Getting Down to Brass Tacks

Last year, I lived in a pair of little black wedge booties from H&M. The poor things have some battle-scars, and since now my shoe collection has quadrupled, they mostly just sit, lonely and ignored, on a shelf in my closet.

Instead of tossing 'em, I decided to turn them into a project and give them a quick polish and 

a new lease on life...on the cheap. 

Inspiration:

Jeffrey Campbell Studded Wedge Boot

By the way, you know you have a shopping addiction when you get as excited in a hardware store as you do in a shoe store. But ANYWAY... after rifling through many bins of tacks, nails, and fasteners, I settled on some brass tacks. Well, 320 of them, to be exact.

And using my trusty kelly clamps, I push-pinned my way to some new studded booties:

I can't say they won't still sit in my closet (after all, they don't meet my now-standard of 3.75" from the ground), but with this little rejuvenation, they stayed out of the trash to once again see the 

light outside my closet.

I’m a Shadow Boxer, Baby

As a former art major, I am thoroughly unnerved by blank walls and twice as picky about with what to fill them. Although I’ve been out of the art game for awhile, I’ve recently begun taking refuge in the crafts section of the nearest art supply store. When I was younger, my grandma scared me with the phrase “idle hands are the Devil’s something something,” so I’ve started filling my walls with my own... creations?

I bought these shadow boxes an entire year ago, and finally decided to use them to house something. But what? Dead bugs, of course. Fascinated by lepidopterology, I wanted to make my own array of framed dead butterflies. My sister actually used to make jewelry out of “fallen” ladybugs…it was a very cool idea, but also sort of skeeved me out. So instead I obtained some fake dead bugs. Which oddly still kinda skeeved me out... ANYWAYS.

Butterfly Shadow Boxes

Materials: small shadow boxes, acrylic paint, paintbrush, printed origami paper (gift paper works too), rubber cement, picture frame hangers & fasteners, small hammer, and fake butterflies (or embalmed dead ones…you pick!)

Step One – Paint the shadow box in your choice of color. I chose gold, because I like gaudy, lavish-looking things. Be sure to paint the inside, outside, front, and back to make sure it all looks neat and uniform.

Step Two – Cut down your origami paper to fit snuggly along the inside of your shadow box. Coat the interior with rubber cement and carefully place the paper inside, making sure to align it with all the edges.

Step Three – Attach picture frame hangers to the back of the shadow box.

Step Four – Attach butterfly using rubber cement. Dollop a small amount on the back of the butterfly and let it set up for about a minute. Then firmly press the butterfly into the center of the box and hold for about a minute and a half until the rubber cement holds.

Ta da! A thoroughly girly series of frames perfect for those who love lepidopterology but are scared of all insects, dead or alive.

I Came, I Saw, I Copied.

Backstory: Once upon a time, a young red-haired lass was browsing the internet, not really looking for anything in particular, when --

WHAM!

She spied this baby:

Photo via Refinery29

Since then I've searched high and low for this spearhead necklace by Madewell. Okay, I mean I went on their website and it wasn't there, and then I briefly checked Ebay and couldn't find it, therefore concluding it does not exist in real life. It was quite the trek.

Anyways, I'd been on the hunt for something similar when I saw an emaciated sad little version in a Forever21 ad. It wasn't quite right (as F21's stuff tends to be...seriously, what's with all the rhinestones???), but then I had a brilliant idea!

I picked up TWO of the pathetic little wannabe's and, kelly clamps in hand, Frankensteined my own version.

Okay, so it might not be Madewell (or, you know...made well), but for a grand total of about $13 and the duration of a Seinfeld rerun, I'm pretty happy with my little creation. Extra points because it jingles whenever I move, something sure to annoy all passersby.