Friendship Bracelet Watch

A few weeks back I made some horribly embarrasing videos to show you how to make chevron friendship bracelets. The reason why was because I had a handful of chevron friendship projects to show you. But I dropped the ball and they got lost in the shuffle. So today I'm finally sharing with you the second chevron project (the first was DIY chevron flip flop straps).

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Knot Stud Earrings from Jewelry Wire

The more I get into something, like, say making jewelry, the more I want to be able to do. I never would have been content to simply make beaded jewelry. No, I also need to cast my own bangles and make a pair of earrings from nothing but jewelry wire.

Now I tried to follow a tutorial that I had found online that suggested that I use 20 gauge wire. I was surprised at how easily I was able to make the shapes using jewlery pliers as directed. I ran and popped my new earrings in my ears and tried to push on an earring back, only to find that I had bent the wire up behind my earlobe. And somehow I really, really bent that sucker on, too. It turns out that the wire is a weensy bit too soft for backs to slip on.

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Cheapie Bling Charm Bracelet

Last year when I started this blog I had begun collecting jewelry from thrift stores to make a fun, big chunky necklace with tons and tons of stuff on there like is all the rage. Now at one point I was thrifting at least once but often twice a week. My hand sanitizer (or as my mother and I accidentally say it, hanitizer) bill was through the roof!

Regardless of so many trips to so many stores I never collected enough little baubles to equal one awesome necklace. It's kind of like real wool sweaters to make a patchwork sweater throw. That never worked out for me, either. Where are these people getting all of this stuff from? How many years did it take to accumulate?

Eventually the taste left my mouth and I decided that I didn't want what everyone else already had, anyway. I set my sights on a new project. A blinged out charm bracelet. But this time I wasn't going to be digging through little, smelly plastic baskets or having some dead someone's son giving me the heeby jeebies at an estate sale. Instead I was going to the everything's a dollar jewelry store. I bought up tons of earrings and pendants with the sole idea that I was going to take them apart and craft with them.

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Dyeing a Leather Purse. A Tale of Craft Fail and Success

I've had this purse for just over a year. And for that year I have bravely attempted to keep it its original, lovely ivory color. On the first day carrying her an ill advised attempt at eating sushi in the car gave her a nice sprinkle of purplish brown dots on the front side causing a sincere bout profanity. Did I mention I was driving?

I then spent almost 2 weeks with my little nephews. These kids don't just like me for my stellar company. No, they also like the Auntie A Carries It All! service. We'll be walking down a hallway and one will start digging in my purse and when I give them the stink eye I will be informed that I'm carrying Spiderman / a half eaten, open and melting Toblerone / a Capris Sun conveniently strawed up and ready to go. You name it and I've probably unwittingly carried it in my purse for those two little buggers. 

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Vintage Purse Makeover

Hey, everybody - on Monday I shared some gold-ified crochet flats with you over at The Thinking Closet. Today, Lauren - a very creative and crafty blogger (plus a really nice gal) is over here sharing her brand of restyle with you! I'm so excited and I know that you'll love Lauren and The Thinking Closet just as much as I do!

Hello dear readers of Dream a Little Bigger! My name is Lauren, and I am a huge fan of Allison and her blog. I have written, "I love this!" on more of her posts than I can count. So, it was a no-brainer to ask Allison to collaborate with me on a guest post swap this month!

On Monday, Allison popped by my craft and d.i.y. blog, The Thinking Closet, and shared her fantastic Gold Shoe Makeover. I sure hope you caught it because it was quite the transformation. But this woman hits shoe refashions outta the park every time, so why am I surprised? She inspired me so much, I thought I'd try a makeover of my own, but in the purse department. Oh, and it happens to involve gold, as well. Here's my Vintage Purse Makeover:

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Crochet Eyeglasses Case Tutorial

I have a lot of pairs of glasses for two reasons. One I lose them, all of the time and everywhere. I leave them at the doctor's office, my Mimmie steals them and my house eats them. The sucky thing is that they are prescription, too. Within the past year I've learned about online places to buy glasses on the cheap. I'm talking $6-10 a pair. The good news is, if I lose them, that's okay. The bad news is, even much cheaper, these things add up.

One day I was digging around in my purse for my glasses when I realized that my hard plastic case had busted open and it wasn't something that was going to be fixed unless I strapped a rubber band around it. Now that is just a little too hillbilly a fix even for me...

So, one evening I worked out a plan using the basket weave stitch and using some fabric I've had lovingly stashed away with no project in mind.  The good news, is with how quickly the stitch works, with a few episodes of the terribly depressing (yet horribly addictive) Locked Up Abroad playing, I knocked this baby out in an evening from start to finish, wham, bam thank you ma'am. 

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