DIY '90s Tattoo Choker

 

Since being a little kid, I've always loved the look of wearing chokers. I've decided to recreate this retro look of American 1990s fashion with just some thin black plastic-coated wire, a pair of pliers, and some mini copper seed beads.

With 0.38mm Beadalon stringing wire, I measured out 3 feet for a bracelet and 6 feet for a choker. I folded the string in half and began looping it, and placed one seed bead at the end of each loop. After a couple hours of looping, I added a crimp bead to the end of my string. For the choker, I also added a lobster clasp to the end since my wire string is not very stretchy (this type of jewelry is usually made with stretchy magic string, but I used plastic-coated wire). The choker I used to wear when I was little has gotten pretty stretched out from being worn so much, so adding a clasp helps to prevent the jewelry from being stretched out as well.

I love the look the little beads add -- they help make the chokers look slightly more elegant, while still a little bit edgy.

<3 Mandy

Hair Bows & Fabric Flowers

I sometimes like to add something to my hair, other than a simple hair tie or bobby pin. With some fabric and felt, I created some barrettes as hair accessories.

Back in 2009, I especially loved drawing flowers. I decided to turn one of my drawings into a real, three-dimensional piece - a flower for my hair. With some fabric scraps and a bit of felt, I improvised my way into a flower. I added little embroidered stitches, and as a finishing touch, some beads hanging from the center (with embroidery floss) to act as the stamen.

Using felt in different colors, as well as some beads and embroidered detail, I made two more flowers.

I recently bought a pack of barrettes and was inspired to make more clips for my hair.
With some large scraps of fabric that I cut into rectangles, I folded and sewed them to resemble bows.

 

 

 

Using gold glitter glue, I simply spread a few coats onto a thin rectangular strip of felt, which I sewed onto a barrette. I made two glittery rectangles to have a pair of simple gold clips.

 

Now I have fun ways to incorporate pieces I make into my daily wardrobe.
<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

Valentine's Day DIY

I found some of my pink felt last weekend and was inspired to make something, and since Valentine's was coming up I thought I would dress up! So here are some pictures of the process, from plain grey shirt to heart-ified.  There are heart elbow pads with quilted stitching, and the collar has flower petal shapes arranged into a heart with gold beads.

Anyways, Happy (Belated) Valentine's day!

Note: I did not yet have this blog on Valentine's Day but made this shirt for the 14th of February.

I began with this plain, grey, collared, 3/4 sleeve shirt:

I cut up (about 15) little petal-shaped pieces of felt about the size of my thumbnail and began sewing them onto my collar

I laid them out into this pattern at first, but when I took a step back, I realized it just looked like a pink blob on my collar...

So while playing around with the organization of the cut-outs, I came up with this heart:

After sewing the heart on my collar, I cut out hearts for elbow-patches and safety-pinned them onto my shirt. (You could make a shirt with just the elbow patches or just the collar patch if you wanted to, but I added both to even out the distribution of color on my shirt)

I then sewed on the heart-shaped elbow patches using a quilting technique (to prevent lumpiness after washing the shirt) and added gold seed beads to the collar heart

Collar heart with bead detailing around the stitches

 

And there you have it! A lovely Valentine's shirt, even for those of you who aren't in love with pink. The little pink hearts are just enough to show your holiday spirit without overdoing it.

xoxo Mandy (your Valentine)