DIY Vintage-Style Flower Pendant

Hi Lovely Readers!

I've got a tutorial for you today! I couldn't get pictures of ALL the steps because our camera tripod is out of action (cracked) but I'll make sure to describe it clearly for you, because I know you're gonna want to make one of these necklaces. :)

Also, be sure to hop over to Victoria's blog, Ruffles & Grace, to check out her DIY Notebook Recovering tutorial! I'll definitely be using that one on some of my old, boring notebooks to give them new faces!

All right. Here are the steps to make a vintage-style pendant necklace.

First, get your materials ready. You'll need:

• A chain and a clasp (you can find these pre-assembled in craft stores, or you can attach the clasp to the chain on your own with pliers and a jumpring.)
• E-6000 glue (better than supergule! Sold at Walmart and most craft stores)
• A metal pendant disc (Or any thin flat piece of something that has a hole at the top that you can use to hang it on the chain with a jumpring)
• Stuff to glue onto your pendant - I used plastic molded flower cabochons (Find those on Etsy or Ebay) and glass rhinestones (Hobby Lobby, Etsy) And leftover beads and buttons I had lying around. :)

Let's get started!

Make sure your pendant is hanging from the chain...

OR you can glue your goodies on it first, let it dry, and THEN attach it. Whatever floats your boat. :)

Decide what you'll be gluing on it, arrange the design however you like...

Make sure the placement looks nice on the actual piece...

 Get out your glue... (Note: when using E6000, be sure not to breathe in the fumes from the glue. Noxious stuff! I usually do gluing projects on the porch or out in a well-ventilated area)

 There are two ways you can glue things and they both have their uses. Either put a dot of glue on the metal and then drop your item on top of it and press it in, or put a dot of glue on the back of your flower...

...and then press it to the pendant's surface. Use whatever method you feel most comfortable with!

There you have it! Let it dry - E6000 glue dries quickly and will be permanently fastened in about 15 minutes, although I usually let it sit for half an hour or so.

Now isn't that beautiful? :)

While you're at it, feel free to go crazy like I did and make beautiful, vintagey, scrappy-style pendants with anything you choose. This is an AWESOME way to use up leftover little bits in your bead boxes if you happen to make jewelry. :)

Which one is your favorite? Mine is the upper right with the mauve rose... keeping that one! :)

I hope you enjoyed that tutorial! Thank you so much for all the comments on my post asking what kinds of things you'd like to read on Julia's Journal! :) I can't wait to get started on all those ideas. :D

Love & Blessings,

Leaving for the 2010 GHEA convention!

Hi Readers!

My family and I are packed and ready for our departure tomorrow afternoon. We're going to the 2010 Georgia Home Educators Association convention in Atlanta! I am SO excited. This trip will be a lot of fun for my family, as we're staying in a hotel up there for the duration of the convention. In a suite. With indoor pool. *oh yeah*. :D

The primary reason we are going is because we are running booth 105 in the exhibit hall! I am selling my handcrafted fine glass and swarovski crystal jewelry, and my two brothers Mark and Steven are selling their padded, duct tape swords, spears, battle axes, and a completely enthralling e-book with instructions on how to make each item! Woohoo! We are so excited. The jewelry takes up most of the booth, but the boys will have a square table in the corner. Mama and the boys and I created some eye-catching fabric signs to hang on the wall behind us. The boys' is brown, with duct tape letters saying "WARFARE BY DUCT TAPE" and mine is a light pink with darker pink fabric letters saying "Jewels by Julia". I will be taking my camera and hope to post pictures of the booth from the hotel room. :D So check back for that!

But before I sign off, I have one plea. Could you please pray for us? We hope that our merchandise will sell very well, because it would be such a blessing for our family, and all the hard work we've put into this effort will be worth it. :) Thank you.

Blessings!

Very Exciting News!! New Shop!

I am exceedingly pleased to give you...

JandKdesigns! A fabulous new Etsy shop that my dear friend Kierstyn and I started together!

Kierstyn and I go way back. We've been friends ever since we were about 3 months old in church nursery together. :) We grew up going to the beach together and having the most wonderful time dancing together in ballet class. There were several occasions that we performed choreographed worship dances to songs like Shout to the Lord on stage together. When I moved up to GA we lost touch, but last year Kierstyn looked me up on white pages and sent me a letter. Ever since, we've been in close contact, catching up on each other's lives. Then, Kierstyn got a bright idea.... Scarf and Earring sets!

We have combined our talents of crochet and jewelry design into one amazing place.  Kierstyn and I have matched up sets of her scarves and my earrings to make something splendid. :) Here are a few samples:

Now you just HAVE to go take a look. :D

Good morning! :)

It is such a lovely day today. No, the weather is not the best... rather cloudy and grim, actually, and the temperature is not at my favorite 75 degrees... but still it IS a lovely day. Why, you ask, should the day be lovely if the weather isn't nice?

The answer is simple! This is the day that the Lord has made! So I will rejoice and be glad in it! :)

These days, I seem to be so busy-busy-busy that I've been feeling more pressure and anxiety than usual. It's kind of upsetting, as I'm usually a pretty happy and carefree person. All these things are waiting for my attention ... including 3 upcoming jewelry shows, 2 blog headers in the works, and 1 big secret project that I can tell you about as soon as it's ready. It involves earrings though. :)

Not to mention that I"m in the midst of deep-cleaning and organizing my bedroom! Whew! What a job. How can this bedroom of mine look so nice most of the time and yet have so much hidden dirt and clutter and mess? It's surprising! :) However, I finished the desk I'm sitting at (well, except for the drawer...) but the top is shining and clean, with no junk on it. That alone makes me feel great! :)

I'm also back on phase one of the South Beach Diet. So far I've gained half a pound, (bummer) but I'm planning to implement more excercise into my daily routine so that should really help. :D I burn flab so much more easily when my muscles are working hard. :D I do know that I'm starting to lose weight though, because I had that weird phenomenon happen that always happens when I start losing weight... my sense of smell is suddenly comparable to a bloodhound's. Seriously! I can be standing four feet away and still smell my mom's tea sock drying at the sink. Usually I can't smell that unless I'm holding it to my nose. ;)

Well, I hope you all have a great day. I'm off to read my Bible, then go exercise. :D Worthy goals indeed....

Tips and Tricks for making a crocheted afghan

I've been asked several questions about making my afghans, so to make things easy I thought I'd just do a post about it for you all! :) I've got a few tips and tricks and thoughts to share on creating a handmade afghan.

Firstly, I get all my crochet block patterns from this wonderful book, 200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws, and afghans by Jan Eaton.

This book has taught me so much about crochet and the patterns are all so clearly written and easy-to-read! There are illustrations in the back that show how to make each crochet stitch mentioned in the block patterns. From this I learned how to make Popcorns, Bobbles, Puff stitches, and Triple and Half-double crochet stitches. (SO much fun!) 

These are some of the patterns in this book.

Ok. First thing I do when starting an afghan is to make a plan. I choose what size I want my finished afghan, and what crochet blocks I want to use in the afghan. I draw up a diagram like so... (Sometimes I take the time to use a ruler and make much straighter lines) This diagram below was hastily drawn in a moment of frenzied creativity... :D

And here we have one of my typical crochet blocks. I use an H/8 size hook, and regular worsted weight (4-ply) yarn... sometimes mixing in some baby yarn here and there... and since I've discovered I crochet with such a large (rather loose) tension my crochet blocks all come out about 8 1/2 to 9 inches.

When creating your afghan, make up a 'test block' and then multiply the dimensions to whatever size you want the finished creation to be and calculate how many blocks you'll need.

To piece the blocks together, I lay them out in the order I want on top of a solid-colored surface (i.e., a white sheet on top of my bed) and pin them in place, for a large afghan. I sew the blocks together, row-by-row, with coordinating yarn and a large plastic needle. I use a whip-stitch sort of technique... ah, might have to post pictures of that later so you know what I mean.

 

Colors are very important for me when making an afghan. What 'feel' do I want the completed piece to portray? The muted berry colors and purples I'm using in my current afghan create a feeling of understated elegance and sophistication, and the touches of pink and lavender add a hint of sweetness.

Feel free to ask me any other questions you have that I didn't answer in my post! :) I'll be happy to help.

Rachel asked me ... Q: Where do you get your yarns?

My answer ... A: I wait for super-duper sales, like you, Rachel, and I also adore this beautifully soft and inexpensive yarn that you can get at Hobby Lobby called "I Love This Yarn" - how appropriately named - It's usually $2.39 for a 7-ounce skein, which is a great deal when you consider that the Vanna's Choice yarn (which I love as well) is usually around the same price for only 3 ounces of yarn. So check out the Hobby Lobbys in your area! :D 

Post-a-Day #3

Let's see... what have I been up to recently? Well...

I did a mini 'makeover' for my built-in corner cabinet in my room! I sorted my knick-knacks and china by color, and added some bright backdrops using some 'oh-so-glamorous' scotch tape and paper, (lol! Hey, it looks good to me) and adding some ribbon for trim.
All the shelves used to have a dark wooden back like the topmost shelf still does - I left the wood uncovered up there because the brown highlights my great-great-grandmother's ivory-colored china.

I think the blue and pink shelves are my absolute favorites.

I don't have an obsession with stuffed bunny rabbits, those three just happened to color-coordinate with my shelves, so in they went!

I also totally deep-cleaned my walk-in closet (wow, was that a lot of work!) and I meticulously sorted out my clothes hangers and got a few new ones... and hung all the colors next to each other, and the result is that they make the whole closet more fun! :)

Have you done any 'makeovers' recently?

"Water Lily" Granny Square...

As you might be able to guess from my last post and this one, I have recently been crocheting - A lot. :) I tried a new pattern yesterday called the "Water Lily", and it has a (GASP!!) Three-Dimensional flower in the middle!

Observe:

I was SO excited when I finished this beautiful square... it was my first try learning anything from a 'pattern'. All my previous knowledge of crochet has come from first-person teaching. So I was so happy to discover that I could actually make something from a pattern, by myself! :)

Here's a better view of the flower in the center...

Since the pattern was called "Water Lily", I made the 'background' of the square out of a light vareigated blue, which gave it a nice ripply 'water' effect. :D

I am still waiting for my crochet pattern book to arrive in the mail ... I am really hoping that they're actually going to send it to me, not just take the money and leave it at that! :P

Anyway, I'm having such a delightful time crocheting these new granny square patterns. :)

Love & Hugs!

I'm feeling... very Creative! :D

I Couldn't Resist.

New background! :D

I just had to do something for winter while it was still around. :) So I've got snowflakes in the background of my new header picture.

I really like my tulip header and background combination, and that will be back, don't worry.

I found this REALLY COOL AWESOME place to make something to use for header pictures. It's called Scrapblog.com. It's free, and you can use your own pictures. You simply must check it out! I use it to make scrapbook pages, download them into my computer, then add text with Microsoft PictureIt, because I recently learned how to download fonts off the internet. :D I'm lovin' this computery stuff. :)

Blessings to you all!

Julia

I'm currently feeling: Giddy and Jubilant!

Making Caramel Apples and Getting Very Sticky While Doing So...

This is how you make Caramel Apples. Well, this is how we make them, anyway.

Unwrap a whole bag of KRAFT caramels into a medium-sized pot. (A double-boiler will work better, but if you stir it well you could probably use a normal one.)

Turn burner on to Medium-Low.
Prepare your apples by washing them and sticking popsicle sticks into the top. Place them on buttered wax paper to wait for their caramel coating.
Observe the happy Caramel Apple makers in action:
Stir the caramels while they are melting.

Pretend your apple is a microphone and you are singing into it while you wait for the caramels to melt all the way.

When caramel is completely melted, hold apple in pot...

...and spoon caramel over it until completely covered.
Place apples on buttered wax paper (on a plate or other hard surface) and let chill in the refrigerator.Once chilled, (after about an hour of patient waiting) Let sit on counter for 15 minutes. Really. Otherwise they will NOT come off the wax paper. :) Trust me.

And there you have delicious caramel apples! ENJOY!

Julia

A Newsy Little Post #2

Fall is in the air! The leaves in the persimmon trees around about my log home are turning red! The post oaks shall soon follow with a burnished coppery brown, and the yellow tulip poplars are turning a pretty lemon yellow. I love it. Autumn is one of my favorite seasons!
My little brother's birthday is on Friday! Steven is turning 13, and with this birthday comes the fact that all of us kids are now teenagers. I'm 17, Mark is 14, and Steven will be 13! Wow - time flies when you're having fun!
I have been reading Family Driven Faith by Reverend Voddie Baucham Jr. It is an excellent book! I highly reccomend it to anyone interested in a biblical perspective of family life.
Today my brothers and I went down to a local park and played Frisbee. It was good practice, which should be helpful because we're going up to our friend's house on Friday to play Ultimate Frisbee! I can't wait!
I'm currently in the process of re-doing my room slightly. I found a very cute polka-dot bedspread while shopping in North Carolina and now I'm trying to match some other things in my room to it. (I'll try and post a picture soon)
I would just like to take a moment to thank you, dear readers, for leaving all your wonderful comments! I so enjoy them! I have had to put comment moderation on so that I can ensure everything is pleasant and that this is a safe blog, but do not fear, I will not neglect your delightful comments!
Blessings to all of you,
Julia

Well? What do you Think?

I'm looking for a new background for my blog. This purple-bluey striped and swirled one is called 'Sugar Shoppe, Plum" and I can't decide if I want to keep it or not! I like it, but...is there a better option?? Did you like the old one better?? I'm also considering a few other options...



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4.

So...which do you like the best? I couldn't really find one that was just perfect...although there are a LOT of cute backgrounds at the site I found... Anyway, please let me know what you think!

Blessings,

Julia

Update:

I think I'll stay with the one I have now for a while... and keep looking in the meantime. They're continually adding new ones over at "The Cutest Blog On The Block!" Check it out...it's so easy to use! Just copy and paste!