peter pan collar necklace *tutorial*

Alright, so you saw the teaser yesterday, now it's time for the real thing. You wanna get one of these on your neck? Two options: hop over to my store here and pick one up or make it yourself!

Here's what you need:

• length of chain that fits close around your neck
• beads of your choice, preferably something with some weight so the necklace hangs right
• clasp
• tiger tail beading wire
• pliers
• wire cutters
• crimp beads

Star out by cutting and laying out your length of chain and adding a clasp to the end. 

Next, lay out your beads. I used ceramic beads in 10 and 12mm sizes and I used the bronze 3mm spacers in between each bead. You want your strung beads to be about 1.5x as long as your chain.

Next grab yourself some tiger tail a cut a piece about twice as long as your chain.

See the rest of the tutorial after the jump!

let's dance *wedding playlist*

Photo courtesy of Suzanne at Off the Square Portrait Studio

Let me just say our wedding dance was FUN and we danced our hineys off. One of the ways we decided to save money on our wedding was to skip the wedding band and DJ and opt to make a mix ourselves and play them via iPod over my little brother's speakers, and he graciously also agreed to "DJ" (which meant he pressed stop and go, but he was still invaluable to everything going smoothly!) If you know anyone with some tower speakers or you have a fairly small wedding venue, this is a great route to go! 

Here's the playlist that made the magic happen:

The Book Of Love - Peter Gabriel (our first dance)

Find Your Wings - Mark Harris (my dance with dad)

Love of My Life - Carly Simon (husband's dance with his mom)

Let's get the party started:

Forever  - Chris Brown

Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine

We've Got It Goin' On - Backstreet Boys

Kiss From A Rose – Seal

ABC - Jackson Five

Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows

I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick

A Message - Coldplay

Sway - Michael Buble

Levels – Avicii

We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel

Marry Me – Train

Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) – Beyonce

Heaven - DJ Sammy

Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

Larger Than Life - Backstreet Boys

The Luckiest - Ben Folds

Hey, Soul Sister – Train

Everytime We Touch – Cascada

Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha           

Lovesong – Adele

Scat Man - Scatman John

The Time (Dirty Bit) - The Black Eyed Peas

Don't Stop Believin' (Glee Cast Version)

Call on Me (Original Mix) - Eric Prydz

Spider-Man Theme (Junkie XL Remix) - Michael Bublé

Say Hey (I Love You)            - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Name - Goo Goo Dolls

Only Girl in the World (Cover) - Boyce Avenue

Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival

peace&love,

Jill

to have and to hold

Every blushing bride needs a bunch of flowers to hold on to, and I was no exception. But I am the exception in the fact that I get to keep my flowers, looking just as fresh as ever, for as long as I like. Like what you see? Tutorials for most of them coming soon!

The vase was a wedding present from my aunt and uncle, the rosary was a gift from my grandma. All flowers handmade by me.

peace&love,

Jill

*teaser*

Maid of honor's bouquet. See you at the wedding!

Made of twigs, see pods, scrap-booking paper, napkins, coffee filters, and floral tape.

peace&love,

Jill

Wedding Files #8: Personal Invitations

It has been important to John and I from the start of our wedding planning that our wedding be personalized. One of the ways we decided to do that was to make our own invitations. We wanted to be smart about postage and we also knew we wanted our guests to RSVP online through our wedding website, set up through MyWedding.com, so postcards were perfect for us. We also wanted to have kind of a vintage correspondence theme going on. 

{RSVP service is free through MyWedding, as is the wedding website--perfect for the budget bride!}

I designed these postcards using Photoshop and one of our favorite engagement pictures taken by Anna Darlene Photography. I had them printed by GotPrint, which was a great site to work with and they shipped the finished postcards unbelievably fast! So far our guests have mentioned that they liked the ease of RSVPing online and the postcard was very "us." All in all, we've been very happy with our invitations and I'm glad our guests have liked them too!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

peace&love,

Jill

Fake Flower Files: Coffee Filter Roses

Coffee filters, markers, water, knitting needles, painted twigs, and every weeknight for the past month. 

Sneak peek at the wedding flowers.

Enjoy!

peace&love,

Jill

Fake Flower Preview

I don't know if I've told you this, but I am making all the flowers for my wedding by hand. All of them. Centerpieces, boutonnieres, bouquets, ALL OF THEM. Am I insane? Maybe. 

So here's one of them. Tutorial coming soon!

peace&love,

Jill

I Made It Roundup

I have been making things for years. Long, long before I began blogging. 

Here are some of my favoritve projects. 

See something you want to know how to make? 

Let me know and I'll try to put together a tutorial!
Also, lots of these things are available in my Etsy Shop! Check them out!

peace&love,

Jill

polaroid magnets *tutorial*

Another Christmas present I had to wait until after Christmas to post! These are adorable, simple and make great gifts because they're so easy to personalize. I made magnets of our family pictures for my parents and pictures of us for my fiance.

I got the idea here, and adapted to my needs.

Here's what you need:

Pictures

Foam board

Exact-o knife

Glue

Peel and Stick Magnetic Strips

1. Make your pictures into polaroids using the Poladroid application (so much fun!)
2. Print out your pictures. Cut them apart into individual pictures.
3. Glue on to foam board. Let dry.
4. Use an exact-o knife to cut the pictures apart. 
5. Cut the magnetic strips into smaller pieces, peel off the backing, and stick on!

And there you go! Super light, super cute. Great gifts.

peace&love,

Jill

I Made It: Warm Hand Hot Pockets

I made these for lots of my friends and family members this Christmas and shared it with readers on College Fashion a while ago as well. They're fast, easy, and so actually useful. My favorite adjectives for a DIY project for sure. Here's what I did.

I originally got this idea on Pinterest, but I cannot find the original for the life of me. I will continue to look.

Here's what you need:

Fleece

Rice (brown works best)

Sewing machine (or a needle and thread)

1. Cut two identical circles out of your fleece.
2. Sew 3/4 of the way around the circle.
3. Leave a section open at the top and fill with rice through this opening.
4. Sew the rest of the way closed.

And you're done! You're hands will thank you, especially all you college-y, upper Midwest people.

Happy January!

peace&love,

Jill

Quickie DIY: Nail Polish Pendant

In the process of cleaning out my room at my parents house 

I came across this old cameo pendant and it looked like this:

...which is ugly. 

It was a weird grey color with a huge chip on the underside, which showed through to the top.

So here was my bright idea to make it something I would actually like to wear.

+ =

And now it is beautiful.

This Quickie DIY was brought to you by growing up, moving, and the letter C.

peace&love,

Jill

End of an Era: My Last College Fashion Post

Today my last College Fashion article of my internship was published.
Here it is ladies and gentlemen:
Our Top Ten Favorite DIY Projects of 2011

It was very bittersweet. Bitter in the sense that I will miss having such a large reader base for my articles and some great reader interaction, and sweet in that there will be no more late night I-still-have-homework-and-OH MY GOODNESS A CF POST IS DUE TOMORROW-type freak outs.

It has been a wild and wonderful experience though, and I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to write for such a great website. It has given me so much more faith in my own voice and expertise and it is a large part of the reason Favor the Brave exists. It has also taught me to break up my paragraphs, use bold type, and add lots of pictures, because that's really what's fun about blogs.

So here's a complete list of my articles on College Fashion with links. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think in the comments here, there, and everywhere.

The 9 Things You Need in Your DIY Toolbox 

4 Ways You Can DIY Today

4 Creative Ways to Store Your Jewelry at College

Packing Shortcuts: 6 Tips for Bringing Your Stuff to College

How to Remake a Thrift Store Dress: Part One

How to Remake a Thrift Store Dress: Part Two

Sewing 101: 2 Basic Clothing Alteration Techniques

The Shopper’s Guide to Fabric: Natural Fibers

The Shopper’s Guide to Fabric: Synthetic Fibers

5 Quick Halloween Costumes Made with Things You Already Have in Your Closet

How to Use Rit Dye to Update Your Clothes

DIY Gift Idea: How to Make Beaded Drop Earrings

DIY Gift Ideas: Three Easy Stocking Stuffers

peace&love,

Jill

I Made It: Vintage Lace Earrings

YOU GUYS. I love these so much, and they're so easy! I collect old lace every time I see it at thrift stores and my stash is starting to spill over the sides of my lace bag. It was time to find a fun way to use all my scraps. You can make them too, just by following this simple tutorial.

Here's what you need:

Mod Podge

Scraps of lace

Scissors

Wax Paper

Paint brush

Earring backs

Pliers

Lay the lace out on a piece of wax paper and begin painting over it with Mod Podge.

Continue painting the other pieces of lace with Mod Podge until you have covered everything you want to use for your earrings.

After the Mod Podge is tacky (about 20 minutes) transfer the lace to a new sheet of wax paper. This way the holes are not completely covered over with glue. Let dry completely. Overnight is good.

Peel the dried pieces of lace off the wax paper.

Cut the lace into the shapes you want to make into earrings and add earring backs by opening the loop at the bottom of the earring back with the pliers and slipping it through a hole in the lace. If the holes are covered over with glue, use a pin or pen point to push through and then add the earring back.

And there you go! Beautiful lace earrings!

peace&love,

Jill