Halloween Costume: Gumball Machine

For my Halloween costume every year, I love being able to craft something myself instead of buying a pre-made costume. One of my friends gave me the idea of being a gumball machine, and I thought it would be cute and fun to make!

She told me she had seen the costume online, and that someone had glued pom poms all over a shirt and wore a red skirt with it. Another friend suggested I glue actual gumballs to a dress. I found that pom poms are more difficult the get ahold of than anticipated - I tried several stores with no luck. Online, I found that they were expensive, would not come in the mail in time, and did not come in packs large enough or in the right colors. I decided to use some leftover felt I had from other craft projects - I had several colors to use, and figured it'd be a lot easier to glue or sew onto my costume anyway.

This is how I made it:

I bought a red dress,

traced circles onto different felt colors (pink, yellow, gold, pale lavender, purple, dark green, and dark blue) to cut out,

 and sewed the circles onto my dress.

Using black and silver duct tape, I made a quarter slot and place for the gumball to come out of.

 

I also made a pair of fun dangly earrings using red pipe cleaners - I rolled one into a ball for each gumball, and attached a ball to a head pin, and attached the dangle to an earring.

The whole costume was only $5! I found the dress on sale, and already had the other materials (tape, needle and thread, and leftover felt).

 

Have a safe and spooky Halloween!
<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

Chip Bag Purse

In middle school while in line for registration at the Regional Spelling Bee,  my dad and I were really impressed by the purse of woman in front of us. It was shiny, colorful, and really eye-catching. For some reason, certain parts of her bag looked really familiar - we realized that it had been made out of candy wrappers and chip bags! My dad nudged me and suggested that I figure out how to make one of my own.

We began saving chip bags after eating the chips inside, and sometimes we would pick out certain bags at the supermarket because of the colors and designs we liked, rather than because we liked the flavor of chips (though we ate the chips, too).

A few summers ago, I looked up some instructions online to use to make bags of my own. I used the instructions to figure out the best measurements to cut each wrapper into strips, as well as how to weave the pieces together into bag. The process for making the bag is really similar to making starburst wrapper chains.

Here are a couple bracelets I made using starburst wrappers:

Here are some earrings I also made with starburst wrappers:

For the chip bag purse, I altered some of the instructions based on what worked best for me. So far, I have made 6 purses in different sizes and different themes. One bag is all red (Doritos), another is smaller and has a matte finish (Miss Vicki's) that I gave to my aunt as a gift, one has cool colors (mostly blues and purples), another has bright colors. On my largest purse, the third row down is all silver instead of colorful; I used the reverse side (inside) of the chip bags.

Originally, I also weaved a strap for the first bag I made, but it did not hold very well, so I decided to use my purses at clutches instead of strapped purses. However, I did add a leather strap to my largest purse for added convenience. This is the bag I use whenever I feel like adding a pop of color to my outfits.

I am currently working on two more chip bag projects: a very large bag (with the help of my mom to cut and fold the pieces), and another using only Sun Chips wrappers. I hope the Sun Chips bag doesn't disintegrate after I make it, since the bags are biodegradable!

These bags are a lot of fun to make, and I love seeing the finished products. They are very sturdy and look really nice on the inside. They also make great gifts!

<3 Mandy

Love Lace

I have been absolutely infatuated with lace lately. I love love love it. For the long President's Day weekend, I have four days off (lucky me!) and wanted to make some crafts with my extra time. While searching around the house for something to do, I came across some crochet hooks. A couple of weeks ago I found a crochet doily that I had made in 3rd grade, and when I found the crochet hooks, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for my next project.

So have you tied it all together yet?

Yes, that's right, I am crocheting flower doilies!

15 doilies at 15 minutes each

♥♥♥

 DIY Lace Earrings

While looking up various projects that use lace, I found instructions for these DIY Lace Earrings. Since I didn't have any lace and also wanted to make my own, I made my own DIY project inspired by Honestly WTF and Dolce and Gabbana's Spring '11 Collection (yes I know it's a bit old, especially in the fashion world, but I still love lace! (in case you haven't noticed)).

For this project I made two flower doilies of the same size, soaked them in a 1:1 mixture of Elmer's glue and water in order to harden them, let them dry (I let them air dry for about 24 hours but got impatient when they still weren't dry, so I used a hairdryer to finish them off), and attached earring hooks! Aren't they pretty? I am obsessed with making them.

 

Soaking doilies in glue-water mixture

crochet doilies

 

earrings after attaching hooks

♥♥♥

DIY Lace Bracelet

I also made doilies of a smaller size and different design, which I sewed together to make a bracelet. After sewing them, I soaked them in the glue-water mixture and let them dry before attaching a lobster clasp.

♥♥♥

These doilies only take about 15 minutes each to crochet, so I have been making tons of these while "watching" TV and movies. After making so many of them, I got a lot faster at crocheting, too! I am planning on possibly dyeing some doilies - I think a gradient would look nice, perhaps in pastel colors? Let me know what you think, and please comment below!

Also, I have been having so much fun making doilies that I have thought up another project, but it's going to take a loooong time to make. Keep this in mind and expect to see another lace post in another few months... any ideas on what it might be?

Thanks for your input, and have fun making your own DIYs!

<3 Mandy