Quick favors

The night before Thanksgiving (well actually around 4am on Thanksgiving lol) I couldn't sleep so I decided to throw together some favors for the next day. I ran to Walmart and grabbed some candy. Then I got to work.

I decided to make the sour cream containers since the don't require a lot of work and I had all the materials on hand. All you really need is some cute paper for whatever event you are going to and a paper crimper. I decided to add tags and ribbon too, but they look cute w/o them too.

Close ups. 

I used the Day of Gratitude stamp set for the tags. I love the leaf designs from this set. I actually originally bought my paper crimper just for this project about a year ago. I popped the tags up with a dimensional.

The paper is cut at 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 so you can get 4 containers out of 1 8 1/2 by 11 piece of cardstock.

JewelMint review

So I've been a member of shoe/purse of the month clubs for awhile now, but recently, a jewelry club popped up too. It's the same concept as JustFabulous and ShoeDazzle. At the beginning of the month, they send you selections based on your style (they do a style quiz when you sign up). You can skip the month if you see nothing you like. The items are $29.99 each and there is free shipping/exchanges.

One thing I like about the showroom is that you can add more items by choosing the see more option. From there, you can click "like" if you want to see it in your showroom.

I finally decided to make a purchase because they were having a BOGO event. For every item I purchased, I will get a credit on Dec 1st. So that makes each item only $15 shipped.  I figured I had nothing to lose at that price. My first selections were the Poseidon Disc necklace and the Pearl Bouquet ring. I got both today and I love them.

Love the packaging! Definitely ready to be given as a gift.

 

Pearl Bouquet ring. Soo pretty. And really good quality. Their rings come in 3 sizes (6, 7, 8). 

 

Poseidon Disc necklace

 

Here's the ring on. It's the perfect statement ring. Good size w/o being overwhelming. (Notice I'm hiding my need for a manicure!) 

Close up of the pendant. Really hard to get a good pic. 

 

Back of the pendant is engraved with the Jewelmint logo

 

Here it on. (Excuse my no makeup/slobbiness, I've been cleaning all day.) It's a really long necklace, but you can wear it shorter.  

Overall, I love the items. They seem to be good, heavy quality. Don't feel cheap. And they look just like they photographed on the website. I don't see having a problem using my 2 credits in December.

Shipping was relatively quick, I order on Wednesday and got them on Monday. It is Fedex smartpost since it's free which means Fedex delivers it to the post office who then delivers it in your mail., But, I'm only a state away so I got it quickly. People on the east coast will prob have a longer delivery time. 

One thing I REALLY wish they had, was a color option. There's many items that I'd buy if they were in silver rather than gold. I am really pale so I don't look good in gold but it seems there is more gold than not. I would love the Poseidon necklace soo much more if it wasn't bronze. But it will probably end up being a gift. There's a pair of pink drop earrings that I love, but since they are gold, I won't buy them.

There are a few things that I think they could improve. They are a very new company though so I'm sure some thing will improve. The website is the biggest thing I think could easily be improved. The zoom option doesn't appear to actually zoom. It brings up the picture, but it's about the same size or smaller. I'd love to be able to really zoom in to see the details since it's jewelry. I also wish the order history actually showed the date you ordered. Right now it just shows the status of the item. Also, if you buy 2 items at the same time, they both ship together (which I prefer), however, I think they should include the tracking # on both items to avoid any confusion.

I also think they should add a FAQS page. All I see in the How It Works section is videos and most people don't have time to pay attn to those or can't if they are working. Would be much easier to have an area that lists the info. 

Another big thing is referrals. Unfortunately, you can only refer by sending an email. :( Having a link would be so much more beneficial since you can post it anywhere. But, you also get 1 credit per referral (if they purchase) so that is a great bonus. 

If anyone is interested in becoming a member, please send me your email address so that I can get a credit. You can become a member w/o having to buy anything. :) They also don't ask for your credit card # until you make your first purchase.

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