Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Years!!


2011 was filled with trials but also lots of good memories. Let's hope 2012 brings more good memories, great friends, lots of laughter, love, and great fortune to us all!


Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Congrats to the Newlyweds!!!

Congrats to my good friends!!! They finally got married!!!
Sadly I couldn't be there to celebrate with them since it was in the Philippines.
So, I sent my happy wishes and love with this necklace. :)
She wore a red and black sexy dress so I made this to match.


3D beaded Heart in Light Siam
I searched through my stash of Swarovski Crystal hearts but didn't have a red (Light Siam) one in the right size so I made this one using 3mm Swarovski bicones so it was smaller.

Heart made into a pendant

In order to put focus on the pendant and heart, I added more beads in the center and had a different, more simple design on the sides. 


I have these heart clasps that I thought would be cute. I had a heart lock and key charms so I thought it would be cute to put it on the necklace too since they unlocked each other's hearts. :)


The finished necklace.


I made a ribbon flower with a Poinsettia center. I added the yellow ribbon because she likes red and yellow, also because I thought it looked cute. It was perfect to have the red poka dot wrapping paper and yellow ribbon. :) A little cute whimsy that is so her. :)



I made the flower into a hair clip and just clipped it onto the present in lieu of a bow. It think it's a cute way to give another present on the present. :)

I made this in early December but had to wait till all the paperwork goes through and they actually get married before posting these as to not ruin the surprise. :)

Congrats guy!! I am so happy for you! May this new life together be filled with lots of love, happiness, laughter, and little mini-yous! :) Miss you guys!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Happy Holidays!!!

Happy Holidays!!!


I hope you guys are feeling the holiday spirit! :) I know I do whenever I give someone the perfect gift. :) Especially when I made it myself. :)


I just wanted to say Thank you to all the Troops that could not be with their families this year because they are working to protect our way of life. I hope you guys come home soon!

Be safe everyone and I hope your day is filled with lots of laughter, love, and hugs! :)


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Presents for a Beautiful Thailand Princess

My friend went to visit his fiance in the Philippines. So, I made him bring some presents for her from me. :) He is her Xmas present. hehe Sorry, but this will be a long post.


This is the bag that everything fit in. It is about the size of a piece of paper and 2 inches thick. It took almost 1/2 of his suitcase. Luckily, he is a guy and so didn't need to bring too much clothes with him and he is a super packer from years of experience in the Army. hehe The bag is from the dollar section of Michael's but is a very sturdy and cute little tote. I am sure she will find other uses for it. :)


She loves chocolates and her favorite brand is Ritter Sport. We have it here in Target so I got her some of those. Since she likes whole hazelnuts, I thought she would like to try Ferrero Rocher if she has not tried it before. The bear was just way too cute. :) It is made my Lindt. I love their chocolates with the smooth centers but I like the square ones not the round ones. Sadly, they stopped selling the square ones. These Belgian Chocolate thins are yummy. They have a little crunch to them and are thin enough so that you can eat 1-3 and it will satisfy a craving well enough. :)


On her Xmas list, she asked for creme eyeshadow. I did not know how hard it was to find and get over here. I mainly found creme eye liner but these were nice so I got some for her. I think Clinique had some eyeshadow creme pens but they were hard for me to use. I hope these work well for her. :)


These little bundles contain some cute hair clips. :) They needed to be wrapped simply so that they can fit into the tote bag or else I could not get everything in there. :)


Rose hair clips I crochet for her. Red, because it's one of her fav colors and blue because her working uniform is blue. Can you see the sparkilies? :)



Ribbon hair clip in her favorite colors, red and yellow. :)

The backs of the hair clips.


Queen Anne Lace Scarf finished!



And here is how I wrapped it. :)



Made a tube out of card stock. I was going to put it into an empty food container but I think it would make it harder to get it though the metal detectors in the airport.


I made rosettes from the wrapping paper I used to wrap the cylinder. These will close off the cylinder at both ends.


Then I accordion folded the scarf into the cylinder.


I added the rosette to the other end and tied it together with curling ribbon.




And that's it. It's a little hard to work with but it is really cute. I think of it as anther version of the Christmas cracker. The ends are a bit different because I had to fit it into the tote. :)

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Here are the last two gifts I made for her and put into the package. :)

Pink Side
3D beaded Cross Bookmark.

Red Side
Yep, it is double sided.:) I think you can see the lobster claw clasp. That will allow her to take the cross off the bookmark and use it as a pendant for a necklace.


Lastly, I made this bell bracelet. It was a last minute bout of inspiration. :) I had to figure out how to put bells onto a bracelet but I didn't want to do the old charm bracelet method or stringing them on because that would take too many. So, I wove a simple base and added the bells as adornments. I was going to use a blue base because that is the 3rd color in the triangle on the color wheel but I wasn't feeling it.


I added the cluster of bells in the center because I miss counted the spaces. hehe but I like it! Some times covering up a mistake makes it more special. :)

I hope my friends are having a great Xmas together! I miss them both and hope someday we can all celebrate the holiday together in person. :)

I hope all of you are having a great December filled with friends and family, lots of laughter and love, and plenty of crafting! :)

Note: I made and wrapped all of these in the first week of December but I have to wait till after she opens up her gifts to post this. :)

Friday, December 23, 2011

Very Very Last Min Gift and wrapping, + an experiement

So, a very down to the wire, simple yet elegant Christmas present for my Aunt. I literally finished it with 10 min to put on a little makeup before we left to meet up with her and her friends for Dim Sum.

Silver Bells Bracelet
In the center is a cute cluster of jingle bells. She wore it during the meal so I am glad to say, it doesn't constantly jingle and drive you crazy. You only hear it during big or sharp hand gestures. I strung an interesting combination of Swarovski crystals in different finishes (Matt vs AB) and sizes (3mm, 4mm, 6mm). I added a few silver ball beads to add a little more sparkle and so I could use my crimp bead covers at the back and to tie in the silver bells. The pattern is a simple cluster of A-B-A. I think to make something so simple, interesting especially since it is monochromatic, is to vary the finishes and sizes. It's just like interior decorating, you want to vary texture. I finished it by adding an 1 inch extender chain and a few more crystals at the end of that.


My mom really liked it so she made me teach her how to make it. I gave her the beads in the order of the pattern and she strung it on. I tried to show her how to add the clasp and finish it but she got a phone call so I finished it for her. :P She was going to give it away but decided that she wanted to wear it to her work Christmas Buffet. :)

The perfect quick last min gift for an unexpected female guest. :P

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While she was out, I was tasked with wrapping 2 cute bento boxes she got for her friends' sons.

cute green Frog Bento Box Japanese lunch box 1

One was this cute frog and the other was a cute smiling raccoon. Due to the rounded edges, I had to figure out a way to wrap these without a box to put them in and no gift bags (I ran out). I decided to make my own gift bags from wrapping paper.


Simple and cute for little boys to tear into. :)


Box 1 was made with a leftover piece of wrapping paper. It was long and just wide enough. 


I folded the base first to fit the bento boxes.


Then I folded the corners in and taped up the sides.


I folded down the top like a brown paper lunch bag...speaking of which, I should always have some on hand to decorate for last minute gift bags. :p


Box 2 was made in using the envelop method. There are tutorials all over the web on how to make an envelope into a bag. I first taped a piece of wrapping paper into a tube.


Then I made the creases for the 4 sides.


I folded the bottom like I would when I wrap an actual box and are finishing the ends.


Folded down the top and added curling ribbon. Done. :)

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I had a great idea for a bracelet for my Aunt the night before that turned out to be not so great as a bracelet.


I thought I could jazz up the beaded tennis bracelet design. Luckily I made a sample for myself and hated it for a bracelet. I got to this (above pic) and stopped. Now, what do I do with this? It would be a cute hair clip but then I thought maybe I could make it into a brooch.


I added loops to the top and sides. Then fringe to the bottom. I will never make this again because I used nylon and that was a pain to get through the seed beads. And the fringe won't stay right.



Just got to add the pin back. What do you think? I might go back to it being a hair clip, I don't know.... :p

Christmas Eve Day is Tomorrow!!! Good luck everyone!!!
And Happy Holiday to you and your loved ones! :)