It's the new year, and it seems that I'm still on a DIY accessory kick (in case you missed my other DIYs last month, here's a zipper bracelet, t-shirt infinity scarf, metallic necklace and lace cutout bracelet; oh, and don't forget the lip glosses from the other day). Inspired by my favorite Project Accessory designer (who happened to be the runner up in the end; congrats again Nina!), I spontaneously put together these friendship petal necklace and earrings.I'm planning on purchasing a real Nina Loren folding petal necklace, like the one on the home page of the website (I've e-mailed her about it, and she's allowing me to pick the metal - gold or silver - and the stones; I think I know what I want, although I'm open to suggestions), but until then, I'll be wearing my crafty version.
Remember those friendship bracelets made out of embroidery floss? My friends and I used to make them for each other in elementary and middle school. It was cool to try to hide the fact that you were tying knots in class with the ends taped to the inside of your desk.From what I understand, friendship jewelry is making a comeback, so I opted to combine it with some metal for a more modern twist. I mimicked the stones on Nina's petal jewelry by tying double chain knots (like when you make the simplest style friendship bracelet out of only two pieces of embroidery floss) onto some metal bars meant for making dangle earrings. These were then bent and pieced together to form the petal shapes.
I linked together two petals in contrasting colors (I happened to have a pale pearly pink embroidery floss, that I tied together with some leftover silver from the metallic necklace project, and a brighter pink, which I paired with the gold I had left from the same project) for each earring, which, of course, were attached to ear wires (the loop that goes through the hole in your pierced ear).Here's a closeup of the finished earrings:
I also used the petals to embellish the excess copper chain I removed from the metallic necklace I made recently. To change things up a bit, I attached a double set of contrasting petals, which mimicked the earrings, to one end of the chain and only one bright pink/gold petal to the other end. I, then, added a clasp to the single petal end, so that the necklace would hook in the front.
I first tried wearing the necklace as shown in the above pic, but as I went about my mommy activities, I noticed that it naturally began to hang like the photo below:
I think I prefer it that way (shifted into a diagonal), although I like that I have options.
Speaking of options, one of my sisters (Lori) made me a really pretty pendant for Christmas (she also gave me this travel beauty set I wanted to try). It's simply perfection. I was so excited to get a handmade gift from her this year. Thanks, Lori!
My other sister (April) was nice enough to treat both Lori and yours truly to dinner as a present. I loved having the opportunity to hang out with them and catch up. Thank you, April!
She also bought me this amazing loose tea from a shop we went to a while back. It smells like monkey bread (something I have found memories of eating on Christmas morning, until I changed my eating habits; one year, I made this instead), which has the most delicious aroma. The tea tastes spicy and sweet, and to my surprise, steeps to a lovely shade of pink, due to the sweet beet pieces inside (it's even more lovely with the addition of some fresh, homemade almond milk, as you can see in the photo below).Now, I think I have a craving for this yummy warm beverage. So, if you'll excuse me ... :-)
