25 September 2009

Techie Tada!

Hey, hey, hooray...it's finally Friday!

For the past two weeks, it was all about this bag of scrap -- a cool find from a New York City flea market. I think it's a purchase that just keeps on giving and I did my darn best to milk it dry.

The first thing I did was to segregate
the contents by color.


These, paired with other materials that I bought or already had in my possession, were then turned into accessories like a belt, hair clip, shoe clips, necklaces, necklaces and more necklaces!

Well, there are a lot more beads left so I'm making another accessory.

Something for our everyday technology.

I made a pouch from a piece of felt and decorated the flap
with these black beads.


Tada! A cool case for any MP3 player,
digital camera
or mobile phone.


As for the rest of the beads, I'll use them in future blah to Tada! projects. Meanwhile, I wish you an awesome weekend!


24 September 2009

The Golden Key

If you love magazines as much as I do, you may have seen the latest ad of Tiffany & Co. featuring these Tiffany Keys:


I'm not sure if you can read the text, but I really love the lines "A promise of adventure" and "A secret kept". Sigh! These are gorgeous, especially the diamond-studded ones. To resist the urge to shop, I think I'll craft instead.

With Tiffany keys as inspiration, I'm turning this old key and a bunch of stuff from the bag of scrap from blah to Tada!.

An embellished key for me...

...until I'm ready to purchase my Tiffany Key!

23 September 2009

Wrist-y Business

Eight days and counting and I haven't used up the
goodies from my bag of scrap.

Good thing I still find inspiration to turn
them from blah to Tada!
.

Tiny beads from the bag of scrap PLUS beads that I've
had for several years now (ignored & unused)...


PLUS scrap felt from the bib necklace & hair clip
I made last week (we have a no waste policy here!)...


...EQUALS this fascinating cuff!

I sewed the beads by hand on the piece of felt topped with a piece of tulle (or you can use a clean garlic sack). The purple flower at the center is a vintage brooch I bought at a London flea market. I can easily detach it if I want to use it separately.

To close the ends, I sewed on this bright blue ribbon.

Tada! A modern wrist corsage you can wear anytime.
Because you know, a little wrist action never hurt anybody.

22 September 2009

Bead-Dazzled!

Thanks for visiting my blog on this lovely Tuesday! I'm still using up the little treasures in my bag of scrap. If you've ever made jewelry, I think you'll agree that some materials happen to dictate what they want to be. Like these beads for instance:

Together they seemed to unite, share one voice and say, "Turn us into a necklace!"

So I played fairy godmother and granted them their wish!

By stringing the bag of scrap beads and more beads from my collection together, I now have this unique, bohemian necklace!

See you tomorrow for another blah to Tada! project.

21 September 2009

The Bag of Scrap Part 2

Happy Monday Lovelies! If you tuned in last week, my blah to Tada! transformations came from this bag of scrap:

It was an inexpensive purchase from a New York Flea Market but boy, it was a bottomless bag of odds & ends waiting for a make-over! Let's see, I already made a funky belt, several statement necklaces and even a dressy hair clip, and still I'm left with a lot of baubles and beads:

Today, I picked these out from the lot:

They can work as belt buckles or brooches because of the metal slots & pin functions at the back. But this is how I decided their fate:

I turned them into shoe clips!

I used some beads that I already had in my crafting box and with some wire, wound the beads around the gold fixture. It had a metal clip at the back that can easily be attached to a plain pair of shoes.

Here's another version using teardrop-shaped pearls and crystal beads.

Definitely a blah to Tada! if I should say so myself!

18 September 2009

Heirloom Hairpiece

We made it to the end of the week! Woohoo! Before I bid you a happy weekend, let me show you another accessory I created from the bag of scrap:

I used these shiny faux pearls:

And remnants from yesterday's bib necklace:

And with some folding & hand stitching...

Tada! I made this little hair clip!

I bought the clip mechanism at a craft store.

Don't you love this precious hair piece without
the precious price tag?


Have a super Tada! weekend everyone!

17 September 2009

Beautiful Bibs

Today I'm going to tell you about my latest obsession.
They're these fashionable bib necklaces:



Found at Anthropologie

Found at Anthropologie

Found at Anthropologie

Found at Urban Outfitters

I'm falling head over heels in love with these babies! They can really dress up a plain shirt & jeans or a simple cocktail dress. Then I thought, "Why not make one myself?".

Using a bunch of beads from my bag of scrap...

And some fancy buttons I got on sale...

And some felt & a yard of ribbon...

I think it's slowly taking shape!

I sewed on the ribbon to serve as the strap.

Tada! A homemade bib necklace!

Made from simple materials & scrap.

Hope it makes you as happy as it is making me!