DIY: Simple Beaded Necklace Tutorial

Sometimes you're in a bind and need a quick gift for someone. Sometimes you have some beads and some chain. Sometimes that turns into a present and the day is saved! Like in the case of this necklace. I just couldn't find the perfect gift so I decided to make it.

You can never go wrong with a handmade gift. People will appreciate that you took the time to make it even if they don't wear it. But, hopefully, you know the person you're trying to buy a present for well enough that you know they'd love your gift (or at least fake it). So here's a quick and easy DIY gift that you can put a lot of love and personalization into. 

Easy Beaded Necklace Tutorial

DIY: Easy Skull Earrings Tutorial

I'm a very bad DIY blogger because I've been holding on to these gorgeous skull beads for over a month because...well, life. Anyway, the very nice people over at Auntie's Beads gave me a $25 gift certificate to go nuts (as if I could ever buy just $25 worth of beads, but it was a nice gesture) and I picked these up along with a few other awesome jewelry making pieces and I knew exactly what I was going to make with them. These DIY skull earrings are super easy to make and you can customize with any kind of beads you'd like, so I thought they might make for a fun tutorial!

Flower Wreath Tutorial

I'm not Martha Stewart. Not even close. But I'll be damned if I don't try. One craft I've never really ventured into was wreath making, but this fall I thought it would be nice to have a pretty fall colored wreath on the door and Michael's has so many shades. So I took the plunge and made my first wreath! Since it wasn't a complete disaster (like my many previous craft fails), I thought I'd share it with anyone who wanted to give it a shot too.

One note on saving money: I bought my flowers right at the change of seasons. At the end of summer, Michael's still had some fall colored flowers and they were all on sale. So I hoarded them for about a month and then turned them into this! Sometimes, it pays to have a collection of craft supplies.

Tutorial: DIY Hanging Necklace Organizer

Maybe you're not like me and you're ahead of the game, but winter makes me not want to do a thing. I am definitely on the new-year-lets-get-organized-bandwagon, but I suck. So, it takes me forever to get anything done. I'm working through stuff slowly. First the clothes, then the jewelry, and finally the craft supplies. I've gotten as far as the jewelry! We can call that progress, right?

Anyway, I wanted to share a tutorial with you guys today on how I got all my necklaces organized for under $15. Organization on the cheap is my middle name (you have no idea how many glass jars I have saved just for this reason). When I realized my old method of displaying my necklaces was falling apart and totally ineffective, I figured it was time to make something new. Ta-da! The Hanging Necklace Organizer Tutorial was born. (Apologies in advance for the lack of photos. I need to get better at taking pictures at night)

Death to the Samuri Bun! 10 Easy Ready for Work Hair Tutorials

Samurai bun, top bun, whatever you want to call it, I am declaring war on you! I say enough! This ridiculous hairstyle has been a trend for too long and I'm tired of seeing it. 

Let me say first and foremost that it is not a good look for anyone. It makes your forehead look huge and your ears stick out. Think about this. Are these the parts of your face that you want to accentuate? I say enough! There are too many cute hairstyles out there for this to still be a popular one. In the same vein, men do not think this is an attractive look. Did your boyfriend say he liked it? He's a liar. Sorry. #ImNotSorry

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Thursday Tutorial: 7 Quick DIY Christmas Ornaments

So call my mom sentimental if you want, but I'm her only child so you'll have to understand why at 24 I'm still looking for handmade ornament ideas to make for her.  Mostly, we're probably still just humoring each other, but damn it I think she love the Christmas ornament I make for her every year!

Of course, at 24 covering a wine cork in glitter and beads doesn't quite seem to cut it anymore. So I went on a Christmas ornament hunt on the Internet and found some really awesome ideas. I think I know which one I'm going to make as a gift, but I found so many fun ideas for handmade ornaments that I thought I'd share then with you guys in case I'm not the only one out there still making kindergarten-esque gifts.

Thursday Tutorial: Last Minute Fall Leaf Garland

I kind of snoozed on decorating for fall and Thanksgiving this year after all my excitement decorating for Halloween, but I still wanted a little something up and I thought that a garland would be the easiest way to do that. Also, I'm completely obsessed with garlands. Why? Who knows. Is "they're pretty" not a good enough answer? Anyway, I had all this fall leaf colored felt laying around in my fabric stash and decided that would be my easy solution: A Fall Leaf Garland!

What I Wore: Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. It is by far my favorite holiday. I mean you get to play dress up along with all your friends, watch lots of scary movies, and eat more candy in one night than you normally do all year. What's not to love? Since Halloween falls on my usual day to post an outfit of the day, I thought this would be more than appropriate. So Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you eat candy until you make yourself sick and dress goofy today!

Thursday Tutorial: DIY Red Ombre Hair

So I have to admit that I've felt like a pretty bad blogger the past few weeks. Not that my heart's not in it anymore, because it is. I've just felt completely swamped by life. Part of this feeling led me to believe that I needed a new or at least updated hair do. Naturally, I'm a girl and that's what we gals do when we feel like something needs to change, we change our hair. There you go fellas, Ladies 101. 

Anyway, when trying to figure out what to do with my mess of hair without spending a ton of money, I decided the biggest change would be in getting both a cut and a color. Picking out a color for my hair was the hardest part, but I finally settled on red, even though I know how quickly red fades and what a pain in the butt upkeep is on it. This is why, if you saw yesterday's outfit post, you will see that I have since given up on red hair and gone back to something dark. BUT if you have the patience to re-dye your hair every month and not wash it often, here is a tutorial for how I got my Red Ombre Hair! 

A few things before I start this red ombre hair tutorial:

a.) Bleach is very corrosive. It will burn. Try to keep it off your skin as much as possible and always wear gloves when applying. 

b.) My hair had a LOT of layers of dye before I started so I knew I would have to leave the bleach on for longer periods of time to get it as light as I wanted it. If you don't dye your hair often, this will take less time. Try bleaching a little test piece first. 

c.) This is kind of a LONG process. Expect it to take at least a few hours.

DIY Red Ombre Hair Tutorial

What I Wore Wednesday: The College Days Edition

The GRE's are over!! Woo hoo! For those of you that haven't been following along, I've been kind of an absent blogger lately because I've been studying my butt off to take the GRE's (the standardized test you need to take to apply to most grad school programs) and I took them last Saturday so I'm free!! I actually did as well as I thought I would, which is to say I was hoping I would do better so I may end up re-taking them in a few months, but for now I'm going to try and get back blogging and posting items to the vintage shop.

However, studying like crazy to prepare for a test did make me miss my college days. Everything was just so much simpler back then. Being an adult is rough some times. I know going back to grad school definitely won't make anything simple, but I would be excited to get back to school. I'm the big loser that enjoyed my college classes and the campus in the fall. Anyway, this outfit was what I wore on my big study day right before the test. I took the day off of work and studied all day long. I really felt like I was back in college then.

Anyway, this floral strapless dress is the first dress I ever made on my sewing machine. I know I didn't take an photos showing that it's strapless, but that's because it's got some construction issues. Sewing lesson number 1: don't use elastic from a halloween costume from when you were in high school. As long as I have a sweater or something over it, it looks great! Oh and sewing lesson number 2: make sure you know how you're going to get into your dress before you sew it together. Let me just say that wiggling into a dress is never fun. I decided to not use a pattern when making this, I just used a different strapless dress as a template and then sewed the pieces together. I really need to get over this whole "I don't need to read directions" thing when it comes to crafting. But even with all it's little faults, I still love my handmade floral strapless dress! Mostly because it feel good to say I made something.

 Strapless floral dress: handmade

Chambray shirt: Gap (similar shirt)

Backpack: Urban Outfitters (similar bag)

Western boots: Steve Madden (similar boots)

 Of course I threw this chambray shirt over it, which you can also see here and here. It's one of my favorite pieces in my closet right now.

Do you ever miss school or are you still in school and can't ever imagine missing it?

Thursday Tutorial: DIY Metal Shirt Collar Necklace

Yes, there was one weekend where I got pretty crafty and decided to make some of the things I've been watching in my trendspotting. When I first wrote this post on metal shirt collars, I wasn't sure what I thought of them so I thought I would make one for myself to find out. I still has some sheet metal laying around from a different project and all the tools, so it wasn't going to cost me anything. Here it is! A Metal Shirt Collar Necklace Tutorial! Outfit post to come.

What I Wore Wednesday: The Velvet Skirt Underground Edition

Do you remember my trendspotting post where I was gushing over velvet as the fabric for this winter? Well I decided I needed a velvet skirt to survive this miserable season, but not being able to find exactly what I wanted I decided to do a little DIY magic and make one for myself! You like?

Sweater: Local boutique
Velvet skirt: DIY
Buckle heels: Target

 I'm no seamstress so (big surprise) it didn't turn out perfect, but it's soft and longer than all the other skirts I was finding in stores. Long story short, I'm extremely happy with it even though I have to sort of wiggle into it. I wanted it to be a bit high-waisted and didn't quite plan out what would happen when the waist was narrower than my hips and my stitches didn't stretch. Do any of you sew? How do I make a stretchy skirt where the stitches won't pull when putting it on? I should probably look at a couple tutorials before trying to sew anything again. For now, it works.

 And yes, you have seen this sweater before, but doesn't it look good with everything? I think so too.

Three tier necklace and bird ring: local boutique
Rock ring and bracelets: Urban Outfitters and vintage

That's all I've got for today. I know that velvet is generally a very holiday fabric, but it feels so appropriate in these single digit degree days. So what do you say, is velvet fabric for the holiday only?

Welcome to Stranger Than Vintage

Welcome to my brand new blog! Since this is my very first post, I thought it would be beneficial for it to be a introduction one, so here goes!

Yes, the inspiration for this blog came from my Esty shop of the same name, but don't worry, I don't intend on the blog being all etsy all the time. I spend to much time on the internet for that. But I do run a vintage Etsy store because I  love everything vintage. When I think of vintage, I think of simpler and happier times. Although, I am well aware this is not necessarily true, it still makes me happy.

Here's a little glimpse into my shop:

         

I live in Chicago and that is where I find most of my merchandise. I'm also pretty awful at keeping the store up to date, so I'm hoping this blog will motivate me. 

My love of all things vintage stems from my love of fashion and interior design. Stay tuned if you love seeing photos of the runway and cool interiors and furniture. Yes, I look at this stuff in my free time. Or well, all the time. It makes me happy and if it makes you happy too then you must be just as big of a daydreamer. I hope to center my blog around all of these things because we all need to take a few minutes a day to smile. Here's a preview:

All things French. Especially southern French. I studied abroad in the south of France and now my life is a series of schemes on getting back there.

Rustic and sunny interiors;

Fashion photography and fun outfit ideas;

And, of course, any fun or interesting DIYs:

Oh, and last but not least, puppies!

Photo: Stephanie Mortellaro

I could do this forever, but I don't want to bore you. Keep me on your reading list to see more! Also, I'm still making my way around blogger, so please excuse any weird formatting for a while. Thanks!

Tell me, what inspires you?