The Mystery Thing Revealed: Slip Into Something Upcycled

Hi again!  Time to reveal the answer to the latest Guess The Mystery Thing challenge.  The mystery: what's this textured orange stuff, which I built into layered flower jewelry?  There's a ring...

A necklace...

And some random flowers for hair ornaments or purse embellishments.

I included a hint that it does not come from a hardware store.  Think you know it?  Did anyone get the answer?  Read on to find out!

Guess The Mystery Thing: Flowery Orange Baubles

Have you ever played along with my Guess the Mystery Thing challenge?  (It's my guessing-game giveaway, it really makes me happy, and everyone is invited.)  Ready for this week's mystery?  Behold this multi-layered flower necklace:

The flowers also look cute as hair ornaments and bag embellishments.

The mystery: what the heck is that interesting orange stuff?  Be as specific as possible for the win.

Hint: it's not from a hardware store.  (Lately, a few of my readers say they never shop in hardware stores, and want me to limit my Mystery Things to girlie stuff.  Noooo!  I can't stop making hardware upcycles!  They are so much fun, and I am constantly in a home improvement store or electrical warehouse or something macho of that nature.  But I will make you this pledge.  For the rest of 2012, no Mystery Thing shall be derived from anything even remotely testosterone adjacent.)


First person to guess correctly will receive a fabulous prize!  (Namely, your choice of the necklace or two flower hair baubles.)

How it works: leave your guess in the comments.  There'll be two winners: first correct guess and a random winner.  That's right, I said random winner - so even if you don't know (or think someone else already got it), enter anyway, you could still win.  If your guess is funny, it might make my Most Creative Honor Roll.

This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere.  C'mon, join in!

THE ONE AND ONLY RULE

1. UNLESS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS ONE CLICK AWAY IN AN ONLINE PROFILE, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR GUESS.

Ready?  Set!  Guess the Mystery Thing!

UPDATE: THIS CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED.  THANKS FOR PLAYING, EVERYONE!

Glitter Bottle Jewelry - So Easy, So Cute!

Here's another fun stocking stuffer idea: tiny bottle earrings, filled with glitter.  So simple and cheep-cheep!



The secret: a set of fingernail glitters, which I found at the dollar store.

Read on for the easy peasy DIY!

Tiniest Glitter Bottle Ornaments

Well, this is ridiculously easy.  Teensy glitter-filled bottles, turned into mini ornaments?

That would be a yes indeedy.

I bought this nail-glitter set at the dollar store.

My husband says they look like crack vials, but pshaw!  Don't listen to him.   If you can't find them at your dollar store, try the nail art section of a beauty supply shop.

Simply pop them onto ornament hangers, and decorate the nearest tiny tree.

Optional: if you want permanence, glue the stoppers shut with clear silicone.  (But they work pretty well without it.)

Yay!  Wasn't that fun?



BTW, in case you have any doubts, I will be turning them into jewelry as well.

Saving that for a separate tutorial.  Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving weekend, everybody!

Stocking Stuffer Idea: Hidden Mirror Pendants

Big pendants!  Animal prints!  Hearts!  And here's the beauty part: the back of each one is a mirror (for checking to make sure your face is on straight).

I found these kitschy mirror compacts at Dollar Tree and I love them to bits.  There were other designs, too, but I could not resist the animal print hearts, come on!

A necklace with a secret mirror could be a great stocking stuffer-type gift for those hard-to-craft-for people.  You know, since it's not just jewelry, it's a practical item, too.  And please to notice, you can make two sweet gifts for the unbelievably low price of one dollar.

Want to try it?  Read on for the DIY.

The Mystery Thing Revealed: The Transparent Faceted Rectangle.

Today, after days of speculation amongst my readers, I shall reveal the answer to this week's Guess The Mystery Thing challenge.  To catch you up: the object was to identify the clear faceted thingamabobble at the center of these upcycled necklaces:

Hmmm...mysterious...

Think you know?  Did anyone guess?  Read on, my friends...

Before the reveal, Mich's Honor Roll of Most Creative (Totally Wrong) Guesses:

Imadorable: A coffin for the mini-Invisible Man.
Lisbonlioness: Erm...it's really quite obvious, but since I was lucky enough to win one of your recent challenges, I won't spoil it for everybody else. It's not like I was totally lost, stumped, without a clue or completely in the dark or anything...*sneaks away to hide somewhere*
Maple Girl: The special block in the glass mountain that allowed the prince to go after his princess.
Beth: Barbie's doorbell.
Periwinkle Dzyns: Definitely, the tears of my high school English teacher, she was so square she cried in rectangles.
Heather M: A lucite belt buckle for small disco dancers?
Carol: Chunks of unmeltable ice from Mars.
Dena: The Invisible Man's dominoes.
Heather: Teeny-tiny longterm cold storage for interstellar space travelers. You know, like from the Alien movies, but for really, really small cosmonauts.
Amy: Barbie's lucite camera?
Lora: Wonder Woman's invisible camera! 
Shannon: Snowman buttons. They are using these instead of coal this season.
Rae: Prototype for glass bottom shoes (like glass bottom boats) so you can see what you're stepping on.
Michele: Clear floatation devices for Liliputians to make their get-away after Gulliver broke all the tiny ropes holding him down. Bet you thought I wouldn't figure it out!
The Boy: Tiny polished windows.
 


Seriously, peeps - those were some of the best ones evah.

Ready to see the answer?  It's going to make you say aha!  Because once again, no one came even a little bit close.  And I thought this would be an easy one!  Just shows you what I know.



Ready?



Steady?



Bam.

The lids from little hotel shampoo bottles.

You can find this style of bottle in various incarnations, often containing cheap perfume...not that I would know anything about that. 

The DIY: with a sharp poky thing, I popped the plastic stopper out of the lid.  Then, using the same sharp poky thing heated over a flame, I melted three holes for stringing, plus another hole right in the center of the bullseye (for the bead accent).

I created the Japa Mala style necklaces using this tutorial.

Winners, winners!  Since there were no correct guesses,  random.org has chosen two lucky ducklings to get necklaces this week.  They are: Rae and Anonymous (CraftyCasey).  Congrats, you two!  Be sure to look for my email, coming soon.


Thanks a zillion for playing, you guys!  That was a super fun one!

Guess The Mystery Thing: Glitzy Facets, Japa Mala Style.

Let's play another round of Guess The Mystery Thing, yes?  Take a look at these sorta-kinda Japa Mala-style necklaces.

What are those fancy faceted focal pieces?

First person to guess correctly will receive a fabulous prize!  (Namely, your choice of one of these necklaces.)

How it works: leave your guess in the comments.  There'll be two winners: first correct guess and a random winner.  That's right, I said random winner - so even if you don't know (or think someone else already got it), enter anyway, you could still win.  If your guess is funny, it might make my Most Creative Honor Roll.

This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere.  C'mon, join in!

THE ONE AND ONLY RULE

1. UNLESS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS ONE CLICK AWAY IN AN ONLINE PROFILE, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR GUESS.

Readysetgo!  Guess The Mystery Thing!

UPDATE: THIS CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED - THANKS FOR PLAYING, EVERYBODY! 

Craft Fail: It Is finally Safe To Share The Legend Of The Halloween Mohel

Gather round, kiddies, for the tale of a craft fail.  Recently I designed some cute earrings, made from the rings on the ends of these orange and black penny whistles:

I also made some darling necklaces using the mouthpiece part of the whistle.

Yep, I hear you say, that Mich L. sure has an eye for upcycling.  Why, her intincts are unerring, and she always knows exactly what she's doing.  Er...

Everyone loves a behind the scenes story, right?  I have to confess: the rings were not the reason I bought the bag of whistles.  Neither were the mouthpieces.  I bought them because I thought I could use the rounded tips.  Maybe create beaded tassels with them...?  Or flowers.  Or something.  I was sooo proud of myself.

Craft fail!

Anything I made from those rather...distinctive...little objects would end up looking like an illustration for The Legend of the Halloween Mohel.

What?  You have not heard of this?  Well!  Now that the dread month of October is over, and we have all (hopefully) made it through unscathed, it's probably safe to share this legend.  It is a tale that does not frighten women.  But if you have men in the house...

The Legend of the Halloween Mohel

Every year since time immemorial, he has come a-calling on All Hallow's Eve.  He comes when you are sleeping...whispering "Tip Or Treat!" in your ear.  Eeeeek!  Before you went to bed, you put out a dish of Halloween candy - the most expensive candy you could afford.  And as you cower, trembling, beneath your covers, you hope to heaven he decides to eat the candy and leave your house...

Without taking his tip.

(source)

The End.

Anyway, back to the craft fail.  There was no way I was using those stupid-looking little things.  So I had to change my plan.

 

Much better.

Thanks for coming by to listen to my tale.  Next storytime, I shall regale you with The Heartwarming Saga of The Thanksgiving High Colonic. 

 

Whistle Up A Strange Little Pendant

How 'bout a tutorial for making these whistle necklaces?

Made from dollar store penny whistles.

Cute?  Strange?  I kinda think: both.  Anyway, hope you like them!

Read on for the DIY...

The Mystery Thing Revealed: The Black And The Orange.

Have you been playing along with this week's Guess The Mystery Thing challenge?  Let's take one last look before I reveal the orange-and-black solution.  The challenge: identify these mysterious, Halloween-hued hoops.

What can they be?  It's obvvy, right?  (Insert evil cackling here.)

Think you know?  Did anybody get it right?  Read on to find out...