Ribbon & Bead Necklace

While on one of my numerous kid wrangling adventures, I fell in love with one little girl's necklace. Picture this....black shiny beads and ribbon. Love it! Funny thing was, it was her play necklace. For dress up. Lucky her!

What do I do? I decid that I need to make myself one. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up my supplies. They were either half price or I used a 40% off coupon. I don't remember which was which. But here are the supplies to start.

With the model necklace, the ribbon was strung through the beads. But because these beads were smaller, the ribbon would not fit through. So I decided to use thread and 'sew' a necklace. After having to remake the necklace due to the little thread breaking while watching other kiddos, I would strongly encourage you to get some nylon thread. It's in the jewelry making aisle as well. It is much thick and should hold up much more nicely.

Here's my finished product. I tied the ribbon in the back in to a bow that can be adjusted to be longer or shorter. Hey, it makes it easier to accessorize with different outfits!

For Christmas, I made Gina a necklace very similar to this. Her beads are different, but I think I liked hers more.

I hope to make myself a brown one like this as well, once I can find some beads I like.

There are many different variations that could be done to this necklace. So have fun with different beads and types of ribbon. I used sheer ribbon, so the beads would stand out more. But it would be fun to do a solid colored ribbon with many colorful beads.

Happy crafting!

Frilly Flower Bucket

On the drive home after the benefit a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering what I would do with the flowers, ribbons, as well as scrapbook paper. There was a lot of it, and I don't usually do a whole lot of projects with pink in them.

Back track to about an hour earlier that evening. I was taking all the flowers out of the ball jars and putting them in the 5 gallon bucket to transport them home easier. In the end, the bucket looked awesome! Since the flowers got cut down to go in the jars, they bunched together very nicely, and looked great.

Now return to the drive home. I got to thinking about the flowers again, and knew that mom has ice cream buckets that she keeps, because they are just too handy at times. I got to thinking that I have LOTS of ribbon. I got to thinking that I have scrapbook paper. I got to thinking that there are lots of flowers. And there you go....my frilly flower bucket.

So as soon as I got home, I got to work on the bucket. The hardest part....taking the brads out of ALL the ribbons, then tying the ribbon to the bucket handle. Once I got that paper on and all the ribbons tied on, I put the flowers in, and then completely forgot to take a picture of it! Can you believe that?

Thanks to a church friend, she got a picture of it when she visited Denean one day. (Please don't mind the look of the flowers. They looked much better when she got them...not wilted or droopy.)

If you are wanting to spread some cheer to a person, but in a unique way, try this out. It's so much more fun that just a plain vase. This frilly flower bucket could someday be used for another purpose.

Happy crafting!

Easy Decorations

If you read my other blog, you know that I have been helping out with random things for an upcoming benefit for a young gal that has been fighting various forms of cancer off and on for the past 11 years. Because of the many unknowns with the benefit...like number of people for one, we needed table decorations that were easy to replicate, but on the cheap side.

My idea....flowers in ball jars, with scrapbook paper underneath. It was my mom's idea to try to put the pink cancer ribbon on the top of the jar, where brown and pink polka dot ribbon was placed to add a little color. But, I inquired about if it would be seen, or if the flowers would cover it up. So instead, mom thought we could just scatter the ribbons around the tables.

Thanks for Hobby Lobby having their sales at the right time, I got various forms of pink ribbon at 2 for $1. I also got a bunch of pink and brown 12x12 sheets of scrapbook paper at 3 for $1.

I was thinking about how to make them...and didn't really want to use glue dots (even though I picked up a box). I was wanting something a little more fun! I decided to go with brads. I just used my small hole punch, because it was faster than a push pin, and then put the brad through. I originally had small round white brads that came 50 in a pack for $2.99 (which were not on sale). But then I saw a pack of small square white brads that came 100 in a pack for $2.47. I think it's obvious what I went with. I think they turned out great!

And here is what I have done as of now. I might do a few more, just so we can use them in other places.

I'm excited to see how the table will all come together. I think it will be great!