The dentist told me she liked my outfit…then she told me I need three fillings. She asked if I drink a lot of soda and fruit juice. Haha! I never drink soda and rarely processed fruit juice, I prefer my coffee unsweetened, and I only occasionally put honey in my tea.
Outfit tip: Wear a fun patterned shirt under a solid sweater to make it more exciting. Choose a top that’s a little longer than the sweater or roll your sleeves so it’ll show. Sweater: secondhand Old Navy Striped top: secondhand Kim Rogers Jeans: secondhand J. Crew Shoes: Crown Vintage Scarf: original Good (fair trade)
I have a huge box of polymer clay and supplies, but I rarely get into it and make things anymore. This week I decided to pull it out. Here’s what I made and instructions on how you can make your own! I was feeling inspired after my post about the color of the year yesterday, so I went with an emerald color (a little closer to teal…but good enough). Like this DIY? Pin it on Pinterest to share it with your friends! Just click the Pinterest button at the bottom of the post. And remember…that button is on ALL of my posts, so pin away!
SUPPLIES:
2 colors of polymer clay (Fimo or Sculpey are good. You can find them at a craft stores.)
Metal skewer (or other metal rod about the same thickness)
Something to cut the clay with (I have a blade like this one but an Exacto knife or something similar would work fine)
1. Massage the clay in your hands until it’s soft enough to work with. For the color that you want less of, use a ball about 3/4″ in diameter. The other color should be about 1 3/4″ in diameter. See the picture below for clarity. The squares on the cutting mat are 1 square inch each.
2. Roll each ball of clay between your hands until it’s slightly oblong (oval). Roll them out with a rolling pin. Roll from tip to tip of the oval, if that makes since. You want to make the shape longer. Once the clay is pretty thin (around 2mm), cut off the edges so you have a clean rectangle. Gently press the two rectangles together (see below). Use your finger to carefully smudge the crease to hold the two rectangles together, but don’t go overboard or you’ll destroy that nice straight line. The two rectangles will adhere securely in a later step when you roll it out some more.
3. place the skewer on one of the long sides of your clay. carefully wrap the skewer with the clay. Cut off the extra. The edges should overlap just slightly.
4. Use the palm of your hand to gently roll the clay wrapped skewer on a clean surface (if your skewer has a handle at one end, it might make rolling it a bit difficult, but mine had a handle and I still managed). This will flatten out the bulk where the two edges overlap and start to blend them. Use your finger to smudge the clay to get rid of the seam.
5. One the seam is gone, roll the clay wrapped skewer under your palm some more to make the shape clean and consistent and to get rid of finger prints.
6. Use your cutting tool to cut off the uneven edges. You’ll kinda have to work your way around the skewer carefully since you can’t cut through the skewer. I did this while it was still on the skewer so I wouldn’t squish the opening with the blade.
7. This step is optional. I found this metallic pigment powder from another clay project I did a few years ago and I though it would add a nice touch. I think I bought this at a craft store (Hobby Lobby?). Use a paintbrush to apply the pigment. Using a fine-tip paintbrush will allow you to create clean lines. I put a thin line over the seam where the colors meet and then I coated one end of the shape. If you aren’t careful with this stuff, it’ll stick all over your project.
8. Bend the shape to create a smile. Place it on a cookie sheet and bake it at 275˚F for 30 minutes.
9. Once it cools, apply Mod Podge. The reason for doing this is because that metallic pigment will still rub off some even after your project is baked. The Mod Podge will seal it on. If you like the matte look of the clay, you can JUST cover the metallic parts with Mod Podge or you can use matte Mod Podge. If you don’t use the metallic pigment, this step is optional.
10. Thread a chain through the opening and wear your lovely new necklace! I tried both a short chain (below) and a long chain (top of post). Both have a pretty different look, so hopefully my pictures here will help you figure out which chain length you prefer. I think I like it long.
Being a designer, I love all things Pantone. I particularly love the fashion color reports…even though the reports include too many colors to really dictate what I wear, they’re fun to look at because they have fashion designers craft looks around each color and provide a few words about it. I also really like that they choose a color for each year. It’s fun to anticipate what that color might be. The Pantone color of 2013 is EMERALD! I LOVE this color.
Here’s a little inspiration board I put together to start thinking about how to style this rich, lovely, bold color. I love that it’s a color so abundantly found in nature, and it’s also pretty timeless (don’t you love those vintage photos I found?). I also think it’s a color that works well for all seasons. It’s rich and deep – perfect for fall and winter, yet it suggests life and growth (green trees!) for spring and summer. Click the image for a larger view, and see below for links to where I found them.
If you want to hunt down some emerald to add to your wardrobe at a consignment or thrift store, I suggest looking for accessories (jewelry, scarves, purses) and basics (tees, cardigans), as you’ll probably have the most luck finding those things. I did see a pretty emerald dress the other day in Your Stuff Consignment Boutique, though, so who knows. You may just get lucky!
How do you feel about the color of the year? Do you like it?
So this was a day when the desire to be warm was more overpowering than the desire to look great. It’s not terrible, but I wouldn’t wear this combo again. The shape of the sweater (length in particular) and the shape of the dress just don’t work together. But the sweater…it’s from Ireland…and it’s warm…and it’s cozy! This dress is actually really cute when it’s not covered up by a frumpy sweater. It has a kinda 1950′s look to it and it’s a very flattering shape. I’ll have to feature it again. So consider this a lesson: be careful what you wear cozy (i.e. frumpy) sweaters with.
The holidays have slowed my posting down some and I have a grad school application due on Monday, but I should be back to normal posting by next week.
In the mean time, here’s a kinda random something for you. When my cousin was visiting before Christmas, she was snacking on some chocolate-covered hazelnuts her sister made. (They’re from Oregon, where 99% of U.S. grown hazelnuts come from…you lucky Oregonians!) She gave me a few and they were delicious, so I decided to make my own. Here’s the recipe. You could really use this to make chocolate-covered anything if you don’t like hazelnuts. I had some leftover chocolate, so I actually covered some pretzels, too. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS:
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used a Sun Spire fair trade organic baking bar)
~1 cup hazelnuts (I didn’t measure…it may have been a little less than a cup. But I had plenty of extra chocolate.)
dash of salt (optional)
a few (3-4) drops of liquid stevia (optional)
STEP 1: Roast the hazelnuts in the oven at 400˚F for about 3-5 minutes. I didn’t really time this, but I know it was no more than 5 minutes. I just kept an eye on them to make sure they weren’t burning. I pulled them out when I started to hear a little bit of crackling. While still warm, put them in a dish towel and rub them around to get the skins off. Use your fingers to rub off whatever skin still remains. It should come off easily. As you can see in my pictures, I couldn’t get all the skin off, but it doesn’t really matter.
STEP 2: Break up your chocolate and put it in a bowl (if you’re using chocolate chips, no breaking necessary ). Microwave it about 15 seconds at a time. Stir between each microwaving. Do this until the chocolate is completely melted. You could use a double broiler to melt the chocolate, but…microwaving is quicker. Once melted, you can add a dash of salt and a few drops of stevia just to enhance the taste if you want.
STEP 3: Add the hazelnuts to the chocolate and stir them around until completely coated.
STEP 4: use a fork to place the coated hazelnuts on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
STEP 5: Refrigerate the hazelnuts until the chocolate has hardened. Enjoy! Yummy yummy!
I hope you have a joyful and safe new year celebration!
I’ve never really done resolutions but I do have a few goals this year. They include improving this blog and posting more often (Blog, Inc. is on its way!), getting into grad school for interior architecture/design and landing an assistantship or fellowship so I can afford to attend (or getting a job with the college degree I already have – whichever works out…though I’m really liking the idea of grad school right now), and continuing to learn and expand my skills in web development through freelance projects. Do you have any goals for the new year? Share in the comments!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! I’m still trying to force myself back into productive mode. I COMPLETELY failed today…this blog post is the most productive thing I’ve done. I wouldn’t be in such a rush if I didn’t have a few grad school application essays to write and a portfolio to finish putting together before January 7th. Yeps, I decided to apply to grad school. Initially I was only planning on applying to one school I’m really interested in, but I think I may apply to a few more (that luckily have deadlines later in spring, so no rush on those). The more I think about going back to school, the more fond I become of the idea. But we’ll see what happens.
This is my Christmas outfit! I never left home yesterday, but it was still nice to look a little festive for the day. I love this sparkly deer sweatshirt, and I’ll probably continue wearing it into January and February (it’s a deer—not a reindeer—just to make that clear ). I ate a LOT, played Pictionary with my family, and watched approximately seven straight hours of Doctor Who with my sister…and then went back and watched the Christmas special for a second time when it aired again at midnight. I do love Doctor Who. How’d you spend your Christmas?
striped tee: secondhand J. Crew sweatshirt: secondhand Kirra (New with tags from Pacsun) pants: secondhand Fade to Blue shoes: secondhand AE scarf: secondhand
I was going to embed a Grooveshark music player, but I’m not having much luck getting it to work in WordPress and it’s not really worth the effort. Sooo here’s a link! I’m sure you’ve listened to the beloved classics by artists like Frank Sinatra and Bing Cosby plenty this season, so these are takes on the originals by artists of today, as well as some new songs (though I couldn’t leave out the chipmunks ). If you want more, check out the full albums that those songs are selected from…they’re all good.
Here’s a little inspiration board I put together to start thinking about how to style this rich, lovely, bold color. I love that it’s a color so abundantly found in nature, and it’s also pretty timeless (don’t you love those vintage photos I found?). I also think it’s a color that works well for all seasons. It’s rich and deep – perfect for fall and winter, yet it suggests life and growth (green trees!) for spring and summer. Click the image for a larger view, and see below for links to where I found them.
). Microwave it about 15 seconds at a time. Stir between each microwaving. Do this until the chocolate is completely melted. You could use a double broiler to melt the chocolate, but…microwaving is quicker. Once melted, you can add a dash of salt and a few drops of stevia just to enhance the taste if you want.
). I ate a LOT, played Pictionary with my family, and watched approximately seven straight hours of Doctor Who with my sister…and then went back and watched the Christmas special for a second time when it aired again at midnight. I do love Doctor Who. How’d you spend your Christmas?
