DIY: JCrew inspired Ribbon Necklace

Above is my first ever attempt at jewelry; and although it doesn't look extremely professional, I definitely think it's nice enough to wear out! Plus it only took about 15 minutes!

I love colorful beads and ribbon, take a look at these jcrew creations that inspired me!

To make my necklace above, you will need:

white ribbon
45 round beads
12 small beads for the ends(not neccessary)
Bead cord
scissors

First cut your strands of beads (you will have a ton of loose beads everywhere!)

next formulate a pattern for your necklace

Now you're ready to begin stringing your beads

I decided to use this pattern:

tie a knot; strand 2 end beads, 16 beads, 2 end beads, tie off, snip bead cord

tie a knot; strand 2 end beads, 15 beads, 2 end beads, tie off, snip bead cord

tie a knot; strand 2 end beads, 14 beads, 2 end beads, tie off

Now put the strands in height order, longest on the bottom, shortest on top

Now tie all three strand ends together on both sides

Now, you are ready to incorporate the ribbon.

Decide how low you want your necklace to fall; mine measures about a foot and a half. Now you want to double this measurement, and cut the ribbon (I cut three feet of ribbon)

Tie both ends of the ribbon together

Open your ribbon into an oval; place 2 strands of beads on the top side of the ribbon, and the third strand on the bottom; now lift the bottom of the ribbon, and join to the top; shake until the beads fall into place

Because even as I'm re-reading this I've confused myself, I've attached a youtube tutorial link from themayofam that I think will prove helpful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBuIaZO-JE4

Lastly snip off excess bead thread

wrap over your head, and wear!

Crochet Lacy Scarf

This week I decided to attempt a new crochet scarf pattern; The Lacey Shell!

There are a ton of free crochet patterns available on the internet, a few sites I use are caron.com, and lionbrand.com. Most sites provide free written patterns, but I suggest as a beginner you use the ever faithful tutorials on youtube. Once you've mastered all stitches you can go back to the written patterns and work from there.

As I am still learning myself, I decided to browse a few videos, and stumbled upon this awesome tutorial.(one day mine will look this professional!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=iUOjaeBnZls&NR=1

I altered the pattern Slightly:

Here's the Pattern I used:

Chain 27

ROW 1: turn, single crochet in the 2nd chain from the hook and each remaining chain (you will have 26 single crochets); chain three, turn

ROW 2: Skip 3 single crochets; in the 4th single crochet create a shell (shell= 3 double crochets, chain 2, three double crochets; all in the same single crochet); next skip 5 single crochets, and crochet a shell in the 6th single crochet; continue until you reach the end of the row; double crochet in the last single crochet of the row; chain 3; turn

ROW 3 and on: repeat ROW 2 until you've reached your desired length

 

Below pictures show the scarf in stages

If desired add fringe(see earlier post How to: Add Fringe to a Scarf for tutorial)

Complete! This would make a great gift for a friend or female family member!

DIY: Holiday Wreath

Now that Thanksgiving and black Friday have passed, Christmas decorations are popping up left and right. This year I decided to join the masses and get into the spirit early too! A friend mentioned she made her own DIY wreath from an idea on pintrest, and I decided I would try a version of my own as well.(see above!)

Starting out I was a bit skeptical, but let me tell you, this was by far the easiest project I've attempted, and I love the way it turned out.

You will need:

Christmas balls (58 balls)
wire hanger
ribbon
Twine

Step 1: unwind the wire hanger

Step 2: Bend the wire into a circle

Step 3: If you have many different colored balls formulate a pattern, begin stringing the balls onto the wire (if the tops of the balls are not firmly on, I would consider hot glue gunning each on)

Continue to string the balls

Once you have about half the balls on, lift the right side of the hanger up, all of the balls should slide down towards the left side, and create a thicker looking wreath

Continue the process of adding more balls, and lifting up the right side of the hanger, until you have all 58 balls strung, the result should look something like the below:

Now, retwist the top of the wire hanger back together

Lastly, tie a bow and attach with twine at the top of the wreath

How to: Add Fringe to a Scarf

As cold weather is right around the corner, I've been quite busy crafting many many scarves for friends and family. I have not yet added that extra special punch to my creations though, this being: FRINGE! So, I think it is high time that I figure out exactly how this is done.

Of course the first step is to crochet a scarf

Here's the pattern I came up with (I think this is great for a Man's scarf)

Create a slipknot, chain 200

Row 1: single crochet in the 3 chain from the hook, continue to single crochet in each remaining chain, when you reach the end chain 2, turn your work

Row 2: single crochet in each single crochet, when you reach the end chain 2, turn your work

Row 3->11: repeat row 2

Fasten off

Now for the fringe..

Cut strands of yarn 12 inches long, for this I actually took a small notebook and just began wrapping the yarn around multiple times

Then I cut the yarn at the top of the notebook

I then inserted the crochet hook into the first stitch (this pic is of the second stitch, but the process is the same)

Next I took 6 strands of yarn and folded them over the crochet hook

Then I pulled the yarn through

Lastly, wrap fringe over the hook and pull through, tug to tighten

Continue this process for all bottom and top stitches of your scarf

When you're finished you should have something like this!

Homemade Lip Gloss

Happy Monday! I must say I am so excited about this week's project: Homemade Lip Gloss! I first saw this on pintrest a few weeks ago, and knew I had to give it a shot.

My lips, like most, chap easily, and for the last few years I've been using Rosebud Salve, I never leave home without it. And although it's not that pricey, it's not always accessible, unless of course you live by a sephora or urban outfitters, which I don't.

So, for convenience and in an effort to save a few bucks, I'm hoping this new recipe with prove to be my rosebud salve replacement.

What you'll need:
1 tub shea butter petroleum jelly
1 pkg of desired flavored kool-aid (I used both pink lemonade, and fruit punch; pink lemonade doesn't show any color, and fruit punch comes out pale pink)
lip gloss containers (either new, or recycle old ones)

Directions:

Step 1: use a microwave safe measuring cup (make sure it has a spout, which will make pouring the lip gloss into containers easy), spoon a third a cup of vaseline into the measuring cup.

Step 2: heat the vaseline in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each heating. It took me about 5 minutes for the vaseline to liquify. Remove from microwave with an oven mit

Step 3: take out of microwave and stir in kool-aid drink crystals until the crystals dissolve.

Step 4: Add a small amount of water into the mix and stir (this will help you achieve color)

Step 5: Pour mix into lip gloss containers

Step 6: cap containers, put in freezer for 15 minutes until the liquid solidifies

That Easy!!

Custom Cozy Drink Holder

Happy Halloween!!

For this week's project: Custom Drink cozy (it's a hit at any tailgate!)

For those of you that keep stopping by every week that aren't interested in learning crochet, I promise, I WILL start posting other projects that don't include crocheting. For those of you that like crochet, this is an extremely simple project. I had some extra time on Friday but I didn't want to get caught up in a long project; I was prepping for a Saturday college football tailgate, and with the weather forecast so grim, I figured I'd try my luck at making a drink cozy. As the project seemed so simple, I didn't bother looking up a pattern. I figured I'd wing it, and hope for the best.

I can say now, after a few people have tried out my cozies; and we unfortunately lost some beer, in an effort to maintain snuggness, I am altering my original pattern. (I didn't take into consideration how much the yarn would stretch)

Here's the revised pattern..

Materials:
SIze H crochet hook
acrylic yarn (2 colors)
darning needle
scissors


Create a slipknot
chain 12
1st Row: double crochet in the 3 chain from the hook, continue to double crochet in each of the following chains until you reach the end of the row; chain 3, turn your work
2nd Row: double crochet in the first double crochet, continue to double crochet in each of the following double crochets until you reach the end of the row, chain 3, turn your work
3rd through 13th Row: continue to repeat directions in the 2nd row.

Now, cut 1 foot of yarn
crochet 1, but instead of leaving the yarn on the hook, pull the 1 extra foot of yarn through, pull to tighten, and you should create a knot
You should have something that looks like the below...

Next, thread the darning needle

Match up the beginning and the end of your work, and begin to sew together

Weave yarn through end to end, you should be left with something like the below:

tie the two excess pieces of yarn together, knotting twice, and then cut of the extra yarn. Now, flip your work inside out, you've completed your cozy.

Lastly, if you want to customize your cozy for a specific team, your own initials etc, thread the darning needle with a different color than what you used on the base, in my case I used white.

After threading the needle, I tied a knot at the end of my yarn

Next, I began to sew in my letters, by starting the first letter threading the yarn through from the inside of the cozy

I then continued to sew in and out until I was pleased with the thickness of my letters

When my letters were complete, I poked the darning needle into the inside of the cozy, threaded my remaining yarn through, tied a knot, and cut off the excess yarn

Below is one of the finished cozies

Be sure to check back next Monday for a new non-crochet project; have a great week!