Tie-Dye

For one of the Welcome Week activities at school, we made tie-dye! Since I already have a bunch of shirts with a spiral pattern on them, I decided to try something different. I put stripes instead!

I actually wanted to make horizontal stripes but folded it the wrong way... but I think my shirt turned out okay!

I'm looking forward to experimenting with more tie-dye designs in the future.

 I also made these mismatched earrings with a pink and a blue Scotty dog bead and two pearl beads.

At another tie-dye event, I made these three tie-dye shirts out of random thrifted shirts:

<3 Mandy

Canvas Bag DIY

To cover up the logo on a canvas bag, as well as to add some pretty designs with colorful fabric, I cut a long strip of this pretty purple Asian-influence fabric and sewed it onto my bag.

I think it is really important to use canvas bags instead of plastic ones at grocery stores in order to cut down waste. They also can look a lot prettier! Canvas bags are also always useful to have on hand and are easy to carry.
<3 Mandy

Gimp Bracelets

I made these colorful bracelets out of plastic lace and chain, inspired by these bracelets by helloberry on Etsy.


When I was younger, I always enjoyed making lanyards to hang on my backpack, like these.

So with the plastic lace I had, I decided to make some arm candy!

Details: 58 stitches (40 and then 18 double-threaded) on plastic lace; 25 links of rose gold chain.

<3 Mandy

Origami Earrings and Crane Chain

When I was little, I was always so impressed by the box of 1000 red and gold cranes that my Japanese neighbor folded for her wedding. I had set a goal for myself to make 1000 cranes for my wedding, too, but in the meantime, I just fold origami cranes for fun.

Today, I found some pretty patterned scrap paper that I used to fold two tiny origami cranes to make earrings out of. I cut two squares from the paper, 1 inch by 1 inch each. After making the cranes, I attached them to some jewelry wires with coordinating seed beads, and then I hooked them onto earring hooks.

crane made from 1 inch x 1 inch paper; smaller than a dime after folded

2 cranes coated with clear nail polish

Another fun project I enjoy making with cranes is crane chains. I make a bunch of cranes that I string along with beads and attach to a wooden chopstick or skewer. I have a bunch of crane chains hanging around my room!

About a year ago, I also made some origami star earrings:

I used the leftover jewelry wire and a few seed beads to craft some swirly earrings, as well:

<3 Mandy

Banner DIY

Today, while noticing the blank walls in my room, I decided to put up some decorations. So I made my own banner!

 To make this banner, I cut triangles out of colored construction paper. For the letters of my name, I cut letters out of white paper and then painted them with watercolor and outlined parts of the paintings with sharpie and micron pens. Finally, I glued all the papers together, added some gold glitter glue, waited for everything to dry, and hung the banner triangles up with binder clips on a piece of hemp string. For an added touch of color, I also hung up a knitted jellyfish (sea jelly) that I made back in eighth grade.

<3 Mandy