Bubble Necklace

I’ve been in lust with this j crew bubble necklace for a really long time, and I could probably have afforded it a few months ago. But now, being funemployed at all, I can’t even afford the off-brand bubble necklaces that have been popping up everywhere for $30.

 

I decided to hap-hazardly attempt to make my own. I used Sculpey clay in white, tore it up to “condition” it or whatever, and made a bunch of nice round circles in two different sizes. I also had a couple of gold chains I had acquired a long time ago from a jewelry “grab bag” from a thrift store.

In order to attach everything together, I used the chain as a sort of “hinge” between each piece, and pressed a little more polymer clay on top of each piece in order to secure the chain to the clay.

Then, I baked the clay per the instructions on the package and/or may have left it in a little too long because it apparently started turning brown :(

I painted it turquose using a mixture of acrylic paint, glue, and water.

Here is what it looks like, finished, on encyclopeda pages. This is the best picture I could get of it, since I am apparently terrible at taking self picturess of my décolletage (see next picture).

In retrospect, I would have used color clay instead of using white and then painting it. This is probably more of a summer necklace? How do you wear it in the winter because scarf season! SCARF SEASON!

reIntroducing reTreasured

Helloooo from the world of funemployment.

And in this free time of job searching and pretending to clean my apartment, I decided to re-launch my Etsy shop, reTreasured by Nidhizzle.

You can find lots of fabulous artwork made from recycled materials, including tributes to your favorite alcoholic beverage.

And of course, with a new business, I need business cards!

I took my old business business cards and covered the parts that have my now-defunct contact information on them with interesting images I found in an incredibly misogynistic magazine called cosmopolitan.

The fronts:

The back:

Thanks for reading! And remember, any of the pieces from my shop can be used as a fabulous stocking stuffer. Support your local funemployed poor artist. <3 <3

Patching a Hole in your Jeans

So one day, you put your favorite pair of jeans and check out your butt and notice that your jeans suddenly have purple lace sticking out of them. What?! How did you rip a hole in your favorite paint jeans!?

I decided to patch things up with these jeans so they wouldn’t be mad that I didn’t wear them anymore. I cut a piece of scrap denim and sewed it to the inside of the pants where the hole was.

Then, I zig-zag sewed the hole together. It still looks kind of dumb but at least you can’t see through it anymore.

Paint jeans! Patched up! Wearable without seeming slutty!

Pink Damask Paper Shoe-Box

I love boxes, so I collect shoe-boxes. You can put basically anything in them and it’s amazing. This also means that the more shoes I get, the more boxes I get. So you know I have too many shoe-boxes.

I covered the shoe-box in the same pink Damask paper I used to make the Wedding Card in the previous post.

For the top, I wanted something different. Also, I didn’t have paper wide enough for covering the entire top without having a seam, and we all know that seams are terrible, so I instead covered it with white scratch paper and then added a “ribbon” type thing going down the center.

I like that it’s not one big Damask-y mess, and instead has the element of surprise! And by element of surprise, I meant something totally different probably.

I should acquire more stuff so that I can store it in my shoe-boxes! Just kidding. Fools.

Wedding Card

For my friend Lauren’s wedding reception last Black Friday, I chose to make a card for her since I am lazy and too poor to buy one.

I started with this manila folder that said “review” on the inside. I almost gave up but then I remembered that I had an eraser and I  could erase it. So I erased it. That was stressful.

I cut out this damask print (drawer liners that I had bought from AAPTO I think) and glued it to the manila folder. Then, to fancy it up, I added the ribbon from her Save-the-Date and made a pink flower out of the damask paper.

Some bling-bling for the flower…

Then, I took the Save-the-Date and cut out their swirly design and used it to seal my envelope!

Happy Wedded Bliss to Lauren and Patrick!

“And you can wear it again!”

I am sure that as soon as you read that, you thought, “She must be speaking of a bridesmaid dress!” and in thinking that, dear friend, you are absolutely correct. Can you wear it again? I was about to try.

I wore this J. Crew Silk Taffeta Mika dress for my friend Steph’s wedding in July, and the dress was absolutely gorgeous. I just thought that as a blue dress, it was very bridesmaidy and also may or may not have reminded me of another doomed relationship since I met the last boy while wearing it.

I did some extensive research using my bff the Internet on how to dye Silk Taffeta. The Internet told me things like, “Don’t do it, girl! It will remove the shinyness” or “The fibers will all be ruined!” but guess what! I did it anyway, because I am a badass and I really wanted a black dress. I used Black Rit Dye (liquid) and cooked my clothes.

Here it is, drying. It was soooooo wrinkly after it had finished drying so I ironed it using the silk setting. After that didn’t do anything. I went all the way up to linen or whatever. It didn’t ruin the dress but I also moved the iron very quickly. For like an hour.

The taffeta had lost a lot of its stiffness but that makes the dress actually look a lot better than it had before. I wore it to my friend Lauren’s wedding reception (hehe, another wedding) on Black Friday. I dyed the dress black specifically for Black Friday. Here I am doing Gangnam style, very poorly indeed. I like this dress much better in black.

Yes, you CAN wear it again! But no young whippersnappers this time.

Do you ever wonder

What am I doing with my life?

I need a job. Preferably in Chicago. Let me know if you hear anything.

1 Dress, 2 ways: Nadine’s Guest Post

Hi all! Today, I’m participating in the Ohio Blogging Association’s blog swap today! Visit Poise in Parma for a full list of participants! And make sure to visit Nadine’s blog – I love her musings on daily life and I LOVE her style!

Hi I'm Nadine from Blog- The New Black, and I'm a blogger that writes about fashion, beauty, and my pup, Petra. I love to shop and when I'm on the hunt for something new I am usually in one of two mind frames- in the first state I"m looking for something highly original that maybe wont get a ton of wear, but will get a ton of looks. The second state of mind I'm in when I shop is for items that are versatile and can get serious traction.

One of the great pieces I own that I can dress up or down a million ways in the American Apparel Cotton Spandex Jersey Double U Neck Dress, and for $40 the price can't be beat.

I dressed it up for the opening event at MOCA, Cleveland's just moved Modern Art Museum with Vince Camuto Heels and a Nordstrom sheer blouse.

I dressed it down with a pair of Frye Boots, black Target leggings, and a vintage US Army fatigue jacket for another more casual art museum construction tour a week or two later.

Version 1 highlights it as a mini dress (what it was designed to be) while version 2 shows it as a fitted long top, which is always a necessity when wearing leggings. Which look do you prefer?

Thanks again to Nidhi for letting me post today! Check out my blog for her DIY instructions for bedazzled heels!

Thanks so much for guest posting, Nadine! STAY CLASSY!

Zebra Bejeweled Shoes

So gluing jewels to shoes is really easy. AND SPARKLEY THINGS MAKE LIFE JUST SO MUCH BETTER, THAT IS EXACTLY WHY BELLA CHOSE EDWARD. PLUS HE IS RICH.

I bought these zebra shoes from payless last week, and WHY THE FUCK WOULD THESE BE DESIGNED WITH ORANGE TO COMPLEMENT BLACK AND WHITE, IT IS NOT HALLOWEEN FUCKING YEAR-ROUND.

I took off the bow, painted the orange accent lining black, and glued some green jewels to it.

Pictures of my feet look weird.

REMEMBER, TODAY IS ELECTION DAY! GO VOTE! THIS IS A POLITILLAMA.

 

I SUPPOSE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS POST, A POLITIZEBRA WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE APPROPRIATE BUT I DON’T LIKE ZEBRAS AS MUCH AS I LIKE LLAMAS.

Bejeweled Shoes

Now that it’s practically Christmas (just kidding guys, too soon I know), I have been seeing sparkly stuff everywhere. And sparkles are definitely my favorite part of the holiday season. I go on pinterest and it’s like Edward Cullen threw up over the entire page because there’s glitter EVERYWHERE. And if I had to pick a team, I would be Team Edward because I would never have to buy body glitter again, not that I buy body glitter now.

Anyway. I had these stupid black flats that were not glittery enough. Ke$ha does not approve. Is she still relevant? So I took off the stupid bow (that you can barely see in the picture) with my seam ripper (everyone should own one, they make removing labels from clothes much less likely to rip your sweater a new one).

I had some jewels that I bought for a headband project then had an overabundance left over, so I thought, “WELL MAYBE I WILL GLUE THESE TO MY SHOES!”

Too much bling? No such thing.

E6000 is the best glue ever. Fun story: my friend Ali had to use some sort of glue similar to E6000 in Architecture School, and her professor said, “A WOMAN OF CHILD-BEARING AGE SHOULDN’T BE USING E6000!” And Ali freaked out because she was 19. It’s 16 and Pregnant, not 19 and Pregnant. Geez.

Air Mail and Birthday Card

My friend’s birthday is on October 30, so I made him this wonderful card.

I painted a card sized piece of manila folder orange and painted a beard on it, since my birthday friend really likes growing beards.

Then, I glued it shut inside a piece of brown packaging paper so it would be nearly impossible to open without accidentally paper cutting yourself. Happy Birthday, have a papercut!

For the front, I wanted it to look like vintage airmail, so I cut out a piece of voting reminder mail (REMEMBER TO VOTE, IT IS YOUR DUTY) in a slightly smaller rectangular shape than the “envelope” thing.

Painted red and blue stripes on it…

Brilliant vintage-y look. Love it. Happiest Birthday, Nick!

And HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO EVERYONE!!

Tape Magnets

I saw this post on curbly about making washi tape magnets, and while I still don’t really know what washi tape is, I did know that they are apparently very pretty and would work much better to hold Save the Dates (STDs) and wedding invitations on my fridge.
You may remember these magnets from a previous craft I did. I STILL HAVE SO MANY MAGNETS.

I glued some sweet patterns I found in my GQ magazine (I don’t know why I get it, I am not renewing). I used Elmer’s glue and I flattened them with an encyclopedia while they were drying so that they wouldn’t dry crumply.

I chopped them up to tape-like size once they were dry.

Then I affixed my voting card to my fridge! Is that not adorable? I also placed an Uncle Sam (whose Uncle is he, anyway?) magnet that I made in the same time frame as the washi magnets. REMEMBER TO VOTE, IT IS IN ONE WEEK GUYS!

VOTING ISN’T A RIGHT, IT’S A RESPONSIBILITY. But make sure you vote intelligently.

Cobalt Blue Purse Re-Do

I was at Value World a couple of weeks ago and snatched this purse because I loved the color. Cobalt blue! The strap was totally buggin! And the bow? As if! I’m watching Clueless right now…it’s on Netflix instant.

When I removed the bow, there were holes punctured in the  blueness! NO! What to do??

I went through my pin collection and also acquired a purse chain thing. Which pin will we use to cover the offending holes? (Hint: It’s the middle one.)

Then, I took off the strap. It had lots of bends in it that just made the purse look cheap.

I mean clearly this purse shouldn’t look cheap; it’s made of real leather! Jk where would they find a blue cow to make blue leather? Also I’m not really clear what leather is made of.

Ta-dah! It is so cute and the perfect size to put all my stuff in.

But I still had this offensive bow! And everyone knows that bows belong in hair. So I dotted a bead of glue on here and wrapped the center with the maize faux-snakeskin pleather and attached that to a hair-tie.

I tried to do a ponytail but it was really hard to take a picture. So here you go. GAME DAY HAIRBOW! I think this bow might be upside down but I didn’t feel like taking another picture.

I am in love with this purse.