Italian Inspired Necklace

When my parents got back from a Mediterranean cruise (I know...I was totally jealous too), my mom showed me the picture of a really awesome necklace she saw in Italy (of course, I can't find the picture now...). She took the picture because she thought that I could make something like it. It has been in the back of my mind for the past year or two, trying to figure out the best way to make it. I finally got it done and gave it to her for Mother's Day.

First, I figured out what size I wanted the necklace to be and I had my hubby nail two nails through opposite ends of a piece of wood the same distance apart. Then, I took a big spool of waxed cotton cord and tied a knot at the end. I put that knot over a nail that was at the end of a piece of wood

Then I looped the cord around the two nails, like this, until I thought it was thick enough (maybe 50 or 60 times around...I lost count!)

Then I took a piece of beading wire and put it through one end of the looped cord (where the nail was) and fastened it with crimp tubes. I repeated this at the other end and slid the necklace off of the nails. I took another piece of cord and wrapped it tightly around the end of the necklace to hold all of the strands together and knotted it in place. I put a little E6000 glue on the knots to hold them together. This is what the ends will look like.

Part of what took me so long to make the necklace was that I had no idea what to use for the silver loops in the center. I toyed around with lots of ideas, including making my own, but I settled on ordering O-rings (like the kind used as hardware on purses and belts). So I ordered some. Apparently my math was off because the 1-inch rings I ordered were way to big for this project...bummer. I was looking for another option and found part of a beaded belt that my mom had given me to make jewelry with. It was perfect! I just took apart the links with a pair of pliers and slid the rings onto the cord.

I forgot to take pictures of the rest, but I added cone beads to each end to finish them off. I also created a loop with the beading wire with another crimp tube and attached a toggle clasp with jump rings.

I think it turned out great! I know my mom loves it! She asked for me to create a whole jewelry line for her. I told her - we'll see :)

Love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Cards

Yesterday we celebrated the second Mother's Day in our little household (last year, my girl was only 12 days old!). It was a wonderfully relaxing day. Thanks honey!

Last week I realized that I needed to send cards to my Mom and Grandmas. So, I whipped these up in an afternoon. Although I'm not really into paper crafting, these were fun to make!

 Here are a few up close:

First, I cut 8.5 x 11 pieces of cardstock in half and then folded those in half to make the cards. Then, I stamped the floral images with black ink and the letters with green ink. To give the flowers and leaves a little color, I used cray-pas (which I have literally had in my crafting stash since I was in middle school and haven't used because I never wanted to mess them up!), which were blended with Q-tips. It was a fun, quick project to let my mom and grandmas know how special they are to me!

Birthday Bunting

My first sewing project in recent times was this Happy Birthday bunting and hanging name banner. I love how they turned out! Actually, this whole birthday wall turned out exactly like I had pictured in my head...no, really...I drew out a sketch a month before the party and pulled it out that morning. It looked just like what i had planned! I love when things go according to plan!

For the birthday bunting, I followed this tutorial. I also made the number (1st) removable with velcro so that I can change it from year to year. I hope it will be a special birthday tradition. I know, I know...in a couple of years my daughter will hate pink. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But for now, I can envision it being used for countless birthdays to come!

I also made the tissue paper flowers along the bunting, which were also placed around the room. I used the tutorial found here to make them. I used regular old wire to hold them together instead of a pipe cleaner.

Anyway, the bunting went together rather well. I can't wait to use it next year!!

The Celebration Dress

A couple of months ago, I was cleaning out my closet and found a pretty dress I wore years ago. It had a lot of sentimental value since it was the dress I got engaged in.

 Wow! That seems like such a long time ago (it was...8 years ago)! And I wore it for college graduation. Ah, the memories...

I was about to put it in the "donate" box, but my hubby stopped me. He told me not to get rid of that one. (Somehow, he is much more sentimental about objects than I am). So, I relented...I wouldn't get rid of it. However, I definitely couldn't wear it anymore - thanks to the baby for completely changing my body!

So, what could I do with this "must save" yet not-fitting dress? I had been reading/bookmarking a ton of blogs that repurpose clothes. I thought that maybe I could repurpose my dress into a dress for my little girl. Since I knew we were celebrating my daughter's birthday on Easter Sunday (and dedicating her at church too!), I knew she needed a really special dress, so this seemed like a great idea.

I bought a pattern (although I'd never sewn a dress before and had only read a pattern once...about 15 years ago). Since my dress had so much sentimental value, I decided to sew a practice dress on fabric I didn't care about. So, I bought some fabric and made the practice dress, which went really well (meaning I cut the fabric right on the first time and it only took me 3 times to get the zipper in.)

Since that went so well, I thought I'd dive into making the special dress. BUT, the pattern was way too big for the fabric in my dress. So, I thought I'd just cut off the skirt from my dress and sew it onto a top made with the pattern out of taffeta. After working out a few kinks (sewing the slit in the back, the lining of the skirt being too long in the back...etc), this is what I did. And I'm thrilled with the results! She looked so adorable in her celebration dress!

The matching hair flower (glued to a ribbon lined alligator clip and clipped onto a headband that I made) and the flowers on the dress were made with the leftover taffeta by following a tutorial found here. (Love this site and you'll see more of her tutorial inspired projects here soon!) However, I used pearl beads for the centers, which were sewed on instead of using hot glue.

Elliepalooza (my baby turns one!)

Last weekend we had a first birthday celebration for my little girl. OK, it was really small, just with family (thanks for coming everyone!) I probably went a little overboard with the decorations. I was having so much fun, I couldn't help but make just about everything! AHHH...I can't believe that I have a one year old! I might be freaking out a little, but she sure seems happy about it!

Since the party is over, I'm finding myself with a lot more free time (ok...mostly just nap time :) and very little direction for how to be spending my time. So, I thought I'd update the blog to show the things I created for Elliepalooza (my hubby's name for the party - did I say I went overboard?)

Here are some of my favorite pics.

 The family on Easter morning

 Ellie ripping into her gifts

 Mom and Dad helping her blow out the candle

 This is really good. Here Mom...you want some?