Cheap & easy DIY jewelry? Yes, please!

Hey there! Hope y'all had a great holiday season.

Just stopping by to post my current obsession...making jewelry out of clear stones & washers. But first, here's my adorable Christmas wreath that I finally finished (I started it last year...hehe). It's a Santa Claus wreath, and I love it!

I used a styrofoam wreath base and BATH LOOFAHS for his beard! I cut a slit in the wreath form to slip the loofahs over the wreath through the crack. Then I covered the crack with the Santa hat.

I bought ornaments for the boots and pinned them to the styrofoam. I couldn't find an old belt, so I bought the buckle at the craft store.

Besides that, I've spent most of my craft time on making fun jewelry. First I started making stuff with the clear craft stones you can get at the dollar store. I made a lot of magnets out of them, too. Here's some of the things I've made so far.

The pendant/earrings above were made with gold glitter nail polish on the back of the stones. I used several coats and then sealed it with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. I also used a coat of MPDM on the front of the stones to make them really clear & shiny.

The red pendant below was also from nail polish. The green one was some thin green fabric I had laying around.

This purple glitter ring below was from one of those sticker-type nail polishes that's so popular right now. They don't work well on my nails, so I made this instead! Then I glued a disc magnet to the back so I could switch it out with other stones on a ring base.

After a week or two of that, I started working with washers (yes, from the hardware store). I've been a maniac with these- I've used letter stamps, engraving, stickers, nail polish, scrapbook paper, glitter, you name it! Here are a few pendants that I've made...with many more in progress.

This first one was pretty simple...the center was part of an earring I had, so I just painted the washer with nail polish & then glued it on. 

This one is fun...I glued 3 washers together to make Mickey Mouse!

For this one I started playing with alcohol inks. I'm not very good yet, but some of them came out cool.

Then I coated it with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, of course (it's my new best friend!)

I really like this one. The background is a sticker from my scrapbooking stash. Then I used glitter nailpolish around the edges. The center is a cute button I found, and the 3 gold sparkles are from a nail art kit. 

The pendant below was made with glitter scrapbook paper & Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. Oh, and a few beads taken from an old bracelet. 

This one was one of my alcohol ink experiments. Then I glued on a swirl of micro beads for something different.

This one is my fave so far. The brown layer is nail polish. I glued on a little gear I bought at the craft store. It's hard to tell, but the gear and the back washer are painted gold. I need to buy a better bead for the top, though.

Finished necklaces so far!

Hope you like them! I have about 10 in progress, so I'll post them soon. I'll also be back with our season of Elf on the Shelf antics. :)

Take care!

*Starr*

Random Crap- I Mean Crafts.

Hi again!
While I'm online, here are a few things I made this year. I'll post more info about them some other time...maybe :) .

I made my first diaper cake...actually, diaper castle!

My brother got married in May, so I dressed up a pair of outdoor chairs as bride & groom for his fiance's shower 

For her bachelorette party I made her a cowboy hat veil!

For their wedding, money seemed a little boring. So I dressed it up!

For Thanksgiving the kids and I made some turkeys

For the last few days I've been obsessed with painting clear stone to make magnets & jewelry. The kids love it, too!

Alrighty...I better get going! Have a wonderful Saturday night.

~Starr

The elf returns! And so do I!

Hi there! Long time no post!

After being laid off for over a year (12/2011 to 1/2013) I went back to work the first week of January, so this blog (and my crafting) pretty much got put on hold. Lately I've finally found a little time and motivation to pick it back up. Probably because of the return of THE ELF ON THE SHELF!!!

Bad news...I put Mitzy the Elf somewhere for safe keeping last year, and she has yet to be found. I can hide stuff like nobody's business! LOL

Good news...I found a 2 pack of elves on sale, and they are CUTER than the 'official' elf. Now I have a backup- just in case!

Here's the stock photo from Amazon, where I bought them.

Here's the link, if you want to check it out.

Kurt Adler Elf 2 Pack

I was happy that they looked even cuter in person. The arms, head & hat are adjustable, & the legs are a little bit. It's a little bigger than the other elf, but not too much. 

However, I wanted a GIRL elf, so I had to get creative!

Luckily, I happened to have a strawberry blonde color wig, so I gave her some long locks. I added makeup and some fur & a skirt. But, I only have a close-up from before the fur & skirt. I also added black velcro to her hands. I knew that would come in handy!

We named her Trixie. She came & explained that our previous elf, Mitzy, got a promotion at the North Pole and is in charge of the official Christmas List, so she isn't traveling anymore. 

She also brought chocolate advent calendars to win the kids over.

Day 2- Trixie was found under the Christmas tree sharing a romantic time with Handy Manny in his truck.

Day 3- Trixie added google eyes to the photos & figurines on the mantel!

Day 4- Trixie and some friends made a ball pit out of a cardboard box!

Day 5- Trixie took a high spin in a tennis shoe hanging from the ceiling fan

Day 6- Santa holding Trixie. My husband did this, and I didn't notice how inappropriate Santa looks until bedtime! LOL!

Day 7- Trixie brought something special to remind the kids of the real meaning of Christmas.

And that was this morning, so I'll report back soon. I hope you're having fun with your elf, and hope you've had a great year!

~Starr

Fish Bowl Snowmen

December 31, 2012

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! I'm feeling a little sick to my tummy right now...I hope it passes and isn't the start of something. So I thought I'd stop in & post some gifts I made for Christmas.

I saw some snowmen made from fish bowls on Pinterest, and thought it looked like a cute and easy gift idea, so I made them for my mom & my mother in law.

I bought different sized fish bowls at a thrift store, but I know they have at least 2 sizes at Dollar Tree.

I wanted them to light up, so I didn't glue them together. Instead, I squirted a layer of hot glue around the rim of the bottom two bowls to help prevent slippage. I also added some silver decorative ribbon for fun.

I filled the inside of the snowmen with a bath loofah. I cut the main string that holds it together, cut it in pieces to fit the bowls, and sprayed them with glitter glue (not that you could really tell). On one snowman I used white, on the other I used silver.

Like I said, I wanted them to glow, so I bought a pack of battery operated tealight candles and put one in each bowl, under the loofah. They look so cute all lit up!

For the rest of the decor, I just played around. I made the black hat out of a spool of ribbon & felt. The Santa hat & scarf I got at Dollar Tree in the pet section. The rest of the items for the face and buttons I already had on hand. 

Here are some pics of the finished products. Hopefully they liked them!

And here's my mother-in-law's all lit up

I guess I'll make one for myself next year. :)  Hope you like them!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful New Year!

*Starr*

Mitzy the Elf

So, are you doing "Elf on the Shelf"? I know some people have done it for several years, but this is our first.

Our elf is named Mitzy, and the kids are having so much fun looking for her each morning. 

Here's some of her antics so far...

She replaced our family photos with faces of dogs from magazine cutouts.

She left some mini snacks for the kids (pretzels and mini marshmallows dipped in chocolate & sprinkles)

She left the kids some balloons with a secret ingredient!

And today she was on my son's bookshelf, dressed as Mario! 

(Xander is a Mario Brothers addict).

I can't take credit, my husband Brian did that one.

What has your elf been up to?

*Starr*

Christmas ornament wreath

Hello again!

I love to make wreaths. I finally finished my Christmas ornament wreath today...I've been working on it for a couple weeks (on and off). Honestly, I'm not thrilled with it. But I'm tired of messing with it, so here it is! 

As usual, most of my supplies are from Dollar Tree. They had some ornaments on clearance for 50 cents at the beginning of the season, so I stocked up.

I used the basic 'wire hanger' tutorial that is all over Pinterest. I made sure to hot glue the ornament caps on first. It didn't look 'full' enough to me, so I added some gold ribbon ties. I thought the glittery gold star was a nice focal point.

I couldn't find anything good to cover the hook of the hanger, so I used a poinsettia flower clip that I made my daughter last year. haha

Unfortunately, the quality of the ornaments is so bad I can hear balls falling off as I type. The toppers keep breaking. Gluing them on doesn't really help if the part you put the hook through cracks in half. 

Oh well. You live, you learn! 

I'm Starr! Nice to meet you!

Hi everyone! My name is Starr, and I'm a craftaholic.

Whew! Now that I got that off my chest...

For those who don't know me, I'll try to make a long story short (I talk a lot, so that's a challenge). I'm a 36 year old wife and mother of two; Xander is 5 and Shayla is 2. I generally work full time, but was laid off in December of 2011 and have yet to find a decent job (i.e.; a job that will support 2 kids in daycare).

In my search for projects to keep sane I discovered Pinterest. Not only did I find all kinds of fun and interesting things to do with my kids, but I discovered a creative side of myself that I didn't know existed.

I always wanted to be crafty. As a kid I remember saving all the cardboard tubes from the center of the TP roll but I couldn't ever think of anything to do with them. And that's about how far my craft attempts went. Vague ideas that never materialized.

Since Late 2011 I have been doing more and more stuff all the time. I'm constantly looking for new ideas, or better ways to do things already in my head. I'm no Martha Stewart...I feel like my work is more like a hodge-podge of stuff thrown together until I like it. But I'm happy to share my ideas, because maybe someone else can improve on them further. Personally, I agree that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so go ahead! Copy anything! Craft it up!

Besides crafts, I'm a total bargain hunter (I love thrift stores & practically live at Dollar Tree), I love freebies and try to collect as many as possible, and I am attracted to anything sparkly. I live just south of St. Louis, Missouri, and it's doubtful that I'd ever move away from this area. It's a totally underrated city.

Okay, I better stop there or I may never stop.  I hope you visit now and then!

*Starr*

PS...because I always have a PS...Here's a few pics of me and my family, so you know who's talking to you. 


That's me. And yes, Starr is my real name. I'll tell you the story some other time. LOL

This is Xander, my big guy. He turned 5 in September.

This is my baby, my silly goose Shayla. She'll be 2.5 in December.

Here's the whole family! My husband Brian and I have been married for 6.5 years.