sparklythings

my favorite

Originally uploaded by sammawamma

More new bobby pins than you can shake a stick at, plus assorted other thrifty finds are now up on my Flickr. Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

simple necklace

Originally uploaded by sammawamma

I made some joo-rey this weekend. I had a blast, too. More pics on the ol’ Flickr.

How can this be the last day of vacation? I still have so much to do! But here’s a peek at the things I did accomplish:

I was a bad etsyian and dismissed the whole “buy handmade” movement for Christmas. Then I ended up making a majority of our gifts anyway…

This was actually Jim’s idea, and I did the graphics and the packaging. Our “Northside BBQ Sauce Sampler” basket included saucy goodness from Toby’s, Rich’s, The Pig, and Jenkins (mmm, my favorite!) The baskets really turned out cuter than this picture shows. We gave these to all the guys… [pig image from istock!]

…and these were for the ladies! I finally did those teacup candles. This was *very* fun – I even bought more wicks  I can do other mugs, too! I also made custom-sized boxes out of file folders…I’m such a nerd but I might have had the most fun making the template and mass-producing the boxes!

I loved this thrifted Lefton shaker, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. It is pretty big – too big for salt for me! My other option with the teacups was to turn them into photo holders, so I ran with that for the shaker. The holes are the perfect size and nicely placed to make it a quick and easy job.

Oh how I’ve pined over all the awesome reconstructed vintage pieces on Etsy. So I finally tried to make some of my own. This is the same kind of stuff I used to do as a kid, except what I’ve gained in patience I’ve lost in eyesight. There’s always a tradeoff, huh? So far i’ve done four necklaces and a pair of earrings (see the rest on Flickr!) but I suspect I’ll keep playing with the pieces and redo them a few more times.

Handmade Vintage Bobbies!Originally uploaded by sammawamma
 

I got a bag o’ “junk jewelry” off eBay which arrived as I was convalescing. So i finally got to make my own bobby pins!I had a good time ripping and bending and cleaning the old pieces. I was a kid again, prying the rhinestones out of the mismatched earrings my grandmothers and my aunts would give me from their jewelry boxes. God, how I loved to play in their jewelry – all costume stuff, nothing fancy. They’d always let me pick out a few pieces to take home with me – I still have them, too. Some are whole and some are in pieces, LOL. I was so young, but I was repurposing even back then.

In fact, the first time I ever saw a clip-on earring I thought it was a brooch. I can clearly remember coming out of my Grandma Dee’s bedroom with earrings clipped all the way around my collar with a big “taaaa-daaa” motion. It took a while for them to convince me that they actually went on your ears. But you know, I just read in Blueprint (yes, again!) a reccomendation to “jazz up your collar with a single clip-on rhinestone earring.” I’m like 30 years ahead of ‘em!