DIY – Leather Necklace

Besides our passion for hand-painted shoes, we also have a passion for funky jewelery.  Sometimes we make our own and they turn out horribly, but this one’s so easy there really is no excuse to go out and pay for something like this.

Stuff you need:

- scrap pieces of leather

- 2 hoops

- 1 lobster claw

- 1 old chain

1. Find scrap pieces of leather (I cut mine off of a skirt that I made shorter)

2. Cut leather into rectangle of whatever size you please

3. Cut fringes into the leather. Basically cut straight strips but leave around 1 cm at the end attached.

4. Poke holes using a thick needle near the upper corner of the leather. (Upper being the part where all the pieces are attached)

5. Attach a hoop to each hole (I used hoops left over from the minipunkz project)

6. Attach lobster claw to one of the hoops

7. Find an old chain that you don’t really wear anymore and attach it to the necklace (hoop to lobster claw)

8. Attach additional dangling bits to hoops

9. Wear it!

Tags: Accessories, DIY, Stuff we make, Stuff we wear

Minipunkz: How to make Mini Pumps Earrings

How to make Mini Pumps Keychain:

Material:

-1 Pair of Mini Doll Shoes

-A Safety Pin OR a Needle

-A Lighter OR A Lighted Candle

-Tweezers

-2 x Earring hoops (It’s the little circle thingy, I think that’s what they call them… You can get them at Arts & Craft store like “Beadswork” or “Micheals”)

-2 x Stainless steel French Hook Ear Wires (You can get them at Arts & Craft store like “Beadswork” or “Micheals”)

Here are the steps:

1) Heat the tip of the safety pin/needle with a lighter/lighted candle. (CAUTION: The pin/needle will get super hot once it’s heated, so make sure your hands are protected, wear a glove or something…)

2) While the pin/needle is still super hot, try to poke it through the back of the doll shoe to make a hole. Yes…I know…it’s tough, but don’t worry, you can do it.

(Miranda lost a shoe when she tried to do it shhh….)

Now…you might need to do this repeat Step 1 and Step 2 a couple of times if your pin/needle is not hot enough. (Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 until you manage to make a hole)

Oh and try not to inhale when you are doing Step 2, because it smells kinda bad.

3) Use a tweezers (I used my finger nails), slightly bend open the earring hoop (the circley looking thingy), hook it into the hole. Use a tweezers and close the earring hoop. Repeat for the other side of your earrings.

4) Attach the French hook ear wires to the earring hops. Repeat for the other side of your earrings.

5) Ta Dah! Now you’ve got a COOL pair of Mini Pumps Earring.If you want your earrings to look EVEN COOLER, you can purchase some Oil Based Paint/Acrylics and paint some designs on it. Enjoy!

Speaking of which…I customized one pair for my sister, but she lost it:(! Maybe I will make one again later and show you guys what the earrings could look like when they’re painted.

Tags: Creative, D.I.Y., fun stuff, Stuff we make

Stuff for your desk

It’s a known fact that Ada and I are garbage ladies.  We collect cardboard, packing paper, bubble wrap, etc.  Basically, we collect other people’s trash.  The other day, feeling inspired, Ada made this for me out of …you won’t believe…server packing foam!  She salvaged the material and with a small swiss knife, carved out the “wow” for me (yes, I specifically asked for Wow cause I’m lame like that).  See how the top of the ‘o’ holds my paper clips?  Now I won’t have to dig around in my drawer whenever I need clips!

Tags: Creative, Stuff we make

DIY Funky Neck Piece

I get cold really easily but seeing that it’s now the end of May, it simply didn’t make sense for me to wear scarves anymore.  My solution? Funky Necklace / Scarf made outta shredded fabric

Finished Product:

Materials Needed:

- Cloth (Preferably Cotton)

- Chain

I had a old hoodie that had a hole in it lying about, so I used that as my fabric.  I also had a old chain that was missing its clasp lying around, so I used that as well.

First I shredded the hoodie into strips that were approx. 2 cm wide.  The length doesn’t really matter.

After that, I tore the chain apart simply by twisting the hoops of the chain.  My chain was not the best of quality, so the open sides of each hoop easily twisted and disconnected from the rest of the chain.  After that, I use a pair of scissors to squeeze the open side shut again.  I made chains of various lengths (some with 6 hoops, some with 3 etc).

Next, loop the fabric into the hoop.

Then I knot it.  Insert fabric through the hoop, knot, insert, knot, insert, knot until I ran out of chains.  Then I knot the ends.  The final product is a very very long hoop made of chain and fabric.

To wear it, I simply loop it around my neck multiple times.  The result is a funky multi-layer neck piece that keeps my neck warm. 

Tags: Stuff we make

DIY – Wall hanging earring holder

Ada and I always lose our earrings.  So we decided to do something about it by making a wall hanging earring holder.  That way, we can display our earrings, and have a place to put them.  This is what the finish product looks like.  (By the way, this one is mine, the purple one below is Ada’s in case you’re wondering why the step by step shows a different color).

Materials needed:

- 1 x blank stretched canvas
- 1 x round tip medium acrylic brush
- 1 x flat tip large acrylic brush
- 1 x acrylic color (base color)
- 1 x acrylic color (tree color)
- 1 x tin foil
- 1 x thumb tac

Start by wrapping a notebok or a piece of cardboard with the tin foil.  This will the surface on which you mix your paints.  If you suck at mixing colors, you might just buy the exact color you want at an art shop instead of buying a bunch of colors and mixing.   You can then squeeze the paint onto the tin foil.

Paint the entire surface area of your stretched canvas with your base color.  I also recommend that you paint the edges as well cause it’ll look nicer once you hang it up.  Give the base color about an hour to dry.

Next you add the tree using the rounded brush.

If you want, you can paint the edge as well.  The picture below shoes the bottom of the painting.  See how the tree truck continues onto the edge of the canvas?  Give it another hour to dry.

Finally, use your thumb tac to poke holes onto the canvas.  You can do as many or as few as you like.  I personally like to poke two holes fairly close together so that I can place a pair of earrings side by side.  Insert your earrings and hang.

Total time: approx 3.5 hours (including sitting around waiting for the paint to dry)

Total cost: approx $40 Canadian

Now go make yourself one of these!

- Miranda

Tags: Accessories, Stuff we make