Embellished Argyle Yarn Wreath

Note: for the tutorial on how to create the Argyle Yarn Wreath, please go here.

In my previous post I was talking about how I thought the argyle yarn wreath I made was kind of plain looking. I put a lot of thought into it and decided to incorporate all the materials in the wreath to jazz it up a bit, so I made two large and two small felt roses, a rose using the wired ribbon used to hang the wreath, and two little pom poms out of the Yarn. I love how it turned out!

 

 

What do you think?

Thank-you for reading!

-Kristen
http://craftsandnails.blogspot.com

How to Make a Nail Polish Ring

There is nothing I love more than when nail polish and crafts collide! I have been doing nail polish rings for awhile now, and decided to show you how to make one.

Supplies you will need are:

 

1. Nail polish of your choice: I chose China Glaze's Get Carried Away.
2. A ring base: You can get them on ebay for super cheap! 
3. A clear cabochon: You will have to make sure that the cabochon will fit into the ring base. You can also purchase these on ebay for super cheap!
4. Glue: I use E-600 because it works well, but you can try out some different glues to see what works for you. 

Step 1: Paint the Cabochon

Put the cabochon rounded side down onto a flat surface (the flat side will be up), and paint a layer of nail polish onto the flat side. Make sure you let it dry completely and add another coat, keep doing this until the nail polish is opaque when you turn the cabochon around. It took 4 layers of Get Carried Away to become opaque. You can use any polish for this step and you can even layer different polishes to get a textured look. Just remember that the last layer you would put on your nails, will be the first layer you would put on the cabochon. Therefore, if you are using a sparkled top coat put it on first and then use your base colour(s).

Step 2: Glue it on the Base

Once the nail polish is completely dry add a small amount of glue to the ring base and gently place your cabochon (flat side down) onto the glue, gently press the cabochon down with your fingers. It is really really really important not to put too much glue on the ring base, if you add too much it will spill over the sides when you put the cabochon on.

Step 3: Wear it!

Once the glue has dried, put it on your finger and wait for all the compliments you will get on your awesome nail polish ring.    

What nail polish did you use for your ring?

Thank-you for reading!

- Kristen
http://craftsandnails.blogspot.com

Memory Keeper Necklace

One of the crafty things I do is make jewelery. This year I was having problems figuring out what to get Caitlin for Christmas and during a trip to Michaels it dawned on me to make her a little memory keeper necklace featuring her niece! I am sorry I don't have a tutorial for this necklace, but it is really hard to photograph the steps on how curl wire, make the letter charms, etc. If you know the basics on how to create jewelery it would be very simple to figure out what I did based on the pictures :)

 One side of the necklace has a picture of Cait and her niece and the other side has a picture of two birds on a wire. I did this in case she didn't want to show her whole classroom (she is a teacher) a pic of her and her niece. Also, it is good to have options. The C and M charms I made out of Sculpey and I love how they turned out! All supplies for the necklace can be found at Michaels.

 

 Here is a pic of the necklace on Caitlin. SHE LOVED IT! 

The necklace is a great way to wear a memory! The best thing about it, is that you can even open the frame and change the pictures. 

Thank-you for reading!

-Kristen

http://craftsandnails.blogspot.com

  

Super Easy DIY Bead Christmas Ornaments

While I was organizing my crafts supplies, I noticed an abundance of beads that I will never use. I had recently bought some clear Christmas balls at Michaels for $.99 each that you can remove the top off of them and place items inside. I decided to put all the unused beads into the Christmas balls and hung them on my tree :). They are super simple to do and are really pretty on the tree when the lights dance off all the different beads. I did one with seed beads and larger clear beads from a broken necklace, and another one with larger beads in a variety of colours.

 

Ps. The tutorial for my nails can be viewed here.
 
Thank-you for reading!

- Kristen
http://craftsandnails.blogspot.com

Button Christmas Ornament

So I had a ton of buttons left over from the button tree I created awhile back, so I decided to do a button Christmas ornament! It is by far the busiest ornament on my Christmas tree, but I LOVE IT for that exact reason. Anyways, here it is hung on the Christmas tree, I had to hang it up super high so Tidus the Christmas decoration destroyer didn't get it.

To make this busy ornament you will need:

1. Styrofoam Ball - I bought mine on ebay for $5 with shipping, and got a pack of 10 6cm styrofoam balls.
2. Buttons - I got these buttons a long time ago and they came in a tub from Michaels, but you can use any  buttons you want.
3. Pearl headed pins - Every place has them I got these ones from Dollarama.
4. Ribbon

First thing I did was put the ribbon, to hang the ornament, on the ball with a pin. I then went back after and put a button between the pin and the ribbon so you don't see the ribbon.

 

 I then placed buttons on the styrofoam ball securing them each with two pins. Some of the buttons I stacked on top of each other as you can see in the pics above, other I didn't stack. Keep going until you have covered the entire ball. It is pretty forgiving so keep going until you like the look and don't worry about placing buttons over other buttons.

 

VOILA! A Button Christmas Ornament! 

I love making Christmas Ornaments and I have two more on the go right now. Stay tuned! 

Thank-you for reading.

-Kristen

http://craftsandnails.blogspot.com