Craft: Jewelry Board

My latest craft project: Homemade Cork Jewelry Boards: 

A few posts ago, I paired up with Chelsea to create some fun bracelets we found on Pinterest (if you haven't read that, it's here).  Crafting some jewelry reminded me that I want to start wearing more of the jewelry I have.  If you're like me, you have hodge-podge piles of handmade craft jewelry and costume jewelry from Goodwill and Target lying around all over the place. It collects in the bathroom, in my clothes drawers, and my vanity.  I also have a small collection of "real" jewelry, all of which is meaningful - the necklace and earrings I wore at my wedding, trinkets brought home by my father from his international deployments, gifts over the years from Chris.  But somehow I always end up wearing the same small pieces of jewelry that collect in a little cup in my bathroom.  I know it's because I can't be bothered to go through this mess:

This is the top of Chris's dresser - otherwise known as my jewelry hoarding pile.  No, it's not even my own dresser.  Yes, that is an authentic aluminum Caboodle, straight from 7th grade, chock full of shiny trinkets that I've hidden away like a raccoon.  If I want to wear a particular piece of jewelry, I have to sort through all of this, and then I often don't put it away properly  Added peril comes from cats jumping onto this pile in the middle of the night, because they, like raccoons, like shiny things (and waking us up at 4am).  Something had to be done.

So I decided to make a jewelry board, inspired by some projects I pinned.  I traveled to Michael's to see what I could find, and wound up purchasing a set of 4 cork tiles, and rolls of burlap in 2 patterns, plus some sparkly push pins, and a box of jewelry display pins.  The glue gun I already had.

I went with the burlap because a) that's what they had at Michael's, b) the lace-covered burlap reminded me of my wedding, and c) the text-printed burlap goes perfectly with the upholstery on the chair to my vanity <theme joy>

I think purchasing fat quarters, using scrap fabric, or buying a yard or 2 of fabric to cover your cork tiles may be a little easier, but just go with what you like!

I knew that the burlap roll wasn't wide enough to cover the tile, so I just cut 3 strips per tile:

I started at the top, and laid out the fabric how I wanted it (this didn't matter so much with the lace burlap, since it was a consistent pattern, but it did matter with the text-print burlap)

Then I hot-glued the strip to the front, and then hot-glued the excess to the back, making sure it was snug (don't mind my goldfish snack).

I knew I would need 3 strips to cover the tile, so I elected to do the top and bottom strips first...

And end with the middle strip.  Make sure you're gluing the middle strip to the cork, and not just the other fabric, so everything remains snug.

I made 4 tiles, 2 in each pattern.  This whole project took about 15 minutes!

I decided to hang the boards on a wall that needed a little sprucing!  I love these 2 paintings by P. Buckley Moss - one of my mother's favorite artists - but they get swallowed by this giant empty wall, and I knew they'd be better somewhere else.  And obviously, my old Ikea full-length mirror covered in plastic beads, a non-functional lamp, and wedding mementos, had to go (just the mirror, not the mementos!).

It took a few tries to figure out how to hang these puppies!  I used some of those picture-hanging stickers, but quickly realized the cork tiles weren't sturdy enough to not warp with the weight of the jewelry unless each tile was secured at all 4 corners.  I had to go back later and do this since I'd initially only put one sticker on the top-middle.  You craft and you learn!

And then I used jewelry display pins to hang up all of the jewelry I want to wear more often.  

And the best part is that, even when I'm not wearing it, my jewelry is now art on my wall!

The dresser still has some stuff on it... I'm hoping to line a little wooden tray with some soft fabric so I can have a place to put heavy bangles and boxes.  Next craft project!

Crafting is all about making beautiful things useful, and useful things beautiful.  What are your favorite ideas for storing and displaying your jewelry?

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Recipe: Favorite Tortellini Soup

Not only is this my favorite soup recipe, it's also one of my very favorite suppers of all!  I will eat this soup even if it's 80 degrees outside.  I will eat this soup cold if I'm too ravenous to microwave.  I will eat this soup in a box, with socks, and in other Dr. Suess related circumstances.  

I found the original recipe here, and this blogger says she found it in Bon Appetit, so you know it's trustworthy.  I always omit the spinach - I don't like greens in my soups.  Over the years I've tried adding in other vegetables, but the only thing I really loved is celery.  After many rounds of scientific testing, I can say this soup is perfection (p <. 001).  

Here are my assembled ingredients (with a handsome husband in the background).  I always choose low sodium chicken stock, and I prefer Kitchen Basics.  I also always try to get low sodium cannellini beans - you'd be amazed how much unnecessary sodium is in canned beans.  I also prefer the Jennie-O turkey kielbasa for this recipe.

The first step is to sweat your minced whole onion and 2 stalks of celery in about 2 tbs of olive oil.  

Then I add 4 cloves of minced garlic.  I know that sounds like a lot of garlic for soup, but trust me, it's just the right amount.  Also fresh garlic is best, the jarred minced garlic is okay sometimes but not in this recipe.  I also add about a tbs of dry thyme, and a tsp of red pepper flake at this stage.  When using dried herbs, adding them at this stage allows them to toast, and draws the oils out, making the flavor brighter and fresher.

Then I add in the kielbasa, which I've diced in little quarters.  I allow this to come together in the pan for a few minutes.  The kielbasa doesn't really need to develop color, but I like the flavors mixing in each stage.  At this point, your house should be starting to smell like glorious herbaceous meat... I imagine a cozy pub after a long, cold journey when they serve you up a big pot of stew... That's never happened to me, but I imagine that's what it smells like!  

Then I pour in the whole box of chicken stock, the rinsed beans, and the package of cheese tortellini and bring it up to a boil.  I use a "family size" package of tortellini because I want a lot of leftovers, but if you want a brothier soup you could use a regular size package.  I boil it for as long as the tortellini needs to cook. 

Technically you could eat it right away.  But I learned the best tip ever from my idol, the Pioneer Woman: always let your soup rest off the heat for 15 minutes before serving.  Not only is it then the perfect hot-but-not-scalding temperature, but the flavors mellow and it really becomes soup.  

Then eat it!  Eat a whole bowl!  Eat another!  Sip the rich, herby, delicious, savory broth.  Each tortellini is saturated with it, like soup dumplings.  

And then, overnight, something magical happens.  When you take the leftovers out for lunch, you discover the broth has become even thicker and richer, and you're consuming some sort of soup/pasta/stew revelation!  I've considered making a huge pot of this and then just refrigerating it so I can skip to the leftover phase... But it's usually too good to wait.

Favorite Tortellini Soup

32 oz (4 cups) low-sodium chicken stock

Cheese tortellini

Turkey kielbasa

1 can low-sodium cannellini beans

2 stalks celery

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

1 tbs thyme

1 tsp red pepper flake

2 tbs olive oil

1. Mince onion, garlic, and celery.  Dice kielbasa

2. Sweat onion and celery in 2 tbs of olive oil, in a soup pot

3. Add herbs and garlic, sauté for a minute

4. Add kielbasa, sauté for a minute

6. Add chicken stock, beans, and tortellini, bring to a boil

7. Boil according to package directions for tortellini

8. Let soup rest off heat 15 minutes prior to serving

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!

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Craft Day with Chelsea

Chelsea and I finally had our long-awaited craft circle yesterday!  Crafting is normally a solitary activity - usually it's just you and your cats at home, thinking to yourself, "I wonder if my friends will think this potted plant cozy is the coolest?" and "Does Ryan Gosling really like girls who craft, or are all those 'Hey Girl' memes totally made up?"  Etc.

But I do have a few crafty friends, and sometimes it's fun to get together and make something beautiful with each other.

The most epic craft event of my life was going to my BFF, Aimee's, beach house to create all of the decorations for my wedding.  This weekend became known as "Crafty Sweatshop/Sweaty Craftshop," because it was around 100 degrees in that beach house, but we managed to make EVERYTHING for my wedding in 2 days.  All of the table settings, flower vases, candle holders, and decor were crafted by hand by just the two of us.

We cut pages out of love stories and made them into lace-edged table runners.  We covered mason jars in burlap and hand-painted buttons.  We frosted and spray-painted jam jars for candle holders.  We cut endless pennants out of scrapbook paper.  We filled tiny chiffon bags with Hershey kisses.

We stenciled and cut till our fingers were sore.

But seriously, we cut out THOUSANDS of pennants, and then strung those triangles onto twine to hang up all over the venue.  It took an unbelievably long amount of time.

Aimee never faltered, never said "maybe we should just buy a pennant banner," or "I never want to see you again."  Because Aimee knows, as a fellow crafter, that the point of making something yourself is that you remember the love each time you see it.  And when I walked into my decorated wedding venue, I knew that each item inside was created and filled with love, by hand, by me and a wonderful bridesmaid.  What could be more magical?

The same can be said for making jewelry.  Yes, you could buy a professionally made item, which will look quite perfect and be worn forever.  But you could also make some jewelry with a dear friend, and then think of each other each time you wear it.  Isn't that nice?

This was also a little Pinterest experiment!  Both of us had pinned several handmade jewelry items, and wanted to actually make something off our endless craft boards.  We selected these two to start:

(for the first one, I was unable to find the original source!  It linked to a simple wordpress photo, so if any of you know where this came from that would be great.  The second is from yesmissy.com.  A link to my Pinterest is on the right side of this blog!) 

I found a place called  Fusion Beads in Wallingford where I will now proceed to spend $1,000,000.  Long tables covered in glittering beads and baubles of all shapes and sizes, walls covered in strings of pearls and spools of silky ribbon, and the nicest, most helpful staff you could ever hope to meet.  I spent too much money.

But with the right supplies, we started our craft day!

Wait, that doesn't look right...

Oh there we go, that's better.

It may have been the extra large mimosas, but it took me a few tries to get the chain bracelet right.  Chelsea was a craft superstar, and helped me figure it out.  She also showed me how to macrame-knot for the other bracelet - apparently I missed a huge part of adolescence by not learning how to make hemp necklaces!  

About 4 hours and 3 mimosas later, we had this:

But even better:

How cute is that??  I would consider this a Pinterest success!

Round 2 next week?