DIY Dainty Tube Necklace (Giveaway)

UPDATE: Congratulations to Danielle at bybegnaud.blogspot.com! You’re the winner of this drawing!

Thanks to everyone who participated. You can still flaunt this gorgeous necklace with the DIY instructions below. Stay tuned for more giveaways!

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Another dainty necklace DIY and giveaway!

I am loving these pretty little things. There’s so much love that I just want to give things away! Perhaps I’m already in holiday cheer. Comment on this post for a chance to WIN.

Tube Necklace

What you’ll need (and where to buy at the end of the post):

Here’s the step by step tutorial:

DIY Tube Necklace

What do you think about this piece? Is this something you can do?

Necklace

So feminine and flirty! Plus, you could wear this with any outfit!

I’m also loving the layered look. I layered this tube necklace with the necklace from last week’s post (dainty beaded DIY here).

Layered

It’s almost the holidays. Start DIY-ing and getting those presents ready to give out to friends and family. These would be great gifts with a nice personal touch.

Don’t forget to comment on this blog post for a chance to WIN a necklace.

Loving dainty and pretty things,
Jay

Only one entry per email. Email must be valid. Shipping address must be in the United States. This necklace giveaway ends at 11:30pm PST on 11/19/13. Winner will drawn and announced on Wednesday, 11/20/13 at 12:00am PST via blog and email provided.
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Gold filled curved noodle tube bead
Wire Cutter & Pliers on Amazon (similar set to mine)
Gold chain from Amazon
Eye pin, lobster claw clasp, and jump rings from Michael’s

Dainty Beaded Necklace (WINNER)

Whoohoo!

Congratulations to Jordanna for winning the dainty beaded necklace!

Winner!

Okay, I’m feeling super giving today! Let’s draw another winner!

Congratulations to Christine!

Winner 1

Winners, please check your email for shipping instructions. Thanks to all those who participated in this contest.

You can still recreate this dainty piece of jewelry. Follow this easy tutorial to make your own.

Love,
Jay

DIY: My Little Minion

UPDATE:  Congratulations Winnie Cheung! You’re the winner of this costume giveaway! Thanks to all those who participated in this contest. Your pet can still be a Minion with this easy DIY. Happy Halloween!

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Minion

It’s almost Halloween (only two weeks away)! I know you’re thinking only one thing – what costume should my pet wear? I got you covered with this DIY! Plus, enter a comment below and you can win one of these costumes for your pet!

After watching Despicable Me 2 and going around a few McDonald’s to pick up those Minion Happy Meal toys, I knew I had to make a Minion costume. Meet my little Minion, Chubs.

Little Chubbo

Chubs

What do you think? This costume takes a little bit of sewing, cutting, and some hot gluing. Super easy, and I promise you’ll get a lot of “OMG, SO CUTE” reactions.

What you’ll need:

  • Felt (yellow, black, grey, and white).
  • Sewing machine (you can definitely hand-sew if you don’t have a machine)
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • Black pipe cleaners
  • Elastic
  • Velcro

Let’s start out with the yellow felt. My cat is a small animal (10lbs), so I measured his head and cut a piece of yellow felt 9×7 inches. Then sew the edges together on both sides (follow the pattern below). I used a sewing machine, but this is easy to do by hand too.

Yellow Felt

Next cut black pipe cleaners into 2 inch pieces. Stick them through the top of the hat (you may need to snip a little hole at the top for the pipe cleaners to go through). I then bent the end of the pipe cleaners inside the hat, and hot glued them into place.

Minion Hot Glue

Now it’s time to sew the elastic onto one side of the hat. Then sew the velcro onto the loose end of the elastic, and sew the velcro onto the other side of the hat. Make sure your band is flat when it is velcro-ed together.

Elastic

Velcro

Finally, we can move on to the details. Let’s cut the other pieces of felt. Again, my hat is for a 10lb animal so my circle diameters are as follows:

  • Black – 1.5 inches in diameter
  • Grey – 3.75 inches in diameter
  • White – 3.25 inches in diameter
  • Black band – 6.5 inches in length

To make things easier, here’s a template for the circles. You can print the pattern so that it can serve as a guide.

I simply hot glued all the pieces together. First the eyeball, then the pupil, then the black bands, and lastly the grey glass.

Details

Done

Put it on your little minion, and take lots of pictures!

Minion Boy

Chubs' Hat

Is this something you can easily recreate? Are you thinking about making your little pet child a minion now?

As I mentioned earlier, enter a comment for this blog post, and you could win one of these small hats for your little pet. You’ll get it before Halloween! Enter now!

Only one entry per email. Email must be valid. Shipping address must be in the United States. This costume giveaway ends at 11:30pm PST on 10/22/13. Winner will drawn and announced on Wednesday, 10/23/13 at 12:00am PST via blog and email provided.

Banana,
Jay
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Minion image copyright

Weekend Fashion Show With My SORELs

I have some crazy, super awesome, fricken fantastic, so excited, supercalifragilistic (get it yet?) news to tell you!

SOREL is currently hosting a Instagram contest, where users can submit photos of SOREL’s theme of the week. All you do is follow SOREL on Instagram, find out what the theme is on Monday, submit a picture of that particular theme, and add the hashtag #GetYourBootsDirty. If your photo gets chosen as the winner of the week, you win a pair of SORELs! I bet you want a free pair of boots to get you excited for the Fall/Winter.

So the LEGEND-wait for it-ARY news is that I was chosen as the winner for the week of accessories (2 weeks ago). I showcased my DIY Midi Rings and found out I won a pair of boots! SOREL was nice enough to let me choose which boots I wanted, and in one week, they shipped it to me. See how excited I am?

My box!

Before this contest, I had one pair of SORELs. They make great quality boots, and the best of all, they are waterproof, perfect for the winter in the Bay Area! Even better is that their style has improved season after season, and I love the new Fall looks. So when I got to choose my own pair, I couldn’t decide between the feminine but rugged style of the Joan Of Arctic Wedge Mid Boot or the military styled Scotia Lace Boot. It seriously took me all day to finally decide on which pair I wanted! The Scotia is definitely a good option for everyday wear, but how HOT am I going to look in those wedge boots? I love the grey tone and the low wedge will elongate my legs! Eep, I can’t wait to show them off once the weather cools down!

My SORELsHow gorgeous are these against the Fall background?

Tie my shoe
Look at the detail of these boots – swooooon!

These can be a bit daunting to wear, I get it. For some, it might be a bit too rugged, but I think that’s the beauty of the shoe. There are endless ways to create a look that’s more feminine so get creative! Plus the wedge definitely adds to the girly look! Here are three outfits that I put together for these boots. I put clothing details under each picture so it’s more convenient to buy (I’m a bad influence, wink). If you want to take breath-taking OOTD pictures like this, you can employ affordable services of photographers, like the Amazing family photography.

This is a great option for a casual, weekend look. A baggy shirt, chunky scarf, skinny jeans, socks, and a messy bun make for a very comfortable outfit.

Casual  Casual 2
Shirt from Forever 21: similar here, here, and here
Chunky infinity scarf from Urban Outfitters, old: similar here and here (loving this second option)
Socks from Target, old: similar here and here
orYANY bag
Fossil watch
Ray-Ban aviators

I really like the relaxed look of this next outfit with the messy side braid. A blazer dresses up the outfit a bit more, and the woven blazer and leather give the outfit some texture.

Business Business 2
White shirt from JCP (only $3.99)
Woven blazer from H&M, old: similar color here, woven detailed jackets here and here
Faux leather leggings from Urban Outfitters, old: similar here and here
orYANY bag 
Gold tassel neck was a gift: similar here and here

This next outfit might be my favorite one! Sequins? Leather? Boots? Red lipstick? This makes for the perfect going out, girly outfit!

Fancy Fancy 2
Grey shirt from Gap
Joe Fresh faux leather jacket from JCP
Sequin skirt, old: similar here, here, and here
Michael Kors gold watch from Nordstrom
Lipstick by NARS from Sephora in Red Square

What do you think about the boots? Which outfit is your favorite and which one would you wear? What other things would you wear to pair with these fabulous boots?

Now go enter into SOREL’s Instagram contest for a chance to win some boots!
Jay
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Special thanks to SOREL for the Joan Of Arctic Wedge Mid Boot. I love them, and you’ve truly created a SOREL-for-life fan. All my love!