toe rings inspiration

I bought a pack of toe ring bases from etsy awhile ago, so I decided to have fun with a couple of them today. The top one I made by gluing on a decor marble and I love how it looks, it's really pretty! For the bottom one I glued on some seed beads around the front part of the ring. I can't wait to wear these!

Duct Tape Chevron Necklace Tutorial

Chevron patterns are so popular right now, but luckily you can make your own chevron necklace with things you have at home. This would be even easier if you have colored duct tape, but if you don't, don't worry! I only had the plain grey as well, but all you need to add some color is some nail polish.

What you need:

• duct tape
• nail polish (and top coat optional)
• wire or jump rings
• chain
• beads (optional)

Beaded Necklace Tutorial

I made this last night and I'm really excited with how it turned out!

By the way, I made it with beads from an old bracelet and a chain from an old necklace, plus wire I already had. Hooray for free!

What you need:

• beads
• chain
• wire
• pliers

taking old jewelry and turning it into new pieces

I wanted to make a post about this because I do it so often. Being the sentimental person that I am, I never threw away any of my childhood jewelry. Or, you know, those types of cheap jewelry that you're given as gifts that you'd never wear? All of that is perfect for refashioning into great pieces, you just have to be able to see the potential. If you don't have anything like this lying around, you could also just go out and buy cheap jewelry ;) Or Claire's has racks of 10 for $10 discount jewelry all the time, just think of all the things you can make with ten different pieces!

This necklace above was a product of 5 different bracelets. It was inspired by this Anthropologie necklace. I love yellow and blue together as a color combination and looked at it and thought, "hey, I could reproduce something similar to this with things I already have!"

You know those power bead bracelets that were popular about 10ish years ago? I have some that I still keep with my bracelets, but then I have others that are stretched out and just not right, so those went in a bag with my crafting supplies. They are make up of great beads, the problem is that there's just not a lot of them in one bracelet alone. The yellow one was fine for the bottom, but there wasn't enough in the first blue one that I chose for the sides. So I took a cheap plastic blue bead bracelet, and I added some of those beads in there as well to have the length I needed. The round metal beads are from a cheap Christmas-themed bracelet. And finally the metal beads with the designs were from another bracelet. 

See all the potential in that old jewelry you'd never wear as is? You just have to see it! This is meant to be more of an inspiration post than an actual tutorial. I'm all for saving money whenever I can with my supplies so I do this all the time.

As a final note, I have a collection of chains as well from necklaces that I took the pendants off of. Easy! I also have a couple bracelet chains that had charms that I just took off with pliers. Now it's a nice plain chain and the possibilities are endless. And some of the charms would even look great on other pieces in different contexts, so they're definitely worth saving.

Wire Wrapped Heart

My latest favorite medium is wire, because there is just so much you can do with it. Here, I was inspired to create a wire wrapped heart. I used 24 gauge wire, and started by forming a doubled-up wire heart, so that it would be sturdier. I finished off by making a loop to hang it on the top. I originally intended there to only be one loop in the middle, but it got shifted as I was wrapping so I adapted :)

After cutting that off, I started by securing the wire to the heart wrapping the end around on one of the sides a couple times, and then I just started wrapping until I felt it looked right. There's no wrong way to do this, and no two will come out looking the same, so I'd love to see yours! To finish it off, I made another loop on the other top curve of the heart and then cut the excess wire.

When I'm done, I like to take my pliers and sort of press the piece together where the wire might be bulging more in places. I also like to squeeze the corners, because I think doing this makes it look sharper.

Now all I have to do is hang it on a gold chain and I have a pretty new heart pendant necklace!

Crocheted Bangles Tutorial

So I came across these fuzzy bangles from Anthropologie, and I couldn't help but think how easy they'd be to make in a variety of styles.

What you'll need:

• bangle
• yarn

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, keep crafting through. I have been so inspired by the crafting blogs of others that I decided to create one of my own to share.

I have always loved being creative and making things. My favorite thing to make is jewelry, but I like to make anything that seems interesting to me. I also love to cook, so this blog may end up including recipes every now and then too. Really, cooking is just an edible form of crafting.

My name is Alisa, and I'm a graduate student. I want to work with young children with special needs. I love kids and I love to craft with them as well!

I will share new creations and post tutorials whenever I have the time. Hopefully you'll find something worthwhile here!