Pinterest Challenge 01

I am a big fan of Young House Love, along with half the universe, it seems. This week Sherry is hosting a Pinterest Challenge: take something you have pinned and actually make it, or your own version of it. This should be a monthly challenge for me because I have so many great ideas pinned on my boards but if I never get around to actually making them myself - what's the point?
I love all the DIY jewelry pins and wanted to post about a project I did lately. When it was my turn to host my monthly craft group, I chose painted bead necklaces. I made one for myself, then one for my sister's birthday and one for my neice for Christmas. I loved this for my craft group because everyone could personalize their necklace how they liked: different lengths, different sized beads, different color schemes: monochromatic, ombre, multi-colored.

I was inspired by Kristina Klarin necklaces, which she sold on Big Cartel and then through Anthropologie. She now has her own site, House of Kami. The necklaces are amazing - hand-crafted, original, fabulous pieces and I would buy several if my budget allowed. Colored bead necklaces are no new thing, but I love Klarin's color mixes and how she makes multi-layer pieces. Click on each piece to go to the best source. (As I said, Klarin no longer sells thru Big Cartel and Anthro.)

Then I found these other pins to add to my inspiration board, and some of these blogs have tutorials too - not that you need much help to paint and string. Click on each image to go to the original source.

So for our craft night we used waxed cotton cording and hand-painted all our beads with craft paint and small brushes. Spray-painting also seems to work well, especially if you are going with all one color. I bought lots of sizes of wooden craft beads, up to 3/4" inch. Most of us with longer necklaces just tied them off so they can slip over the head, but if you have a shorter length you would need some kind of clasp - lots to choose from at craft stores. And most of my craft group chose to spray glossy acrylic over the top to protect and add a nice shine. Here are some of the (mostly) finished products.

April Outfit of the Month

I explained the concept of the Outfit of the Month series already, but to sum up: each month I will feature an outfit that I wish I was wearing, either from a magazine or somewhere online. Then I will create a look with a similar feel, with pieces that would fit into the budget of a Well-Rounded Woman. 

April's outfit comes from Lucky magazine and I listed each piece, including price. They add up to a whopping $3,868. And I don't know about you, but that's about six or seven years worth of clothing for me.

Below are the pieces I found, at significant discounts. In fact, at a total of $226 for the entire outfit, that comes to less than 6% of the price of the Lucky outfit. And naturally I don't have $226 to spend each month, but I can usually pick up a piece or two. I already have the pin and I made the necklace recently, and I think I'd like to get a pair of light-weight jeans like this for the summer. I spent a lot of time learning how to make an image map, so please click on specific pieces for the links to where you can get them.

DIY Bead Necklace

As I searched for a suitable necklace for my April Outfit, I couldn't find anything that was what I wanted, but my mind kept going back to a post from the Martha Stewart craft blog. They highlighted a project of dyeing unfinished, wooden beads and stringing them together to make long necklaces. I love this picture:

I had wanted to try this project and this week seemed the perfect time, so I could add the necklace to my April Outfit. I ran to Joanne's to buy beads, dye, and cord to string the beads. The instructions were easy, and by the end of the day I was wearing my necklace. See full directions on the Martha Stewart site here.

Here are some shots of my process, along with details of what I did. I used the following beads:
14    1/2"
24    9/16"
14    5/8"
22    3/4"

You string them on floral wire first to get the length you want and them dye them on the wire. The beads cost me about $10 total and the Rit dye was $2.50. (A sweet woman offered me an extra coupon for 25% off my purchase, which I was glad for because none of my items were on sale.) The MS website recommends using leather cord, which you can dye to match the beads, but I am cheap and bought a waxed cotton cord. I'm sure that would have dyed well also, but I didn't bother. The total cost was around $13 without coupons or sales. (Love my sweet neice as a model!)

I used Rit dye in Teal and was happy with the color, although the tutorial used mostly teal, with a little taupe or grey mixed in. I can see that would give them a more muted look, but I skipped this too. I used my large, non-stick, dutch oven pot and was worried about ruining it, but it was no problem at all. The beads stay in the dye 5-10 minutes, depending on how dark you want them - just agitate throughout and check them often. Dry the beads on an old towel. They took much longer to dry than I thought, and the color lightened as they dried. It would have gone much faster outside. I was worried about the dye rubbing off on my clothing without some kind of rinse or finish. I wore my necklace the next day with an already stained shirt and didn't have any transfer of color. I've worn my beads several times since and I think they look great!

In the end, I couldn't dump out 8 cups of beautiful blue dye, so I ended up dipping a bunch of paper coffee filters. I've seen a lot of amazing crafts made from these and had previously grabbed some at the grocery store so I dyed a few dozen, let them dry upside down to keep their shape, and stashed them away for the next project.

Blissfest Bargains

Last Saturday was the Blissfest, which is seemed everyone in Mesa attended, along with hundreds of their closest friends. All to benefit Nie Nie. I actually went twice. I was there right at the beginning, with my two year old. He enjoyed the carnival games before many kids arrived, and I previewed the boutique booths before my "alone" visit in the afternoon. There was some seriously cute and amazing stuff there. And most of it cost a zillion dollars. And I'm not rich. After my birthday extravaganza week, I'm pretty sure my husand was going to kill me if I spent any money at Blissfest, but in my mind I was entitled to. I just planned to keep it under $20. And guess what $20 can get you at a boutique... not much.

That's why, when I found the booth for Paddywacks Studio, I was riveted for fifteen whole minutes. The genius behind the crafts, Whitney Johnson, told me about her wares without pushing them on me. Or making me feel like it wasn't worth getting out of her chair and wasting her breath on someone who looked like they could barely afford the ratty old flip-flops she came in. Which was a problem at a few places. Whitney explained how she uses reclaimed fabric and materials for her creations and I fell hard for the pieces made from men's dress shirts. There so many different things, she uses all parts of the shirt. Even the bunting around her tent was made from the sleeves & cuffs. I spent five minutes sorting through the different patterns to choose the item I was going to buy. A $3 kleenex holder. $3. A really cute one, as you can see. I loved the stripes and the butterfly pin. Since I used all my cash on carnival tickets, and didn't want to pull out my credit card for such a small purchase, Whitney generously offered to hold it for me.


When I went back to the Blissfest in the afternoon, I saved Paddywacks Studio for last. And I didn't see anything I liked more. Whitney even remembered me and brought out my carefully saved $3 item. I almost bought a cute little coin purse too, but somehow decided I could make one myself. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying one instead. And I will be ordering a custom Scrap Shirt too. These tee were adorable, especially the kiddo ones. Whitney buys old tees at thrift stores, and cuts out the letters on them to use on her Scrap Shirts. It's pretty hard to tell how cute they are in these pictures (which I stole from Whitney's blog). And amazingly the shirts are $15 for kids, $20 for adults, and $25 for a few that she had on fancy shirts instead of just tees. Even more amazing is that you can order a custom shirt for the same price. I envision coordinating shirts for my three sons, each with their names. But even though $15 is a smokin' deal for a handmade, custom shirt, I'm sure my husband will take umbrage with $45 spent on kids tees. So I will think about what to do. The order form is at right, if you want to get your own.


Whitney also makes these cool necklaces, fabric covered books/planner covers, adorable aprons with lots of pockets, and button bracelets (just like the picture I saw of Nie Nie wearing). Check out her blog, Kindred Joy, which is where I borrowed all these pictures from. She told me she was working on getting an Etsy shop up, but does have a fledgling website for her business, Paddywacks Studio. Whitney also teaches classes at Blissful Living Studio and Mystic Paper, both in downtown Mesa.

Bracelet du Jour

I love a good fashion accessory and have been coveting all the cute, beaded jewelry I see out there in the stores and even on people's blogs. There are some very talented people making genuinely good stuff, but that doesn't mean this Well-Rounded Woman on a Budget can afford to stock her jewelry box with beautiful baubles. So when my crafty sister-in-law said she was making bracelets in her weekly class, I jumped on board. She even provided all the supplies.


These bracelets are the easiest thing to make, and only took me about five minutes each. The funnest part is picking out the beads. Michaels has a ton to choose from and my sis/teacher let me pick from dozens of great ones she had already purchased. You buy clear elastic made for jewelry, cut a piece about twice as big as your wrist, stretch it out five or six times, and start stringing. This is the creative part!


One good reason to use a longer elastic is because you can just keep both ends of the elastic open. I only dumped all my beads off once! Or you can secure one side to the table with a piece of tape to prevent losing your creative genius. String for a bit and keep testing the bracelet on your wrist. If you make your bracelet the same size as your wrist there will be plenty of stretch in the elastic to put it on and off. When you are happy with the arrangement of beads and the length, you just tie the ends together in a knot and secure the knot by covering it with a few drops of Superglue. Once the glue is dry you can cut the loose ends short and the knot will hardly be noticeable between the beads.

I love my pink bracelets and have been wearing them together a couple times a week. If you make a bracelet, e-mail me a picture!

Fight the Frump with Bling

Time again for Fight the Frump with Fussy. This week I'm talking about bling. Actually I'm not sure I'm the kind of person who uses the word "bling." Basically I'm talking about jewelry. I'm reminded of the movie, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Kate's character calls her bling frosting. I like the sweets reference.

Anyway, one easy way to fight the frump - once you've established the habit of showering, wearing cute clothes that fit, and fixing your hair and make-up - is to accessorize. If you're like me you have a jewelry box full of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings that haven't seen the light of day (or night) in many moons. Pull those babies out! I've been trying to remind myself to grab a few things before I head out the door. Especially my wedding rings. It only takes a few seconds and can make a big difference. I think earrings, because they are next to your face, can make the biggest impact, but hey - if you want to draw attention to your chest with a fab necklace, do it with style! I like plainer pieces, favoring gold, silver, diamonds and pearls - even if they're fake. But it seems beaded jewelry is very popular now too. Fussy just posted some beautiful items. Find a few pieces that you truly love, hopefully that you already own, and remember to put on one or two of them on the next time you leave your house.

I've been coveting this Tiffany pendant for 4 years now. But it's $400.

I love the jewelry at Sundance.com. These silver studs are classic.

For more fabulous Fight the Frump tips, visit Fussy's blog.