be inspired today.  you are loved. :)

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xox
Aly

DIY //knock off// green lace earrings tutorial

I can't wait to show you these lovely knock off lace earrings that Vanita from House of Avandan made a tutorial on! Without futher adeau: Vanita--

My name is Vanita and I am a working mother to two wonderful kids and wife to an awesome husband. We have a dog named Boots (and he hates anyone wearing boots) and live in a house full of jewelry, (literally, I have necklaces hanging from curtain rods).

As far back as I can remember I've always been attracted to the pretty things (clothes, flowers, jewelry), but never pursued that direction in college or career. Until one day, I just decided to start making jewelry. I have an etsy store and the jewelry is edgy meets pretty. House of Avandan Store

I am inspired by steam punk, nature, metals, gems, textures, and the glamorous life. My items include handcrafted necklaces, bracelets and earrings. I use a variety of materials from chains, gemstones, beads, and metal.

I started this blog to share my passion for jewelry with the rest of the world. We'll discuss trends, showcase jewelry designers and share jewelry tutorials that you can easily make.

Here is my tutorial on these pretty green lace earrings:

Designer Inspiration

My DIY

Lucifer vir Honestus Carved Imperial Jade Earrings has a price tag of $5700, although I would love a pair of these particular earrings, there would be no way for me to justify that price tag to my husband. And if you know me, when I see something I like, I can find an alternative way to make them. For my DIY earrings, I used white lace fabric, painted it and stabilized it with green fabric.

Materials:
Lace fabric
Green fabric (two pieces glued back to back for sturdiness)
Emerald green paint
Brush
Diamond template
Two gold jump rings
Two gold ear wires
Tacky glue
Fray Check
Sharp pin

Cut out diamond template.

Paint lace fabric with green paint. Let dry completely.

Using tacky glue, glue lace fabric to green fabric.

Trace template onto lace and canvas fabric.

Cut out and use fray check along the edges to prevent threads from fraying.

Pierce small hole for top part of earring.

Attach jump ring and ear wire to top of diamond shape. Repeat step for other earring.

Ta da! All done!

Smother yourself in jewels,
Vanita

//giveaway alert//

so. sorry for excuses. i feel bad, but honestly i've had SO much other stuff going on. i haven't even checked stats in 2 days. and i usually check them like 5x a day. haha if that proves a point....

The giveaway. Over at AunieSauce i'm giving away these earrings. go check it out.

and the rest of this post will be entertaining yet extremely random. ok?

so. i was talking to a friend of mine today and this is what he said: "yea but you see girls are like volcanoes. They errupt without warning, they do it every month, and when they do, all hell breaks loose ;)"

i'm sorry but that is just pretty awesomely funny. sooo... me being awesome i made it into a picture quote:

{anyways that conversation was odd. i told him about a dream i had last night that my mom had a baby and my 4 year old brother named him helicopter which made me mad. so then we were thinking up nicknames i could've called it and we came across 'hell child' {helicopter>heli>hell>hell child>devil>satan} clearly i didn't like this kid. but please don't be angered or judge me... this was a weird dream ok?!?! and so then i said well did he think it was a girl or boy and he said girl because of that reason. haha i love him ;p}

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so i found on pinterest that if you use a cotton swab to put hydrogen peroxide on your teeth once daily for two weeks you'll get white teeth. so far... it's working. :)

Source: flickr.com via Bridget on Pinterest

this summer i'm probably going to go on a hiking trip with my dad and some other Father/Daughters my age from the boyscout group. i'm pretty excited yet freaked. 3 days. Freeze dried food only. Sleeping in tents. No showers. Haha we'll see how it goes. And i have to carry a backpack. Upsides? It's an adventure. I get to be with Sophie most likely. I'll bring my camera and get a flippin ton of great shots {please last me, dear camera battery!!!}. no electronics. :D NATURE!

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this mom? AWESOME. :) end of story.

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Story of my life. i'm totally going to start saying that and making that exact face :)

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yes. i do this. haha :)


on the topic of my love life... oh what's that? i don't have one? oops. you're right i don't... haha

anywayssss... (i'm writing this really late at night. i get super wired really late... so be aware that that is why i'm being such a spaz right now :)  so i used to watch pokemon ALL the time. i mean i have a big brother so i just did whatever he did. So i have an addiction to all things pokemon ;)

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dear future husband... ask me like this... please? ;) luv ya!! and if you aren't sure you want to marry me yet but just wanna profess your love? here's this one:

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haha yes... i am a nerd. :D

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I want to go to burger king. at midnight. but i can't drive so i guess i'm just going to go to bed now... :)

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Haha i shall be back soon, WITH A CRAFT!!! i promise it's good i just need to take the pics and write the post. :)

xoxo
~A

///nail polish addict?///

once upon a time, i was trudging back to my mother after searching the clearance section of a royal place called Walmart. As i pursued the isles for more items on sale, i found a MAMMOTH sale on this queer stuff called 'nail polish'. It's simply paint for your nails I'm assuming. Anyways it was marked down to 50-75 cents a piece. So if you know me at all, you know i love a good deal, i snatched up basically every color left. :)

   A very pointless story for your day. But anyways the moral was is that when i got home i decided to sort all of my nail polish. So i did. and i realised i have wayyyy more nail polish than any human being should {unless you own a salon/spa place...} so yeah i decided to take pictures and show you guys how weird i am.
here's a slideshow going down my OCD organized line of nail polish ;p

"nail polish addict?"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Actually, i was going to make a little vlog thingy of me showing you my nail polish addiction, but as i watched the video i realized i'm even more dorky than i thought. So yeah... eherm ... let's just say that i didn't feel like i should scare you all with my awkward videos. I deleted them so that in the future when i'm old and we're going through old pictures and videos and we watch them my kids don't get disturbed by how weird their mom was. ;)

In my defense, i can honestly say all of my nail polish is either A) $1 or less   B) a gift   C) major clearance.   I did the math {and it's a weekend... i did it just for you. so feel special.} and in total ALL of that nail polish you see? yeah it cost me under $30. So i'm happy ;)

{my faves are the glitter ones from Forever 21. they. are. amazing.}

love you guys!!! thanks for reading!
Alyssa
 

Hair Inspiration :)

So here's a roundup of hair I love. <3 I'll do it in a bunch of different sections, and make sure you read to the end for all the DIYs!!!

#1: Curls and Braids:

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When Bored and Needing Inspiration...

Grab some of your favorite catalogs, a sketchbook, pencil, and a hot chocolate ;) And turn up the Christmas music. And put your comfy plaid pjs on. :) perfect!

I've been so super busy I haven't had any time for just relaxing and sketching. And I was 3 months behind on my Anthro catalogs... so I grabbed everything on my list ^ {up there} and hopped on my bed. :) Blasted Christmas music while looking through the catalogs and sketching things I liked / could DIY :) Made me feel much more crafty again!

And just for the record... I am starting to highly dislike Anthro's clothes/the styling and pairing of them. There were a few I just hated. Haha so I flipped to the back to look at decor ;)

{these were all my 'DIY' knock off ideas. let's see if i ever get around to them!}

OHMYGOSH this model's face drove me nuts in a few pics. No offense. Haha she looks better smiling....

Alrighty, well that's it! moral of today's post:

When feeling un-inspired... pick up a catalog and draw mustaches on all the models. Ok... not really. The moral is you should take some time for yourself and i've found that finding things to knock off is very creatively inspiring. :) It gets your brain a-thinkin' about how to make stuff. :D

Currently....

I've been sketching, trying to get inspired again, setting up the Christmas tree, talking to friends on the phone, listening to music, trying to find a gift for a friend of mine {anyone know something funny/awesome to get a 18 year old guy?} :)

I saw this on Paige's blog, and thought I'd give it a whirl ;) i think it'd be fun to do it once a month.

obsessing over:  painting on book pages {haven't gotten around to it yet though ;) 

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Working on: getting more stuff in my shop, getting inspired - I totally lost my 'oomph' a month or two ago... ;'( , growing closer to God, helping the homeless, and just having fun and being happy :)

 

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Thinking About: my friends, re-doing our house, painting my furniture, what to get my friend for his 18th birthday....

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Anticipating: Christmas! We're going to visit my uncle and aunt and it's going to be a blast!

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 Listening to: Without You by Usher, Fire to the Rain by Adele and It will Rain by Bruno ;)

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t

 heheh sorry I thought those were pretty funny... and since we were on the topic of Bruno Mars... I just had too ;)

Drinking: vodka. haha just kidding! hot chocolate ;)

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Wishing: life would stop being so dramatic :) and i could find the ONE friend who will be there for me forever and ever. Because I've been searching for a while ;)

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... well I guess that's it folks :) Thanks for reading and let me know if you decide to play along!...

so I guess over and out {with a random picture of me that just popped up... hmm... interesting. I'll have to check into that.... very odd thing to happen haha!}