Want Some Stuff? (Giveaway)

As much as I enjoy making things, I don’t necessarily NEED all the stuff I make. I kinda already have a ton of stuff. The fact that I hardly needed to buy anything in order to make my last few DIY projects should be evidence enough of this fact.

So, I was thinking that I would do a little giveaway of the items I DIY on this here blog. Want some stuff?

BE ADVISED:

1) I am not a professional! These were all quickie projects created by me, on the fly. They will most certainly NOT be totally kick-ass awesome perfection.

2) I would really prefer not to have to spend a ton of money on shipping the items I give away. So, unfortunately, the giveaway is limited to residents of the United States, for the moment. Items will be shipped by regular ol’ mail.

Still want stuff? Just leave me a comment saying which item you want and I’ll send you a message to confirm your mailing address, etc. One item per person, first come, first served.

If I’m away from my computer and cannot approve your comment for a little bit, fret not! I will count the comments in the order received, according to their time stamp.

Here’s the stuff that’s available. I’ll cross stuff out as it’s picked.

Shoe Clips:

• buttons
• neon orange pompoms
• neon pink pompoms
• hot pink yo-yos
• pink & green yo-yos
• light green beads
• neon green pompoms
• yellow pompoms

Necklaces:

• yellow twine & silver necklace
• white twine & silver necklace

Bracelets:

• green ribbon & hex nut bracelet
• cream fabric & hex nut bracelet

So… yeah… stuff. Want some?

Weekend DIY Results: Shoe Clips

Here are the results from my Weekend DIY: Shoe Clips. For this project, I purchased nothing new, using only items I had lying around the house. Even the shoe clip findings themselves were simply a poking-around-in-the-garage find. I purchased them some years ago from Rings & Things, where they’re still available and run as little as 90 cents per dozen, depending upon the quantity you order.

The only other item essential to making shoe clips out of pretty much anything was a tube of Amazing GOOP: Craft adhesive:

Behind the cut, what I made and how I made them.

Stretching Some Shoes

Over the weekend I chanced upon some wicked awesome shoes. They had so much going for them: They were bright orange! They were platform wedges! They were 60% off retail! But, as luck would have it, the last available pair was a half size smaller than my usual. Undeterred, I tried them on. The length of the footbed matched my foot just fine, but the shoes were so tight at the vamp that I could barely squeeze my toes in, leaving my heel dangling off the back.

I bought them anyway.

Hey, I figured this would make for an excellent opportunity to document how exactly I go about stretching some shoes. Also, omg they’re so cute and make me so tall.

Weekend DIY: Shoe Clips

I was poking around in the garage and found a stash of jewelry and accessory findings from back when I made things for a living. This weekend I’m going to see if I can’t make myself some shoe clips out of whatever other crafty materials I happen to have around the house. (I have plenty.)

Results will be posted on Monday. Have a super weekend!

Fun with Fabric Remnants

I don’t really know how to sew. I keep meaning to read a book or take a class, but both of those sound like a serious infringement upon time I could be playing video games. Imagine me weighing the options in either hand. Video games? Sewing? VIDEO GAMES.

Anywho, my ignorance of sewing and love of video games have not prevented me from buying tons and tons of rad fabrics that I am so sure I will use one day. To maintain some semblance of control and/or storage space, I have recently limited myself to purchasing only from the fabric remnants bin. This way, I know I’m only getting a wee bit of a fabric (less of an impact on my storage space), I’m spending less money (most stores discount fabric remnants), and I get to be all MacGuyver about whatever I end up making (improvising a project with whatever materials are close at hand).

What I did with this particular batch of fabrics requires absolutely no skills whatsoever. But, in addition to the fabrics themselves, I did whip out the sewing machine at two points and I also purchased these awesome plastic slide buckles. I can’t remember where I purchased these particular buckles, but you can find similar buckles on M&J Trim and eBay.

I did the obvious thing, of course, and made scarf-type things. [I love scarves. You may have read that I think scarves are essential to human survival.] Obvious and simple, yes, but I am still quite happy with the results. Check them out behind the cut.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

We’ve been receiving sweet potatoes in our CSA box lately, so I’ve taken to baking sweet potato chips for an afternoon snack. They’re delicious, nutritious and… pick another word! They’re that, too!

My approach to baked sweet potato chips is pretty straightforward. I start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees. Then, I take a sweet potato that has been washed and thoroughly dried and cut it into thin slices.

I toss the slices in a bowl with some olive oil, coarse sea salt and ground pepper. You can also add brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice or any spices you like. I just prefer mine straight up.

Weekend DIY RESULTS: Hex Nut Bracelet

As promised, over the weekend I attempted the Hex Nut Bracelet DIY project from Honestly…WTF. It didn’t go quite as smoothly as I anticipated. For one thing, the twine I purchased was very slick (I thought it would feel nicer against the skin) and simply didn’t have enough texture to help me keep the hex nuts in place as a I braided. For another, my small, local hardware store offered a rather limited selection of hex nuts, so those that I purchased were a little on the large side.

Still, I was determined to make this project work. So, instead of twine, I dug into my stash of fabric remnants and pulled out a cream colored, poly shantung fabric to go with the brass hex nuts. No careful measuring or cutting here, just the ol’ snip-and-rip method for making the fabric strips. I braided the hex nuts (too) loosely into strips and this was the end result…