is where the directions get a bit sketchy.  I was working on this project while my kiddos were in their swimming lessons so I have no pictures of the creative process.  Just take my word for it, this is EASY!

Tie the selvage ends of the fabric together in a knot.   Singe the raw edges of the necklace above the marbles with the flame to keep them from unraveling.  Set this aside for now.

Pick up the tube that you made earlier.  Take threaded needle and loosely gather the fabric tube.  Stitch along the sewn edge and gather.  Shape the gather into a cute design.  I made a different design for each of the necklaces.  You can see the designs in the photos below.

Hold the necklace by the knot to determine where the design will go.  Stitch the design onto the side that has lower marbles.  That is a funny-sounding sentence!  The fact is, you are using an even number of marbles and starting in the middle makes them come out in uneven lengths in the end.  So just sew the design onto the lower-marbled side.  (You can flip the necklace around to put the lower side of marbles on either side of the necklace.  Doing this will put the finished designs on different sides of the finished necklace.)

Embellish your design with a decorative button.  Either hand-stitch the button or use glue.  And......

Voila!  Here is your new Sammie necklace!  In pink...

Here is the pink one!  The center of this design is the same button as here.

In white...

This design is made by gathering and twisting the 2" piece of fabric.  Then attaching the two ends to make a  circle.  I attached the circle to the necklace and then the rhinestone button to the design. 

Here is the white one!

Here is a close-up of the design:

This necklace has a double twist. 

And in ecru...

This design is made by gathering the 2" fabric and then shaping it into a figure eight.  I attached the "eight" to the necklace (again on the lower-marble side) before attaching vintage buttons from my collection.  I chose these because they were the same design but different diameters. 

This one is off-white.  Do you recognize the button from here?

This design is a double ruffled circle.  I decided to use this fun textured brass button from the button box of my Grandmother.  It adds a little bit of pop to the center of the design and therefore accentuating the asymmetricality of this necklace.  I think it's a fun addition. 

Remember before, I was talking about making these necklaces while my kids were in swimming lessons?  Well, Sammie is their teacher.  Her mom saw me with a finished necklace and instantly recognized it.  She went upstairs and brought down the actual necklace I had been trying to recreate.  So... after I finished making my knockoff, I actually got to inspect the original necklace!

Here it is....

See!  This necklace is awesome!  It is totally knockoff worthy!

Upon further inspection, I definitely did some things differently that the original, but  I like what I came up with after only a few fleeting glances in the church hallways.  I will make a more accurate knockoff someday.  But for now, I will be happy with these...

You can tell that the one on the left is off-white in this picture.

I also made this one for my cousin.  (Notice that the design is on the opposite side on this necklace.)  I'll update this post if she sends me a picture of her wearing it.  For now, this will have to do.

My cousin's Sammie Necklace.

I gathered the 2" piece of fabric up the middle with the needle and thread so the edges of the design are raw.  I singed the raw edges to keep them from unraveling. 

I wore the pink one to church yesterday.  I got a lot of compliments again.  Hey!  I like it!  I would love if you made a Sammie necklace of your own!  Send me a photo and I'll post it on my "You Made It" page.

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