Thankful Thursday: Christmas

I thought that for today I would gush a little about the gifts my husband gave me for Christmas since I haven't mentioned them yet. You may remember My Christmas List (part one) and My Christmas List (part two). I don't think Pat even bothered with list two. I suppose he wanted to leave the bead buying up to me. However, he relied heavily on list one for his shopping to say the least. You can use that post to find the links to most of these products.

On Christmas morning I was presented with four separately wrapped packages. These were the contents:

Metal punch

Liver of Sulfur Patina Gel

Renaissance Wax

Nine-piece tool set

I was elated, ecstatic, and happily content with these gifts. They were all needed and wanted and I couldn't wait to get to playing with them. While I was looking them all over, Pat exclaimed "OH wait. . .I think Santa left a few more in my office." He came back with TWO MORE packages.

In these I found:

Texture Hammer with nine interchangeable texture heads

Photo light box with two lights, a tripod, and background sheets that all pack away into a nice, compact case. This one is actually different than the one I linked to in my Christmas list post. This is a Square Perfect kit, but I can't seem to find a link to the exact product.

I took all of those pictures inside the photo box (with the exception of the one OF the photo box, obviously) and even without my photo editing software, I think they came out pretty well.


From the rest of the family I was also spoiled with a new houndstooth coat, a wand that acts as a remote control (super cool), some other crafting supplies, and all kinds of other fun stuff.
It was a VERY good Christmas!!

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I want to learn to be more grateful. Annette mentioned in the comments that she does a Thankful Thursday link-up and I thought that might be the perfect way for me to take some time to think about what all I have.

So, as material and weird as it is, I am thankful for a wonderful Christmas that was full of family, joy, and a really great haul! I'm looking forward to getting to play with all my new toys and becoming more proficient in my craft.


What are you thankful for today?

Thrifting I Did Go

Guess what!!!
My new dishwasher is officially inside my house! AND the old, yucky, nasty, non-working one is GONE!!

There are possibly some complications, but I don't want to get into that right now. Instead, let me tell you that thrifting did indeed show up in my cards yesterday. Since today is Thrifty Thursday, now's a perfect time for me to share with you what I scored.

Some jewelry that is likely to be re-purposed.

These items all came from what was a MASSIVE bag of craft supplies. After weeding out what I didn't want and giving some to the nieces, this is what I brought home.

These type vases can be found at just about any thrift store any time. I was bound and determined to find some so I can try out this really easy technique to alter them into some super cute vases.

I'm a little distracted right now. So, take a look at the newest necklace in the shop.

Peach Beach Necklace

Remember to not get Fooled tomorrow on April 1st!

Thrifty Thursday

I've been saving up all kinds of thrifty-related pictures and projects to share here, but somehow it always gets away from me. I'm making a point to got to it today.

Last week, I showed you pictures of the thrift store goodness I found. I didn't mention the ones I didn't buy. However, there were two items I spotted at an antique store which I passed on buying. I was still thinking about them on Sunday, so I knew they had to be mine.

This Holly Hobbie lunchbox (WITH Thermos) was a steal at only $8. It does have some damage to the back of it and really needs to be cleaned. But, it's just SO AWESOME!!

As well, this little jar of buttons was a whopping $5, but it had SO MANY colorful buttons that I just HAD to have it.

On other 'thrifty' topics, I've been wanting to share these Christmas gifts (YES, I KNOW it's March!) that I made for two of my friends. They were not only thrifty because they were handmade, but also because I made them with items I already had at the house.

I've been collecting zippers for some time to try to make these rosette brooches and finally broke down and made them. They turned out better than I expected. I might actually work on some more for the shop before too long as I keep finding fun zippers at the thrift stores. However, I've got to find a "prettier" way to secure the pins on the back. How bo-bo does that look to you?

These coffee cozies weren't completely thrifty as I did have to make a trip to a well-known coffee chain to purchase me a hot beverage in order to ensure that I made these felt ones to the right size ;) . I did enjoy getting to use my embroidery supplies for actual embroidering though!

I hope y'all checked out the Giveaways I mentioned yesterday (because what's more thrifty than FREE). In that vein, I found a few more to share with you today.
1.  Lady Noble is having a necklace giveaway. You just need to help her name her newest design.
2. Cyndi L at Beading Arts is giving away a copy of "Vintage-Style Beaded Jewelry". Go check out her review of the book and the details for entering.

To round-out this post, here are some related links

Thrifty Thursday:

• DIY mercury glass 
• Make a lazy Susan supply organizer

Crafty Links (topic: recycle):

• Make a super simple recycled quilt 
• Magnetic bookmarks 
• Make coasters with curling ribbon 
• Craft supplies from your kitchen 
• Pantyhose petals

The sun is out and shining today so I might actually get something accomplished in the craft room. . .if I can get off this dang computer first! Let me go see what I can do.

A Little of This and a Dash of That

My e-mail inbox has been full of all kids of fun the last day or so; treasuries, conversations, custom orders, and so on.

However, since it is Thrifty Thursday let me start with that.
Last week while shopping at Michael's I followed my usual path: beads, wood, paint, as is, clearance, scrapbooking. While looking over the "As Is" bin, I found a broken thread spool organized marked significantly down from $15 to $3.75. I snatched it up, knowing I could work with the flaw.
Basically the only thing wrong was that one of the bars was unglued/undone on one side.

So, I ripped it off the broken bar

and hammered down the pointy staples.

Then, I screwed in some of the enclosed hooks into the top of the vertical pieces before hammering some nails into the wall and and hanging the organizer.

What did I do with it once it was hung? Well, added wire of course.

Granted this is not all of my wire and it's not very well organized, but I've been too busy to finish. In any case, it's great having my wire so easily accessible.

The Alabama Accents Etsy Team (of which I am a member) has been VERY active the last few days in making treasuries. As such, let me share two of the treasuries I've been included in.

Spring is in the Air

Beat the Winter Blues

In addition, there are a new pair of earrings in the shop.

Drops of Sunshine Earrings

Now, for some more Valentine ideas.

• I love the v-day conversation hearts, here's how you can make your own!
• Unique v-day idea, a flip book!
• Use cupcake liners to make lollipop flower valentines. I think this is a great idea for kids valentines.
• Check it, another subway art valentine printable. 

That's all for now. I've got more to do than I really have time for, so it's back to work for me!

Combining Wednesday and Thursday Posts

I've been a whirlwind of activity the past few days. I spent two nights celebrating my mom's birthday with her and the rest of the family. Yet, mostly, I've been trying to get the house in some semblance of order. However, Tuesday afternoon pulled me into the craft room with the lure of polymer clay. It's been a while since I played with the clay and I needed some new beads in my stash, so I got to work. The polymer clay action bled all the way into Wednesday.

In all, it was a simple process to up my stash of polymer clay beads. I just grabbed some already-conditioned clay from the last time the nieces played with it. I simply rolled out a variety of beads and also used some mokume gane to cover scrap clay. The non-mokume gane beads were textured and coated with some PearlEx Powder. As well, I made a few flat pieces and stamped them. (I'll share pictures of those once I'm happy with their paint jobs.) I snapped pictures with my phone during the process and even used Instagram to capture the images that I used for Bead Table Wednesday on Flickr. {I'm sharing those pics plus a few additional here today}

I just love to use PearlEx powder to make polymer clay all shiny!

A new pair of earrings wound up in the shop the other day.

Got a Little Swing Earrings

That covers what needed to be posted on Wednesday.
For Thursday, let me just share some links.

~*Crafty Links*~
topic: clothes (which means sewing. . .and most of these are a reuse/recycle project too)

• Patchwork belt 
• Turn t-shirts into a ruffled skirt 
• Make a nightie out of a pillowcase 
• Babydoll dress from men's dress shirts 
• Pajama pants from bedsheets 

Since most of those projects were thrifty, I'm not going to share anything additional for Thrifty Thursday today. I want to get back into the craft room and get some more work done instead!

Earring Holder Display, A Thrifty Thursday Giveaway!

Today's post is a bit of a thrifty tutorial and giveaway all in one.

Let's start with the tutorial.
Several years back, I made myself a variety of jewelry holder/displays. Here's the one I use for my earrings.

 It's a fairly simple process that I thought I ought to share with you, since so much of the jewelry I've been selling has been earrings.

First, purchase a WOOD frame from the thrift store.

This one had no glass, the border was nice and wide, and it was $.25 = SOLD!

Then gather your supplies:

frame

safety goggles and dust mask

sanding block or paper

paintbrush(es)

gesso

acrylic paint

crackle medium

sealer of some sort

pliers

picture hanging kit

hammer

scissors

window screen (I highly recommend the fabric kind over the metal kind)

staple gun

glue gun and sticks (if using metal screen)

foam board (optional)

E6000 (optional)

1. Don your safety goggles and dust mask and then quickly sand all areas to be painted (you just want to rough it up so the gesso sticks)

2. Paint a layer of gesso over the frame

3. Paint the frame your contrasting base coat. (I used basic black.) Allow it to dry and then add the crackle medium. (Of course, read the instructions on YOUR crackle medium as they may differ from mine.)

4. Apply contrasting color (this was an aged parchment color) over the crackle medium and watch the crackle go to town. Once paint is dry, apply a layer of sealer for protection.

5. Turn over picture frame and remove any hardware. This probably could be done while sanding, but I waited. I used pliers to pull out these meal tabs.

6. Cut your screen a little larger than the hole in the frame and staple it in. [BE WARNED: If you do use metal screen, use extreme caution. This stuff will poke and pinch and scratch you all up. I only used it because it's what I have on hand. I seriously recommend getting the fabric kind.] I did NOT just staple back to front as my staples were longer than the thickness of the frame. Instead, I stapled from the side OUTWARD where the wood was thicker. 

7. Hammer in any staples that are still sticking up a bit. Trim the edges of the screen. Since I used the metal stuff, I used hot glue to cover all the exposed edges of the metal screen for protection. It's not pretty, but it works and it's the backside anyway.

8. Turn over your frame and decide which way it will hang. Lay out the screw-in hook/loop pieces from the picture hanging kit along the bottom front. You can measure it out if you feel the need to be precise. I started with the outside two hooks then did the center one and worked outward.

 

9. Add a hook for hanging to the back. 

Additionally, I added some foam board to the bottom back of the frame with E6000 so that the frame pushes out from the wall a bit, giving the earring backs a little more room.

Here's the finished earring holder.

AND. . .it's part of what I'm giving away.

In addition to the earring holder, I made up twelve (yes 12) pairs of earrings to start off the winner. 

These are just some basic earrings and nothing too fancy, but they're a start. 

So, how do you win the earring holder and twelve pairs of earrings?

I'm giving you several options for entering

1. Leave a comment on THIS post for ONE entry

2. Go to the Crafty Hope Jewelry Facebook Fan Page and become a fan (if you are already a fan, that's fine too) Leave me a comment on the FAN PAGE (NOT my personal page) that you're a fan and you want to win. This will give you one entry. 

3. Follow CraftyHope Twitter (if you are already a follower, that's fine too.) To enter, you need to send me a DM (direct message) that you want to be entered into the giveaway. (I will send you a DM back confirming this entry)

So, you can get THREE entries. Comment here, comment on Facebook, and/or DM on Twitter. You can do one or all three of them. Each give you one entry.

You have through Thursday Jan 20, 2011 to enter. I will be drawing the winner on Friday, Jan. 21, 2011.

GOOD LUCK!