I’m quite enamored with just about everything craft related, but I get especially excited when I get to create a piece of jewelry or another type of accessory.  I was so happy when Nicole was open to the idea of me sharing a jewelry-based DIY with you all, and I hope you enjoy it.  And while the idea of making your own jewelry may sound a bit intimidating, I assure that if you’re even somewhat remotely ‘crafty’, you can create something for yourself with just a few basic items you can find at just about any craft  store.

To get started with this particular statement necklace, take a trip to your local Michael’s (or other craft store), which is where I picked up everything you see below, including the beads, and pick up the following items:

Jade colored beads in multiple sizes (I used 3 different sizes), mono-filament jewelry wire (it looks just like fishing line), a package of jewelry chain, an all purpose pack of ‘jewelry findings’, which includes jump rings, crimping beads, lobster claw closures, and pin wires.  You can buy all of these items in separate packages but if you’re a beginner or aren’t doing a lot of jewelry making, this all purpose pack is great.  You also want to have a pair of scissors on hand, as well as a pair of needle nose pliers and wire cutters, which they sell on the cheap at a craft store, or you could always use a pair from your tool chest.  Total supplies, if you include buying the tools, should run you less than $30.

Begin by cutting a length of your jewelry wire (roughly 18 inches), and string 1 of the crimp beads and a jump ring through the tail end of one side.  Loop the wire over the jump ring and through the crimp bead again, creating a loop that is held together by the crimp bead.  Gently but firmly squeeze the crimp bead shut with your needle nose pliers.  There’s an actual bead crimper that they sell, but I’ve never had a problem closing my crimp beads shut with my pliers.  You’re now ready to begin stringing your beads.  Once you’ve completed one strand, close it off using the same method that you began with, using a crimp bead and jump ring.  Your other 2 strand will now attach to this single jump ring.  Trim the extra jewelry wire.  Note that each strand will be approximately 14-15 inches long when finished.  You don’t want all 3 strands to be exactly the same length so that they lay better on your neck.

Since I’m not an actual jewelry designer and do this for fun, I always try to keep my designs relatively simple.  I always love the look of mixed metals and gems, but I leave the real pattern mixing to the professionals, and stick to similar materials and tonal, or complementary, colors when creating something new.  With this necklace, the only variations I made was to use a slightly different pattern with all three strands.  One strand uses just the 2 smaller sized beads and has tiny gold seed beads spaced between each one.  The other 2 strands contains a mixture of all 3 sizes, but in a slightly varying pattern.

Once the body of your necklace is finished, it’s time to attach your chain.  I think adding the chain creates a more finished look, and it also makes the necklace adjustable.  Snip off 2 pieces of chain with your wire cutters.  My chain is approximately 2.5″ long on each side.  Attach each piece of chain to the jump ring on either side.  A tip when opening and closing your jump rings; if you have 2 sets of small pliers on hand, gently pry each end apart, as shown, and then squeeze shut.  This helps to maintain the shape of the ring, but it’s not necessary. Grab 2 more jump rings and attach it to the end of one chain, and attach it to the lobster claw and chain on the other end.  Now you have your closure.  If you’d like to really lend a finished look to your necklace, you could grab a sapre bead and attach it to one of the pin heads and then run it through a loop of chain and twist it shut, nipping off the end with your wire cutters, but this is not necessary.

You’ve now finished your necklace and are ready to try it on! Total time to complete this necklace is 45 minutes or less, depending on your comfort level with working with the tools and beads.

I tried the necklace on with a white tee, a chambray shirt, and this red dress, and it looked great with all three options, but I really love the way it pops against the red. Jewelry making is one of the most rewarding hobbies I have, and I hope this inspires you to give it a try. Please let me know if you have any questions.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as How To Make a Statement Necklace | 44 comments

Holly Becker of Decor8 has expanded her long-running course, Blogging Your Way, with a new 2.0 class for bloggers past the beginning stages. Holly is a supportive, open, and honest teacher, and I’m proud to be joining her along with Jeanette Lunde from Fryd + Design to teach the first session this June.

I’ll be showing how I create layouts for Making it Lovely, talking about advertising and monetizing your blog, and more. The full list of course topics covered can be found here.

Join Us!

Registration has begun and you can sign up here. I also have two spots to give away! You can enter by leaving a comment below with the class’ hashtag: #byw2.

Rules: The giveaway is open to international entrants until midnight CST, May 20. One entry per person. Two winners will be chosen at random and notified on May 21. Seats are non-transferrable, and those who have already registered and paid for BYW 2.0 are ineligible. Valid only for the June e-course. Comments must include #byw2 to be eligible.

* The winners are Sarah A. and Kate S.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Blogging Your Way 2.0 | 266 comments

Violet pees on them, Mabel poops, and Kili throws up. It’s quite the trio we have! (Jerks.) Mercifully, they’ve left the rest of the house alone. I assume that because their litter boxes are down there, they view the entire basement as free reign. We tried our best to salvage the rugs, cleaning them and dousing them in dubious pet stain removers, but they’re a lost cause at this point. We considered having them professionally cleaned as a last resort, but the rugs were cheap, the cleaning would cost nearly as much as new ones, and it would be a lost cause anyway.

The basement floor is painted concrete, so I’d like to still have rugs down there, but we need something indestructible. Either carpet tiles that can be removed for washing (or replaced), or an outdoor rug that can be scrubbed and hosed down every so often. Here are some that I’m considering.

1. Parallel Beauty Carpet Tiles
   Probably my favorite of the bunch, especially for the play room side of the basement. They’re graded for contract use, so they should hold up, but I’m not sure. I may need to go check these out in person.

2. Trimaran Stripe Indoor/Outdoor Rug
   Neutral, safe. Not bad, but not terribly exiting or inspired.

3. Chevron Stripe Indoor/Outdoor Rug
   The lease expensive option, but I wonder if I’m over bringing more chevron into the house. We already have a zigzag rug in the living room.

4. Kitchen Sink Indoor/Outdoor Rug
   I like this one a lot, up close, but I’m not sure about it from farther back.

5. Negril Indoor/Outdoor Rug
   I like that the pink is so prominent, but I don’t think the colors would play well with the basement’s olive green floor.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Possible Rugs for the Basement | 105 comments

I’ve been sort of planning a little redo for our main bathroom. Not in any real, concrete way, mind you. More of a “gee, we’ve lived here for five years and have never touched the space, aside from hanging up a shower curtain” kind of way. (I’ve never even showed it properly, other than this shot.) So I’ve been looking at affordable updates, and I put a whole roundup together of bathroom decor under $50. I think a new shower curtain may be in order at the very least.

Sources: shower curtain • Botticelli Angel paint • mirror • wall vases • washing machine hamper • bath mat • cart • more here

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Some Affordable Bathroom Update Ideas | 21 comments

The train table in Eleanor’s room has been switched up. It shall henceforth be known as the ZOMGeverythinglookssocuteonthislandscape™ table.

I bought the landscape set because I figured it would make a good addition to our train table layout, but after clearing everything off, we haven’t added the tracks back yet. Switching toys in and out of rotation keeps the kids more interested in them, so Thomas and his friends will eventually make their glorious return. Right now, the Gabba guys* are having a grand old time.

Adventure! We’re having so much fun.

* The Yo Gabba Gabba figure set has been discontinued and now sells for crazy high prices. We got ours a couple of years ago. The Playmobil large landscape has been discontinued too, but is still available in small quantities. So if you want one, you know, get on it.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Let’s All Come and Play | 6 comments

One of the things I think all women crave more of, especially women that love to create, is time.  And if you’re a mother of young children, this rings even more true.  My husband always seems perplexed each year as to what to get me for Mother’s Day, and I’m admittedly not much help.  But this year I created in my head what the perfect gift would be.  An afternoon off, to sit around and make stuff.  Projects I’ve been meaning to get around to, new beads I’ve wanted to play with, pretty paper that’s just itching to be used.  A crafternoon if you will, made even better by a box of plenty, filled with fun and pretty items to craft and create with.  It doesn’t get much easier or convenient than that, right?  Below is what my perfect crafting box would look like, and how I created it, but really, you can adjust it to the needs and interests of any special woman in your life.

You begin of course with a lovely box.  Add some shredded paper so items don’t shift all around, and then layer a few sheets of tissue paper over that.

Begin filling the box with your items, largest at the bottom, and build up from there.  The color scheme of this box was based primarily off this nautical themed paper I found at Paper Source, with rich shades of navy, crimson and jade, offset by a soft shade of pool blue.  Paper crafting is an easy and stress free way to spend the afternoon, so the majority of the items in the box center around paper crafts, with a few fun extras throw in.

Stamps and stamp pads are an easy and inexpensive way to create personalized stationery, so several of each were added in, as well as a stack of simple white card stock and kraft paper envelopes.

Gel pens in coordinating colors and a genius of an invention, the glue pen, were included.  Personalize your note cards by writing a message with the glue pen, then sprinkling some glitter on top.  The aquatic and polka dot paper is cut out and used to line envelopes, a simple, yet festive touch.

A few added odds and ends include bottles of nail polish, glitter, and some interesting beads, just in case I want to do something different.  The beads are used to make a funky keychain so I can find my keys in my purse, and why yes, a manicure with a bit of glitter is called for.  And if you have a keen eye, you might have noticed the wrapped coffee gift card up top.  A good coffee drink is essential for any creative afternoon.

In case you do want to create a box similar to mine, here is a list of resources:

• Letter Box, Tissue & Shredded Paper – The Container Store
• Paper Products - Paper Source: nautical wrapping paper, dots wrapping paper in pool; A2 note cards & envelopes in pool, persimmon & peacock; acid free stamp pads in sweet melon, robin’s egg & midnight; sea shell, mermaid, octopus & school of fish rubber stamps
• White card stock and kraft paper envelopes – Bessotted Brand
• Staples Gel Pens
• Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
• Martha Stewart Glitter
• Essie Nail Polish in Mint Candy Apple, Going Incognito & Geranium

While this box was pretty much made for me and my interests, you can create something with just about any theme in mind.  Specialty spices and non-perishable food mixes from Williams Sonoma for the foodie in your life.  Fabric swatches and coordinating thread and a new sewing pattern for the seamstress.  For the gardener, you could even think outside the box and give a pretty terrarium filled with all the necessary items to create one like Nicole’s.  Whatever is in the box though, it will surely be appreciated if given with the promise of just a little extra time to herself.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Mother’s Day Gift Idea: A “Time To Create” Box | 26 comments

Eleanor is old enough now to be interested in arts and crafts (YAY!), so we’ve been doing a lot of little projects lately. Beaded bracelets, pom pom critters, painted birdhouses, braided pipe cleaner things, and now, clothespin people. Most of the time, I let her do her thing with a little supervision and a little guidance, but I couldn’t resist making a bunch of these myself.

I’ve missed making pretty little things for the fun of it.

Eleanor plays with them all, the ones I’ve made mixed with the ones she did and the ones from daddy, too. Here, they are exploring the icy landscape of a Star Wars toy that was Brandon’s as a kid. Hoth, maybe? I have no idea.

Reunited, and it feels so good.

Brandon made his first, and he used a sharpie (markers bleed and feather on the wood). He says he would have made his better had he known I would be photographing them. Eleanor used paint for a few, but markers are better for a toddler (no drying time), so I encouraged her to use them as much as I could. I used craft paint for mine, because you know I am hardcore like that. Also, Brandon says all of mine are hunchbacks. I say it’s better to see the arms from the front so they don’t look limbless. Tom-ay-to/tom-ah-to.

I put together a roundup of all my favorite clothespin and peg dolls, but I did it after I made mine. Now that I’ve seen how many good ones are out there, I might have to get my hands on some different shapes to expand our set.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Handpainted Wooden Clothespin Dolls | 30 comments

My daughter turned seven last week and requested a mermaid themed pool party. While color schemes, garland and paper pom poms are an important part of a birthday bash, in our home the craft station is usually a large focus as well. My kids love arts and crafts time, and so I wanted to come up with something that would be a hybrid of things that we all loved, with some attention to design. My goal was not to create more clutter for the kids to bring home, but to help them all create something sweet and simple that they would hopefully be able to display at home for awhile. Thus, the succulent sea terrarium craft was born. The kids terrariums came out so pretty that I had to create a few “grown up” versions for myself.

I chose succulents as the focal point in the terrariums because even though they are really dry, desert dwellers, their shape and color also remind me of algae and seaweed you would find in the ocean.  I selected tall, spiny looking succulents for the arrangements, with a few grass-like ground covers as well, to represent algae.  The glass globes were picked up at a local craft store and although they are technically meant to be votive holders, their shape remind me of old glass fishing balls.  In addition you will need some coarse sand and cactus soil.

I wanted the terrariums to have a sandy soil to mimic the bottom of the ocean, however since succulents need some kind of organic rich soil, they most likely would not survive in pure sand.  So I created a sandy bottom with a little crater for some cactus soil to rest in.  We, well mainly my husband, has been growing succulents for over 10 years now.  He likes to claim that he loved succulents before they were cool.  All this to say that we’ve had a lot of experience growing, and sometimes failing at growing succulents.  We started out using regular potting soil, but have found that the more arid cactus soil works much better, allowing good drainage and circulation for the succulents. So once you’ve laid out your sandy bottom and base of cactus soil, you’re ready to start planting.

The nice thing about working with succulents is their shallow root system and how little soil they really require to survive.  If some of your plants are a bit too large for your vessel, you can simply trim off a bit of the root or some of the leaves and stick them right in the soil.  I’ve read that dipping your succulents in a rooting hormone before planting helps encourage growth, but I’ve never used it and have always had great luck.  It’s always an option though in case you’re a little nervous.  Once you’ve got your planting done, gently add in a bit more sand to cover up the cactus soil.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact I think it looks quite nice having a bit of the soil peeking through the sand.

If you wish you can add a little mermaid or two, and some pretty rocks or shells to complete your seascape. The miniature mermaids are actually cocktail drink markers I found online and spray painted them white to be a bit more sophisticated.

The final result is pretty little terrarium that combines my daughter’s love of all things mermaid related, my husband’s love of succulents, and my love of good design.  To care for your succulents, simply add just a touch of water every other day for 2-3 weeks to get them started.  After that, a light watering once a week should do the trick.  In small vessels like this I’ve had my succulents last for at least 9 months, but of course play it by ear and know that you may have to refresh your plantings every once in a while.  Succulents are easy to care for, but they’re not completely maintenance free.  If they do in fact grow you will have to transplant them.

And in case you’re interested, for the kid’s terrariums we used quart size mason jars for the vessels, and I left the mermaids their original color.  We set the table up outside and let them each create their own fantasy mermaid world, and they loved packing their jars with as many shells, stones, and brightly colored mermaids as they could fit.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as How To Make A Succulent Sea Terrarium | 27 comments

These are for personal, non-commercial use only.

I’ve only provided cards for ages 1-10, but if you’re handy with a graphics program, you should be able to create any number you please. Rainbow 75th birthday party, anyone?

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Rainbow Birthday Party Invitations (Free Printable) | 19 comments

It was originally published in 1951 and though it is now out of print, it’s easy enough to find used copies for sale. I ordered one from eBay (a first edition copy!) with plans to use some of the illustrations inside for our party invitations. The title page had the perfect layout, so I scanned it, cleaned it up, and based our invitations off of it.

I printed them on cream colored paper and rounded the edges with a corner punch, then paired each invite with a burnt orange envelope.

I’ve created a free blank version, available for download below. You can print them four to a page (the second link has them laid out for you already), and the invitations will fit perfectly in an A2 envelope (like these).

• Train to Timbuctoo — Individual Blank Party Invitation

• Train to Timbuctoo — 4 Blank Party Invitations to a Page (4-Up)

These are for personal, non-commercial use only, falling under the Fair Use Copyright Act.

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Train Party Invitations (Free Printable) | 55 comments