The Snitch has been caught- 150 points to Hufflepuff!

Hufflepuff wins!

Less than a week ago I walked into the craft store with the intention of getting some elastic for a skirt, and I walked out with the makings of some awesomely nerdy jewelry!

A Golden Snitch necklace! 

I found the wings in the 50% off boxes, and immediately scoured the bead aisles for the perfect snitch golden ball bodies. I came across a pack of 18 that were (thankfully) also 50% off. However, there weren't any more wings to be found in that store! I found another pair, but it was also the last pair by a different brand. Weird right? They look exactly the same!

But seriously though, I've been wanting to make a snitch necklace for quite a while now, and I guess this was just the opportune time. It's a fairly simple construction too, so it didn't take very long.

And since I have so many "bodies" left, and have now found a supplier for the wings, I will be making more and offering them in my Etsy along with the Hogwarts house themed flowers that I keep forgetting to post. 

I absolutely love my new Snitch necklace! Though, if I ever were to be in the Harry Potter universe, I don't think I'd be a Quidditch player. I'm not great at sports and afraid of heights, so I think I'd rather just watch... lol.

And yes, I am a Hufflepuff, and proud of it! Loyal, friendly, and good at finding things. That's basically me in a nutshell.

So tell me, what House are you in?

P.S. don't forget to enter the giveaway I'm hosting for DeBoop Shop! You could win one very awesome key fob! 

Click here and enter!!!

From Junk to Jewelry! and Pieces of happy

I haven't done a Pieces of Happy linkup in a while, so I thought I would today :)
But first, I have some things to show you! 

My parents have been going to a Goodwill outlet store near Seattle and some garage sales recently (more on that later) and they have been sending me a TON of stuff! This time I ended up with a bunch more neckties, some other stuff I'll get into later, and some jewelry supplies I was really excited about. I ended up making two necklaces within a couple of hours of getting it!

This first one I was so excited about, I could barely get through the rest of the package before getting to work! I mean, come on. It's RAINBOW DAISIES. The funny thing is that these gems were off of a pair of shoes! Can you believe that?

I ripped apart and linked back together a pair of earrings I wasn't wearing (and have had since high school) to make the chain, and the clasp was from another necklace I wasn't using. I might end up making it longer because I can't stand short necklaces, but until then it's not so bad as-is.

This second one I was also dying to make when my mom first sent me a picture. The cat is ceramic and it was hard to find a loop to fit it without going to the craft store, but I did it! The chain was that way when I got it in the package, and a perfect match for the cat!

Some crazy cat lady must have been donating all of her cat jewelry because let me tell you, I have a bunch of it now. And I don't know what to do with it yet.

I hate to admit it, but I do need to take a trip to the craft store in order to make any more pieces because I am running low on good clasps and jump rings that I can salvage from my other jewelry.

Anyway, here are my pieces of happy for this week:

1.) Alex took pictures with me on Sunday and dressed up even though he was being a stick in the mud, and didn't want to kiss me in front of strangers :P At least we got a few good pictures and I got to wear my new dress!

2.) I made my delicious Chili-Crusted Chicken recipe Monday and it was just as yummy as I remembered! I also made and ate lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting for the first time (box mix and pre-made frosting) and I found out that I love it! The only problem with that is now we have too many cupcakes, and only two people who shouldn't be eating so many calories in this house. I've made a huge mistake. (AD fans raise your hands!) Oh and we watched the season premiere of True Blood! Sexy vampires, can I get a hell yeah?

3.) Same day, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We didn't really do anything special, it was just a regular night except for the cupcakes.

4.) Yesterday: got a big care package from my parents which always makes me feel loved. I miss them so much.

5.) My two "new" necklaces!

6.) We watched the season premiere of Futurama! If you don't know, I'm a huge Futurama fan, and it is killing me that it's coming to an end. I quote it all the time, and even Alex doesn't understand all of my references. Oh and I am aware that I am watching premieres the day after they actually premiere, that's DVR magic in action kids!

7.) This weekend we'll most likely be going to the San Fransisco Zoo, which will hopefully be as awesome as I think it will be.


So that's my Pieces of Happy for the week. What are yours? Join me in the Link-up with Chasing Happy!

Forever 21 Haul

I am so excited about this box, and I'll tell you why.

Well honestly it's not that special to anyone but me, but I'm gonna tell you anyway!

You see, this rut I've been in... it runs deep. I feel like I've been stuck with everything I had in high school as far as fashion goes. Still, I've gotten rid of most of those clothes and learned how to style my outfits a little better. The only problem that I realized I had besides that was... accessories.

A while ago I decided to go through my jewelry stash to see what I had to work with. Nothing even remotely fashionable in this day and age. I had pirate jewelry from when I was into pirates. (I am not kidding) I have earrings that I don't wear because they make me look like a pre-teen. And when I say that, know that I mean it because I am shorter than 5' and I have a young face. If I wear anything remotely "childish" I lose 10 years, and that includes the THREE PAIRS OF CUPCAKE EARRINGS. So it really is no wonder that I limit myself to wearing my locket and maybe some stud earrings... but that's it! I have nothing else. (Or maybe I'm just saying that because accessorizing is HARD.)

That brings me back to the box.

The bf has a lot of homework all the time, and I would rather spend time with him at home than going out to shop, which almost always ends in disappointment anyway. Especially when I go to Forever 21! That place is big and scary. I've literally gotten lost in there, lol. So with his recent (I wouldn't call it "refusal" so much as "I missed the turn, so maybe another time...") to go to Forever 21 jewelry shopping, I decided to do it online.

Oooh Goodies!

 Some people are born with style flowing through their veins. I was born to recognize style, but not be able to make it work on myself. With "What Not to Wear" being canceled, I am just gonna have to learn on my own. Not like I want to be a style blogger or anything, but it's a skill that I think will help me make better impressions and make myself feel more confident.

So what did I get? Let's find out!

Faceted Triangle Necklace, Abstract Cutout Necklace, Camera Charm Necklace,
Glasses Charm Necklace, Colorful Bead Necklace,

Pyramid Studs

I love pyramid studs! I have a pair that used to be blue but now a lot of it has worn off, and that makes me sad. But new earrings make me happy!

I think a lot of these necklaces will be great to dress up my outfits. Funny thing though, I really don't like gold. But that's the thing isn't it? A lot of my tastes have changed. It's great :) Every time I think I've figured out which one is my favorite, I change my mind, I love them all!

So there you have it. I'm just really excited to have a few new pieces of jewelry to make myself look a little more put together when we go out. (Even if I am just wearing jeans and a t-shirt.)

Have any of you ever felt outdated or that your current wardrobe is inadequate? Let me know what you did to help yourself feel better or where you do most of your shopping!

Thanks for stopping by ♥

p.s. This wasn't a sponsored post. I bought everything myself.

Christmas Gifts 2011

I hope you all have been enjoying the holiday season and got what you wanted this year!

Here are the handmade presents my mom got from me:

The hooded scarf (knitting pattern from Ravelry for free here) and photographer mittens (knitting pattern also from Ravelry, also for free, and available here). The mittens have been heavily modified for my own convenience of doing them two at a time as well as making them into photographer mittens. (The original pattern is for regular mittens.)I added a button hole where I thought her finger would go.


And dad's present:

The poem is "Everything Dad" by Joanna Fuchs. If you can't read it by clicking on the picture here is what the poem reads:

Everything Dad A little girl needs her daddy
To love her with manly charm,
To soothe her when she’s hurt,
And keep her safe from harm. A girl needs her dad
To show her a man who’s good,
To help her make right choices,
As only a father could. A woman needs her father
Just to be aware,
He’ll always be there for her
To sustain her and to care. You’ve been all these things, Dad.
I hope that you can see
How much I treasure you;
You mean everything to me. By Joanna Fuchs

 

I thought it was appropriate :) My dad loves getting handmade gifts from me.

Anyway, the story behind this little gem is that I messed up the first version I did. It looked so simple too! :( I tried this tutorial on the Matsutake blog hoping that it would work awesome! Transferring words to a frame making it super customized and therefor super special?? I'm in! But somewhere along the lines, I messed up and it didn't work as well as the tutorial deemed it to be. I did it front and back, both with the same results. Probably because I was impatient and the mod podge was drying too fast... who knows. Anyway, I didn't do it right. So I ended up having to buy an entirely new frame on Christmas eve (and see all my friends at work, lol) and put this little gem together in time for Christmas day. I used this youtube tutorial on how to print on tissue paper, and then mod podged it to a frame that I had painted. Simple enough? I had to wait for all that paint and glue to dry! But I think Dad still likes it :)

These are the presents I got for myself for working so hard at Michael's! Helped that I got a big discount in Winter too ;)

And this, ladies, is what I've made recently (just for fun, on my last day of work because apparently THAT is when I get crafty, lol)

Besides random jewelry making like this, I'm going to be busy donating lots of my possessions and preparing myself for the move out East! I can't wait to see my marine again :) It has been a long year.

I hope you have all enjoyed the holiday season, I know I did!

Keep Cozy ♥