Welcome to the first of many Make It Mondays! Mondays will showcase items I have made be it crafts, art, home decor items, clothing or even food (if it can’t wait until Friday!) Sometimes, handmade items and ideas from other fabulous makers will be featured. Today, I’m sharing a quick 5 Minute Ring.

Tonight, I wanted something simple. After a hectic day full of work, appointments, MAJOR thrifting and a late dinner, I didn’t want to think too hard. I managed to knock out this spunky little number in about five minutes. It took longer to pull the materials together than to actually make the ring! I have been dying to transform these old clip ons into something more wearable for my tastes.

The Project: 5 Minute Ring

The Materials:

- Any clip on earrings you adore, but don’t want to hang from your lobes
- Button Shank Remover, jewelry making pliers
- 2 headpins

The How-To:

1. Remove the “clip on” portion of the earring. Mine was quite simple. The button shank remover easily cut through three tiny metal tabs which held the “clip on” portion to the beading.
2. Slide one headpin through one hole on the right outer edge. Slide a second headpin directly across from the first on the left outer edge.
3. Now begin to twist the headpins together creating the ring shape, but remember to measure your finger early on so it doesn’t end up too small. Be sure to tuck the ends away from the inside so they don’t scratch or dig.
4. Now you’re done! See how easy that was?

You could certainly use a real ring base. I did not have one on hand, but this was a perfect solution. I can always go back and replace it later if necessary.

The possibilities are endless. Get started!

***Check back tomorrow for Trashy Tuesday!

Have I ever mentioned I might have a bag obsession? It’s been going on since childhood. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Anyway, I wanted to share a few recent finds.

Dustin took me thrifting on my birthday a couple weeks ago and I scored this fabulous American Tourister Weekender Bag for a whopping $3.99! I just love Greta (that’s the bag) in all of her avocado green glory. Greta is in great condition with a minor stain on the inside lining. However, it seems to be something I can easily clean up. Now, I need an excuse to take Greta somewhere fabulous!

Another travel suitcase I found back in April. Unfortunately, I do not recall how much it was, although, I’m sure it was under $5. This is the exact same avocado green as the Weekender Bag above. I love this small suitcase. It’s in pristine condition, and my favorite part is the inside. Makes me want to sit in front of it and get ready for a night out! I love the little mirror and the stitching detail. And yes, I should have cleaned off the mirror BEFORE shooting pictures. Not sure what her name should be. Suggestions?

Now I must take a quick pool break before finishing up my work for the day! Enjoy your Tuesday. Can’t believe it’s almost Independence Day already. Any fun plans?

It has been very, VERY cold here in Maryland lately, so… I had to buy Bonsai a sweater since he plays outside every day! And, of course, when I saw this Kelly Green one, I knew it was meant to be. I really have a thing for Kelly Green. My friends used to call it “Whitney Green” because I loved it so much, and come to think of it, I wore a sweater this exact shade of green that I’d picked up from a thrift store. Ah, I miss that sweater. What ever happened to it? 

Posing for me.
Pretty sure there is a treat hiding above the camera. 
 

Tired of pictures at this point.
 

Later in the evening. For some reason he crawled on top of
a plastic bin to relax while we were swapping rooms. 
 

And, yes, he is drinking from our water glass.
He had a full water bowl, but he prefers to drink from the glasses we are drinking from.
(No, we don’t drink it after he’s claimed it) Would you look at that tongue?!

Heading out to this year’s Green Festival DC with camera in tow. We are taking the Metro down to the Washington DC Convention Center in hopes of learning how to be a little more green. Stop by if your are in the area. Festival is November 8-9. Click for more info.

My husband and I were married three years ago in July. Since then, we’ve only lived in “summer” between Key West and Hawaii. This is our first autumn since we’ve been married! I must say it is just LOVELY! I am in awe of the gorgeous colors of the leaves. I grew up in Virginia, so I of course remember autumn, but it just blows my mind! I’m so thankful to be able to take it all in, and I’m so happy to share some of it with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. These are some photos from our daily walk to the park to play with our dog Bonsai. Enjoy! 

Our street in the Fall.

Bonsai bringing back the ball.

Bonsai and Dustin. I was playing with our new zoom lens!

He is a sneaky one, that Dustin.

This tree is my absolute favorite.
I love the contrast with the dark bark and bright orange. 

I’m bummed. I’ve had really great results with my Gocco until today. (Not the Gocco’s fault, mind you.) It’s frustrating that changing factors disrupt your results. However, I get it. I know when you change something you are almost guaranteed to run into a snag, especially with printing.

This first card was supposed to be something to make my husband happy. Instead, he’s lost all hope for his design to EVER be brought to reality. You see, we attempted screen printing this for T-shirts one afternoon with total and utter failure So, trying to be an encouraging wife I suggested we print the design onto some cards since I have had such great success. (He wants to send people encouraging notes.) Hmm, hopelessness soon set in once he saw the design was stuck (more than usual) to the screen. I always get a little stick-age between my design and the screen after it is exposed, but this was crazy… parts of the paper were fused to the screen. So sad. I will try again in hopes of boosting Dustin’s ego. 

Since, I had bad luck with the first print, I decided to draw something with my RISO pen. Some Horse chestnut leaves actually. I thought cropped the right way might look really pretty on a crisp white card. I traced over a drawing I had done this weekend and filled in the leaves with my pen. I, then, laid white paper under the trace to make sure the print would come out well. Hmm, disappointment … again. I’m not sure if the heat from the bulbs reacted with the tracing paper, or if the paper didn’t give me good coverage with the pen. Either way, it did not come out the way I had hoped. And, I definitely inked the screen VERY well. Gr! Do I give up or try again? 

One last shot with the Gocco. Thankfully, I had written out a little something to go on the backs of my cards and burned it into the same screen with the leaves. Hallelujah! It worked. It’s little bit less than crisp (which I have a hard time accepting with my anal-retentive nature when it comes to my designs), BUT I actually am quite happy with it. Maybe it makes it a little more “real”, reinforcing that “handmade quality” that I love. I’m happy to have something to finish off the cards by adding this information and my mark. 

Although I wouldn’t call this a successful day of printing, I’m happy it wasn’t a total bust. Did I mention Gocco printing on your couch results in…. green ink on your couch? 

I’ve decided to join in on Curious Bird’s Color Week. And today… my favorite color… GREEN! This comes up at the perfect time since we went camping on Kauai a couple days ago. You can’t get much greener than Kauai! Tomorrow I will take new shots, but I couldn’t pass these up.

*The first one is my absolute favorite!