Shoe crafts

Welcome to Teetle Insomnia night. For those who don't know, my other love besides crafts, is SHOES! So, while unable to sleep, I thought, why not combine the 2?!

I bought these shoes at a wholesale store for only $10. I thought they were cute and well, you can't beat the price. But, it's been a few months and I still haven't worn them. They are just a little plain. 

 I was getting ready to put them in the sell/donate pile, but they were a good fit so I decided to experiment a little. I figured if it didn't work, I'd only be out $10 and a few hours. So, yes, I took glue and glitter to my shoes. 

 And here's the finished product! Pretty sparkly gold shoes! I kept a similar color since I wasn't sure if any of the original would show through. 

There's a little loose glitter I need to wipe off still, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I definitely think I'll wear them now. 

Then I decided to give my shoes more options. But this time, less permanent. 

I made a few shoes clips that just clip on and off so I can use them on any pair and put them wherever I want. This was my first attempt so they aren't the best, but I think they're kinda cute.

I added a green and orange flower to my Coffee no Cream Bliss. This will go really good with my orange purse. Then since feathers are popular this season, I added a clip to another $10 pair from the wholesale store. Most feathered shoes I've seen are really pricey. So, for $10, I'll take my DIY pair. (The feather came off a free belt with a pair of jeans, hated the belt but saved the feathers)

I LOVE how this set turned out. Great way to add some color to a basic black shoe. 

And as you can see, you can place them wherever you think looks best for your outfit that day. 

Here it is with my black patent Bliss. 

And a way to add a girly quality to a edgy pair of shoes. Got these for $10 at the wholesale store too. LOVE that place. 

What do you think?! I don't love the top 2 shoe clips but they aren't bad. I love my new sparkly shoes and love the pink/black clips though. 

And to show you just how obsessed I am with shoes...here's my shoe closet for those who haven't seen it yet. If you think that's a lot of shoes, you should see my craft room! I seriously love this closet. Thankfully I have an awesome hubby that not only understood my need for a closet just for shoes, but he bought and built the shelves for me. AND carried all my boxes of shoes into the room for me. :) 

How to: For the glitter shoes, I mixed a bunch of mod podge with a bunch of glitter. I didn't measure just put almost equal amounts and added more glitter as needed. I put on 4 coats, letting them dry for about 30 min between each coat (I waited til it became clear since it goes on white). 

For shoe clips: 

Black/Pink: I used the Big Shot with a flower shaped die and cut all 4 sizes in both fabrics. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole through the middle of each and set it with an eyelet. I then hot glued in onto a metal shoe clip. 

Feather: I punched out a small circle and hot glued the feather to that. Then just hot glued that to the metal shoe clip.

Green/Orange: I used some white flowers from the Stampin Up Pretties Kit and sponged them with Stampin up ink. I added a flat back pearl from the pretties kit to the center with a mini glue dot. Then attached it with hot glue to the metal clip. 

If you want to buy the Stampin Up supplies I used (Big Shot, Crop-a-dile, mini glue dots, pretties kit, circle punch, eyelits, ink, glitter), here's a link to my Stampin Up site: The flower die is used isn't available any longer but there are others for sale. http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/crystalmincher/

Custom ornaments

Mom, if you are reading this, STOP! Don't want you seeing your gift. :)

Yep, TWO new posts in one day! This is what happens when I can't sleep.

I decided to finally do something with the clear ornaments I bought last year. I've seen a few tutorials on how to make these really pretty glittery ornaments using Stampin Up reinkers and glitter and have been wanting to try it forever.

I started with these plain clear ornaments I bought for $5. 

And this is what I ended with. Much prettier! I used Bermuda Bay and Dusty Durango for the colors. Since I was making them, I decided to go with colors that aren't the usual colors for Christmas. 

Since there were 4 in the pack, I decided to make these for my mom and I monogrammed them with each of her kids initials. The snowflake and the letters are vinyl. 

Here's a close up so you can see the glitter a little better. I tied matching polka dot ribbon to hang them. 

This was definitely not a clean project. My hands are covered in ink at the moment. But, it was fun to do and I LOVE the finished product. Hope my mom likes them too. 

To do this yourself: Add about 25 drops of the reinker of your choice into the ornament. Then slowly swirl it around starting at the bottom and working your way to the opening. make sure to cover the whole area. Keep something plastic to catch the drips at the end. Once it's coated in ink, let it stand upside down on the plastic to get the leftover ink out. Then, start adding glitter. I just poured a little at a time using a piece of scrap paper folded in half. Put some in, cover the hole with your finger and shake it up. Keep adding more glitter as needed until the whole thing is coated. Make sure to not wait too long after the ink since the glitter needs to adhere to it. 

Finally!

My new craft room is finally unpacked! Almost everything is put away, except for a few things that I'm still trying to decide the best way to store. Need to bring my sewing table upstairs too, but that's all that's left.

So, I finally got a chance to do some NEW crafts! Yay!

My first project back was just a card. But, it's not exactly your typical card. I took a "tassle twirling" class for fun. Express MiE, where I took my pole classes, was hosting it and I figured why not?! When else will I have the chance to do a class like that?! And the studio is only for women and it was a small group. It was a blast! Miss Kitty Victorian was an awesome teacher. Of course, I had to make a card for it!

I ripped some ribbon to make the string for the tassles and thread it through a green sequin. And I just realized I forgot to put on her makeup! I need to do that before sending it out. So yeah, like I said, not your typical card, but fun none the less :)

Halloween Crafts

Since I didn't have a blog last Halloween, I haven't posted these on my blog yet. These are from last year but I wanted to share them. 

Boo blocks

From another angle

2 signs

Closeup

Closeup

Skull mini album

Hope you enjoy! 

Where have I been?!

Wow, I have seriously been SLACKING in my blogging. I suck! I've had such a busy few months though. Here's what I've been up:

I've fully moved in to the new house and have renters at the old one (and they signed a 2 year lease!!!). Of course there's still plenty to do around the new house and it feels never ending. Here's a link to some pics of the new house (they are pics from the listing) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182971&id=757844115 I absolutely LOVE it and feel so lucky to have such a beautiful home.

August started a string of great vacations all in a row. First up was a girl's weekend in Vegas. I drove up with a friend I've known since HS and reconnected with about a year ago when I found out we both moved to AZ. The rest of the girl's that we met there were friends we were meeting for the first time in person. Sounds kinda crazy I'm sure, but we all met through our love of shoes on a Facebook page and became friends and decided it was finally time to meet up. We all had a blast and got along great! It was like we'd known each other forever and I can't wait to see them again.

Next trip was back home to IL for my 10 yr high school reunion. I almost didn't go, but I hadn't seen my family in awhile and I figured why not?! The only real cost was the plane ticket since I could stay at my moms. I'm soo glad I went. I had way more fun than I expected and there was a really good turnout. I got to hang out with some of my best friends from HS and FINALLY got to meet my friend's adorable little girl. I wish that I lived closer to them still but I'm so happy that I stay in contact with them 10 years later. And that through moves, marriage, kids, etc, we can pick right up where we left off. I also got to spend the day at 6 flags with my niece, nephew and sister.

A few days after I got back from IL, my hubby came home on leave!!!! YAY!!! I hadn't seen him since April so it was a long time coming. It was extra weird for him this time since he was coming home to a new house that he'd only seen once before we'd even found out the offer was approved. He is still here but leaves in about a week. We've been relaxing and doing house stuff (all the things I can't do alone). Oh and playing with our new puppy! (more on that in a second!)

He had almost a week before it was time for our 3rd trip. This time we went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. My sister lives there and she was celebrating her 40th birthday. We had an amazing rooftop dinner one night and then her big party was an Undead party. Everyone had to be in costume. I went as Miss Argentina from Beetlejuice. It was a blast dressing up and celebrating my sister's bday on the beach. This trip was awesome. One day was spent swimming with whale sharks. OMG it was an amazing experience. These things are HUGE. We also went snorkeling 2 times (got my little brother who is scared of water to go one of the times!). I also taught my brother how to swim!!! He did great considering he learned for the first time at 25. We had tons of amazing food also. Here's a link to some of the pics. There are more that I haven't gotten around to posting yet. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240044&id=757844115

So, last major new thing is the puppy! I got her on the way back from Vegas. My husband has missed having a dog to come home to each leave. He loves having a running buddy. So, we decided to go for it and I figured I'd do it in time for this leave. She is a beautiful Weimaraner. She is now about 14 weeks old and growing soo quick. During the week we were in Mexico, she lost that puppy face! We named her Zuker, which means Sugar in German (since they are German dogs, they have to have German names IMO). It took a lot of emails back and forth to decide her name (I can only imagine how hard it will be to pick a name when we have a kid!). We narrowed it down to Anka (means graceful) and Zuker. Well within 10 min of meeting her, she'd fallen over about 20 times so obviously Anka was out of the questions. But, she was as sweet as can be so Zuker worked perfectly. She's definitely a handful, like any weim is, but she makes me laugh out loud pretty much every day. It's nice having someone else around when my husband is gone too. Here's a few pics of here. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201651&id=757844115

Ok, that might be the record for the longest blog ever, but like I said, it's been a busy few months. Now that the house is mostly unpacked and the hubby will be back in Afghanistan soon, I will be better about blogging. I miss my craft room and want to start making stuff! I just knew if I unpacked that first, I'd never get anything done! lol

New purses

I mentioned Justfab.com in a post once before and so far, I have ordered 6 bags from them! (Shh...don't tell my husband!). I have to say, the quality has been awesome on all of them. And I love getting to see the new styles they recommend each month. Here's the ones I've purchased (not including the Rockstar that my other post showed).

I can't pick a fave, because I really love them all!

This is my newest one: Anthology in pink. Has tons of space inside and the flowers are soo cute! This one also comes in black

This is the Oscar Worthy in black/white. LOVE this clutch. The handle has rhinestones all along it and it's big enough to hold more than the typical clutch. And the zebra print sequins are awesome! This also comes in bronze.

This one is the Special Effects. I LOVE the vintage feel to it. It has a decorative border and clasp with rhinestones. It also comes in black and gold. 

This is my least favorite and I ended up exchanging it. It's very cute and nice quality, but I'm just not sure that I would use it much since it's all white and I already have a tan bag that's similar in size. This also comes in black and a pinkish color. 

This is the tan one I just mentioned. It's the Take A Bow. I loved the bow on it and it's a really pretty cream. I don't use it as much as the others because of the color and not wanting it to get too dirty. But very cute. 

And last, but not least. This is the one that is on it's way for my exchange. It's the Prop Master in pink. I love the pics and have liked it for a few months but worried I'd never use it enough. But after seeing how much I loved my other pink bag from them, I figured I'd get another one, but in a clutch instead. It also comes in a greyish color. 

OOH and while typing that, I decided to check tracking on it and it showed delivered! So I just ran out to my mailbox and it's here! It's very cute and will be great for dressy events. Each of the rosettes has glitter along the edges. :)

So there's my newest additions to my closet :) Don't worry, I didn't buy them all at once, it was a couple months worth. If you want more info about Justfab, let me know (or check out my previous blog post where I go into more details). If you decide you want to sign up (it's free!), I have a referral link at the top right corner on my blog. That way I get referral points towards a free bag.

Oh yeah, and you ALSO get point for every purchase you make. After buying 5 bags, you get 1 free (Or it can be shoes or a combo, I've just only been buying purses). So, one of these was actually a free bag that I bought with credits. And exchanges and shipping are free too. So if you don't like something, it's very easy to send it back for something else. Their customer service has been beyond amazing too which is rare these days!!

Facebook

I decided to start a FB fan page since I'm always on FB. Figured it would help me keep this blog updated. It's so easy to let it fall to the wayside and not update it. I'll be posting past project pics up over there later in the week. I already put up most of my cards.

Please join! It would be a great place for everyone to also share their projects and blogs. I know I don't get a chance to check out everyone's pages as often as I'd like, but if it's all in one place, we can all share our creations and get inspiration from each other. :) And a place to just chat about anything going on in our lives and get to know each other better.

Look up Sweet Teetle and it should come up! Hope to see you over there.