Accessories Of Old

Oh so simple...

Once in a while , when I have the time I try and make something that I myself will wear from all my bits and bobs.

A while ago, a friend of mine gave me this apple green leather wrist band that she had lying around. 

She said " take it I have not idea what to do with it ..sure you will come up with something"...

 

and so I did....

 

 

I was going through a box of items I had stashed away for "one day" and came across a card of these very pretty 1920's metallic dress trimmings .

 

 

The perfect little embellishment for my leather wrist strap...

 

So, with some 'miracle" fabric glue that I literally use for just about anything and everything I glued it down and Voila...

 

 

A leather cuff with a difference...

 

 

and only five minutes to make.

Simple but makes a statement.

 

Making a necklace

I needed to give a gift to a very special friend of mine and so wracked my brain as to what to give her.. then I remembered she had once given me a pendant that she had bought and gave it to me as a gift... I always loved it and knew she did too and so came up with an idea to make her a necklace using the pendant she had once given me...

I found some other hand carved charms I had stashed away that I had bought at a show..

 

I then took out some beautiful semi precious stones that I have together with some pearls and swarovski crystal started to bead..

 

 

I then took out some pearlised seed beads and together with everything came up with a really wonderful necklace..

 

 

and then last but not least the pendant that inspired it all...

 

 

I thought it came out really well and she was thrilled... nearly as thrilled as I was to give it to her..

 

For all the swarovski crystal beads as well as the pearlised seed beads you can go to my website at www.accessoriesofold.com

 

 

Decorating flip flops with ribbon

Now that it is summer and my kids have been at home looking for things to do, I had to put on my craft cap and come up with some activities for my daughters.

I found these flip flops at the local craft store . They were really reasonable and a cute base for our craft project. 

I took all my off cuts of ribbon that I have and got the girls to tie them around the plastic part of the shoe ..

Starting at the strip that goes between the toes and working up..

 

Double knotting each piece so it looks like this...

This is really fun and as you can see the end result is really cute... the kids love doing it, it gives them something to do and the bonus at the end is that they actually have something they have made that they can wear!!

My last Starbucks

Okay so I challenged myself and its now my last Starbucks revamp for the week. I could go on and on finding new backdrops for the Queen of coffee but have so many new things to blog.. so on that note here is the last image I will have of the mermaid for a while... nestled on a vintage millinery flower.

 

and then made into a flower brooch..

 

Starbucks ... again

I am coming to the end of my personal Starbucks challenge to myself of finding new settings for the little Starbucks mermaid... this time I decided to should surround herself with other pretties ..

 

Yup she is now one of the official members of a band that was hand embellished using our vintage buttons on a hat made by my dear friend Albertus Swanepoel....

 

A Starbucks button brooch

Yes, I am still on my Starbucks idea week - day four!

Today I decided to give the Coffee Queen of the Seas another function... firstly I took her and glued her on to some of our Tjomies vintage stationery  Paisley print as a back drop.

 

After this I then took some really pretty vintage lingerie lace in a apple green and glued it making a skirt around the cutout circle.

 

I then found some vintage celluloid buttons in my stash and framed the mermaid .

 

I then cut around the brooch once it had all dried and stuck a pin on the back. 

 

I may even take it to  my local Starbucks up the road and hand it over to my favorite barista as a gift !!!!! 

A Starbucks doodle

Well we are now into our day 4 of keeping up with our obsession of the Starbucks mermaid logo !!

My partner in TJOMIES Stationery Warren who is the king of all doodles decided to join in the fun and this is what he came up with....

 

I think he is a bloody king at the way he doodled sweet Miss Sea Queen of Starbucks... don't you?

If you want to see anymore of his brilliant doodles go to our  Tjomies stationery website   and you will see a whole range of cards that have been doodled by Warren.  Here is a taste of some of the brand new DOODLE range he is working on (it fits in perfectly with my Starbucks theme)

Starbucks 3

Well, I am now on my third day of my Starbucks challenge to myself of creating new backrounds for the  mermaid.

Today I took a plain white tag and together with the logo that I had previously cut out in a flower shape got to work..

 

If you follow this blog you will know by now that I love drawing leaves!!!! Why ? I dont know I just do!! So , I decided to surround the cut out with leave forms.

 

Amazing what some color does ....

 

 

Add some vintage polka dot trim.....

 

It all comes together .....

 

Could see this hanging as a bottle tag

   

A Starbucks tag

If you read my blog yesterday you will see that A - I  have either gone totally mad or B I am  just another artist that is inpired by objects  surrounding me , motivating me to create!! ( I personally think it is A!)

Yes, I am still on my strive to give the friendly Starbucks mermaid a new place to call home. Today I made a tag using her image..check it out.

Firstly I decided to cut her out using a flower cut out

 

And then together with one of our Tjomies paisley gift tags the two did meet!!!!

  

It is amazing what a vintage buttons does to embellish most things..

 

 

Change the color of the button and add some vintage trim and voila...

 

   

   

More Starbucks tomorrow .. I am having so much fun  that I have decided to dedicate the blog to Starbucks this week. If any of you have any ideas let me know.

Starbucks

I have been extra busy with all my cut outs for the upcoming Scrapbooking show we are doing at the end of the month.. obviously it has gone to my head as I am sure you will agree with me after reading this post ( or maybe not - maybe I have just come up with a new look for Starbucks)

I was sitting minding my own business sipping on my starbucks when I sat back and had a look at the coffee cup. You know how there are some things you see all  the time but never really look at . The Starbucks logo is one of those things. I found myself really liking the mermaid figure!

  

I decided to add a bit of spark to her sea crown ...

 

 

and to soften the green surrounding her by using some of my cut outs  ( what else!!)

 

With summer coming up she needs some summery pastel color to surround her.

 

 

My own little personal homage to the Sea Queen of Starbucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A hand beaded paper Hamsa

Hamsa means five which refers to the five fingers. The hamsa is mostly worn in charms and jewelery and is a symbol to protect against the "evil eye". Many people see the hamsa as a sign for protection/happiness and prosperity.

I have a real love for Hamsa's and have a collection at home. A while back I decided to make one for a friend using paper and beads, since then I have had many people ordering these hand made pieces as each one is individual and never repeated. They are extremely time consuming but well worth the effort when you see the end result.

I decided to blog the process while making these two Hamsa's for a client. Take a look.

Firstly I took a Hamsa and photocopied it onto paper.

 

I then cut it out .

 

I usually make about eight to ten copies so it will give me enough height to creative a 3D effect.

 

With double sided tape ( and a alot of it !) I start cutting out different shapes within the Hamsa that I want to layer more.

 

The more height you want - the more layers you build.

 

 

 

After building the Hamsa I then start outlining the different areas on the Hamsa with seed beads..

 

This is the time consuming part and I always work with a tweezer ( yes a tweezer has many uses!)

 

This time around I decided to use some trim together with beads and crystal to add some different texture ...

 

I love the way this metallic trim works with the crystal.

 

It is all a process of finding the right space for the right bead.

 

Here is the finished product before I frame it. The client for this Hamsa wanted a lot of blues and so I focused on different blues that I found in seed beads as well as the Swarovsky crystal.

 

The next one is a different palette of  warmer colors

 

 

 

A full view of this Hamsa....

 

For any of the beads, crystals and trim used ..all can be purchased  on my website xxx

If you want more details on the Hamsas and would like to order a Hamsa just email me -

 

Five minute craft project - butterflies,butterflies..everywhere

I was looking for something sweet and spring -like to embellish hairgrips to fill a party pack for a birthday we are doing at the shop  and I came across these little butterflies.

 

They are really sweet and with a sparkle of a flatback crystal could be made into something that would sit pretty on a hairgrip. So, I put them into little packs and tried out a pair to see how they would come out. Take a look ..

 

Do not forget the sparkle (every girl loves a little sparkle)

 

and some more sparkle...

 

Next out came the glue gun and voila a new five minute craft project was born.

 

 

Look how pretty they look......

 

These were really easy and very inexpenive to do. A very sweet project to do with your little one over the spring break.