Repair Broken Makeup and Create a Travel Makeup Palette

Do you get frustrated when you drop a compact or your eye shadow, and your makeup shatters? Me too! I also get frustrated with "all in one" makeup palettes that have too much of one type of makeup, and not enough of another.

That was the problem I had with this drug store makeup palette. It had way too much eye shadow, a little too much lip color, and most of the blush had broken out of the palette.

How to Create Altered Art Jewelry

Here is an easy and fun jewelry DIY that uses altered dog tags. These little necklaces take absolutely zero jewelry making skill and go together very quickly.

Altering dog tags is a great way to get your feet wet, if you've been thinking of trying your hand at altered art. Altered journals and canvases can feel a bit intimidating, but dog tags are only about one by two inches in size, so you can finish a project in under half an hour.

Make a Wire Wrapped Crystal Pendant!

Warning: Once you've been bitten by the wire wrapped jewelry bug, no small object is safe. I shared with you this wire wrapping tutorial several weeks ago, and since then, I have not looked at wire or small objects the same way!

Recently, my son's friend was visiting, and she saw some wire wrapped projects that I did. She had a couple of crystals that she had mined herself, and wanted to learn to wrap them, to give as gifts. The only wire I had on hand at the time was copper, steel, and brass wire from the hardware store.

She chose the brass wire, which was about 20 gauge, I believe. We practiced a few times, and this is what we came up with.

It turned out pretty cute. We added a "messy" bail, which is such a trendy look right now.

This was done using the same method used for these glass gems.  We both loved how the first one turned out, and she is busily working on a second pendant!

Do you craft with guests? I'm not sure how it started, but I seem to craft with guests quite often -- when we're not hanging out on the beach or playing a rousing game of scrabble!

Make Beautiful Jewelry From the Hardware Store!

You can create beautiful things using humble supplies. Craft stores are amazing, but we don't always have the time or extra cash to shop there, and sometimes we don't live anywhere near a craft supply store. Other times, we just want to create something beautiful from stuff we have lying around.

I recently found myself with a few moments on my hands, and cleaned out my purse. In the very bottom of my bag were some glass sample tiles from a big box hardware store.

How to Make Gorgeous Pendants With Dollar Store Supplies!

I love doing crafts using materials from the dollar store!  Last week I popped into the Dollar Tree and picked up a package of glass accent gems.

The package contained about thirty clear, iridescent, and colored glass gems that were each about one and one-quarter inches in diameter. I also picked up a three-pack of wire from the automotive section of the store, but you may be able to find colored wire in the floral or craft sections of your store.

I thought the colored gems were so pretty and decided to make them into pendants for gift giving. The pendants turned out super cute!

Instead of a chain, you can grab a roll of organza ribbon before you leave the dollar store. The roll I bought has six yards of ribbon which is enough to make several necklaces!

Here are the supplies and tools you will need to make your own wire wrapped glass pendants:

• Needle nose or round nose pliers
• Wire cutters
• Glass accent gems
• Wire
• Ribbon

Here is how to make your pendants:

Begin by cutting a piece of wire about twenty inches long. Create a bend in the wire, leaving about a four inch tail on one side.  This is where you will begin wrapping the wire around your glass gem.

Wrap the wire randomly all around the gem, as shown. Try to wrap the wire as snugly as possible. End the wraps at the top, where the tail sticks up from the back of the gem.

Twist the wires together once or twice to secure. This is  most easily done by holding the gem in one hand and twisting the pair of wires with the other hand, using a pair of pliers. This should also "snug" up the wire nicely. Now create a loop for hanging with one of the wires and coil the tail around the hanger snugly. Clip and tuck the ends, or create little spirals with the leftover tails and press against the glass.

The gem shown here has one tail coiled against the front of the gem, and one coiled against the back.

This is such an easy project and would make a lovely gift or stocking stuffer!  As with so many creative projects, it is a bit addictive.  I am NOT a skilled wire worker, so if I can do this, with a beginning skill level, I promise you can too!

What do you think? Would you try this? I love finding creative projects that don't require lots of money, tools, and skill. The great thing about using inexpensive materials is that you don't have to be afraid to use them! What do you have to lose? Two dollars? These pendants are so pretty! I love the way the light shines through them. No one will ever believe you made them for pennies, with supplies from the dollar store!

You might also like this post about making jewelry from bottle caps.

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Thanks so much for stopping by!
Amanda

Easy Stash Busting Ideas for Beads and Broken Jewelry!

I recently spent a lovely Saturday morning doing some stash busting!  The leftover beads and bits of broken necklaces had been accumulating in my craft stash and things were getting out of control. Does this happen to you?

Being the craft supply hoarder that I am, I can't bear getting rid of a piece of broken or dated jewelry, so there were plenty of random supplies in my stash. The solution?  Create lots of bead charms and links (and use up random packages of wire findings and partial spools of wire, at the same time)!

By the end of the morning, a nice little stash of "ready to use" charms and links were done. I have found the charms to be especially useful! I love to add simple charms to necklaces and bracelets, and it's so handy to be able to just grab something truly unique from my stash.

In one morning we went from having several plates of random beads and broken jewelry, to having lots of lovely charms!

The charms shown here, were made using whatever pin head wires I found in the stash.  I have loved the convenience of having these at the ready, and have already used them in several different projects!

Do you enjoy playing around with beads and making your own jewelry? Maybe you're a beginner? If so, be sure and subscribe to House Revivals, so you won't miss any of the upcoming jewelry tutorials we have planned. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to use the icons at the bottom of this post to share on social media!

17 Pretty Projects to Make With Granny Squares

When I was a little girl, I always looked forward to visits from my grandmother. People rarely flew in those days -- going to see your grandkids meant taking a long road trip! My grandmother didn't drive, so she contented herself with crochet projects while Grandpa drove.

Grandma made afghans and slippers and crocheted pretty edges on washcloths. She always made her granddaughters ponchos with matching hats. My cousin Sonia had this exquisite pale complexion, with rosy cheeks and a pink lips, and very dark hair, so Grandma always made her a bright pink poncho that emphasized her pretty coloring.  I had yellow hair, and brown eyes and freckles, and Grandma always made me a blue poncho, because she thought blonde hair looked pretty with blue outfits.

When I find old afghans and stacks of granny squares in thrift stores, I am always thinking about ways to up-cycle them. Do you do that? After seeing the many hours that my grandmother put into her crochet projects, I can't bear to see these colorful squares discarded.

I thought I would round up some of the best granny square projects from around the web for inspiration.

If you find an afghan in a thrift store, you can always just use it as an afghan!  Isn't this afghan from My Cakies, pretty?

This Etsy store sells vintage crochet patterns.  How about whipping up a cute little bikini from leftover bits?

Another Etsy store sell boot cuffs made from granny squares!

Magd van der Vloed

I smile every time I see this granny square trophy!

These granny square upholstered stools are from Wood Wool Stool.

Go retro, with a flounce sleeved granny square cardigan!

How about whipping up some tiny bird houses, like these from Anthropologie?

Sonja Cay Wood used an old afghan to recover the seats in her car!

This Etsy shop up-cycles vintage afghans into pillows!

Another Etsy shop makes these beautiful bags with granny squares.

All four fun projects shown above were from the Sannaochsania blog.

I found these sweet slippers at Purl Bee.

You can always whip up a little purse!

Or make a fun garland, like this one from Homemade at My Place.

Are you inspired to look at old afghans and orphan granny squares differently?

Make Pretty Jewelry from Fabric Scraps!

Last weekend, I quickly popped in to a little thrift shop in the beach town we were visiting. It's a great shop -- lots of new stuff every week and good prices.  I was thrilled to find a little package of vintage hexagon quilt pieces!

I have been a a bit of a jewelry kick lately, so I immediately thought it would be fun to figure out a way to transform the tiny pieces of fabric into pieces of wearable art.

Make a Pretty No-Sew Cuff Bracelet

Do you just love a pretty cuff bracelet?

All the fabric cuff bracelets floating around are so pretty I decided I needed to make my own.  But I did not want to sew -- I didn't even want to sew on one button.  And I didn't want to spend any money, either. And it needed to be a quick project.  Basically, I wanted a quick, cheap, and easy project :)