necklace Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

I’ve been wanting to repaint the main living area in our house for a while now. I distressed all the walls a few years ago and I’m kind of over the glazed look. I’ve been adding paint colors to a few walls and last week I picked out a new greyish-beige color I thought would be a great change…..only to discover….. as Boo painted it on the wall…… that it’s: almost. the. exact. same. color. as the original beige color. Basically I went from beige……to beige. Risky!

It was a very productive weekend. I narrowed down 3 shades of grey tones. I like a very neutral, monochromatic living space. Mr. LBB would love color….but he knows where to pick his battles. He’ll be happy if I just finally pick a color and stop painting patches randomly on walls around the house. He had to work again all weekend. Boo loves to go to work with him and he took her with him for a few hours on Saturday. Around lunchtime, I heard the truck drive up the driveway. I looked out the kitchen window and saw: Boo standing in her underwear, crying hysterically, and Mr. LBB frantically scooping strawberry milkshake out of the side of his truck in the 102 degree humidity. So what did I do? I kept eating my veggies and dip…..watching……with a tiny bit of amusement.

I’ve created a little mini me by the way. She is constantly working on projects…..and she leaves them everywhere.

Me: Why does she always have to start a new project right before bedtime?
Mr. LBB: Maybe because she’s your daughter…..look in the mirror.

Forget the tupperware box…..I started threatening to throw anything that was left on the floor away without warning.

Since last Thursday I’ve had a total of 4 doctor’s appointments. I’m doctored out…..but they were all just making sure things were okay. My new GynOnc Dr. H is monitoring my ovaries and making sure the cyst that was causing so much discomfort is just that…..a cyst. I had an ECHO today to make sure my heart is okay after all that chemo and because Dr. Y thought my heart murmur sounded more pronounced…..but everything looks totally normal. Despite 23 rounds of chemotherapy, my ticker is still going strong with no signs of muscle weakness. Maybe I’ll go run a marathon now. I also had a gazillion vials of blood drawn to check everything else since I “lost time” (that’s a Primal Fear movie reference in case you missed it). I guess I’m about the only person that thought randomly passing out didn’t seem like a big deal.

I spent some of the weekend working on a new Choose Joy necklace design. It’s my first real venture into jewelry. The reason I’m so excited about it? Because I’m taking a trip up to Northern California to document the process of it being made. I know you all love behind the scenes as much as I do……so I’m making kind of a mini-documentary of it…..a “How it’s Made.” I know it seems so far away……but they will be available around mid-August.

Oh, and speaking of joy…..I heard the following in church yesterday:

So true. Choose joy…..but make sure your heart and face are communicating. That’s the only way to spread it.

P.S. A few ways to keep that joy while cleaning up after your kid.

How to make a necklace with Shrinky Dinks! Remember those? DIY Tutorial via lilblueboo.com

This was my submission to the SYTYC contest for the theme “leaves.” Here is the tutorial in case you are interested! Thanks all of you who voted!

Everything is cuter when it is miniature. This “leaves” necklace is made from a bracelet “end clasp” and teeny tiny shrinky dink shapes. Each tiny leaf has been carefully cut out, hand painted, and then shrunken to its small size. Here they are on my little child manny:

I hand-carved the little leaf veins, added jump rings and attached them all to a “charm ring” made from one end of a bracelet clasp that you can find at any craft store. Each leaf charm is less than 1/2” long.

Step 1: Draw your leaf shapes onto the “rough” side of the Shrinky Dink paper using a light colored pencil.

Step 2: Score the shapes with an craft knife first…..

….and then carefully cut them out using detail scissors.

Step 3: Paint the top of the leaf shapes with a sheer coat of metallic acrylic paint and then trace the exterior edges and leaf veins with a slightly thicker coat of paint.

Here are the colors I used….I prefer Golden’s Fluid Acrylics because they are thin, translucent and great for glazing.

Step 4: Punch a small 1/8″ hole into the top of each leaf.

Step 5 : For each leaf, glue a metal brad or nail to a thin piece of cardboard as shown below….

…and place one leaf on each brad/nail. The nail will keep your hole punch from closing and will allow the shrinky dink to stay flat.

Step 6: Heat your oven to 350 degrees and place the cardboard on to a baking sheet and into the oven. The pieces will curl up and shrink around each brad/nail….and when they flatten back out you know that they are finished! Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Step 7: Remove the nails from the leaves. The leaves will have tightened around each one so you might have to twist the nails in order to remove. The paint will thicken and you will need to lightly sand some of it off.

Step 8: Use a craft knife to texture the edges and leaf veins. You might want to apply another sheer layer of metallic paint so that it can seep into the carvings. Spray or paint your leaves with a clear gloss acrylic sealer.

Attach a small jump ring to each leaf and attach to a bracelet “end clasp” (the kind shaped like a ring). String onto your necklace! Now you can make earrings or a charm bracelet to match!

Make Sure Your Heart Notifies Your Face

Teeny Tiny Shrinky Dink "Leaves" Necklace