Adventures in Jewelry Making

So, I have a new hobby that I am totally into right now but will probably be totally over in about a month. I am now a jewelry maker!!! Just add it to the long list of other hobbies I have attempted in the past like scrap booking, sewing, scarf making, tortilla making, running (this one has surprisingly stuck), etc.

I see so many cute and easy DIY jewelry tutorials on Pinterest so I decided to take a shot at it!

So far I have only made a couple of bracelets and one necklace but I am really loving it and I have a few more projects that I will take on as soon as my supplies come in the mail!

First up we have this braided bead bracelet. The tutorial I followed used satin ribbon cording, but I could not find beads with a big enough hole to use that stuff. Instead, I bought some natural colored twine at Michael's for $2.99 and a bag of beads at Joann's for like $4.





I used an end crimp and and lobster clasp at the end of my bracelet to close it but you could always just tie it in a knot.

Then I decided to get a little more fancy and make a beaded clay bracelet like one I saw here on Etsy. All you need for this is some oven bake clay, toothpicks, chain and some sort of clasp to close it all up (some jewelry making tools like pliers and a chain cutter are needed also).

You can find tons of colors of oven bake clay at craft stores for just a couple of dollars each . All you do is roll out some beads, poke a hole through them with a toothpick, and stick them in the oven and bake using the package directions. Then just string your beads on your chain and add your clasp. Voila! Cute, inexpensive bracelet!

All the supplies I bought to make this probably cost me about $20. That includes 5 blocks of clay, 72 inches of chain, a box of clasps, a box of small jump rings and a box of medium jump rings (I use these to hold the beads in the middle of the bracelet so they don't slide all over the place).

So far I have made three bracelets and only used up the tiniest bit of clay and I still have enough chain to make at least three more bracelets. All in all, I would say that each bracelet costs about $3 to make.

This weekend I finished up this braided bead necklace that I have been working on. I think it may be my favorite thing I have made yet! All I needed was 6 strings of beads (they come 2 per pack) from Michael's ( I got them when they were on sale for 40% off and then I had an additional coupon for 20% off my entire purchase so they were practically free). I also picked up some of that clear plastic thread stuff that looks like fishing line, something called a bead clamp and used some chain and a lobster clasp that I already had on hand from my bracelet making. Total this necklace probably cost be about $6 to make.

This weekend I am hoping to make another necklace like this and make a couple of different types of bracelets if all my supplies come in!

Green is Clean - Household Cleaning Products

I recently decided that we were going to start taking small steps to get unnecessary and harmful chemicals out of our home.

This is a pretty daunting task because so many of the everyday products we use have chemicals in them that are harmful to us and unnecessary since there are natural alternatives that can do the job just as well if not better and for a fraction of the price.

Danny thinks I am turning into a hippie and rolls his eyes at some of the stuff I come up with, but if I can make our home a safer place for us, our pets and our future children then I am for sure going to try it!

To get this party started I purchased the book The Naturally Clean Home.

This book gives some great recipes for all sorts of cleaning products for all around the house. It also helped me realize that you use the same basic ingredients in almost all types of natural cleaners you make so the cost is really minimal.

I am making my own cleaners as I run out my normal store bought ones (I am way too cheap to throw away cleaning products that are only half used up). So far I have made glass cleaner, an all purpose cleaner that I use on my counter tops and I cleaned my toilets with Borax. To make these cleaners I had to purchase the following:



1. Distilled White Vinegar (2 gallons from Sam's for $3.17
2. Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap (16 oz at Whole Foods for $6.99)
3. Hydrogen Peroxide (32 oz at Target for $.99)
4. Tea Tree Oil (2 oz at Whole Foods for $11.59)
5. Lavender Essential Oil (1 oz at Whole Foods for $11.59)

6. Borax (4 lb box at Target for $2.99)

The most expensive components are the essential oils but those will last you a really long time. As a bonus you can put Tea Tree Oil directly on pimples to help clear them up so you have a 2 in 1 product!

I re-use the plastic spray bottles from my old cleaners, add my ingredients, give it a shake and I am ready to clean!

So far, I have really loved the way these products are cleaning my casa and don't miss my old cleaners one bit.

I still need to switch out the dusting spray, the foaming bubbles bathtub cleaner, the carpet/upholstery spot cleaner, the hardwood floor cleaner and the Febreeze. I think I will have the hardest time changing out my bathtub cleaner because that stuff is amazing and makes that dreaded task quick and easy with minimal scrubbing involved. However, when I used it this weekend I immediately started sneezing and I could feel by lungs burning so I know it needs to go!



Our next green endeavor is composting which was surprisingly easy to get Danny on board with. We just started this little project yesterday but hopefully I will have some good updates on our progress soon!

A New Home For Jaws

Yesterday one of my dreams came true. We introduced Jaws (our pet turtle) to his new home!

I have had jaws as a pet for the past 7 years. He has been every where with me! He lived with me in two different places in College Station, he would travel home with me to Brownsville for holidays, he moved with me to Dallas and has lived with me at three different places here.

When we bought our house the thing on the top of my to do list was to build Jaws a pond to live in so he could get out of the aquarium he had been living in for far too long. After a year and half of being in this house, we finally got around to getting that pond built for Jaws.

Yesterday afternoon his new habitat was ready! Jaws finally got the home he deserved. Luckily, my sweet friend Tori happened to be at our house when we put him in his pond for the first time so we were able get a family picture to document the big day.

Jaws shares his new home with 5 goldfish, two koi fish and some aquatic plants. So far he seems to be adjusting very well to his new environment and Danny and I could not be happier that Jaws is finally living in the type of space that he deserves!

An OKC Wedding

This weekend we headed to Oklahoma City for Brian and Jessie's wedding. I didn't get a single picture of the two of them but they looked gorgeous and the wedding was beautiful!

Any wedding that involves Danny's fraternity brothers turns into a total dance party and this wedding was no different.

I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all!

Missing Something?

What does this sweet dog have in common with this guy?

He is now missing the same tooth!

We came home today to find that Ender had gotten a little too rough with one of his bones and his tooth fell out! This isn't a baby tooth either. He is 4 years old so it looks like he is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life.

We called the vet and left them a message to let them know what happened and to make sure there isn't anything we need to do about this. He doesn't seem to be in any pain so I am guessing they will tell us to just let it be.

Ender loves his bones, but it looks like we are going to be more careful about what we give him unless we want to have to get him some doggie dentures in the future!

Burn Baby Burn

I had an unfortunate run in with my Bombshell this morning.

In the few months that I have been using this curling iron I have never had an incident until today! I have no idea how hot the curling iron really gets but it felt like 5000 degrees when it touched my neck this morning.

The bright side of this burn is that while it looks horrible, it doesn't look like a hickey so I can still wear my hair up while I work out without people thinking I am a hoochie and I still have great waves.

I don't have aloe or neosporin at work so I have been rubbing Carmex on it. Haha, hope that helps!

Pain is beauty...

The Perfect Pair

This afternoon Tori's bridesmaids got together to throw her a Bridal Shower.

Bride's Mom, Bride, Groom's Mom

We used The Perfect Pair as the theme (found on The Hostess With the Mostess) and it turned out adorable.

Tori and her fiancee Daniel like coffee and teas so this was the perfect theme.

I made a sign to go behind behind the coffee and tea station that said "Coffee &Tea, Cream & Sugar, Him & Her" (all perfect pairs) and we had 2 different flavors of tea and two flavors of coffee for the guests to try. We also had some cute purple sugar to sweeten things up and cucumber water, lime water and mimosas to drink.

See that cute wooden pear between the water containers? It says The O'Neal Family Est. 2011 and it was made by Erin. It was sooo adorable!

For the food, we had sandwiches, mini quiches, pasta salad, fruit kabobs, cheese & crackers, cookies and a beautiful (and delicious) cake made by Erin.

Tori and the Master Baker

We had the shower and a dentist office that one of the bridesmaids works at. Sounds weird but it was actually perfect and the prettiest dentist office I had ever been to! They had beautiful furniture and flower arrangements so we really didn't have to do any decorating.

The beautiful bride

It was so nice to get to catch up with the bride to be and all the bridesmaids! Just 2 more months until the big day. Can't wait!!!