Reindeer Games

Ahhh, deer + red = a perfect holiday combo! That's what I did here in this casual look that I sported last week (to submit to the weekly reader outfits at Effortless Anthropologie) and I'm planning to wear it several more times before years end.

I've always been lucky enough to live in states were seeing deer is very common. In fact, both at my house (in MI) and my parents house (in WI) it's a daily occurance.

"Mirrored Deer" top by One September - Anthropologie

Red cardigan - consignment shop

A.N.A. jeans - JC Penney

Anthroesque boots - Zulily

Necklace - made by me

 

Merry Christmas!!!

DIY Collage Watch

I don't know about you, but all the hustle and bustle of this season stresses me out to no end! So in order to help me relax, I find little projects that I can do that make me happy. They can't be time consuming, or cost a lot of money, because then the guilt sets in that I shouldn't really be spending time or money on myself.

My favorite retailer - Anthropologie - is currently offering this beautiful Collage Watch. It comes in a few other color themes I believe too. A few years ago, I bought a lot grouping of vintage watches off eBay for a project I was doing. The little pretty shown above was one of them. It didn't make it into my project, but I just loved the look of it. The face is cracked, but it is flanked by gorgeous emerald cut and round rhinestones. When I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, I noticed this strand of various components. At half off, I purchased them so as you can see they were $4.

It was really quick to assemble - I added the watch into the mix and took out any links I didn't need. Luckily, I had enough so that I wouldn't have any repeats! Lobster clasp and done! Out of curiosity, I wound the watch to see if it would keep the time and it did (although it was a little off). I didn't mind though - I knew this would be more of a "bracelet" to me than an actual watch. It's going to look great combined with other bracelets for a layered look.

So there you have it - a $68 pretty for under $10!

Rich Tapestries

Here's my submission for the weekly reader outfits over at Effortless Anthropologie. As soon as I saw this top - the Modern Obi Pullover - I was immediately taken back about 12 years when I remember several stores selling jeans that had cuffs sew of the most beautiful patches of fabric. Anthropologie was probably one of them. Not being able to find a pair that fit or that I could afford, I bought my own fabric and took them to a seamstress to have my own favorite pair of jeans embellished (I do not know how to sew much more than a button).

I love tops like this...... an otherwise plain, basic tee is given special details - here, the attached Geisha like belt that is made from a variety of pretty patterned fabrics - which also gives it a peplum like look. The colors in this will give endless outfit possibilities. Like a good girl though, I waited until this went on sale at Anthro before purchasing.

I'm wearing it with my $3 consignment shop jeans, boots that were a gift from last year, and a necklace I made. The necklace features many types of fabrics as well so it was the natural choice for this top.

"Modern Obi Pullover" by A Common Thread - Anthropologie

Red Jeans - Consignment Shop

"Armandy" Boots by Bear Traps - Macy's

Necklace - made by me (original post here)

A peacock, Anthropologie, and vintage beads - the perfect combination in my mind!

For the last few years now, Anthropologie has been carrying a line of charms for customers to create their own personal jewelry. Like many other retailers carrying similar collections, you don't have to be a jewelry maker to put together your own necklace or bracelet. The charms come with lobster clasps on them for easy attachment or removal to any chain. The combination options are endless!

I was lucky enough to score this multi colored rhinestone peacock at Anthro last Spring - originally $22, I got him for $4.95! In my last post, I debuted a necklace made from repurposed vintage jewelry that someone gave me and also mentioned I used the rest of the gold textured beads on another project. Well, here it is. Actually, both the textured gold beads and the rhinestone beads came from the same necklace. The only beads I added in were the faceted colored stones to match the colors in the peacock.

I removed the lobster clasp from the top of the peacock so it would be more of a traditional pendant. When designing the necklace, I knew I wanted to do something more special than just stringing him on a strand of beads. So I came up with the idea to attach more strands to the open metal work of his feathers. This resulted in 3 strands that eventually blend together into 1. It was pretty tricky to get them all to the right length while trying to keep the random pattern together.

Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out. The total look is still very vintage, and it's always fun to breath new life into old beads!

Winter Whites

In today's post, I'm here to show off a new necklace I made which was inspired by Anthropologie's Winter Gemini Necklace. And it just so happened that I found this feathered fleece vest at Kohl's that matches it so perfectly. I am not one to wear a lot of white - or fleece for that matter - but this was a lucky find and I think it will be perfect for comfortable and cozy visits with family over the holidays.

The rest of my outfit is from Kohl's too - a long sleeved tee and fit & flare jeans both from Apt 9.

One of the most exciting things a jewelry maker can hear from someone is: "I've got all of this old jewelry that I don't know what to do with so I'm going to give it to you and you can see what you can do with it."

For this necklace, I used some textured gold beads around the back (didn't get a picture of that necklace before I took it apart) and the white rhinestone necklace you see in the picture below. Both of those pieces were given to me in a bag of vintage goodies.

The two peacock tassels I have had for years (look like gift tie ons or ornaments) and the etched pearls were a recent purchase at Michael's.

The Winter Gemini necklace is a long lariat that comes together with a row of rhinestones and then has 2 tassels hanging down. Deconstructing and wiring the rhinestone rows together was the trickiest part of this, since I have not worked with rhinestones all that much. You'll notice that I made my rows a little asymmetrical instead of perfectly aligned because my tassels looked better that way.

 

This was a fun project to do with supplies I already had on hand. I've been wanting to use these tassels for something for many years, and Anthro's design immediately made me think of them.

Stayed turned for another post soon about another necklace I made with the rest of the vintage gold beads, that uses an peacock charm from Anthropologie!

Kohl's Gift Card Winner

Good evening everyone! I have just drawn the winner of the $50 Kohl's Gift Card! I used Random.org to randomly select a number based on the number of comments I had on the giveaway post. It selected #8, which is:

projectloveme said...

I would work on my Christmas shopping list. We have barely started. Thanks for the chance to win!

 

Congrats projectloveme!!!! I'll be in touch to get your prize to you!

 

Thanks so much for the support. I'd love to have more giveaways on the blog soon!

Anthropologie Revisited

You might remember this post, where my friend Kristen and I went to Anthropologie to help with some crafting for their holiday windows. This past Saturday, I revisited the Grand Rapids store to see the displays in action. The finished plates were beautiful and it was so cool to see them all hanging together!

 A close up of my doily peacock design.

 Kristen's plates can be seen to the left of the mannequin (the big flower) and above it (the birds in the tree), and you can see close ups below also.

 Richard and I taking it all in.

 Their other large window was a huge scene created out of paper cutouts!

 Here's a few sneak peeks I was able to get while in the store.

What a fun day we had!