DIY: Tasseled Star Ornaments

Man, I am so crazy about the holidays. Just ask my husband, poor guy. We've been listening to Christmas music since like early November. For the most part, Etsy is to blame. I have to get my Christmas items started early or they never get listed! I've finally finished with the stuff to sell and now I get to simply focus on making pretty things for my own tree and for gifts.

This week, I had the idea to make ornaments for my friends. I have way too much Sculpey and embroidery floss left over from other projects, and a lifetime supply of glitter. These supplies all combined perfectly into these fresh and festive little star ornaments!

Here's what you'll need:

Sculpey or Femo Polymer Clay

A small cookie cutter

Embroidery Floss

Fine metallic thread

Small Jumprings

Jewelry Pliers

Jingle Bells

Glue & Glitter or Gold Enamel

Another type of thread for stringing

Step 1: Cut & Bake

Set your oven to 275° (or whatever degree the polymer clay packaging says). While it's heating up, roll out your clay. I rolled mine slightly less than a 1/4" thick. Cut out your shapes with the cookie cutter. Use a toothpick or other pointy tool to make a hole for hanging. Carefully peel them off your work surface and place on a baking sheet. When your oven is ready, follow the directions on the clay package. I baked mine for 15 minutes, which seemed to be perfect.

Step 2: Tie your tassels!

While your shapes are baking, you can make some tassels. They're pretty quick and easy. I got my method from the DIY blog, Maggie Holmes Design. I made my tassels a little smaller than hers by wrapping them 5 or 6 times around a piece of 4bar cardstock.

Step 3: Add some sparkle 

The glitter in the photo above was $1 at Target.

My favorite, though, is Diamond Dust. It's basically crushed glass. Mine is in a vintage paper canister and weighs a pound, but if you want a smaller amount, you can still buy it at JoAnn Fabrics.

I also used gold enamel (mine is called Liquid Leaf) to add dots to a few of the stars. Gold acrylic paint should work just as well and isn't has toxic.

Step 4: Assemble

When everything is dry, string a bit of thread or embroidery floss through the hole you made and tie. Use the jewelry pliers to open your jumpring just enough to add the bell and then close it around the string you just tied onto the star. You're all done!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

♠

DIY: Make Your Mail Glitter!

Here's a simple way to make your Valentine's mail even more special.

What You'll Need:

1 cellophane envelope

Some glitter & confetti

Washi tape

1 address label

A cute card

A cute friend

Step 1:

Fill out your card. The mushier the better.

Step 2:

Just kidding. That's gross.

Step 3:

Seal it up in its paper envelope, then slip it into the cellophane envelope. You can get a package of them here.

Step 4:

Throw in a pinch of glitter and a pinch of confetti. Seal up the cellophane. Make sure you don't fold the cello envelope smaller than it really is (tip from USPS). Use the washi tape to seal any gaps where the glitter escapes.

Step 5:

Address the envelope. Add postage, duh.

Step 6:

Fill someone's mailbox with love!

P.S. I made that Grumpy Cat stamp! I've made so many cards with it. They watch over me while I sleep.

♠

Glitter Giveaway: Win Earrings from Anjolee

Anjolee wants to make your holidays even brighter by sending one lucky reader a pair of beautiful gem drop earrings! 

The winner will receive sparkly cubic zirconiums set in sterling silver. If you're interested in the real bling, Anjolee offers diamond drop earrings in several stunning styles and sizes. You can also choose the size, quality and color of your stone!

Here's how to enter:

1. Like the Anjolee FB page (required)

2. Like the Fleur d'Elise FB page (required)

3. For extra points you can tweet about it!
(Open to US residents only. Sorry!)

UPDATE: Make sure you're using the Rafflecopter widget to enter the giveaway! I won't be able to track your entries if you don't!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!
♠

New Shoes!

Let me just start with how happy I am. There's still little things in my life that need to be perfected, but compared to the health problems I've had over the past 2 years, those little imperfections are nothing. I've mentioned it in a few posts, but I suffer from dumb feet. More specifically, I've got something called sesamoiditis, which is a chronic inflammation in a small bone in the ball of the foot. It's amazing how much heart ache and pain can come from a bone the size of a kidney bean. Anyway, this time I really think it is finally calming down! I never thought I'd say it, but my sesamoiditis is healing!

So, I've been buying more shoes, because I can finally actually wear them! I still need to be careful, and I wear ugly tennis shoes on most days, but I'm fine with that, because I'd rather be pain-free. These Maison Martin Margiela wedges aren't the most comfortable shoes, but I can actually walk in them! I found them on eBay for a third of their original cost at H&M. Sturdy, leather-soled, and gorgeous; all you need in a shoe.

I was pretty happy to find these leather boat shoes by Dexter at Deseret Industries in Shoreline. They fit my custom orthotics, which is splendid, because they cost a lot (like as much as a pair of designer shoes) and I'm supposed to use them all the time. The shoes were made in the USA, which may not matter as much for used things, but still can mean that they're higher quality.

 

The leather is perfectly broken in, so I won't have to suffer through breaking it in myself. I feel pretty cool wearing them with my cropped black BDGs and no socks, haha. Next step: Red Wing boots... oh no, I'm turning into my husband.

Like I mentioned in this post, I bought three pairs of vintage sandals at an estate sale in West Seattle. My plan was to sell two of them, but the black version of the ones pictured above had some damage I didn't see when I bought them. These gold and beige ones are for sale in my Etsy shop, though. They look great on and are pretty comfortable. The faceted plastic jewels were what caught my eye. They're so over the top. The woman who used to own them had 5 pairs! All in different colors. I hope I can find someone who loved them as much as she did.

♠

hearts & candy

Yet another holiday with the purpose of reminding us to tell our loved ones how much we appreciate them. Go buy some chocolates for someone :)

In these photos:

Thrifted Land's End sweater

H&M belt

Forever 21 skirt and shoes

Now, for a delicious recipe! It's always nice to have something special on Valentine's Day, so I came up with this Rose-Pistachio Buttermilk Biscuit recipe, based on one from the Fannie Farmer cookbook.

Rose-Pistachio Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter or shortening

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup chopped pistachios (if salted, they should be rinsed first)

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease to 8-inch cake pans. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter using two knives, a pastry blender, or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the utensil. Add more buttermilk if it looks to dry, but be careful not to add too much! Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 14 times (really, that's what it says, it's not just a Valentine's Day thing). Pat or roll until 1/2 inch thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out biscuits. Place about 1/8th inch apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve with raspberry or cherry jam and mint tea.

For the icing:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp rosewater (Very affordable at Halal markets!)

Optional: Crumbled rose petals

Stir ingredients until well mixed. Drizzle over slightly cooled biscuits.

COVET.

Glitter skirt by Danielle Scutt. COVET.

I saw this skirt in the most recent issue of Elle (Feb. '12, pg. 208) and knew immediately that this would be the next item featured on COVET. It's gorgeous, completely impractical and extravagant, and certainly nothing I will own anytime soon. Actually, I can't even figure out where to buy it. I think you would have to be famous or know Miss Scutt personally. Maybe it's just not available yet, but at $1,415 I will probably never be in the same city as that skirt.

Visit ELLE.com to see more of Danielle Scutt S/S 2012 ready-to-wear