Button Jewelry

After waiting almost a full month, my earring and ring backings finally arrived! I purchased two bags of vintage-style buttons from Micheal a few months ago because they just spoke jewelry to me. After hunting around for a good deal on earring and ring backings/bases I finally ordered some through Etsy. But since I ordered internationally, the shipping took foooorrrreeeeevvvveeerrrrr. 14 business days = 3 weeks! Checking the mailbox everyday really gets old fast. I felt like a kid waiting for my birthday party. So when my package finally arrived I got to work right away and managed to remember to take a few pictures on my phone for ya!

I used wire cutters to snip off the backings of my buttons-soon-to-be-earrings/ring. And I had to sand down the nubs so the backings would be flush together for optimal glue strength.

I'm not sure yet if Krazy glue is the best for gluing plastic and metal. So I'm going to wear these non-stop, partially to test them and also to make up for lost time. I've been so anxious to add these beauties to my wardrobe. I want to add a pair to those purple velvety flats I picked up earlier in the month too. I just, for some reason, get all anxious over which buttons to sew on. Like it's this horribly permanent decision. I mean just a little snip and I can replace the button. Not sure what my problem is here. Maybe I should make button shoe clips! Maybe wearing my new earrings will help calm me down....

UPDATE: So Krazy is glue is totally not strong enough/right for the job. My ring lasted 2 hours and my earings are broken after 1 day. Back to the drawing board...hope to have better news soon!!!

Drug Store Shoes

Drug stores have the best little treasures sometimes. I mean, did you realize Rite-Aid has cute shoes? Sneaks & slip-ons similar to Keds & Toms.
All $9.99 and under too!

I think I know where February's $20 is going...

Glitter Accent Nail

I've been seeing alot of this one nail super glitter-fied trend everytime I turn around. So since I've been trying to spend less money by doing my own nails, I added to my routine. It definitely fed my need for sparkle.

How-To: coat nail with polish and quickly cover with craft glitter. Coat with several layers of clear polish to seal. Next time I'm going to try krazy glue for a base coat because the glitter peeled completely off on day three. Then again, normal polish has a three day life cycle on my hands anyways.

Shoe Rack is Complete!!

Cody finished up my shoe rack a couple days ago! It took a few coats of paint to get all evenly colored. But its happily in-use in our closet now! Hopefully the whole angled aspect of it is a bit clearer now with shoes on it. So here is my update I promised you when I first bragged about it!

The only bummer is that it's already filled up..guess I might need two or three or  four more!!

Positive Propoganda

Love these colors, cheery & soft yellow with a cool & rough gray.

$20.06 spent in January 2012

My strategy for spending less money ($20 limit!) on clothing this year is to A) just stay AWAY from the mall & tempting stores and B) only buy items I truly, truly LOVE. I made it about two weeks. And then there it was, the extra 30% off all clearance ginormous and colorful poster sucking me into Old Navy. And there went my $20. Ok so I went over by $0.06...but only because of California's high sales tax, you won't hold that against me, will you? Here are the goods!

These purple velvet flats cost me $5.59. I'm not completely sold on the bow, makes them look a bit too much like slippers, I think. So a little re-working (possibly adding some bling?!) is in order for these and I will keep ya posted.

And then.......(drum roll, please!)................

Ta-Da!! Remember this?! The $50 sweater I was drooling over? Yes, it was there, the second-to-last-one, I might add. And now its mine, all mine for $12.94! 

Just noticed I didn't even take off the tag before snapping this pic! Guess I was a tad-bit excited (paired it with a sweater I got at a clothing swap, $5 jeans from last year & my biggest splurge ever--cowboy cowgirl boots). 

So, who is else is taking this challenge with me? How are you doing with it? I guess I should let you know that I added a "rule": if you don't spend your $20 one month it rolls over into the next month, BUT you can't pre-spend your money for future months either...This way if you can muster up the self-control, you could get a really awesome something for like $40 or more! But only if you really want to...

Rough & Ready

There seems to be a baby fever in my little circle of people I know. And since I'm not a part of the club yet, my mind just wanders to what I may be into for future nursery themes. I played around a bit with a girly nursery before, and so its time I do the same for a little bambino-boy. In all of the photos I've looked through (and its been lots!) it seems the trick to a successful boys room is to make it baby-cutesy without going too feminine. At this very moment, my mind is hovering over a red or orangey color scheme for a boy: SF Niners (WOOOOO-HOOOO!!!)

(found here)
and/or SF Giants, KTM & Honda Moto-cross Racing... I know thats a lot of influences, but a little reference here and there throughout the room would be fun. Something in this sort of direction:

And I totally love this sheet set too.

 

It'll be interesting to see what I actually end up doing when its my turn to get in the game. Hormones have been known to change a woman!

But, man, did you SEE THAT GAME ON SATURDAY? WOOO-WHEEE!!!!!

Tempting to just go all out like this here:



Good thing I've got lots of time to simmer down...