Your Whims Wednesday #209 {And Features}

Time for another Your Whims Wednesday Party!

Your Whims Wednesday
 
 Here are some of my favorites from last week's party!

DIY Marquee Pillow by The Scrappe Shop Blog
diy-marquee-pillow
 
DIY Makeup Cup Organizers by  Heart Handmade UK
 
Cilantro Lime Shrimp Quinoa Bowls by Spoonful of Flavor
Cilantro Lime Shrimp Quinoa Bowls | Delicious healthy quinoa bowls full of Southwest and tropical favors! | @reciperunner
 
Raspberry Rum Punch by Hairspray and Highheels
 Try out this super refreshing and delicious Raspberry Rum Punch recipe!
 
Thanks to all who linked up! Grab a button if you were featured :)
 
Featured on My Girlish Whims
 
Now... onto this weeks party!

I show off my girlish whims weekly on my blog, and now I want to see yours with 
Your Whims Wednesday!

Guidlines:
1. Link up as many projects as you would like: as long as it is one of your girly ways, you can link it! I'd love to see crafts, recipes, style posts, etc. Anything and everything feminine :)
2.Please add my button (code at the top of this post) to either your blog post or somewhere on your blog. 
3. Take a quick moment to comment on at least one other entry. We we all love comments!! 
4.I'd love if you would follow me as well :)


Your Whims Wednesday #208 {And Features}

Time for another Your Whims Wednesday Party!

Your Whims Wednesday
 
 Here are some of my favorites from last week's party!

Bombay Dreaming Necklace by Everyday Bijoux

 
Flat Iron Curls Tutorial by Lauren McBride
Flat Iron Curls Tutorial
 
Turn a Scarf into a Vest in 5 Minutes by The Foley Family
How to Turn a Scarf Into a Vest - Step by Step Easy Tutorial - diy - no sew #thefoleyfamblog
 
Rainbow Fruit Parfair by Gator Mommy Reviews 
Rainbow Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
 
Burlap Spring Wreath by My Pinterventures 
http://i2.wp.com/mypinterventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Burlap-floral-moss-spring-wreath.jpg
 
Thanks to all who linked up! Grab a button if you were featured :)
 
Featured on My Girlish Whims
 
Now... onto this weeks party!

I show off my girlish whims weekly on my blog, and now I want to see yours with 
Your Whims Wednesday!

Guidlines:
1. Link up as many projects as you would like: as long as it is one of your girly ways, you can link it! I'd love to see crafts, recipes, style posts, etc. Anything and everything feminine :)
2.Please add my button (code at the top of this post) to either your blog post or somewhere on your blog. 
3. Take a quick moment to comment on at least one other entry. We we all love comments!! 
4.I'd love if you would follow me as well :)


Overcoming Obstacles in Jewelry Making & Necklace Tutorial

You know what I wish I had? Ends and ends of inspiration and creativity. I would sure have a lot more blog posts to write then!!! I feel like I am a fairly creative person (hence why I have a craft blog...) but one of the challenges I come across most in jewelry making is a lack of inspiration.


Sometimes I buy certain beads or supplies because they are really cute and I like them, and then they sit...and sit...and sit on my craft desk for months and months and months.  I'll pull them out every now and again to try to make them work with something but to no avail!!


That was the case for me with these cute oval purple charm beads from Prima bead.  I loved them when I saw them online so I ordered a few packs...but after I got them in person I could just NOT figure out what to do with them! Luckily I finally figured out a design so today I'm going give you a tutorial for this necklace and also walk you through my design process a bit.

I knew these fun charms would be the focal point of whatever I made so I started with them.  I like to know exactly how many I have to work with so I took them all out of the packaging and laid them out. 

I've played with these a few times over the past few months and nothing has come together.  I really liked the idea of having a bib style necklace with each different shape being a different row, but i really didn't have enough of each charms to make a very long necklace focal point.

Then instead of staggering the beads I thought I could do a more straight on layers like this shape, but again ran into the problem of not really having enough beads to make the focal point long enough.

Finally, since length kept on being the issue I decided to not try to split the charms up into rows and just work out a pattern in a single length.

Next I had to find a good chain to attach the charms to.  Luckily I work with chain a lot so I keep a decent stash of chain from Cousin & Prima Bead on hand. I tried this chain first....thought it was too chunky.

Then I tried a smaller chain....and thought it was too small.

I tried another medium sized chain... but thought the links were too close together.

Sheesh! Feel like Goldilocks yet??? Finally I found another medium sized chain with wider links and found it to be a match!

But, if I just attached the charms to the chain and left it as is I thought it would be too boring.  So, I found some small round beads I had in matching colors and figured I would work them in between the charms.

Now that I had a general design idea I set to work executing it. I cut a length of chain using wire cutters and found the center.  I opened a jump ring using needle nose pliers and attached the center charm.

I repeated this process on either side of the charm to complete the pattern I had laid out before hand, attaching the charms on every other chain link.

Next I strung a bunch of the small round beads onto headpins

Using needle nose pliers I bent the pin 90 degrees directly above the bead

Then I used wire cutters to trim off all but about a half inch tail from each pin

And grabbed the end of the pin using round nose pliers and bent it back around to form a simple loop

I started individually attaching the beads between the metal charms but found it to look too sparse. Instead I opted to add three beads onto a jump ring like so:

and then attached the whole jump ring onto the open chain link between the first two metal charms.


After all the beads are attached the necklace should look almost complete!

Attach a lobster claw clasp and jump ring onto the ends of the chain using needle nose pliers to finish off the necklace.

And then...finally I had my complete necklace!

 Sometimes I just get stumped with certain beads. It took me awhile to figure out how to use these charms but in the end I'm really happy with how the necklace turned out!


I don't design or create something every time I sit down at my craft table. Sometimes just nothing clicks! Luckily though after enough playing around with different beads I can normally overcome the lack of inspiration challenge in jewelry making! What about you, what challenges have you faced??

DIY Phone Case with Swarovski Crystal Flat Backs

This next DIY project is easy, cute and comes together in a matter of minutes! An even bigger plus for me is that it has flowers and sparkle and pink in it...nice and girly for my taste but can be changed up to fit your own as well!


I'm about two models behind on iPhones at the moment and have been hanging onto the same iPhone 5 for about 2.5 years now. I've had an otter box case on it to protect it from being dropped but lately it was getting pretty gross.  It had white rubber parts on it that were turning brown and was slowly breaking and turning more and more dirty.  I was in serious need of an update!

Luckily, Prima Bead recently launched a new line of Swarovski Crystal Rhinestones that are perfect for many other DIYs besides jewelry making, specifically blinging up a phone case! I made myself a cute floral blingy phone case with just a few basic supplies: here is how to make your own version!

Supplies:
You will need a piece of scrapbook paper, rhinestones, and a clear phone case.  I used THIS case for my older version iPhone, make sure you find one specific for your phone! Also needed but not pictures are scissors and E-600 Glue.

Steps:
Flip your scrapbook paper over to the back and flip your phone case so it is laying flat on the paper and trace around the outline of the case with a pencil.

Use scissors to cut the phone shape out.  You will need to cut the paper slightly smaller than the outline you drew, so be aware of that.  Trim away the excess until the paper fits snug in the phone case.

Make sure you also cut out the portion for the camera to show through!

After the paper is cut out properly slip your phone into the case to make sure everything lines up properly.

Now for the fun part: open up some rhinestone packs and lay out a pattern!

After you know where you want each Rhinestone to go, remove them one by one and re-secure onto the phone case using E-600 glue.  I used a broken off piece of a q-tip as an applicator.

After all the rhinestones are on and the glue is dry, clear away any extra glue trails and your phone case is done!

This was one of the most gratifying crafts I've done in a long time.  It was so easy to put together and it really turned out adorable! I love the floral pattern scrapbook paper I found and adding the rhinestones as bling is such a fun extra touch.  This is totally my style but the good news is you can completely make it your own style by just switching out a different type of scrapbook paper and different pattern of rhinestones!


Now even though I don't have the newest iPhone with all the bells and whistles, at least I have the cutest one around!!! :)