Things I Love: Girl's Night In

The other day I was shocked to find out my friend Jen had never seen Breakfast at Tiffany's. Clearly I was shocked. So tomorrow night I am having a couple girls over for some craft time, old movies and of course a little gossiping. I am preparing by getting out my nail polishes, board games and all other slumber party necessities. I can't wait! It should be a fun time.

Now, I just need to get some appetizers and craft supplies together.

Any suggestions for some slumber party appetizers or craft would be wonderful!

Let's Make a Steal: Leather Duster Earrings

When I was shopping in San Francisco the other day, I picked up a pair of leather duster earrings at the Union Street LF store. They were 70% and pretty freaking sweet. And at $20 a pair, I snagged the last ones--boy was V jealous! After wearing them I started thinking that I could totally recreate a similar look. And that's just what I did! I whipped up a pair using some faux leather from JoAnn's and an old broken necklace. For less then three bucks I created a pretty good look alike. Here's how I did it.

$7 worth of supplies (enough for at least 10 pairs of earrings):
1/2 yard of each black and cognac faux snake skin leather ($1.99 a yard)
Earring hooks ($2.99 a pack)
And Old Necklace (Zero Dollars)
Tools: Pencil, Scissors, X-Acto, Ruler, and a Needle.

Inspiration:
Originally $60 full price.

Step One:
Flip fabric to backside and measure 5 inches of fabric.

Step Two:
Draw (or I traced) your earring shape.
I ended up just folding the fabric in half and cutting to get two identical earrings.

Step 3:
Cut-out earrings.

Step Four:
Cut fringe.

Step Five:
Pick your chains out and assemble.

Step Six:
Start stringing.
Step Seven:
Get out your needle!

Step Eight:
Poke a hole in the fabric, near the top.

And attach the leather strip last.
Ta-da!

Side by Side.

There you have it.
Now go spend that $55 bucks I saved you on something real special!
Or check out some of my other Let's Make a Steal DIY's:
Lanvin Lace and Bead Necklace
Feather Head Band

Things I Love: She's Crafty

Armed with inspiration, motivation and the JoAnn's coupon from my Sunday paper, I went on a mission to begin my fall crafts. It's been awhile since I crafted anything, so I am excited to get back in the game. Hopefully I will have something to show later this week!

DIY: Sweets For Your Sweetheart

I mentioned earlier this week that I like to be festive for the holidays so yesterday I made a little V-day craft for Casey. I got this idea from a fashion forum years ago and I have made it a few times in the past because it is such a cute and easy craft, and Casey just loves candy. This under $10 craft this super easy and fast to put together and is perfect for any sweet-tooth sweetheart in your life.
All you need is wooden shish kabob skewers, a hot glue gun, vase and your favorite kind of candy. I used one bag of Valentines day chocolate candies.
I put the glue on the skewers as to not melt the candy package.
And some fabric for some upcoming projects!!
And umm sorry April, but I don't think you reader request of Dj's bridesmaids gear is not going to make the DIY list ;)
If you have any favorite Valentines Days craft ideas I would love to hear about them!

Year in Review: My 2009 DIYs

It's that time of the year when we can reflect on the past year and look forward to see what the next year holds for us. Throughout this month I am going to be posting some of my favorite things of the past year.
The following are a collection of DIY crafts I made in 2009.

Fashion DIYs
Lanvin "Lets Make a steal" Necklace
Image on Right from Net-a-Porter
Beaded GlovesFeather Headband
Girly Room(A HollyBerry Inspired DIY )
Recipes
Sheila's Enchilada's
Butternut Squash Soup

Quick and Easy Tortilla Soup
Butternut Squash Fries
Funny DIYs
Twilight Bite Me Tee
Lady Gaga Costume
Anne's birthday DIYs
Confetti DIY
Invitations DIY

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Martha Stewart Pom Pom DIY
For more DIY's check out The Lettered Cottage for many more fabulous 2009 DIYs and Tutorials. My friend Holly is one of the featured tutorials for her headboard DIY, and my SIL Rebecca also has a post up for her easy to make hand towels! Twilight Tee

Look of the Day: Lessons Learned

I am a HUGE musical fan, The Sound of Music being my all time favorite musical. When my sister and I were younger we would watch the movie every morning during the summer. About 5 times this week Recently, I have been watching the movie again. While watching Julie Andrews rock it out I realized that I had learned quite a few life lessons from Fraulein Maria. The number one lesson learned was never to answer to a whistle! But that was not the only lesson learned, I also learned the following...

Singing (or blogging) about your favorite things CAN change your mood!
Do-Re-Mi are the correct notes to sing, regardless of what my tone deaf ear hears.
Farmers markets are a must!
Auf Wiedersehen means goodbye in German.
Never look at something as it is, but rather look at it's potential of what it can be. Very important in DIY crafts!
And my Sunday look of the day.
H&M tunic, Nightcap leggings with attached skirt, Ash foldover boots and once again my "Lanvin" necklace!

Lanvin DIY instructions:
refer to pics
String beads and pearls in a random fashion.
Once necklace is threaded to the desired length, pin lace over necklace. (refer to pic)
Stitch lace as close as possible to the beads, pinch the lace over beads to help. (refer to pic)
Leave 2 inches of lace on each side of the ends of necklace.
When necklace is covered with lace, stitch the 2 inch lace ends to ribbon ends.
Once stitched, knot to secure and secure necklace at the back of the neck with a pretty bow.


--I finally responded to everyone's creation posts in the giveaway thread! Thanks again for entering!! I loved all the creation responses!!

Let's Make a Steal: Lanvin Necklace DIY

I sure put my craft room to good use last night! The other day J from the Look for Less, sent me a link to this Lanvin necklace because she thought it would a great DIY project for me. Boy was she right! I intended to do this project slowly, over a course of nights but it was coming along so nicely I couldn't help but finish it! I am very pleased with how it turned out. Without further ado here is my latest Let's Make a Steal DIY! Thanks J!
Image from Net-A-Porter

Image from Net-A-Porter







Image on left from Net-A-Porter
And a HUGE thank you to fellow blogger and Twilight fan Catlin from the very popular blogs Healthy Tipping Point and Operation Beautiful for mentioning my Tee giveaway on the Healthy Tipping Point!! I am loving reading about what everyone likes to create, some are very creative!!

creare.créez.generi.create

My craft room is really coming along. I would still like a chandelier, a nice rug, a small book shelf and some prints for the wall. I also have a craft organizer that needs to be mounted and filled. Some Piano lessons from my SIL would be nice as well!


And since I need crafts to work on in here (and because I got a few emails) I am going to hold a small contest for a Twilight shirt, like the one I made for myself. The shirts at Forever 21 come in sizes small, medium and large so if you win you can email me your size and I will make the shirt in whatever size you need. To enter leave a comment about something you create.* Maybe you are quite the cook, baker, gardener, crafter or Knitter. I'm sure my Husband would tell you I'm quite a great mess creator. Just let me know what you love to create. Post a comment before Sunday at 10 am Pacific time and you are good to go. I will pick a winner Sunday morning using a random generator morning.Then I will make the shirt and send it out Monday morning, so it can get to you before the Twilight Opening on Friday. Can't wait to see what you all love to create!
*Open to US Residents only

I am wearing a size small.