From the H(e)art

I didn't die...

2008-06-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm still here :) I just haven't been able to update for a while! I got busy with school and I just got back from Canada.. etc. So: I've been making LOTS of button stuff. Like lots. I've branched out and make bigger bracelets with more buttons and I've been making earrings and all kinds of stuff.

Hopefully I'm going to be able to get a stand at the Farmer's Market this summer and be able to sell some stuff. In the last 3 days of school I made $90 selling stuff! It was pretty cool. Of course I've already blown the money on more buttons and other stuff. Hahaha

Sooo here's some pictures:

I've made this kind of dangle bracelet in EVERY SINGLE colour imaginable. Seriously. These are just my favorites :D

SO. I will update more later.

Ciaaoo

Clothing?

2008-04-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Sooooo my stepmom gave me this cheap white babydoll tee that she didn't think fit her well this weekend.. and I decided to spruce it up. I HATE wearing just white, I must add colour. So I dyed and accessorized. Yup.

I could have killed myself because I accidentally deleted the before picture of the shirt, but just try to imagine it looking white and with plain pearly buttons. Here is what I did to it:

I still have some purple dye on my hands.. I hope it comes off! But it was pretty easy. I just bought some purple powder dye at Wallyworld and then added some cutie little buttons in place of the booooring whitish ones.
Can't wait till it gets a little warmer so I can wear this with some capris and sandals! Gah. Right now its 37 degrees. Buuuut my dashboard temp gauge says it will be 67 on Wednesday and 71 by Thursday.
Let's hope the weathermen aren't lying. I'm so sick and tired of winter!

Oh by the way.. It's my last day of Spring Break... :( But, I guess my SB was boring so I'm kinda looking forward to seeing everyone at school when they're finally home. Seems like I was the only person that didn't travel anywhere. It's killing me looking at everyones fun pictures from Florida on Facebook.. Grr.

New Obsession.. BUTTONS!

2008-04-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well, its not really a new obsession.. I've always loved buttons. But now I cannot stop buying packs of random buttons at JoAnns. I'm spending all my money on bags of buttons and I don't even use half of them. Thrifty, right?
So I've been making button jewelry, and so far so good! I think I'm going to start a branch off of From The H(e)art and name it Button Up! Clever? Hehe. So here is almost a whole freaking gallery of new button stuff I've made!

All of the button bracelets laid out on my messy bed haha. I have a whole rainbow of colours!

Earrings that I've made. The apples were buttons but I cut the back loops off and sanded them down.

Sooo I really want to sell these! I can't wear earrings cause I'm allergic to metal or anything like that in my ears, but I still do anyway.. but my mom yells at me when I wear them, so I have nothing to do with all this jewelry!! I'm thinking about making a Facebook album that shows them all and lists prices. Whoever comments the picture saying they want it gets first dibs.

..But that means I should make multiples of things. Ohh boy. I guess I'm gonna have to do some labor for the money. I'm not kidding, pulling apart those jump rings and looping them through the buttons gave me blisters! Ah it hurts. But no pain no gain, right?

For days when you can't decide..

2008-04-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

You can be both! I made these earrings today with these word beads I have, some hot glue, and earring backs. So easy!
They feel big on my ears, but my ears are weird and I usually don't wear earrings anyway.. but here are some action shots with me modeling them.. As always click the pic to make it bigger.

Sorry that I'm pale a yucky looking. More earrings laterrr I've been busy all day making tons!
:D

T-Pain + Miley Cyrus = Monday Night Playlist..

2008-04-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah I'm definitely weird. I dunno why my taste in music has been so strange lately.. Maybe cause I have nothing else to do on Spring Break? Everyones gone!! :(
Anyway- Moving on..
I have some new JEWELRY and not felt stuff! Well, actually, I'm lying. I have more felt stuff, too..

This necklace was random.. I had the charm and a necklace and kind of made a Tiffany style necklace with the clasp at the front. However, I doubt Tiffany's would ever put a tusk-lookin thing on one of their necklaces! haha.

Simple green necklace! Yes, that is my hand and my scared birdie ring. Never take it off.

Another bird and a shoe! The shoe looks a little crumpled, but I was going mad trying to set it up straight so its just gonna have to do.

So thats it for today. I'm gonna go do some shopping to try and find a sensible dress for my confirmation this May.
By the way, I have a prom date with the most amazing guy ever.. Seriously. :)

New Felt Stuff!!

2008-04-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

So I've been on a felt kick.. I found some cute patterns at.. *gasp* MEIJER. I was surprised.. I didn't even venture out to Michaels or Hobby Lobby. However, I want to complain to the mayor that we NEED a craft store in my area. I hate driving like a half an hour to get clasps for necklaces.
Anyway here's some new stuff I've created! I haven't had time to update much lately.. It's spring break right now and I'm stuck at home, so I'm sure there's more things to come in the next week.

Little felty birds. They are so fun.

More felt stuff!

... I have too many flowers now. haha I really should start selling them!

One of my favorites.. A little ladybug :)

Well, there will be more posts soon! I'm gonna go play Wii with Ashley now.

Birdies!

2008-03-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.. I dont know what my problem is. I'm really lazy I guess. All I've been doing is making those flowers! They're so much fun. I have like 30 now.. haha
But I got in a creative mood this evening and made this necklace out of a charm from the craft store, and some stray green beads:

Here is a close up of the leaf beads hanging from the branch..

I loved the charm and was happy to think of something to hang it on :)
So.. I will probably post some pics of recent flowers soon.. When I get around to taking the pictures. My camera is being dumb lately.

OH! and my show choir got 1st runner up in our division this past weekend!!
I was pretty proud.

MORE flowers

2008-03-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

I seriously can't stop making them. Here is as many as I could fit on my windowsill and photograph at once:

I've just started clipping them onto necklaces like this pearl necklace I recently made. They're so fun! But.. I'm running out of fake flowers.. and I need a color variety but all I have are pinkish hue. I'll be sure to keep posting flower updates as I keep on making them.

And just for fun here is a picture of some earrings I made. They feature a gold lock and key with gems hanging behind the charms.

So, I'm off to go eat some cookie cake - it was my little bro's 10th birthday :)
Wooooo double digits. I definitely miss those days.

Good Morning

2008-03-08T04:55:00.001-08:00

I'm up pretty early right now just drinking some coffee cause this morning my mom is making me go to Sherwin Williams to get paint to paint my room.. It's been a while and we've finally decided on a deep plum colour for the accent wall of my room. We've been "renovating" cause my room used to look like a pit - not even kidding, it was a disaster - and now it looks 100 times better. One day I'll get before and after pics up :)

But I also made this cute necklace the other day that I have to share. I had this hammered circle charm (I think it's made out of silver) that I never used. So I cut out a rose from a magazine and varnished it onto the charm and covered it with clear nail polish. Then I strung it through a green leather chain and a ball chain. Here it is:

I'm planning to make more of these as soon as I get more ball chain necklaces.
So. I'm off to go get the paint and hopefully my room will look good :D

Stop and Smell the Flowers

2008-03-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Soooo, after seeing these fabric flowers everywhere, I decided to stop being lazy and make one. Then I made a another one.. Now I'm working on a third one..
They're so much fun! And so cute!
Except.. I don't know what to do with them! Here are two finished ones I made this afternoon:

I could use them as little accents on a purse or something, but they are delicate and I really don't want them to get ripped off because they really do take a while.
To make them I took apart different fake flowers and seperated the petals. I then cut out some fabric in flowery shapes and piece by piece sewed the different kinds of petals on top of eachother in order from biggest to smallest. To finish off the middle I used two buttons and sewed them on.
I have my dad's old army hat I could sew one on..
I dont know.
OR - would they have looked better on top of one another.. like this?

Oh the possibilities.

Quickie

2008-03-03T16:05:00.001-08:00

Yes, this is my second post of the evening.. But I made a necklace tonight that I absolutely have to share.

The light quality and colour is horrid in these pics and definitely doesn't give this butterfly justice. The charms hanging are a light sparkly blue heart and a light green teardrop.
The chain is a rustic gold/copper, and so is the little butterfly.
:D
Success!

Sweeeeeeeet Emoootionnn..

2008-03-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

I have had that song stuck in my head all day.. WOO AEROSMITH! :D
I haven't posted in a while - so so sorry. I keep forgetting.. oops. I keep forgetting to update Twitter too.
aaaaanyway..
My mom's birthday was the 27th and I made her a few necklaces cause she definitely deserves them! She loves the look of the one bead at the center and ones around it so I took that idea and ran with it. Here they are:The one on the left was her idea and I put it into tangible form.. The middle one was my idea completely (I had a ton of random seed beads that I couldn't find a use for!). The last one was an idea we got from the Sundance catalog. She loves simple, rustic necklaces.
So I'm pretty satisfied with my work!
Tell me whatcha think.

Close ups: (Click to make bigger)

This weekend I also toured this art center in Indy that has classes on glass blowing and metal working. I'm really interested and I think I'm gonna take some classes this summer when I have time.
We also had another competition this Saturday and had to get up at 5 am. Aaah :(
But it was so much fun, and totally worth it! Even though we didn't make finals. Pssh. The judges are just in denial. We rocked.

Pop Tabs

2008-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone :D
We did well at our competition and got great remarks from the judges, but unfortunetely we didn't make it to finals. I thought we did AWESOME; I was so proud of us girls. We had tooons of fun just chillin all day and performing. So all in all I had a good weekend.

Onto new jewelry updates: I made my mom collect all our pop can tabs for like a week (turns out I didn't need that much for what I wanted to do) so I could make a ribbon necklace with the tabs.
It took like 5 mins.. and turned out really cute! Here's how I did it:

First you need to collect a good amount of pop can tabs..obviously.. haha. If you want to use ribbon, get a ribbon with a width of about 0.5 in-1 in.

Now start stringing the tabs on the ribbon. Floding the ribbon in half is easier and looks better when stringing through.

String quite a few on until you can wrap it around your neck and have room to tie it in the back.

Viola! You have a simple, recycled necklace!
And I'm sorry if these directions were confusing in any way.. Even though they're simple I probably messed up somewhere.
Enjoy :D

My New Icon

2008-02-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

You would have to be INSANE not to think Agyness Deyn is the next.. oh lets say.. Kate Moss.. Or most likely even bigger. She's so different! I love it. When I first saw her modeling for House of Holland I immediately wanted her short choppy hair (and one of their cute, technicolour tees) . I used to have hair similar, but I've let it grow out about 10 inches. It's taken forever so I'm really scared to cut it again. But.. Miss Deyn has definitely inspired me with her crazy style.
I absolutely love this huge flower necklace she's wearing while modeling the Anna Sui Fall 2008 line:

If only I could make a flower like that for a gold chain. I mean it looks like just felt and sparkles.. Oh well, the point is, this chick can pull anything off. And I'm really excited to see her do more American ad campaigns.

Anywho- today was not too great. I had show choir rehearsal after school because we have a competition on Saturday. I'm pretty stoked! We're really awesome this year and hopefully we can kick everyone's butts with our sparkly teal dresses :)
And it's been snowing for a while.. which means maybe a two-hour delay? I'm crossing my fingers.

Long Necklaces are Elegant

2008-02-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

I have this thing for long necklaces. Like 26-28 inchers. I love wrapping them around your neck twice, or just wearing them wrapped once. They're kind of frustrating to make though because you have to really plan ahead and make sure you won't run out of wire (or other stringing material), beads, or crimps.

Two weeks ago I tried making an invisible, long necklace with this type of string similar to fishing line, except "supposedly" stronger. Well it didn't take me long to snap the wire.. So then I started back up again (because luckily I had not cut the string yet so I had an ample amount) and of course I broke the string and crimp bead. >:(

So I was reluctant to start it over again but I tried a type of wire, 0.38 mm, and succeeded! Whoo. I strung pink round beads and tube-like purple beads about 1 1/2 inches apart with crimps holding them in place. It ended up being pretty long; I don't even remember the exact inches. It's really delicate, which bugs me.. I wish it was stronger. I need to go find stronger wire. Anyway, here's a pic: (excuse my Hello Kitty backpack and fuzzy slippers haha)

The other two pictures are of a necklace I recently made out of just leftover beads and random parts. I love how it turned out! The robins egg blue is one of my favorite colors and I really like the black bow. So there you have it.
I'm off to do some chemistry homework... eughh.

Hello World..

2008-02-18T10:18:00.001-08:00

I guess blogs are all the rage now.. I'll admit I've spent quite a while figuring this out, but I think I'm getting the hang of it! To start off - my name is Kimmy. I've always recreated old things into new things and made my own clothes and accessories. Recently I've been beading. Like, hardcore. I will go up to my room and not come out for hours and make lots of jewelry. So far I've made lots of necklaces.

So I'm gonna use this blog to post about all my creations, findings, and opinions. I definitely like blogging alot better than Myspace...

Today is President's Day, so I didn't have to go to school, which was AWESOME - but then again I had to watch my little brothers while my mom was at work. Ugh. So I found this one tutorial online (I know forget where) that showed how to make pretty little flowers out of the bottom of water bottles. Sounds stupid, but it was actually quite fun. Here are two I made:

I think they're pretty cute :)