Earring Organization

Well, well, well. One year without posts and here I am, breaking the streak.

Lots has been going in life, obviously. I'm finishing up medical school this May and finally going to be a DOCTOR. I start my training in Pediatrics this summer! In less than two months, I'm also GETTING MARRIED to truly the best man I know (and there will be a little DIY coming with that, believe you me).

But this is about crafting!

I just wanted to share this with you guys because I've never seen earrings stored quite like this. Putting chicken wire, or lace, or burlap in frames never really worked for me. They were all a bit too rustic, for lack of better words, for how I like to decorate.

I do, however, have a few of these scrolls hanging in my apartment:

It hit me when I saw these that I could imitate this style.

One trip to Michael's later and....

Pretty, no? I have been using this system for almost two years, and it's held strong for me. Hooks go near the top, hoops go on the edges (they of course also work really well on the bottom, and studs go near the bottom for easy unhooking.

Here's a slightly closer look at the top edge:

Also, this was almost laughably easy to make. I found a nice long piece of Aida cross-stitch canvas, a dowel (about 3/8" in diameter I believe), and red embroidery thread.

First I cut the dowel into two lengths, for the top and bottom. I pre-measured how many rows of canvas would be enough to make a casing for the dowels, then I back-stitched it in to emulate the look of a scroll. At the top, I also added a loop to hang it from.

Choose a spot, hammer in a nail (or hang a Command hook, whatever floats your boat), and put your earrings in. Done!

Thanks for reading, especially to those of you who used to follow my blog and remained faithful followers! Hopefully I'll poke my head in again soon to share some of my wedding DIYs with you!

- Annie

A Little Holiday Spirit

As always, it's been a quite a while since my last post. I hope I find you all well and in the midst of a lot of holiday excitement!

My year, suffice to say, has been extremely busy. Without spending too many words on it, I'd just like to say that this is probably the most challenging time of my life, although it can also be incredibly rewarding. Third year of medical school is exhausting but also fun at times! If anyone is interested in a post talking more about what my year and experience has been like, I'm happy to share, but otherwise, I'm keeping this more in the spirit of a crafting blog.

And despite the demands that have been put on me this year, I have still managed to find a little time here and there for crafting! Shocking, I know. I'm hoping there will be time later on to share my other projects, but it'll just be one today.

So I moved recently, and my living situation now is such that I know I'll be here for at least two years. That is the only explanation I can come up with to explain why I had a sudden urge to actually put up any sort of Christmas decorations this year. Something about the slightly more permanent living situation made me want to "take ownership" of my apartment in some way. Somehow, putting up seasonal decorations does that for me, I guess, even though I've really never been a "holiday spirit" kind of girl!

I had originally thought that I wanted to craft those little cone-shaped Christmas trees you're seeing everywhere, or maybe crochet up an adorable Christmas lights garland. We don't really have the space to store a large amount of seasonal decorative stuff, so I was thinking small.

However, I had also noticed that a lot of our neighbors are putting up Christmas wreathes. And somehow deep down inside, I felt this "keeping up with the Joneses" sense of inadequacy suddenly well up, and then I decided right there to make a wreath for our door!

A quick trip to Michael's and an hour or two later and....

Ta-da! Isn't it cute?

All it took was a foam wreath form, a couple tinsel garlands I bought last year (whoooo, post-seasonal clearance!), some ribbon, a decorative little "sprig", and some wire.

A foam wreath form is a great base because it's so easy to get stuff to stay in. Simply use some wire (you can use the "U-shaped" floral pin things, unbent paper clips, even some nice heavy staple gun staples) to anchor the ends of your tinsel and wrap, wrap, wrap. Make sure it's luxuriously dense and fluffy!

When you're done with that, wrap your ribbon around, anchoring it in a similar way. Don't wrap it too tight or you'll crush the tinsel, and that just looks weird.

I made a bow by hand by making three larger loops, then using the central loop to cinch them all together. The nice thing about a lot of crafting stores is that they'll have bows coordinating with a lot of their holiday ribbons premade for you if you don't feel like making one on your own. Either way, pin the bow onto the wreath as well.

As for the green "sprig", all I ended up doing was stab the stem into the form as well. Seriously, foam is magic, I love this stuff.

Lastly I created a hanging loop with a longer piece of wire bent into a U. I found the point that I wanted to be the top of the wreath and starting poking the ends of the U into the foam, pointing it upwards. When the wire was about halfway in, I then bent the remaining exposed wire up to create a simple loop.

Et voila, you are done!

The sparkling in these images makes me ridiculously happy. :) And we now have an adorable wreath and I no longer feel drab next to our neighbors!

I've seen a lot of very creative wreath ideas out there. Ornament wreathes, crocheted wreathes, succulent wreathes, yarn-wrapped, burlap, pompom, the list goes on and on. Have any of you created your own wreathes? Anyone have other fun ideas with what you can do with a tinsel wreath as a foundation?

Happy holidays! Hopefully you will hear from me again soon!

Thanks for reading!

-Annie

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A Braided Scarf with Extra Glitz

Hi guys! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season! I had a fun break, and I'm doing my best to stay on track with schoolwork and working out this year. To those of you who make New Year's resolutions, or who (like me) are constantly trying to turn over a new leaf and change for the better, I read this interesting article about how to stick to your goals. I don't know how well it works, but it's certainly worth a try!

So for this block of classes, one of my goals was to maintain attendance at my lectures. They aren't required, but my theory is that if I go to them instead of watching the video recordings afterward, I might manage my studying a bit better. Going along with that, I have also been trying to dress nicely for my classes. Some days I really only have time for the T-shirt, sweater, and jeans routine, but most days I have more time for a more "special" outfit, and it's part of today's outfit that I wanted to share with you.

This braided scarf concept has been circulating around the internet for quite a while. I really love wearing it this way and have shown it to a lot of my friends. I won't bother with a tutorial since the link already explains it perfectly well, but I just wanted to share a some inspiration for jazzing it up a little.

So today, I was planning on tying a brown silk scarf in a braid, but it lacked something. I realized that I was wearing these gold hoop earrings (they are not in the photos, as by the end of the day my allergies had started acting up and necessitated removing them), and I really needed a little more sparkle for a cohesive look.

And what did I reach for? A simple gold necklace. A little weaving and ta-dah!

(One of these days, my room will be clean and I will not be ashamed to have a wider frame in my photos. >_>)

It came out looking pretty darn cool, and it was very easy to do.

I simply unclasped the necklace and fed most of the chain through a loop at the very bottom of the braid. Leaving a very short portion dangling, I wove the chain through the braid, looped it behind the braid at the top, and wove it back down again along a different strand. Then all I had to do was refasten the chain at the back of the bottom of the brain and pow! Instant glitz!

So for those of you who find that the fancy scarf braid isn't fancy enough, give this a shot! Use a pretty chain, or maybe a string of beads or pearls. And of course, try this with other scarf-tying methods, too! It could really turn your scarf into something extra-special.

This braid and a mock men's tie (as shown above) are probably the ways I most commonly wear "fashion" scarves as opposed to scarves worn for warmth.

How do you guys like to wear your scarves? Would you try what I did with my braided scarf?

Thanks for reading!

-Annie

Commitment Day 16: Basketweave

This is Day 16 of my 30 Days of Commitment series. Check out the other posts in this series, too!

Gosh, I'm sorry, guys. This has been another hectic week for me, and I ended up letting this series slide yet again! But then again, this is sort of what the purpose of this whole series was right?

Well, I just go on thinking like that so I don't feel as guilty. ^_~

What I'm sharing with you today is a pretty old project that I never got around to posting. This bag:

A long time ago, I was flipping through a crocheting magazine and was intrigued by a photo of a cross-body purse made using the basketweave stitch. I found this stitch in my book of many crochet stitches, but it's easy to find. A quick Google search brought me to this tutorial, which looks pretty much like what I did.

This was a pretty easy bag to make. I crocheted two panels of basketweave for the front and back, then crocheted one long strip of single crochet to make the strap. I simply single crocheted along the edges to connect them.

A little too late, I discovered an interesting flaw in this design: a crocheted strap will streeeeetch. And mine was already bordering on too long. So after some pondering, I happened upon this solution. Use ribbon!

Basically, I found some ribbon in a coordinating color to stabilize it. The ribbon I found wasn't nearly wide enough, so that line you see going down the middle is where I zigzag-stitched two ribbons together. Once this was done, I simply lined up this ribbon strip along the crocheted strap and sewed down each edge. Voila, problem solved!

I chose this gorgeous fabric for the lining. The method for making it was similar: cut out two large rectangles for the front and back and then a long, continuous strip for the sides and bottom.

I did, however, add a couple things to the lining. I added three pockets, two cell phone sized and one larger.

I also added a key fob, because I hate having to fish through a big bag for my keys.

There's also a closure strap that can button at two different buttons, depending on how full the bag is.

And to attach alllll of this to the crocheted portion, I slid in the lining, sandwiched the button strap and the key fob between the two layers, and sewed it all together.

Instead of doing the usual thing with lined bags where you flip everything inside out, etc, etc, I simply folded down the edges of the lining and basically topstitched around the edge. Worked out pretty well. :)

So what do you think? I'm pretty proud of this bag. It makes a nice, casual alternative to those days when I'm just not feeling the backpack (my laptop fits in there nicely). 

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope you found it inspiring! I enjoy those times when I see something and am able to recreate it myself without relying on patterns. :)

-Annie

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Commitment Day 13: Storage Solutions - Earrings, Rings, and Watches

Welcome to Day 13 of my 30 Days of Commitment Series! You can find the other posts in this series here.

This isn't quite what I had planned for today; I just found out that I don't have the photos that I thought I did, so that will have to wait. Instead, I'm continuing my series on how I store my oodles and oodles of stuff.

The champion of today's post is boxes. Boxes of any kind. Pretty ones saved from gifted jewelry, or candy, or laying around storing silly things like decorative silverware. Put those boxes to use!

As a recap, here is the "accessories corner" of my room.

When I was China, I saw these wire-framed, straw-wrapped, jewelry-holding doohickeys that I instantly knew I needed. To hang it, I tied a piece of embroidery floss around the wire at either side of the top "petal", then hung the whole thing over yet another Command hook. Don't be fooled, that thing is heavy with so much hanging from it.

But in the end, it really is oh-so-perfect for "hook" earrings.

It's roughly organized between metallics and non-metallics, as well as "big and dangly" vs. "small and delicate". This really helps me when I have an idea of what kind of earrings I want to pair with an outfit and don't feel like searching across this whole spread (it's surprisingly difficult to actually find the pair you want, even in such a small area).

My post earrings all live on the cart in two boxes. This one below holds the "fun" ones, ones that I am more likely to wear in a casual setting. The box itself used to hold one of my silver bracelets that is now hanging on the wall with its brethren.

See the snake one hanging from the lid of the box? That's an ear cuff, and I will definitely be wearing it when the opportunity comes. Super-cool.

Also note how, as much as possible, I try to keep my earrings paired by fastening one of them through the stopper of the other one.

The fancier post earrings I keep in this flower box. Remember the M&Ms teddy bear box from this post? This one also once held M&Ms.

Going clockwise from the bottom:

• The first compartment holds green-toned earrings. For some reason I have a lot of those.
• The second compartment holds my earrings that are primarily gold.
• The next two compartments hold vintage earrings that used to belong to my mom. They wreak havoc on my ears (I have a relatively sensitive nickel allergy) so these are reserved for special, short-term wears.
• The fifth compartment (it's kind of difficult to see) holds the dangly crystal-and-silver earrings.
• The sixth compartment holds my crystal and pearl studs. 
• The center holds any hoop-style earrings. Most of them are actually a perfect fit!

I rearrange these on a regular basis, as my collection changes frequently. Some time soon I will need to go through my earrings and put away the ones I don't usually wear.

Moving on to rings!

This box used to be just a box, and I would throw my rings in it willy-nilly. I finally decided I had enough and actually turned it into a real "ring box."

See the ribbon-like one on the bottom left?
My favorite ring, hands-down.

It was a very easy and fast project. With some white fleece, I cut out a rectangle about as wide as the box and at a length that I knew was too long. I rolled it up until the roll was the size I wanted and cut off the excess, then used that rectangle as a pattern for more pieces to cut and roll up. I just kept cutting out and rolling rectangles until the box was filled. Then, it was a simple matter of sliding my rings in, sorted, of course, by the base metal.

I used another box for my watches. Someday I may devise some dividers or something to keep them better sorted, but for now, this works fine. I have a bunch of other watches that either don't suit my taste (again, passed down from my mom), are broken, or have no battery in another box hidden away in the drawer.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of my Storage Solutions! Eventually you'll get to see what I do to store my other accessories, clothes, and crafting stuff. Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am!

-Annie

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Commitment Day 2: Wallet to Purse Tutorial

Welcome to Day 2 of my 30 Days of Commitment! Find the other 30 Days of Commitment posts here.

Today's post is a short tutorial on how convert a long wallet into a small purse. Apologies in advance for the weird photos; I have four exams next week, and obtaining really good photos is not exactly a priority right now. Neither is cleaning my messy room, which y'all will not be seeing!

I obtained this wallet on an Alaskan cruise this past August with the intention to use it as a clutch, but with no strap of any sort, I just found it way too difficult to deal with.

Via craftgawker, I found this simple tutorial on how to add a chain on to make it into a little purse. Personally, I didn't like the idea of just hooking it to the zipper and looping the chain under the flap. Seemed sort of unstable.

So for those of you who are interested in learning another way to do this simple DIY, keep reading after the break!

Commitment Day 1: Something Old

Welcome to Day 1 of my 30 Days of Commitment! Find the other 30 Days of Commitment posts here.

As I've said before, this is a personal challenge to see if I can post something every day of November. The rules I've set for myself are:

1. Each Day must be posted between 12 am and 11:59 pm of that day.
2. I am allowed to schedule posts ahead of time.
3. As much as possible, I should not post similar material on consecutive days (eg. if today I post about a crocheting WIP, tomorrow's post should not be, at the very least, yet another crocheting WIP; I should at least switch to a sewing or other crafting WIP)

I hope I'm able to adhere to these rules! I'm already falling behind schedule: I had intended to have a few posts already set up, ready to be posted at a scheduled time. Looks like I flubbed that one!

Today's post is sort of a throwback. Do you remember this vest I made from an old T-shirt?

Pardon the glow. That's what happens when you stand
your camera on a white surface, apparently.

I really did like it at the outset. I have a pretty big wardrobe, but even now, nearly two years after this vest was made, I still don't have many vests. I'm pretty picky about what I do and do not like, and it soon became evident that there was something about this vest that just wasn't cutting it for me. And remember this post about making your clothes work for you? Time to make some changes!

What I've realized is that I tend to like structure. Pretty and flowy is nice, but only to some extent. For example, I always need to wear this vest belted. I can't stand having it loose, because I don't like losing that waist definition. I'm still trying to resist the urge to buy a vest like this, or this, or this, or especially this.

You guys, Flynn Rider's vest. Every time I watch that movie, I want to steal it. I haven't had this much clothing envy of movie character since The Devil Wears Prada.

Back to the point: I like structure! So besides this problem, I also found that the sleeve holes were a bit too wide for my taste, and the whole deal in front was just draping in funky ways, and I wasn't liking having to figure out how to adjust it over my chest.

So I finally hit upon a very simple solution:

From blah, loose, no shape, nothing interesting...

...to yay! Interesting and better shaped for my body.

Voila! Converting into a racerback solved my "huge armholes" problem and my problem with having too much business going on in front by pulling a lot of the fabric to the back. It also created something much more fun (and a little more structured) to look at, now that whatever I'm wearing underneath shows through. There's a short, "did it in Paint" tutorial of what I did after the cut. It's pretty simple stuff.

Before we go there, I'd like to ask you guys something:

I've taken a much greater interest in fashion over that past year or two. My wardrobe has expanded quite a bit, and I've amassed a huge collection of scarves (which you guys will see later this month!). 

There are a lot of "X ways to fold your scarves" tutorials out there, some with awesome novel ways, and others that are...less novel. However, I have never seen this particular method, which I learned from a saleswoman in China.

Would you guys be interested in a tutorial on this? Would you like a photo tutorial? A video tutorial? Both? Please let me know!

All right, back on topic, the tutorial for the racerback vest...

Necessary Evils

It seems that all the "important" things in life are always the more difficult and awkward to address.

Backstory: My school is hosting a silent auction, and I was considering making some items to donate. When I they asked for the estimated monetary value, I decided to do a quick search to see how much people are charging for handmade items.

Lo and behold, during my search, I found someone selling a product that, for all intents and purposes, looks exactly like something I've provided a pattern for. Which brings me to the topic of today's post.

I post patterns on this blog because I want people to know how to make the pretty scarves and hats they see online. I value my ability to say, "I could make that," and I want other people to be able to say the same thing when they see easily craftable items being sold for high prices.

As I say in my note (in the left column), you are all perfectly free to sell items you make from my patterns. It's fun to make money doing something you love. However, and this is very important, please provide a link to the pattern you used. I want your customers to have the same freedom you did in using a pattern I provided for free to make something for your own use (whether that be to keep, gift, or sell).

I know this is counterproductive to the seller. And I know the particular pattern in question is simple, and it is not impossible that this seller came up with it on her own. Also, as far as I know, I have no legal clout in this.

However, in the spirit of fair sharing and good faith that I have found are a huge part of the online crafting community, I hope that people will be honest.

Thanks for reading, guys.

-Annie

Foundation chain joining woes

Hello again!

So recently I made another infinity scarf as a present for a family member. It uses this pattern, but for this particular scarf I used fewer repeats per row and a larger hook.

Yay, pretty! No action shots on her, but she liked it...hopefully I can get pictures sometime.

Now, I don't remember what black magic I called upon last time to get a simple whip stitch to suffice for the joining seam, but my foundation chain for this scarf was ridiculous.

I wanted it to be able to stretch with the rest of the scarf, so I went up two hook sizes and chained somewhat loosely. I ended up with the most insanely loopy, messy-looking foundation ever. It stretched just fine, but can you imagine how shabby the thing looked when I attempted to whipstitch the ends together? There were loops popping out everywhere and it was just a mess!

It was then that I recalled something I had seen...somewhere in the blogosphere. Hopefully someone can enlighten me as to where I got the inspiration for this idea...are you ready? It's a revolutionary idea...it could change the very world........

REMOVE THE FOUNDATION CHAIN WHEN JOINING

Revolutionary, right?

Okay, so it's not that exciting, but I've gotta tell you, it's a great idea! Check it out...

Where's the join?

Do you see it?

Right here!

Not too shabby, right?

I can anticipate this working nicely for a lot of things that require joining something to the bottom of a crocheted piece, and possibly even nicely finishing the bottom edge of a piece. I plan on experimenting with that later. :)

Plus, it helps to get rid of the stretch issue without being forced to start with a foundation sc or dc row.

I put together a photo tutorial for the method that I found worked best. If you'd like to see my way of joining two crocheted pieces by replacing the foundation chain, please read on. :)