kattitudes

With Thanksgiving nipping at our heels, Christmas is so close that I can smell it in the air.

Very soon will start all the Christmas Secret Santa exchanges and oh- goodness- I- forgot- to- get- something- for- Cousin- Suzy presents flurries.

It is times like these that call for a very simple, but very elegant presentation like this.

An inexpensive mug filled with one of the multitudes of mix-in-a-jar drink recipes that have already been posted here (maybe hot cocoa as in this example), along with any necessary accoutrement that might make hot cocoa worth drinking, such as marshmallows or peppermint stirring sticks.

If you take the time early in the season to package a few of these together, you are prepared for that surprise occasion and are never caught empty handed.

Through the year, I do try to watch for antique china tea sets and incomplete silver spoon patterns. I can often purchase them for a song because they are onesie-twosie (only a piece or two left), which fits my needs perfectly. At the end of the year, I have a small collection of adorable china and silver spoons I can use to put these drink sets together. It makes for a fantastic presentation.

Now that we have some ideas about where to buy gorgeous excellent quality scarves (silk and cotton alike), making scarves like this is a snap.

I found these very roses on eBay in the fabric embellishment section and used them recently to decorate a pillow. They were fantastic.

The how-to section of the store listed is fantastic, so if you want advice on how to dye your scarves to specific colors for your gift recipients, you just cannot go wrong by following their advice. I have never experienced any problems following their instructions, but if you do, their customer service is fantastic.

These scarves always seems to go over a treat and they are quick and easy enough to put together in an evening. The variety of fabric embellishments available these days is absolutely outrageous and you could not get through all the options in a zillion weeks, so surely you should be able to find just exactly the right thing to fit your friend’s personality exactly.

Starting today, you will find a very handy page over there on the right hand side of the blog (it is listed under the pages). I have created a page that lists pretty quick and dirty some of my favorite shopping places online.

It is a first draft, so not all my bookmarks are up there by any means. However, some of the multitudinous places I wander online are up there so that you too can wander in and find some of the remarkable bargains I’m finding.

If you have places that you love, please - by all that is holy - let me know. I am always looking for a new place to shop. Send me a note, leave a comment, and I would love to check it out. I live to comparison shop (must. comparison. shop. It is in my blood).

Keep in mind, these are not places to purchase finished products. These are stores for you to purchase supplies for you to make your own gifts and wonders. This is for you to get your own crafty on.

Fantabulous. This bracelet uses one of my favorite tricks for fancy. Look carefully at the photo. There are three strands of citrine chips and carnelian nuggets that funnel down to a single strand of sterling silver beads.

How do you do it?

After threading each individual strand of citrine and carnelian on beadalon, each strand is then threaded through a single sterling silver bead (with a larger enough diameter hole to accommodate the three strands. Surprisingly, this will not need to be very large at all).

More of the silver beads were added to continue the length of the bracelet, then crimp beads were added at the end of the bracelet with a two fold purpose: 1) to attach the bracelet to a jump ring (which attaches to the toggle clasp), and 2) to anchor those strands together and anchor them well.

And again, we have the issue of “is a toggle clasp safe to use on a bracelet”. Jewelers try to avoid toggle clasps on any piece that is too light to keep the toggle clasp closed.

However, the weight of this particular piece is definitely heavy enough to pull against the toggle clasp, keeping the pieces taut and ensuring that the bracelet will indeed stay on the wrist.

What a gorgeous gift this would make, don’t you agree?

I saw this favor box on BHG and loved it. I adored it. But most of all, I thought that it was perfect for Christmas. I give so many jewelry pieces that I am always looking for creative ways to wrap.

And knowing that I can run out and pick up bags and bags of faux pearls and use my glue gun to pile them up on the lid of all the spare boxes I have sitting around made this picture all the better.

This idea wouldn’t be limited to faux pearls. You could cruise through the dollar store and see what is available to use in the same manner. Little ornaments, tiny toys, all sorts of items might just spring out at you.

And if you wanted to do this for Valentine’s Day, you could use those horrible conversation hearts that no one should ever be eating. The concept is just fantastic and it really lends itself so well to so many things.

I’m actually looking forward to using this for Christmas this year. I was thinking about doing one with dog bones for the kennel owner, but realized that the dogs would never leave that alone. I guess I’ll stick with pearls.

If I remember correctly, I think this came from Pottery Barn, but it has been so long, my memory has failed me. I do remember looking at that picture and thinking that I could absolutely make this.

We have a jigsaw, and I know that the curves are simple enough that even I could duplicate this pattern. If I go slow enough, I could cut out each of the shapes.

All this would take is a little planning and a lot of patience. If you have a wood worker in the family or access to a jigsaw, there is no reason why you need to pay the money that was being asked for a table like this. I remember the price was just insane. And I kept thinking Oh my goodness, the shapes are so basic, I could do that!

The colors, basic. Painting job, simple to duplicate. Construction, simple with the right nails and/or screws. The whole duplication effort would hinge on getting your hands on a way to cut the shapes. And as long as you could do that, you could make the cutest little tables for someone for Christmas (or really, for any reason under the sun. Why wait for Christmas?).

I am really tempted to try making one of these for my back deck. I could use it as a plant table. I doubt I would paint it pink (in fact, I can guarantee that my Mister would outlaw that particular color on the back deck right now), but I have a fantastic geranium planter that hasn’t died yet (a minor miracle, given my track record with geraniums) that would work perfectly on this.

I am so in love with this that I just want to shriek. I don’t remember the last time I loved something so much and found it so easy to duplicate that I just wanted to do the happy dance all around my happy desk.

This is a ribbon. And you can find the watch face findings literally in every craft supply store under the sun. Every one, bar none. And the same with the eyelet snap (and for the record, if you like the jeweled part, you will be looking for a rhinestone snap).

That is all this is.

A beautiful ribbon.

An eyelet snap.

A watch face.

Put them together and you have more watches than you imagine.

It would take you less than five minutes to put together a spectacular watch for a gift. And if you spent some time, you could make an incredible range for the holidays.

Could you imagine giving a gift of a watch with interchangeable ribbon watchbands? With as many wild watchbands as you could possibly make? You could just go wild in the fabric store. And since you only need enough to go around a wrist, the cost would be pretty minimal.

Oh, I am so doing this for Christmas this year. Now I just get to pick who gets to be the lucky recipient (aside from me, of course).

This is an utterly fantastic way to finish off a pair of briolette stones without having to fuss with the wire wrap issues. Briolettes are such a lovely cut, but let’s face it. That drilled hole through the top really throws off the mojo of the stone, you know what I mean?

That is why I love these cone bead findings. They cover up the entire drilled mess, and hide the connection underneath forever and ever. The trick to using these is to make sure that the wire you use is long enough to poke down through the hole at the top, through the drilled hole in the briolette stone and back out the top of the hole.

At that point, you can finish it any old way you choose. This example put a nice simple sterling silver bead on the top to help cover the wire wrap (although there is more shown on top of that bead).

These findings are pretty easy to find, and so if you are tired of having to fuss with the whole wire wrap around the top of your briolette stone, this is an option you might want to consider in place of the standard wrap.

Lovely earrings - I’ve made multiple sets like these and they always sell well. If you make them for a gift, I am willing to bet your recipient will love them.

How is that for beautiful symmetry? Both sets of earrings are constructed the same, using a simple headpin to anchor the entire beading portion of the earrings.

Very simple. Very elegant. Very inexpensive to construct, which means there was no need to pay the $40 odd dollars being requested for these when I saw them. The basic construction is so common that the same theme has been shown over and over and over. It all hinges on what goes on those headpins.

And since you know that these are super easy to construct, take some time to wander through the beading aisle of your favorite crafting store. My local store just expanded their inventory by leaps and bounds and now it takes me hours to get out of there… and never unscathed financially. But I have been making some outrageously wonderful earrings sets as a result, so it’s all good!

What does it take to get your creative groove on? What types of pieces inspire you to get creating?

I absolutely love this combination of glass leaves contrasting with matching metal leaves. Just fantastic. The pearls are glass beads, which makes them particularly fun (and inexpensive), and I am in love with the acorn top findings.

The whole bracelet has been made from brass findings, which are incredibly common enough to find in almost every jewelry supply place, without fail.

The charms and findings have all been attached by jump rings, and the chain, while certainly thick enough to hold them, has been overloaded so as to really show off the abundance of the harvest season.

Since many of the craft stores sell these type of charms in packages of multiples, this bracelet would be a cinch to construct with little effort and fortunately, little searching for the pieces too. I just really love the juxtaposition of the metal leaves and the glass leaves. I think I’m going to duplicate that myself in some of my upcoming pieces.

And while Christmas is coming, surely there are still gift giving events happening from now until then. Anyone have a birthday this month? What about preparing a bracelet like this as a hostess thank you gift if you are traveling for Thanksgiving dinner this year? Such an easy bracelet to put together, but it would be so warmly received.