Ties: Made for a Man, Cute Enough for a Woman

Before New Years eve I had wanted to get something cute and new to wear for the occasion, but I didn't have much money to spend. So I find in those situations it's best to go to a vintage shop because 

A.) It's "new" to me 

B.) There's always unique things that you're very unlikely to see someone else wearing and 

C.) CHEAP! I ended up getting a nice dress for only $16, but that's another story.

While I was shopping in this particular fabulous vintage shop I saw in their jewelry display case a lot of fabric necklaces and upon further investigation I realized they were made from men's ties! Fantastic idea, and I knew I could easily do it myself.

So while having a craft day with my best friend, we went to Goodwill in search of some good tie candidates to be made into ties. I found a sharp dark gray and silver one and best part: only $1.50

So what you need to make your own tie necklace:

Old tie

Needle

Coordinating thread 

Straight pins

Embellishments; beads, sequins, buttons, whatever you like really

Lay your tie out on a work surface. Using straight pins, pin the tie into a circle (you can adjust the size later). Then begin to make pleats in the tie, remember to make it curve so it sits right when you wear it. This is the experimenting part, so put in all your pleats with pins and adjust according to how you like. Then using your thread and needle, make small stitches at each pleat to hold it in place. Then go wild with embellishments!

I used iridescent sequins and glittered buttons

My best friend made me a pin with her button maker

And when you're tired of making necklace ties, nap on them! (Fanny the dog)

Quick Breakfast

If there's one thing that makes me more like my dad than my mom, it's breakfast. My mom could care less for breakfast food, she'll even order a BLT sandwich for breakfast when they go out sometimes on Sundays to Linda's Wilmot Cafe*. Which doesn't technically serve lunch on Sundays, but they make an exception for her :)

Now my dad on the other hand LOVES breakfast food and so do I. Anything, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage you name it, we like it. I especially like French Toast, so when I came across a recipe for 2-minute French toast in a cup I had to try it!

What you need:
Microwave save mug. I used my over-sized one to make it easy, plus it's so darn cute!
Butter
2 slices of bread
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
sprinkle of cinnamon
drop of vanilla extract (optional)
 Powdered sugar and/or syrup for topping

Coat the inside of the mug with butter. Cut up your slices of bread into cubes and place in mug. I ended up using 3 slices cause I had really thin bread and the cup was so big. In a separate small bowl, crack your egg, add milk, cinnamon and vanilla and whisk well. Pour over bread, let soak up for a moment and then cook in microwave for just 2 minutes. Top with powder sugar and syrup.

It tasted really good! I wish I had a better dense bread rather than just the cheap generic white bread. The thick Texas style bread would probably be great for this recipe.



*If you live anywhere near Wilmot, you must try Linda's Wilmot Cafe. It's a really nice country diner with great food and a fun eclectic decor.

Paper Heart

Keeping up with my Pinterest project theme, the next project I chose to do was in preparation for Valentine's day. My boyfriend is not too keen on decorating for holidays other than Halloween and Christmas, but after a trip to the dollar aisle at Target I won him over with robot Valentine gel clings.

Can't beat that for a dollar!

Anyways on to the project! SO EASY!

Supplies:

8-12 strips of paper 11"X2"

12" of ribbon

Craft glue

Fold each strip of paper in half, the short way. Apply glue to one of the ends facing outward, curl both ends of paper in towards the fold and glue to each other. Repeat to make all your hearts. Arrange hearts in a circle.

Then begin gluing each heart to the one beside it. I found it easiest to just glue into pairs first. Before you glue all of them, glue in place one end of your ribbon to each side of a pair. Then finally, complete the circle. Viola! A beautiful wreath for you to hang on your door, and I'm fairly sure that you probably have all the supplies you need on hand already.

I think I will try making a shamrock when St. Patrick's Day comes around.

PAA- Pinterest Addicts Anonymous

Hi, my name is Sami

Hi Sami


And I have an addiction to Pinterest.

Okay so it's not so "anonymous" but seriously they need a support group for members of this site. It's the most fantastic time waster I've ever experienced. So in order to justify my addiction I am actually going to start doing all the stuff I "Pin" that I say I'm going to do. Today I completed a project that I've had on my mind for awhile now; decorating my earbuds. So here's a quick tutorial!

Supplies:
Earbuds of your choice
8m (8.7 yrds) of embroidery floss, color of your choice (you will use almost all of it)

I used my laptop to secure my earbuds to  make it easier to control

 Step one: Start at the plug end of your earbuds. Tie the thread securely to the end.

Step two: Begin a basic "friendship knot". Now, I don't know the technical terms for making these, knowing how to do it has just been embedded in me since my days as a Girl Scout. So the break down steps are as follows:
Hold the earbud wire in your left hand (if you are right handed). Hold the threat in your right hand. Using your left thumb (or finger), hold out the thread and cross over the wire to the right, making a "4" shape like so...

See the "4" shape?

Next, bring the thread under the wire and through the "hole" of your "4" shape. Pull up on the thread until there is no wire showing.

Repeat until you finish where desired. I only did mine up until where it splits into the two separate right and left earbuds but you could go all the way, you would have to get additional thread though.

Nerrrrrrrrrrrd!

Tip: Since my thread came in a plastic sleeve I wrapped the excess around a flashdrive to make it easier to hold on to while making each knot.

Finished project

I love my variation thread color! 

This one did take me awhile, but in my defense I was distracted by the marathon of "Face Off" on G4. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!