Color code your keys – I think I’ll have to try doing this with alcohol ink or patina and see how it compares to the nail polish version…

I love the idea of a reusable 5-a-day checklist. It would be great to make one for workouts, too.

These kid plates are adorable. I wonder if it would actually get my kids to eat more veggies or just play with them?

I wonder if the 100 push up plan would actually work for a girl who has never done more than about 25 full push-ups in a set. I bet if I did knee push-ups I could get to 100, but not so confident about 100 *full* push ups. I’m thinking about trying it anyway…week one doesn’t look so bad If I actually do it, I’ll for sure be bragging about it here…

I know it’s a little late for Mother’s Day, but I love this little album idea made with playing cards. Perfect for phone pictures!

Hope you enjoyed these links!

mixed paper journal

detail: a bunch of the pages in the journal

two page spread, ready for art + journaling

pages made from scraps of other projects

old book page + scrapbook paper map

pages made from scrapbook paper

I put together this journal over the weekend using a combination of paper types, including scrapbook paper (by Tim Holtz & also DCWV) pages from an old psychology dictionary, painted and plain papers from my stash, and black chipboard.

I’ve seen lots of people making similar books, and finally got inspired to make one of my own after listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable last week, when they read an email from a listener who suggested making books to give as gifts. I love scrapbook paper, but do all my photo stuff digitally, so I’m always looking for ways to use up my paper stash.

This book will probably be a journal with stuff glued in – not sure yet though, it’s always hard for me to start using a new book until I have a good idea of what I want it to become. I’ll be looking on Pinterest to see what other people are using their handmade journals for, for inspiration!

Earrings featuring simple loop beaded dangles

In this photo tutorial, I’m demonstrating how to make a simple loop with a piece of wire. The earrings shown here were made by adding beads to a head pin, then making a simple loop at the end to attach the dangles to some earwires.

Simple loops have an end that is free {not soldered or wrapped} so you can open and close the end with pliers. It’s a good idea not to use very thin wire for simple loops because you need the wire to be strong enough to hold up to normal wear and tear. For thinner or softer wire, I recommend soldered links or wrapped loops for extra security.

Materials needed:
Wire

Tools needed:
Flat nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters

Optional:
Head pin with beads on it instead of wire

My basic process is shown below. Try it a few times with a piece of practice wire to get an idea of how much wire you need for your loops, then try it with a beaded head pin, simply snipping the wire end to the length you need for your loop. For me, using 20g wire, this is approximately 1/2 inch.

I don’t worry about closing the loop perfectly when making it, because when I open and close the loop afterward to attach it to my jewelry project, I use a little pressure with my pliers to get the free end up really close so that the opening is pretty much invisible. Tutorial on opening and closing loops coming soon!

Crocheted Flower

For this one, I used a sport weight yarn called Craft from the Vickie Howell yarn collection. The red color is called Chica. I used a 3.75mm crochet hook.

To begin, chain 8 & join with a slip stitch to form a ring. Single crochet 14 times into the ring, then slip stitch to join to the first single crochet. Now you have a sturdy-looking ring with single crochets all around it.

Now make the petals – if you have 14 single crochets, you will end up with 7 petals. To make a petal, single crochet, double crochet, triple crochet, double crochet, and single crochet into the first single crochet. Then slip stitch into the next single crochet to make a space between the first petal and the next. Repeat making one petal and one space all around the ring.

If you want a pendant, you need to make a bail. Chain about 7 stitches, then slip stitch to join to the center of the flower, making a loop for a bail. If you don’t want a pendant – say you’re making the flower to sew onto a scarf or something – skip this step and just weave your ends in when you are finished making all the petals.

Bobble Cuff

I wanted to learn some new crochet stitch patterns, and found a bobble stitch pattern in my Reader’s Digest needlework book (it’s a huge hardcover book that was given to me by a friend’s mom, and has instructions for all kinds of needlework including knitting and crocheting).

To make a bobble stitch, you yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over, pull hook through stitch, yarn over, pull hook through two loops. You keep doing this into the same stitch until you have six loops on your hook, then yarn over and pull the hook through all six loops. The bobble will look kind of flat at this point, but you single crochet into the next stitch, which gathers it up and makes it look more bobble-like.

For this bracelet, there are two single crochet stitches in between each bobble. I used a multiple of three stitches and alternated where the bobble was in each row. In between a row of bobbles, I did a row of single crochet. That’s basically the stitch pattern as printed in the book. I ended up with a flat bobble at the end of the middle row of bobbles, so that’s where I sewed on the button. To make a closure for the button, I did a row of single crochet along one end, but chained a couple stitches and skipped a couple before continuing the single crochet, forming a small loop.

I used sport weight yarn and the hook size recommended on the label, and did nine repeats of the bobble to get a decent length for my wrist. You would probably want to experiment with gauge to make sure your bracelet is the right length for you. I think I’ll make it a bit tighter – maybe one less repeat – if I make this again, because it stretched a little when I wore it for a while. It still fits okay, but I’d prefer a tighter fit.

Crocheted Pendant

If you know how to make a chain stitch, a slip stitch, and a single crochet stitch, you can make this pendant. The yarn I used is from Vickie Howell’s yarn “rock”, manufactured by Southwest Trading Company. It is a sport weight yarn, so you could probably substitute any sport weight yarn and get similar results (the color I used is called Courtney – it’s such a bright pink that it seemed like a flower would be a natural thing to make with it). I used a 4mm crochet hook.

You can change the look of this flower by varying the number of chain stitches in the center and each petal – thus increasing or decreasing the size or the loop- or by using a different size/style of yarn with an appropriately sized hook for that yarn. If you aren’t feeling too adventurous or are a true beginner, try doing it with the exact yarn and hook that I used until you feel comfortable enough to experiment.

To start, chain for about an inch and join the chain using a slip stitch to form a ring.

Instead of doing single crochet into each chain stitch, single crochet into the ring itself until you have single crochets going all the way around the ring. Join to the first single crochet with a slip stitch.

To make the petals, chain 4-5 stitches, then single crochet into the next stitch. Do this all the way around, using the same number of chains for each petal if you want a uniform look. Then single crochet into the loop of the first petal the same number of times you chain stitched. In other words – if your petals used 4 chain stitches, single crochet into each petal 4 times. This stiffens up the petals a bit.

Instead of fastening off, chain for about 1 1/2 inches, then join the end of the chain back to the body of the flower with a slip stitch – this makes the pendant bail (the loop you use to hang your pendant from a chain). Cut the yarn and weave in the ends. That’s it!

In the picture, the pendant is hanging on a knitted I-cord, also made from a sport weight yarn, but you could hang it on any kind of chain or fiber. If you’d prefer a pin instead of a pendant, don’t make the bail of the pendant, and glue or tie it to a pin finding.

Swarovski Donut Necklace

What you need:
1 donut-style bead (or donut shaped found object)
3 feet of fancy yarn or cord

And here’s what you do: fold the yarn in half, slip it through the donut, slip the ends through the folded “loop”, and tighten. Tie in a bow around your neck – voila! Instant necklace!

For the necklace shown above, I used 3 feet of Swarovski Light Grey Mohair Yarn with 3mm pearls and a 20 mm Cosmic Ring bead in Sahara.

For the second necklace, below, I used the same yarn but in Bronze, and a rusty found object (found in my back yard – not sure who used to live here, but all kinds of rusty things keep turning up).

Found Object Donut Necklace

Here’s a reverse view of the necklace with the crystal bead – I love that the back looks different, so I could wear this either way, depending on my outfit.

Swarovksi Donut Necklace, Reversed

My little girl would love this tutu, and I would love to use some of my yarn stash, since I haven’t made so much as a scarf in a couple years.

Want to make money blogging? {I do – who doesn’t want to get paid to do something they enjoy?} Crafterminds posted a great list of ideas for people who want to earn some income with their blog. Do you do any of them? It got me thinking – I have a cafe press store, maybe I should link to it…after I update it, something I haven’t done in ages.

These sweet potato fries look great, but I’m especially intrigued by the sage pesto sauce – definitely need to try that! And maybe my garden needs space for a sage plant somewhere in there…

Any scrapbookers reading? Girl vs. Scrap is up at the One Story Down blog, and it’s a fun challenge this month.

The blogger design challenge for Artbeads was “what’s old is new”. I love this theme – combining new goodies from artbeads with old stuff from my stash. I decided to take something new – aluminum cuffs – and age them.

aged cuff bracelet

I started with a shiny new bracelet and scratched it a little. Then I took a little alcohol ink (I used ginger, but any brown tone would work) and dripped it directly on the bracelet.

another view of distressed cuff

I let it drip, then rubbed it with my finger. I would recommend using a piece of felt or tissue paper if you don’t want to have a stained finger….

one more angle - aged cuff bracelet

Alcohol ink dries in a few seconds, so if it’s not dark enough, just add a little more. Done!

I added some simple embellishments to two of the distressed cuff bracelets I made. I love them. And they were so easy to make.

Distressed Cuff Bracelets

Crystal Distressed Cuff

Some of the alcohol ink has started wearing off, so next time I will seal it with wax if I want the finish to be more permanent. Since I’m keeping this, I’m not worried about it – I can always re-distress it in about a minute.

I punched a hole with my screw punch (LOVE that tool) and used a jump ring borrowed from a piece of brass chain to connect the Swarovski crystal bead. There is a second hole in the bead, near the bottom, so I could add more dangles for a more elaborate embellished look.

Filigree Cuff

The wide bracelet features an awesome filigree piece I got from a previous artbeads design challenge but that didn’t end up working itself into my vision at the time. Now I’m really glad I didn’t use it before, because it’s the perfect size & color for this piece.

I punched four holes and used some 20 gauge copper wire to “stitch” the embellishment to the cuff.

Cuffs, side view

Swarovski dangle detail

Cuffs - another angle

Top view of cuff bracelets

All materials I used on these {except the chain link & the copper wire & the ink} are from artbeads. You can find blank cuff bracelets here, or browse their selection of swarovski crystal here. The exact swarovski bead I used is this 13 mm keystone.

Using this recipe as a base, choose a few additions. I like cheese, rosemary, garlic, chives – think savory spices that would blend well with whatever you are having the bread with. If we’re doing American food, I go with a little cheddar cheese and garlic or onion. For Italian, maybe oregano and garlic plus grated parmesan cheese. I haven’t had a bad batch yet, so if you stick with 1-3 additions that you know go well together, you should have good results.

The next day, it makes hearty sandwiches or toaster pizzas – yum!

Tip: don’t use cheap beer. You know how chefs are always saying the wine you cook with should be wine you’d be willing to drink? That rule applies here – although the alcohol cooks off and the beer flavor is not very noticeable, I made the mistake of using a can of icky cheap beer once, and my bread also tasted icky and cheap. Lesson learned.

If you have some bits and pieces of chain leftover from other jewelry projects, you can make a ring in about a minute. You will need some chain with unsoldered links, and any focal components you want to add (I used metal circles I had in my stash). You’ll also need some jewelry pliers, ideally two pairs, to open and close the jump rings.

chain and circle ring

For the simple ring below, all I did was measure the chain around my finger, open a jump ring, and close it again to join my bit of chain into a circle.

simple chain ring

The rings with circles were almost as easy – I attached a bit of chain to a circle component, then measured around my finger with the chain again, and attached the last jump ring in the chain to the circle. The one below has two lengths of chain to make it look a bit more substantial.

double chain ring

I would love to see your twist on this project – post a comment linking to a blog post with chain rings you’ve made and I’ll be sure to stop by and check it out.

I’ve found a couple types of markers that work on metal – sharpies and copic markers. These are just two kinds of markers I happen to have around that work – other types of permanent ink markers probably also work well, so don’t be afraid to try whatever you have in your stash. Copics seem to last longer than Sharpies – but neither will be permanent without some kind of sealer over them, at least for jewelry-type pieces that are subject to wear and tear. Probably either one would work well for something like a scrapbook layout that would end up protected by a page protector.

Copics are somewhat sheer, while a black Sharpie is opaque.

Great use for markers: coloring inside the recessed parts of an embossed design. Rub off the ink on the raised areas with very fine sand paper {or for jewelry pieces, let it wear off naturally over time} for a great textured look.

If you make a mistake or don’t like the color you used, rubbing alcohol on a piece of felt or tissue will take the ink off easily.

Part 1 of my coloring metal series, featuring embossing powder, is here.