Soda Can Jewlery

I saw a picture in a magazine where someone had used soda cans to make necklace, so I decided to figure out how to put my own spin on it. So far I have made flower hair clips and rings. I am so proud of these silly things I feel like a dork. They look so cute in peoples hair and they are not as heavy as you would think. the rings are alot of fun too.

funny story: the can that the big flower is made of came from a crazy old lady that was walking in the middle of the street. I was on my way home from grocery shopping and was going around her but stopped when she waved her cane. I rolled down the passenger side window and she asked if I would give her a ride to her doctors office for five bucks. Apparently her appointment was moved and she couldn't get a hold of her ride so she decided to walk but about killed herself walking up the hill. I didn't have anything too perishable so i said yes. After talking to her for a little bit I found out that she was only in her fifties and can no longer do the outside activities she used to due to a hip replacement. When I dropped her off I asked for her can instead of the five bucks. I thought it made adorable hair flowers. I'm alot braver at asking people for their empty drink cans now because of it.

Anyway please let me know what you think of what I did. I do enjoy getting other peoples opinions(positive and negative).

Octopus Earrings

A post! After 4 months of "Homemade Tortillas". Can you believe it? Neither can I.

Several months ago, I visited my family in Utah and I spent a day with Rachel (the second crafty r). She showed me how to make some simple earrings. I'm not going to pretend to know any of the proper terms or tool names, so bare with me...

Rachel had these nifty loops, some wire (22 gauge? maybe?), and a bazillion beads to choose from. I went with green beads, in two different sizes, and octopus charms (to hang in the middle). I took the wire and started wrapping it around the loop, adding a bead every 3 turns:

Once all of my beads were added and the extra wire cut off, we wiggled the wire until it was centered:

Pretty pretty, eh? Finally, I added the charm and earring piece and voila!

Not a great picture, but you get the idea....

I have a recipe post coming soon. Be excited.

Making Stars

Materials Needed

*needle and thread

*35 main color beads (mc)

* 5 accent color beads (ac)

STEP 1

Tie 10 mc into a circle with a square knot finish, leaving a one to two inch tail. Go through 3 to 4 beads pulling the knot and tail into the circle to hide it. Cut off any of the tail that is still showing. Go through one more bead without pulling the knot through. (doing this keeps the knot out of the way)

STEP 2

String two mc, one ac, and then one mc. Skip the last mc strung, and go back through the ac. (the string will be on the outside of the end bead)

Then string two mc, skip a bead in the ring, and go through the next.

STEP 3
Repeat step 2 around the ring for a total of 5 points. To make the points stronger, go through them again in the same way.

STEP 4

To end the thread, go through one or two beads on the ring and tie a half hitch knot. Do this a couple of times. End by going through a couple of beads and cut off the extra thread.

YAY!!! A STAR!!!!
(for the bracelet I made nine stars and hooked them together with jump rings. If you do it, make sure the beads(I used size 11 seed beads) at the top of the points have big enough holes to fit the jump rings, I made a necklace in the same way. Other ideas I had for these were to make them out of crystal and hang them from a ribbon on a Christmas tree. I made some plastic ones that my two year old likes to pretend are the stars on Dora. She throws them in the air and catches them.)
This is the first time I've written instructions for anything, so let me know how I did.
I would also like to hear/see any ideas you came up with. It is always fun to see what awesome things people do with something so simple.

Introducing Another 'R'

My little sister, Rachel, is joining me on this little craft/cooking blog. She is wonderfully talented at beading. The craftiness oozes out her pores and turns into gorgeous things like this: and this:and this:

and this beauty:I'm excited to see what she has in store for us!