Summer Project: Jewelry Holder

So this is a project I've wanted to do for awhile now, I just hadn't had time or been able to find the right supplies.  I finally did when I was browsing at Michael's with Austin over the weekend.

It was really easy.  I just sanded and painted the frame until I got the look I wanted, then took out the plastic that would go over the picture and stretched fabric and netting across the frame backing.  The background fabric is just a fat quarter that's sand colored, and the main fabric is this netting kind of stuff that was with the nautical fabrics at JoAnns.  I initially wanted to do lace, but I thought the netting worked a little better with the nautical/seaside kinda theme I was going for.  For the posts at the bottom, I cut up a dowel and drilled holes to slide them into.

Like I said,really easy.

And here it is in action.  I haven't put many of my earrings on it yet but still.  Also the posts don't give quite enough space for my rings/bracelets so I'm thinking of either adding more posts or maybe making a smaller, matching piece to hang beside this one for additional storage.  We'll see.

At any rate, I'm really, really happy with how it turned out!

Christmas Crafts

These are the ornaments I made for my family/friends for Christmas this year.  Each one (except the mittens) has '12 or 2012 embroidered on the back, so they're sort of commemorative.

Candy canes for Shannon and Tamy, a peppermint candy for Jillian.
A snowman for Austin.
A stocking for Jenny and a Steelers stocking for my dad.

A wreath for my mom (the red one).
A wreath for Jerbs' parents (the white one).
Dog bones for Dolce (my sister's dog), Olaf (Jerbs' parents' dog),
and Ringo and Bella, the Flicks' dogs.

Mittens for Christina and Duane, who got married this past June.
Mittens for Betsy and Brant (aka the Flicks) who got married in Feb. 2011.
Mittens for Theresa and Jenna, who will hopefully get married someday.
The mittens are joined by ribbon and meant to be draped over a Christmas tree branch.
Clever, no?

Next year I plan to do even bigger and better homemade gifts.

A Snowy Day

It snowed through last night so we woke up to solid white.  I had to leave the house at one point and there were spots where the snow was up to my knees.  (Granted I have like a 26 inch inseam so up to my knees isn't a huge deal).  Even with all the snow, the roads were clear--just a little icy.

Our porch this afternoon, the ground near our apartment, and the two big pine trees in front of our porch.
Living on the third floor=living at tree top level!

Aside from my outing to Safeway, we all stayed inside and kept warm today.  Both cats were snuggly, and Benji stayed on his heating pad.

And I got some work done on a few embroidery projects I'm working on.

Each of these is part of a Christmas ornament for someone . . . or someone's pet.
I'm not going to say what's for who, since I don't really know who all reads this!

Since I'm not going to have enough money for actual gifts this year, I figured I'd do homemade gifts for everyone.  I'll definitely post pics of the finished projects.  I love embroidering so much, and I'm really enjoying doing it.  I like the way everything's turning out so far (I'm especially proud of the snowman!).

Anyway, that was our snow day.  It's so pretty out right now.  I'm determined to make a snow angel tomorrow.  And a snowman, if I can convince Jerbs to help me.  (She's not as big a fan of snow as I am).

Halloween Manicures

A holiday combined with co-owning a 230 piece nail polish collection is pretty cool.  Jerbs and I both had fun doing Halloween manicures this year and I thought I'd share mine.  Since they're, y'know, awesome.  I'm kinda sad Halloween's over now but I already have ideas for next year's Halloween nails!

Frankenstein inspired nails.
Jerbs did the stitches on my right hand
since I'm right handed.

Blood spatter!
Done by using a narrow straw to blow red polish
over a white base.   Sadly, these ones chipped
off after a few days, so I had to redo them.

Round 2 of the blood spatter.
I bought a new red polish for it, because I didn't
want to use all my Christmas red on Halloween nails.
I didn't like the accent nail I did on the first blood nails,
so I did a different one this time.

This one is the least artistic, but I love it.
Just a strong black base with this amazing glitter on top.
The glitter is mostly orange with flecks of purple and green.
It's called Glitter Goblin, and is part of China Glaze's
new Halloween collection.  It is SO sparkly.