DIY Money Lei

HR at work asked me to make a money lei for a holiday party prize, so I used 40 $1 bills and some Christmas ribbon to put one together.

I cut 2 strands of equal length of the ribbon, to thread through both sides of the bills to hold the lei in place evenly. I folded all 40 bills accordion-style and taped the sides into flowers, and threaded them onto the ribbon. I did 1 flower face-up tied with thin gold ribbon, and 4 threaded on, repeating.

Using a weaving technique, I braided 2 different colors of ribbon together to rest at the back of the neck for comfort.

I ended up winning the costume contest by dressing up as a Christmas tree (green dress, pom pom garland and hanging ornaments, and gold star in my hair) and got to keep the lei.
<3 Mandy

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

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

Recycled Rings

Inspired by everyday materials, I wanted to put them to another purpose and make some jewelry.

I bought a few stones on link chains and an old notebook spiral from the school Reuse Store, as well as some hot glue, to make a simple yet bold ring. I cut one stone-link from the chain of five, cut one ring shape from the notebook spiral, and hot-glued them together into an adjustable ring.

  

Using four mini gold safety pins and a pair of pliers, and with the idea from this project, I bent into place a little ring. While three safety pins are actually visible in the finished product, I cut the fourth safety pin into a few little pieces to make my own jump rings (of a color that matched the rest of the ring) to connect the remaining three safety pins.

 

I plan to make more jewelry and continue reusing everyday materials for uses other than they were meant for.
<3 Mandy

P.S. Today marks the second year anniversary of this blog!

Ice Queen Crown

For Halloween, I decided to dress up as an ice queen. To top it all off, I made a crown with some wire, lavender, rhinestones, and hot glue.

To make the crown, I twisted wire into a circle that was a little bit big when resting on my head. I bent little pieces of wire to make triangular points, and I also glued sprigs of dried lavender on. Along the bottom, I glued some grey rhinestones into place.

 

Wishing you a spooky and icy Halloween.
<3 Mandy

Doxie Necklace/Brooch

I love having cute little decorative elements in my wardrobe, especially when they are handmade crafts. Using a template I found online, I made a little stuffed doxie (dachshund) that can be worn as a necklace with a ribbon, or as a brooch with a safety pin.

With a bit of floral fabric, I cut out the pieces from the template and sewed them together, inside out.

I stuffed the dog and embroidered on eyes and a nose.

<3 Mandy

Googly Eye Bows

Inspired by Rookie Mag's eyeball bows, I decided to use various sizes of plastic googly eyes and different colors of felt to make some creepily cute new jewelry. I sewed hair pins to the backs of some bows and attached safety pins to the backs of others so they could suit various uses. I may even attach one to a hairband. What I especially like about using safety pins is that I can easily pin the bows to anything I want to embellish, and if I ever decide to change my mind, they can be easily detached as well.

To make the bows, I cut little squares out of scrap felt I had.

I folded each square into a tri-fold bow shape and then sewed around the center to hold the bow in place.

Using tacky glue, I attached different sizes of googly eyes to the bows.

These are fun to make in an assortment of felt colors and googly eye sizes!

 

These brooches be worn with ones of other styles; I paired this bow with a felt bird I made a couple years ago. I love to mix and match!

<3 Mandy