Busy Busy Puff

New items!

Shrink Plastic Microscope Slide Earrings

Purple Pseudo Stained Glass Earrings

Teal Flask Pseudo Stained Glass Earrings

Model 4 Shrink Plastic Monarch Earrings

Bah Humbug!

TIL: It's still a man's world and I'm slowly becoming a cynical and skeptical young old woman.


Despite all of the many good things that have been happening in my life, there have also been a few irritating things too.  To be frank: scientists can be just as catty and selfish as those vapid women on the Housewives of Orange County show.  So, recent bad experiences have scrooged my holiday spirit, and eliciting a strong desire to ruin their experiments...thus the bah humbug!


On a more pleasant note I have new pseudo-stained glass earrings to present due to the high (-er than normal) sales on my etsy shoppe.

YESSS!!! Black is back (in a matter of speaking) and AWESOME!

Purple perfection, if I do say so myself, and these babes are being shipped to Australia as I type. w00t!!

Golden Slumber - I tried making a cold color which looks more like yellow. Meh, it was alright until my mom  said that the yellow beads looked like *shifty eyes* male genitalia.   Poppycock!

Little orange pseudo-stained glass ones. Mom had nothing snide to say about these little nuggets.




These are the newest stained glass monsters that I've created and are on sale now in my shoppe.
SOMETHING to look forward to...I'll be posting newly knitted/crocheted cowls and more trendy science jewelry!


Take care and play nice.

Up-cycled Scarf --> Turning T-Shirts into Scarves

I found these scarves on etsy.com around March this year and fell in love! Of course, I felt the need to make one (of many) for myself.

Being the tiny puff that I am, I needed larger T-shirts. And since I moved back home there are no boyfriend shirts around...so my brother gave me some of his old shirts to shred. It's perfect because my brother has a copious number of old t-shirts. Luckily for me, they are red and green; just perfect for the holiday season!

Unfortunate ex-boyfriend shirts, current boyfriend shirts (preferably ones he doesn't want anymore), and family member's shirts will all work for this project.

The shirts used were small for men. I imagine that larger sizes will yield longer loops.

Here is a great DIY tutorial video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PERn2iLa2eg&feature=recentlik

I present to you my creatures:

Yes, I plan on raiding my brother's closet for more t-shirts. These are just too easy to pass up!

Trendy Science, Ya'll

TIL: my dad doesn't think that goldfish need brains

I've been considering entering into a local craft fair selling my earrings and few knitted/crocheted scarves and cowls. Have any suggestions/advice for selling at a craft fair? Or any suggested color ideas for a scarf?

Quickie posting! I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to post the newest additions to my geekery showcase.

DNA Earrings made with Purple Glass Beads

Green Erlenmeyer
 Pseudo Stained Glass Earrings

So here are my new babies. Let me know what you think. What other items remind you of the lab?

Check out my etsy shoppe. I've re-named it to Coconut Head Jewelry. I laugh every time I say it. :)

TUTORIAL: How to Make an Earbud Zipper case

I am in awe of the person who thought of this:

Original Link: 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Zip-your-earbuds/

This looks like a great instruct-able but I didn't care to pay mulah for the how to. After hours of staring cockeyed at the 4 available pics I was able to reconstruct this awesome headphone zipper case. 

Let's get this party started!

1. Get a pair of head phones and a very long zipper. I used a zipper from a garment bag (like this http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/122957/1053397/0/1123941158/Non-woven_Garment_Cover_SUIT_COVERS.jpg) 

I suggest going to your local Walmart or Target and purchasing a bag with a cloth-like material. You can use plastic but it's more difficult to sew, and more likely to tear.

2. Measure the width of the item you want to encase and mark with a pen/safety pin/etc, and then fold one side onto itself. Make sure that the zipper teeth are facing upward.

3. Sew. Be sure not to sew completely across. Leave a little space towards the bent end. That's where the head phones will be inserted.

 4. Insert the end of the head phones and pass thru the little hole. Looking inside of the case you'll notice a little channel; tuck the cord into that channel and sew.

 5. Take the other zipper leg and wrap it around. Make sure the zipper teeth are facing upward.

 6. Wrap until the zipper legs can overlap, making sure that the teeth are facing opposite directions. Like this:

 7. Sew. Be sure to sew the edge  of one (furthest from the zipper) to the other edge (closest to the zipper) to create the channel for your headphones. Sew until you reach the point where the earbuds split.
8. Start on the end with the head phones.
    Fold the zipper half over the headphone wire and sew. Sew until you reach the split.

 9. It will look a little funky...

The arrow points to the split.

10. Now zip up your head phones! the loop near the split should zip comfortably into the case.

Squirly Brains

TIL: Natural hair oils help curls last longer.

Happy End of the Week!

To celebrate TGIF I've started making a How-To Tutorial! :D  I've also been racking my tiny brains trying to think of seasonal wearables. Thus far my crafty fingers have been able to manipulate wire into candy canes, trees and flasks. 0.o  Can you help me brain storm up some stylin' earrings to post/wear?

In the mean time please pleasure your eyes with my newest creatures...I mean creations!

The newest additions to the Trendy Science collection:

Trendy Science - Erlenmeyer Flask Earrings

Tis the season to wear adorable seasonal jewelry:

Green Christmas Tree Earrings <3

Candy Cane Earrings - Yummah!

These are the noobs and I hope you like them!  Comment, tag, or post; I implore you!

How-To Tutorial on it's way so please be sure to stay tuned in to nnvillan.blogspot.com

Don't Knock the Knitting

Today I learned (TIL): Crafty hands are dexterous hands.

Fellow knitting/crocheting youth, have you been criticized for enjoying a past time niche that is perceived by the general population to be a "grandma hobby"? As we all know, knitting, tatting, and crocheting are by no means a "grandma hobby." In fact, posting this "antiquated" hobby on my resume landed me today's job interview...in a scientific laboratory at UCSD. Now, if you're may be wondering "what does knitting have to do with a science lab?" we're in the same boat. The person in charge of the lab (aka Principle Investigator) correlates hand/finger dexterity with craftiness. So let's give a two thumbs up for knitting!

Aside from prepping for this job interview I was keeping my nimble fingers busy with these new pieces.

Peas in a pod earrings - part of the Fall Harvest Series

These earrings were inspired from a few foodie earrings I found at etsy: polymer clay food earrings. 

I've also tried me hand at making a larger necklace pendant...

I'll have figure out how to add some weight onto the pendant to prevent excessive flapping.

These are my newest creations and I hope you like them. I've already created an advert for my Etsy shoppe. Don't forget about this week's Michaels coupon. 

HAPPY MONDAY! 

Fall Folly

Let's start a new tradition for the blohg. I was thinking of  "Today I Learned." 


So, today I learned that When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food. 


     NEW FEATURE on the site. If you enjoy crafting and tend to frequent a Michaels Craft store then I have a present for you! If you glance to the left of this post in the text box that is titled 'Word' there should the a link to this week's Michaels coupon. Pretty nifty, eh? I plan on making sure each link actually links to a current coupon. But if it doesn't work, please message me to let me know.


Funny as it sounds I am finally realizing that it is autumn. The 75-80 degree weather, tank tops and flip flops had me fooled for a while but the orange/red leaves falling off the trees do not lie: it is definitely fall. In honor of this lovely foliage I decided to create festive fall foliage fearrings.  Ok, that alliteration failed but the earrings did not! 

voilà

Golden Orange Leaf Earrings

Feeling the need to shimmer and shine.

Next to it's leafy counter parts.

Here you have it. Again, you can see more at my flickr and etsy shoppe. These have not yet been added to the Envy shop, but will be soon. You have seen 'em first on my blohg! Thanks for stoppin' by! Ta ta for now.

My newest addiction: Pseudo-Stained glass earrings

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  /evil cackling

Creators, lend me your eyes! I present to you the newest additions; fresh off the slab and here on your screen: pseudo-stained glass earrings!  Ta-da! *poof*

Feast your eyes upon their transparent beauty. The glory of these earrings is that they are made with simple aluminum wire and color tinted glaze. It works very similarly to a liquid bubble wand: the glaze is smeared across the smaller wires and the surface tension keeps it from popping. The clear glaze gives the transparent look (which is like stained glass), thus earning the prefix 'pseudo' since it is not made of glass. 

Because I think this technique is incredible I have been inspired to create several earrings with different colors (ROYGBIV). Inspiration began to infect my tiny brains after completing the colors of the rainbow. I wanted to kick it up a notch, like Emeril, *POW* and started making shapes:  my first attempt were ocean waves, which were then followed by tropical green leaves.

I love that each pair is unique and quite beautiful in it's own right. Click here to see the rest of my creatures. Or here to take one as your own pet.

Thank you for your time, but now I must depart for the haunting hour begins! Muahahahaha...

Not just another craft blog.

Hello blog community!

As this is my first time blogging, please be kind. The intentions for this blog is to share my hobby of crafting with anyone who cares to check in. I first started to use Facebook...but that feels out of place, especially since I enjoy selling my hand made crafts.

Here it is: I'm a 23yr old college graduate, searching (desperately) for employment, an aspiring scientist, and have been releasing stress via a creative outlet. I guess you can say that I have been creative my entire life and started crafting before my child knew what I was doing. I thoroughly enjoyed the book order pamphlets in elementary school; not for the books but for neat the projects that hid inside. As I got older my curiosity grew and moved on to crocheting, bead work, stamping, knitting, sewing, and jewelry making.

I feel inclined to give a watered down version of my biography, but this blog is about crafting and not me (particularly) so let's stick to the craft!

My most recent jewelry endeavor includes the use of color pencils, shrink plastic and an oven. That's right: SHIRNKY DINKS! Shrink plastic has been my obsession as of late and here's why: you can literally create anything you want. The possibilities are truly endless!  Alright, my recent inspirations have been monarch butterfly wing earrings and microscope slide earrings made from shrink plastic.

First I traced the outline for the wing and then colored in the details using colored pencils. The same was done for the slides. After coloring each piece was cut out, hole punched (yes, I used a regular hole puncher because I don't really want to fork out the money for the 1/8 jewelry hole puncher), and placed onto a foil covered baking sheet.

Pre-Bake

The directions specify using paper, which I typically use, but when you're out of paper bags foil works just fine! The oven is set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and baked until shrunk. I personally like to take the shinkydinks off of the baking sheet and onto a flat, cool surface to decrease the risk of crooked pieces.

Post-Bake

As you can see the pieces got thicker and smaller! Woohoo!

Now is the fun part: designing the earrings. There is a local bead shop called My Thing (in Turlock) which has a wonderful array of beads, spacers, caps, and hooks. I get most of my beads from this store and the women who own/work there are absolutely wonderful!

After playing around with color schemes and bead shapes/sizes here is what I came up with!

Finished Monarch Butterfly Wing Earrings

Finished Microscope Slide Earrings

And there you have it! 

Enjoy!

-nnvillan