A Little DIY… Printed!

Posted by Jackie on Feb 4, 2010 in Accessories

Hello Precious readers!

I wanted to share a little piece I wrote for one of my university’s student newspapers. I wrote on some current trends to DIY, taking inspiration from my top 3 DIY reads - http://lovemaegan.com , http://psimadethis.com and of course, http://carboncouture.blogspot.com .

I won’t bore you with double reading, so here’s the link! http://www.theconcordian.com/diy-fashion-update-your-closet-and-save-money-1.1110338 (you can leave comments, too!!!)

It was actually great fun writing my first article for The Concordian - especially since it was on DIY. I’m hoping it’ll be well received, and that I can eventually make a series out of some DIY fashion posts. I will say that it was a completely different experience writing for a newspaper rather than a blog. A challenge, even. I learned that APPARENTLY exclamation marks aren’t so accepted in journalism. Something about how it seems like you’re laughing at your own joke? Who knew! (I almost ALWAYS laugh at my own jokes. Especially the ones that are just untimely and horrible and not funny.) Naturally, of course, full capital lettered words don’t fly. That I already knew.

I brought home for myself approximately 8 copies. I’m a little girl when it comes to things like that, I want EVERYONE to have a copy! I had to sneak copies into the crook of my arm when nobody was looking. I didn’t want other students to think I’m a LOONY TOON. I am pretty sure some of my classmates saw me trying to shove my stack of papers into my bag. Whatever. I am one proud peacock!

And since I know the text won’t stay online forever (or does it? I don’t know how those archive things work), I’ll eventually repost it as its own post!

XOXO

Tags: "press", diy, fun stuff, glue gun, inspirations, my writing, The Concordian

Sparkly Belt Buckle

Posted by Jackie on Jul 2, 2009 in Accessories

My Inspiration

I recently took my 13 year old sister on an ill-fated shopping trip, that included my finding of multiple cute $15 dresses and her needing to go into every store to counter my “success”. On our trip, I was unwillingly conned into visiting Joshua Perets - formerly known as PINK to all you Montrealers - a store that deals in sizes that are approximately 5 notches too small for petite me, with clothing casually knocking off Victoria’s Secret’s UBER successful PINK line. The store has, ironically, ONE thing that I crave - a rhinestone covered Scottie-dog belt buckle (it has a belt attached too, naturally). Their logo happens to be a teensy pink Scottie dog (are they cheaply copying Agatha Paris? Likely). Their price tag wasn’t what completely scared me off - it was the fact that my boyfriend had given me an old Scottie dog belt buckle of his (non-fancy) months ago, and I couldn’t rationalize for a split second why I needed to buy a fancier dog buckle WHEN I HAVE ONE SITTING IN MY ROOM ALREADY.

See? I don’t forget everything that comes into my craft vortex of doom.

For the first time - and likely not the last - I’m attaching a craft disclaimer to this one:
You don’t HAVE to use fancy Swarovski crystals like I did. I found them on clearance for less than half price. It’s okay - AND WELCOMED - to use ANY type of “jewel” or “gem” for this. If you don’t happen to have a kitschy old plain belt buckle like I do, you can cover any regular belt buckle, or glue jewels to a piece of stiff fabric in a pattern and glue that to your belt.

There was a time a few years ago when it was SUPER COOL to crystallize your cell phone. I never hopped on that bandwagon, because I had a sneaking suspicion that it was a painstalkingly slow process. I was right. So, here goes, the usual…

Things You Need:

1 old belt buckle/belt with buckle
Jewels or crystals of some sort - bigger = easier, smaller = slower process, but cuter!
Tweezers, and not a pair you regularly use (they’re going to get covered in glue)
Heavy duty specialty glue - a hot glue gun will NOT suffice, I used Aleene’s Jewelry & Metal Glue (available in the craft section in Wal-Mart)
Protective gloves (latex), if you’re messy [highly suggested unless you're in the mood to scrub hardcore glue off your fingertips]

How To:

Do a “dry run” of jewels on the buckle. This way, you know exactly how many jewels you need, and in what sort of pattern you plan to work with.
Test glueing 1 jewel to make sure your glue is strong enough: my trial run included hot glue (does not adhere), an all-purpose glue from my father’s tool drawer (also does not adhere), until my mother suggested a specialty metal glue.
Once you’re sure your glue sticks, place glue on a section and then using your tweezers, set one jewel at a time on the glue.
It’s 100% best to work from one corner to the other - or generally in some organized fashion.
You can make designs, you can outline the shape, put your initials on it, whatever you like!
Once you’ve covered your buckle, leave it to dry in a safe place overnight. Just to be safe!
Attach your buckle to an old belt, a piece of ribbon or a scarf and sparkle your way to the cutest waistline ever!

: My Inspiration

: Supply Pile!

: Jewel-setting dry run

: Beginning Stages

: Placing stones on glue - be careful!

: Almost there!

: Finished Doggie!

Craft Level: Easy, but for jewel application, you’ll need the patience of JOB.
Estimated Time: 30 - 45 minutes. You’ll need a jewel-setting break.

Tags: belt, embellishment, glue gun, inspirations, jewels

Feather Cuff

Posted by Jackie on Jun 12, 2009 in Accessories

My inspiration!

As usual, I was anxiously searching shopbop for things to order online, because June is free shipping to Canada month. Really, I was searching for jeans, but this is what I found, and the wheels in my little head started spinning like mad. Recently, I found a box of all my old costume jewelry - tacky necklaces, ugly plastic bangles, gifts I’d never worn. In this box, I also happened to find a great looking “silver” cuff/bangle bracelet (it’s “silver” and not silver, because there’s no chance that it’s real) that I knew would be too plain for me to wear EVER. My first instinct was to just glue on as many jewels as humanly possible, but then I found the shopbop cuff. Inspiration central! Nothing’s greater than taking an old piece of jewelry and - if possible - bringing it up to the current season with a little bit of glue and zing! That, and anything with feathers is SUPER trendy and SUPER right-now!

Things You Need:

An old cuff bracelet or bangle - either one works
Glue gun - can’t get around this one
Feathers: I used 16 medium sized ones (no more than 3″ long) and 4 small ones (approx. 1″ long)
Scissors

How To:

Starting on one end, do a little test run and see how many feathers you’d like to have across the width. In my case, 2 fit perfectly and leave a little feathery fringe on the side edges. Keep in mind that you’re working with the length of the feather and the bracelet (see pictures below for prime understanding).
Put a thin strip of glue directly on the bangle and press a feather onto it. You want the feathery/plumey part to be slightly hanging off the edge of the cuff and the sharp tip to be laying flat on the surface. Repeat and glue as many feathers down for one row.
To make the next row - and every row afterwards - place glue on the bottom half of the above feather and continue onto the bracelet. In order to get a cute fluffy feathered look, overlapping is crucial - and also hides the previous feather stem.
Repeat glueing the feathers - overlapping the above rows - until you’ve nearly reached the bottom of the bracelet. Trim overly excess stems as necessary!
When you’ve nearly hit the bottom, glue a row of smaller feathers lengthwise to cover up the last row of stems and one teeny tiny feather across the bottom to cover up the mini stems.
Wear your cuff for some boho-chic feathered fun!

My inspiration!

Supply Mess!

The original cuff bracelet - SNORE!

Feather placement - trial!

Glueing the first row/layer!

Adding the second row

Necessary stem trimming

Mini-feathers for extra trim!

Finished feather cuff! Stylish!