Simple Beaded Necklace Tutorial

Aloha! Today I have a lovely little project to share with you.  When I was at the craft store looking for pegs the other day, I was drawn to the bead section.  I love to touch and feel all the cold stones and watch the crystals sparkle.  This time I ended up purchasing three strands of carnelian and a little bit of beading thread in hopes of whipping up a nice easy necklace.  I adore a heavy beaded necklace.

I chose carnelian because of the beautiful color and the alluring mystical elements (who doesn't need a little help with their public speaking?).  It's also a fairly inexpensive stone for those of you who like to keep your crafting thrifty.

The benefit of making a knotted necklace as opposed to just threading a strand with all your beads is that the knotted method creates a lovely draping and also ensures that if your thread breaks, your beads will not go flying all over the place as they are individually attached.  All right, ready to go?

To make this necklace, you will need:

• Beading thread (you can also use hemp) - make sure that your beads have a large enough hole or that your thread is thin enough that you can fit two pieces of thread through each.
• Enough beads to achieve your desired length - Depending on the size and shapes of your beads this will vary.  I used the highly scientific method of holding several strands around my neck until I thought I had enough.  I purchased 3 small strands.

First:

 Do not forget to set four beads aside!

 Repeat this step until you have reached the end of your strand. (Make sure you've set four beads aside or you will be undoing some snug little knots!)

Once you reach the end...

Then knot each strand and trim off excess.  To ensure that my knots wouldn't come undone, I dabbed a bit of superglue onto the final three knots.  That is a completely optional step.

Tada! You have your very own simple beaded necklace! You can customize this look in so many ways, adding different colors, pairing a neon string with a matte bead, creating a pattern with your beads.  The possibilities are endless!  Today I layered mine with a few other necklaces for whimsical earthy look.

 They are so versatile that you can wear them with anything.  They also have a delicious weight and coolness about them that makes wearing them a treat.

Happy crafting!

DIY Poppy Hair Clip for Anzac Day

     Aloha! I know this post is a few days late, but I've been on and off bedridden all week with the flu and blogging has been the furthest from my mind.  So, Anzac Day was a few days ago and K and I had the opportunity to attend a beautiful service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl and the honor of going to the Australian Consul General's house afterwards.  It was a long but special day.  If you don't know what Anzac Day is, it's a day of remembrance for those who have served in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).  You can read more here.

     Poppies are a symbol of remembrance for war and veterans in many countries and are frequently worn on Anzac Day.  Poppies were some of the first plants to grow on the annihilated battlefields of northern France after the first World War.  As legend has it, the bright red of the poppies came from the blood of the fallen soldiers.  The poem written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields" puts it beautifully:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

      Between the crosses, row on row,

   That mark our place; and in the sky

   The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

   Loved and were loved, and now we lie

         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

   The torch; be yours to hold it high.

   If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

         In Flanders fields.

     To observe this tradition I decided to whip up a quick and inexpensive poppy hair piece to wear to the service and celebrations.

Supplies:  

     - Fake poppies

     - Hot glue gun

     - Small black beads

     - Needle and thread

     - Small piece of felt

     - Hair clip

 Step 1. Remove the flower from the stem and pull the plastic center from the fabric petals. In most flowers this should come apart easily but you may need to cut the stem in some cases.

Step 2: Cute a small piece of felt and sew black beads through both petals and center of felt.

Step 3:  Careful not to glue the clip closed, glue felt onto the upper part of clip and fold around, adding more glue around edges if necessary.

Step 4: Wait for glue to dry.  Look fabulous.

Have a beautiful day!

Five Minute Skirt Refashion

   

As some of you know, I'll be making the transition to full-time blogger, full-time stay at home lady-spouse at the end of May. This transition is equal parts exciting and scary. 

     When K and I got married back in 2011 we were both adamantly opposed to having a stay-at-home spouse before we had kids.  Well, now that my job is about to stop for the summer and (whatever happens) we'll be moving *somewhere* in October, we've decided to transition to a single income family.  I've been trying to ease myself into the transition and establish good, sustainable habits for my home life, including getting fully dressed every day.  Fly Lady recommends getting dressed all the way to your shoes every day to maximize productivity but since I don't wear shoes unless absolutely necessary, I've decided to get dressed to my lipstick and pearls instead.  

     Today I wanted to wear one of my comfiest skirts (which I thrifted about a year ago for $5!) but it required a little alteration. Originally it rode down on my hips but I have a very long torso and fairly short legs which makes wearing skirts on my hips kind of a bad idea.  So I decided to take it in a few inches so it would fit a little higher up and accentuate my semi hourglass figure.

       First I put the skirt on inside out and backwards (I don't mind adding a little extra ruffle around my bum, but my tummy doesn't need any extra volume) and zipped it up.  Then I pulled it up to the place I wanted it to sit (my thinnest part) and pinched two equal segments on either side of the zipper.  I pinned these segments all the way down to the gathered portion of the skirt and then removed the skirt, careful not to lose the pins.  

After sewing this is how it looked! I have two different tops on in the pictures because after my first photo session the sun decided to come out and I had to go out for a second session to make use of it.

Much better! Now, time to take those heels off and get some work done...