The Mystery Thing Revealed! Winners! Tutorial! Whoo!

Sorry, sometimes those dang exclamation points get away from me.  If you recall, in the most recent Mystery Thing challenge I asked you to guess the source of the translucent discs in these upcycled jewels:

Got it?  No?  Hmmm...let's read some of the interesting ideas that came floating out of people's butts, shall we?

Mich's Honorable Mentions - The Very Best in Incorrect Guessing.

Terri: frisbees for a tiny, hairy troll.

Lisavengesta: a nursing mom's nipple shields.

Ashes: your imaginary friend's pocket change.

Anne P: part of William and Kate's tea set.

June: a cover for the bone of an Easter ham.

Lisbonlioness: contact lenses for evil unicorns, to hide their crazed, blood-shot eyes.
Pasha: poorly manufactured sun hats discarded by leprechauns for being translucent, therefore useless as sun hats.

Heee!  Love you guys!  So here's the answer...


...drum roll....


...ta da!

So!  Who won?  Well, one reader actually did guess this - but left no contact info.  Since providing an email is literally the only rule in this game, I was forced, yes forced to ask random.org to spit out some numbers.  Winners: congrats to June, Tabitha and Siti, I'll be contacting ya!

Ready to make one?  Here is the very easy tutorial!

I'm in Pakistan Today...

Hi, you guys!  Today I am on a different continent, guest posting on the fab, funny, exuberant blog Creative Mind.

There you can find my tutorial for these easy, thrifty recycled bottle flowers:

Plus a rare glimpse of some 'real' jewelry I've made.  Yes, it's my secret shame.  Sometimes, I actually make stuff  without using a single item from a trash bin, yard sale or dollar store.  Shocking!

If you care to pop over to Pakistan for a look, CLICK HERE!

Guess the Mystery Thing: Translucent Discus! Discuss.

Ready?  Here comes another episode of that popular giveaway game, Guess the Mystery Thing and Win One Because If You Do You Could Give It To Someone For Mother's Day Although It Will Probably Be A Slightly Belated Mother's Day Gift Since the Likelihood of Mich Getting It To You By Next Sunday Is Not Great But Even a Late Gift Is Better Than None So Go Ahead and Try For It!

Guess the Mystery Thing for short.

So!  Regular followers of my upcycled jewelry projects know I love me some translucent plastic.  Look, I found some more!  And made this...

What is that translucent disc?  Here's a version in green and poiple:

There will be two winners: first correct guess and one random guess.  If nobody gets it, there will be two random winners.  So even if you're stumped, guess anyway, you could still win.  (The crazier the guess, the better!)

The rules:

1. Open to anyone, anywhere.  (You don't even have to be a follower of the blog, although I would lurve it if you were!)

2. If your email isn't available in one click from an online profile, be sure to include your email address with your guess.

Okay, people...I know somebody is going to get this.  No hint this time.  Here goes...

Guess the Mystery Thing!!!!

UPDATE: THIS CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED.  THANKS, EVERYBODY!

Danger - Low Flying Hummies!

A pair of love-besotted, unobservant hummingbirds built their nest smack in the middle of my garden path, exactly at head-bonking level.  Something had to be done...

Explode-A-Bead Tutorial #2: Sea Creatures!

See?  Creatures!

Last time, I showed you how to make fancy beaded tassels from leftover Mardi Gras beads.  Let's turn some of those tassels into jellyfish, shall we?

This projects is so super simple, you will love making your own!

Explode-A-Bead Tutorial #1: Fun and Easy Tassels!

Here is something SO fun and cheap, I can barely stand it.

 

Did you spot what I used?

Mardi Gras Beads!!!  I know you have some.  Perhaps a string you bought at the dollar store, or acquired by a questionable act you prefer not to discuss.  Or those ones hanging in the back of your closet on that spangled leopard mini-dress with the big pink wine stain over one boob.  (I have spies everywhere.)

You can also use vintage plastic bead strings, or beaded trim from the fabric store -  i.e., plastic-beads-glued-to-string in some form or another.

Here's the DIY.

Pupsicle of the Month: It's A TigerBear!

Oh, yay...it's that time again...welcome one and all to April's Delicious Pupsicle of the Month!

Each month I take a tiny break from jewelry, to highlight a rescue dog who wants to come home with YOU and take you for walkies. As part of my Pupsicle Action Plan, I will contribute $75 towards the adoption fee of any of these cuties.

MEET CASPER

Oh.  My.  Gourd.  Have you ever seen such a cute tigerbear?  Wait, that's no tigerbear - that's a puppy!  Casper is 6 months old and the sweetest guy in all the land.  He's a Chow Chow/Shar Pei mix.  What does that make him, a Chow Pei Pei?  Sounds good to me!

The Mystery Thing Revealed! Winners! And Flower Dome Tutorial.

Hi!  Way back on Tuesday, I posted a Mystery Thing guessing game, in which I asked people to name that dome:

Well, it was not my intention to make you guys wait so long to see the answer, but on the spur of the moment I was whisked away on a camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, and spent the week communing with desert tortoises, giant hares and tiny vanilla lizards impersonating twigs.

I made up the name Vanilla Lizard.  Nobody take it, I am thinking of starting a band.


I am happy to report, a couple of clever readers guessed this Mystery Thing, so we have a winner!  It is Monica, the first one to guess:

Plastic rattle party favors from the dollar store!  Congrats and a half, Monica!  We also have two random winners, chosen by random.org's lucky integer spitter.  It spit out numbers 10 and 27, so congrats to MissKoolAid and Daffy's Dream.  I will email all of you soon. 

Of course, I am the real winner in this game.  Because you weirdos, er, people, have me in whoops every time.  I hereby introduce a brand new feature:

Mich's Best (Wrong!) Guesses Honor Roll

Annie: Barbie's salad bowl

Periwinkle Dzyns: pasties for a cosmic cow

Betsy: rock candy crystal from Ming Dynasty molds

Saraccino: lollipop safety storage

Allison: half a teeny tiny hamster exercise ball

Michele: particle accelerator buttons, because if you were accelerating particles all day, wouldn't you like some lovely buttons to press?

Just Jaymie: ta-ta covers

Sarah: party yarmulkes for a Ken doll

Anji: fairy jello molds

Pete: a gamer's 100-sided die cover (Pete gets style points for including a jpeg!)

Chrysty: My Little Pony contact lenses
Sunny: a wicked uncomfortable diaphragm

HEEEhahaha!  Brilliance!

Now on to a tutorial.

Guess the Mystery Thing: Crystal Flower Domes.

Hi, you guys!  Yay yay yay, it's time to put on your thinky caps.  Because here comes another round of that whacky guessing game challenge, Guess the Mystery Thing and Win Because it's Flowery and Cute and You Want One and Because It's April Already and When Did That Happen and It's Been a Long Time Since You Won a Giveaway and If Not Now, When, and If Not You, Who?

Guess the Mystery Thing for short.

Look, I made these little flower necklaces...

They can also be worn with the dome turned around the other way:

What are those round crystal domes?  Hint: not actually crystal.

There will be two winners: first correct guess and one random winner.  If nobody gets it right, there will be two random winners.  So even if you're stumped, guess anyway, you could still win!  (And I hope there will be lots of goofy comments, as usual - the silliness of my readers is always more than half the fun!)

The rules:

1. Open to anyone, anywhere.  (You don't even have to be a follower of the blog, although I would lurve it if you were!)

2. If your email isn't available in one click from an online profile, be sure to include your email address with your guess.


Here we go, people...Guess the Mystery Thing!!!!

THIS CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED.  THANKS, EVERYBODY!

Slap! Another post with dueling crafters.

Boop!  Boop!  Beep!

Hi, there!  If you remember a crafty little duel between me and Michele-with-one-L from Michele Made Me, you will recall I made these cutie-fruity photo holder garlands:

Perhaps you also recall that the duel was for a kind of "Tag-You're-It!" chain of projects called:

(Click above to read all about it and see the projects so far.)

Now it's my turn to tag somebody!   My first victim is Carol, whose delicious blog is called "The Answer is Chocolate."  (Best blog name EVER!)  Michele gave us our challenge, as follows:

1. Make your craft with recycled plastic bread-bag tags.

2. Take inspiration from industrial architecture.

3. Give your craft to your opponent.

So.  What to do with these little critters?

In case you don't know, my worthy opponent is truly a wizard (witch?) at making elegant printables.  To follow Ms. Chocolate's blog is to be showered with delightful free graphics for card making, holiday decor and general DIYing!  So I decided to make her a printable.  Oh - and it's for you guys, too.

Mine won't be elegant like hers (hey, it's my first attempt), but I had fun.   My starting point: bread tags, spacer beads, craft wire and chain.

My industrial inspiration: I tinkered around a bit, picturing cogs and ductwork and nuts and bolts.  Eventually I discovered that if you assemble these tags in a certain way, they look like robots!  Cool!

So here are my robot printables.  In honor of Earth Day 2011.

Click, save to your computer and print as desired.  Maybe you are throwing an Earth Day party?  Sounds like a fun idea to me.  I say we all throw one!


But wait.  Naturally, I could not not make an item of recycled jewelry. So I created a li'l robot necklace, and here he (she?) is!

To make him (her?), you can refer to my computer key jewelry tutorial.  I used the same basic techniques for this robot head.  I pierced the bread tags with a hot needle at three strategic points, then used one jump ring and two headpins to fasten them together:

Here's a closeup of the back.  A little hard to see, but I turned tiny loops in back of the shoulders (um, nipples?) to act as a type of rivet.

And there you have it, my entry for this round of Make It Good!  I really really hope you like it.

And now, you MUST click RIGHT HERE to go see Carol's bread-bag tag project.  I know it's going to be a bit of witchcraft that we are all going to love!

This here project will go into the Make It Good archives.  And now - uh-oh!  It's Carol's turn to tag somebody.  Maybe it will be YOU.

Boop.  Boop.  Beep!  Mich out.