ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Sparkle and Shimmy Earrings

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Sparkle and Shimmy Earrings
Margot Potter for ILoveToCreate
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Avalon just got her ears pierced this year, so it will be a while before she can wear anything that swings and dangles.  Still she’s been observing my jewelry box with a glint in her eye. Teens love bold jewelry and these earrings fit the bill.

These feature the new Katiedids™ components my friend Katie Hacker created for Beadalon. They have empty chambers that can be filled with a variety of items. I don’t know why I thought wired tinsel when I saw these, but Aleene’s Platinum Bond Glass and Bead adhesive made quick work of this project. You can whip these puppies up in twenty minutes or less, which is the perfect project if you’re an impatient crafter like me! Try filling the chamber with fibers, crystal chain, regular chain, gemstone chips...just be sure you thread the head pin through so you can turn them into fun jewelry components.

Materials
Aleene’s Platinum Bond Glass and Bead Adhesive
4 Katiedids™ 1” open center circles
2 10mm black faux pearls
2 10mm acid green moonglow Lucite rounds
Wire sparkly tinsel
2 silver plated or sterling ear wires
4 thin gauge silver plated or sterling head pins

Tools
Wire cutters
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers

1. Cut tinsel to fit half of chamber. Repeat four times.

2. Thread the wire through the holes in the edge of the components and the center bead and back through.
For the green beads, you need to leave equal amounts of wire exposed on both sides, for the black beads bring the head pin flush to the bottom of the component.

3. Place a thread of glue into one of the components. Gently place tinsel into glue, compressing into chamber on either side of center head pin, repeat with second piece of tinsel. Repeat for all four components. Allow glue to dry.

4. Use round nose pliers to create loops at the top and bottom of both green bead components. Bend wire flush to component at a 90 degree angle, grasp wire end with round nose pliers and form a loop. Cut off excess wire with wire cutters.

5. Use round nose pliers to create wrapped loops at the top of the two pearl components. See my YouTube Channel for a video on how to do this.

6. Attach pearl components to the bottom of each green component. Attach the ear wires. Adjust loops so earrings hang properly.

South Beach Friendly Recipe: Roasted Veggie Whole Grain Pizza

Taking asthma medications has resulted in my gaining about 15 extra pounds over the past couple of years.  I eat well, lots of whole grains, veggies and fruits.  I don't eat sweets or fatty snacks, I eat low fat cheese and meats.  I do drink a cup or two of coffee with sugar every morning and a half of a small glass of OJ and I like to drink wine.  I recently stopped drinking lemonade and went to water.  No matter how much I cut back the weight remains.  Steroids create belly fat, I think it has to do with cortisol production because they are corticosteroids. They're not the same steroids that body builders take...or I'd be buff instead of puffy!  It's also hard to do cardio when you can't breathe...so I'll be doing resistance training again.

The weight gain has made me increasingly frustrated and I decided to suck it up and try the South Beach Diet.  Many of the meals I make are already South Beach friendly because my husband was on South Beach for two years before going to Burn the Fat.  He doesn't like me to discuss his diet...so I'll leave it at that.  Let's just say he's living proof that it works.

For the first two weeks I can't eat any whole grains or drink coffee or wine. I'm not really excited about the next two weeks to be honest, but it's two weeks. I can do it.  After those two weeks I can add in whole grain rice, pasta and bread and enjoy wine again and I'm thinking I'll just give up coffee because I don't like it without sugar and I'm having to bid sugar goodbye and I refuse to eat fake chemical sugar.  I'm blogging this so I'm accountable to someone besides myself and my family.  I'll keep you posted!  I just want to lose 15 pounds, which seems like not very much but when you're small boned like I am, it makes a big difference in the way your body looks.  I like curves, I just don't like cellulite and muffin tops.  Well I like muffin tops, but not the ones at the top of my pants.

This is a Phase 2 recipe that I made on Saturday which I'll be able to enjoy again in two weeks.  We have pizza once a week and this is a way to do that and not be totally indulgent.  Use a whole wheat flat bread of some kind (naan, pita, whole wheat thin pizza crust) and load it up with roasted veggies and a smattering of low fat or fat free cheese. (Make sure you check the ingredients on your breads and crackers, it's important to avoid processed and enriched flours.  You want 100% whole grains.) 

Roasted Veggie Whole Grain Pizza
South Beach Phase 2 Friendly
Margot Potter
Serves 2-3 People


Ingredients
2 Whole wheat or whole grain flat bread (I used a Wegman's naan)
1 Red, green or yellow bell pepper
1/2 medium sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
5-6 campari or other slicing tomatoes
Fresh basil
Lo Fat or Fat Free Shredded Mozzarella
1oz. Lo Fat Goat Cheese (if you can't find lo fat, full fat is okay since it's such a small amount)
1 tbs. Extra Virgin or Light Olive Oil

1. Slice onions and bell pepper into thin strips.  Mince garlic.  Toss veggies and garlic into a mixing bowl, add olive oil and toss.  Place veggies in a thin layer on a baking sheet.  Roast in a 450 degree oven until they begin to brown, turning once.

2. Use about 1 cup of mozzarella and spread on top of the flat breads.

3.  Thinly slice tomatoes and arrange on top of cheese.

4. Liberally sprinkle roasted veggies on top. Dice or cut strips of basil and scatter across top of veggies.

5.  Break goat cheese into small clumps and dot across top of veggies on pizzas.

6.  Place pizzas on a baking tray in a 450 degree oven and cook for approximately 10-12 minutes or until crust begins to brown.

My Redesigning Oscars Jewelry Set

A Bit of the Bubbly Necklace Copyright 2010 Margot Potter

After the Oscars this year, I posted about the dearth of fabulous necklaces and a German manufacturer of extraordinary clasps called Claspgarten.  They sent me a generous sampling of clasps and I finally had some free time to work on a design yesterday.  I found some vintage oversized faux pearl multi-strand necklaces at my local Goodwill a few months back and I took them apart to repurpose at a later date.  The pearls featured in this design are a smattering of what I scored.  I've added CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski elements beads as end caps to solve the problem of the large pearl holes and to add a little sparkle that speaks back to the clasp.  This clasp is so gorgeous it simply had to be the focal element.

I played with very traditional Bridal sort of concept and then I decided I wanted to give this a more Justin Giunta Subversive inspired edge.  So out came the pearls and the chains and away went the precious idea of knots and perfect strands.  I would have gone with a more asymmetrical vibe or added pearls around the entire bottom chain row, but that would have taken away too much focus from the clasp.  After some prototype versions, I ended up with what I'm calling a vintage modern design.  I'm quite pleased with this one.  The chains and findings are all base metal and created by Beadalon.

(Note: The new materials used in this design were donated to the blogger, the faux pearls were a thrift store purchase.)

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Techno Garden Cell Phone Holder

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Techno Garden Cell Phone Holder
Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Avalon is finally not the “only kid” in her school that doesn’t have a cell phone. Lest you think us barbarians, we simply couldn’t see the point of paying for another line for a twelve year old. I think kids are too plugged in as it is. Little did we realize, due to a miscommunication with our cell phone carrier, we’ve been paying for a third line that we don’t use for a year now. Argh. So we gave Avalon a second hand cell phone and instructed her to only use it for emergencies. We’ll see how long that lasts...

She immediately started rummaging through my crafty coffers for my collection of hand crafted cell phone holders. I’ve been making these for the past few years for books and magazines. I love the irony of a kitschy retro craft being converted into a techno friendly item. Thusly this project was born.

Add the awesome fabric YoYo maker I scored last month at the craft store that I’ve been itching to use in a project, an upcycled gingham shirt with buttons that didn’t fit properly and some vintage plastic beads and...I present the Techno Garden Cell Phone holder. In case you didn’t hear, gingham is all the rage for spring and summer fashions this year. You will have to create a pouch that fits your specific phone, therefore I’ve not included dimensions here. Just measure the felt around your phone, making sure there’s room for the phone to slide inside. Cut, glue and decorate.

Materials
Craft felt sheet in red
Black and white gingham fabric (if you have an old shirt you want to use, feel free)
Three coordinating buttons (mine came directly from the shirt)
Pine green rick rack trim (mine was vintage, but this stuff is easy to find)
Snap set
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion Glue
Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue
9 10mm yellow Beadin' Path vintage plastic beads
10 8mm green AB Czech glass beads
2 EZ-Crimp ends
.018 49 strand beading wire
White or light color thread
Red thread

Tools
Clover YoYo Maker Large

Chasing hammer
Snap setter
Steel block
Mighty Crimp Tool
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters
Scissors
Needle

1. Create beaded strand by attaching wire to EZ Crimp using Mighty Crimp Tool. Add your beads beginning and ending with a green glass bead and alternating between the two colors. Use chain nose pliers to pull wire through EZ Crimp end, keeping wire rounded to prevent from being too stiff, use Mighty Crimp Tool to attach wire and cut off excess with wire cutters.

2. Measure and cut your pouch leaving a 1” edge for your flap.

3. Glue the sides together up to the bottom of the edge using Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue. Allow to dry overnight.

4. Create Yo-Yo following instructions on Clover YoYo Maker package. Begin by inserting fabric into receptive end of tool and then snapping the cover into place to secure the fabric.

5. Use fabric scissors to cut fabric edge to approximately ¼”.

6. Keep edge folded as you sew around the template from the bottom of the tool. See photo.

7. When you reach your final hole, sew through the first hole again. Carefully remove the snapping component from the receptive component and remove fabric.

8. Gently pull thread end tucking fabric edge into the center as you create your YoYo. When you have it formed, sew the open thread into the fabric edge, knot and cut off and tuck excess thread. Create two yoyos.

9. Mark and cut rick rack trim to create flower stems. Fold a bit of trim to form leaf. You can tack this with thread if you like.

10. Glue the components to the front of the pouch starting with the leaf, the stems and the flowers with Aleeene’s Fast Tack Tacky Glue. Allow to dry overnight.

11. Use Aleene’s Liquid Fusion to attach buttons to front of flowers. Allow to dry.

12. Attach snap following directions on snap packaging. You can also opt to use Velcro tape here, but tack it down for strength. My snaps use a small tool and a hammer to attach to the felt. After attaching snaps, glue a button on top of the exposed snap back on the front of your pouch using Liquid Fusion glue. Allow to dry.

13. Use red thread to sew the EZ Crimp ends on the strap to the back of the pouch. I positioned my strap ends just inside of the glue line on the edges of pouch. Tie off thread and hit with a tiny dab of glue. Repeat for second strap end.

Saturday TastyLinks, Musings and Sundries

 Madge's Thrift Score

I believe that when you're moving in the right direction, the universe supports you entirely.  When things get too tough and I find myself smacking my head against the rocks, I remind myself that it's okay to change direction and swim right around them.  It's easy to become so micro-focused you forget to look up and see what's happening around you.  Some times things just don't work out and it can be tough when you've poured time, effort and energy into something to watch it fall apart, but it's a co-creation.  You dream the dream and take the steps to make it real and then it's important to try not to be so relentlessly specific that you get stuck on the details.  The details will work themselves out if you're navigating the boat in the right direction.  I'm telling myself this and sharing it with you.  It's how I work schtuff out.

I had a week of things falling apart and it's been a little tough, but other things are coming together and I'm being reminded that it's okay to let some things go.  Even things that on the surface seem pretty good can be holding you back.  I'm making some decisions about what to let go and what to hold on to...it's a process.

I scored some goodies at Goodwill today.  A small pile of vintage patterns from the 1960s and 70s, in my size!  The unfortunate thing about Goodwill is that they stick a frickin' sticker on the front of the patterns and album covers and taking it off ruins them.  Argh.  What is that?!  I also got THREE vintage 60s Monopoly games...huzzah...and a really horrid yet adorable apron dress from the 70s with a garish neon floral print.  Yay!

My dear friend Brini Maxwell has the most delightful new blog filled with fun and fabulosity.  You simply must go check it out.  This week she shares a recipe for Cheese Souffle from a cookbook written and signed by former Cosmo editor, author and feminist icon Helen Gurley Brown.  Too fun!

Here's what the Crafty Bloggers have in store for your craftertainment this week:

The Artful Crafter
Do companies offer free craft products to the general public for testing?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make recycled thigh high socks inspired by the book Color Knitting The Easy Way. 

Mixed Media Artist
There's a lot to be learned about texture when you work with a monochromatic palette!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Mother's Day is coming soon and Madge has you covered. Check out her mom friendly card project, recipe and jewelry design! 

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
The organization continues, but the craft room is very close to finished.

Crafty Princess Diaries
While doing some spring cleaning, Tammy made some interesting jewelry discoveries. You just never know what you might find when you try to get organzied. 

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to crochet a "no-chain" foundation row, 17 ways to crop a photo, draw flames with Drew Brophy, change the color in a free cherry blossom print download and a call for entries for 1000 Steampunk Inspirations.

Cathie Filian
Cathie is doing back flips over the release of her new book, 101 Snappy Fashions! 

Aileen's Musings
Are you in need of a royal crown? Aileen has an oldie but goodie tutorial she's sharing with you.

About.com Cross Stitch
Connie's sharing a free pattern that was inspired by a piece of artwork she saw in an episode of Monk. You never know what the source of inspiration will be.