Happy May!

Happy May everyone! Wow the time seems to be flying by. This week along is going to be busy what with The Avengers being released this Friday, which also happens to be Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you...hahahahahahaha). Then Saturday is Cinco de Mayo and I have a shin dig that evening. Today though I am sharing some new RubyMarilyn Etsy Shop items that I finally got listed!

 New earrings! Hand crocheted with silver chains and just a bit of lace.

 What I am calling my 'Heirloom' necklace. It is an epic 74" long vintage faux pearl necklace that I crocheted onto. Looped it looks all sorts of lovely.

Finally decided to list my Granny Punk necklace. It is the perfect mix of old lady awesomeness and irreverent charm.

Cheers!

The Lion King

I had not been to the theater in quite a long time but last night that pattern was broken with a trip to the Twin Cities to see 'The Lion King'. I was excited about this trip for awhile but I think I forgot how amazing it was supposed to be because when the circle of life started up and those AMAZING costumed/puppeted animals came out on stage I started to tear up. Yep. I cried at the costume design. It was just so perfect. Plus that is totally my kind of theater, spectacle. I like a big show.

 

This is just an example of the costumes. My favorites were the giraffes. 

Since I can't help myself I had to dress with a bit of theme. 

I kept it fairly simple with these earrings. Aren't they darling? They remind me of vintage animal jewelry. I snagged them for $3 about a month ago and waited to debut them until last night. My friends were mostly lucky that I decided not to wear my full length faux-leopard coat.   : )

8/365 Bow-nanza

Day 8. I have seen super cute versions of this all over the internet. I figured it would be easy enough to try on my own. I like the results but I think it might be too chunky. Never thought I would say that.

Spending the rest of my time trying to think of a Derby names. Seriously. All day long. Gotta pick by the team meeting tomorrow. I can't do clever under pressure.

6/365

Day 6. Fringe benefits.

Once again made out of t-shirt scraps.

5/365 Poker Face

Day 5. Still in odds and ends mode.

Silver chain and poker chips. Once again extra long but I looped it. I am just really into the idea of really flexible pieces.

4/365 A Necklace a Day....late edition.

Day 4...a bit late. I will not feel bad about this though because this was completely technical difficulties territory. The necklace was made and photographed but I could not get on the internet last night. So here is day four with day five arriving this afternoon.

A bit of free form crochet in a white and sparkly yarn. I am also using this project to work on some of my yarn stash as well. I think any crafter around will agree with me that it is always a problem : )

Bit hard to see some of the chunky details in the pics but it was  a fun one to make. 

Shout out to my mom who bought me a little baby space-heater the other day. I am a basement dweller now and I guess I complained one to many times about being cold. But good lord does this little heater feel good on me right now!!!

2/365 A Necklace a Day

Day 2! Is it worrisome that this post is happening at almost 11pm on day 2? Perhaps but I had the design in my head and I knew I wasn't getting home until later so I am completely ok with it.

Here it is! Completely inspired by Game of Thrones the TV show that I am currently obsessed with. They wear so much gorgeous fur in the show for about a week after I finished the first season I wandered around telling everyone how much I wanted a fur cape. Originally I was thinking of a fur/crochet hybrid scarf but I decided to scale it down to fit the necklace theme.

-Faux fur
-braided recycled tshirt scraps
-silver chain

See all that cozy fur goodness? Winter may be coming but they are going to look good doing it. P.S. I have a thing for Sean Bean as well. Love him.

Happy New Year! + the start of A Necklace a Day

Happy New Year! 2011 is finally over and we have a brand new year to start off with a bang. I don't know about you but 2011 was not my favorite year. I had some really good times but it did not have the zing that say 2010 or 2008 did. I think I am an every other year kind of girl.

I spent New Years Eve in the chillest way possible. Sitting on my couch watching movies with a good friend. Pink champagne was still involved but I did not break out a sparkly dress this year. But it was really good- just what I needed. Best quotes of the night included, "The movie is called Warrior not pussy" and "Drinking champagne out of mason jars? It is like we are having a Harlan County New Years!"

I am trying to be optimistic about 2012. So far I have no huge plans in the works besides my friend's wedding in September (I have to go order my dress! Annndddd I might be making them wedding pie...more to come). I am just hoping to go with the flow and figure some stuff out. Other than the wedding I hope to go to some good concerts and get into some new activities. Roller Derby here I come!

To give myself some sort of direction this year (and a challenge) I am starting a 365 project. Inspired by many others doing similar projects I thought I would try my hand at it. If you are interested in hearing about what other people are doing/have done I highly recommend this blog. I have decided to make a necklace a day for a year. Starting now. Rules will be fairly simple. Post a handmade necklace everyday on the blog. I wanted something that would be crafty but also focused and doable. I believe that necklaces will be a narrow enough requirement to keep some of my 'crazy' out of the equation but will be perfect time-wise, space-wise, and money-wise. There is still a ton of room for creativity including themes, techniques, materials, etc. If I know I have trips or events I will make the necklaces ahead of time and just try to keep on schedule. I have a feeling things are going to get pretty random...I already have some ideas for some large fun STATEMENT necklaces that will hopefully be fairly epic.

I will still continue to post any other fun crafts or baking adventures that come my way but I have a feeling that this project will be the most prevalent part of the blog this year.

Here is number 1:

 A little bit of granny, a little bit of punk this necklace is a combination of a chunky vintage chain and some hand crochet work.

See you tomorrow!


Cheers.

Candy&Snowflakes Earring GIVEAWAY

Sorry Thanksgiving, but I just don't care that much about you. Sure I will hopefully be with people I love and eat tons of food but I can't get excited for you like I can for Halloween or CHRISTMAS!

Yep I am sort of skipping right over Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas. One thing I have already done is make myself some festive holiday earrings. I could have gone to the mall and probably found some but where is the fun in that? Instead I hit up the craft store and got crackin'. I am so in love with these post earrings that I made.

Perfect for me to wear at work! Snowflakes are always gold in my book and these candy earrings will be more than perfect when I help out with the Gingerbread House class.

I love them so much I made a few more pairs and put them in the shop. And I decided that you can win a set of these cuties for yourself!

Just leave a comment between now and Thanksgiving about what you are most excited about for this holiday season and you will be entered into the 'drawing' for a set of candy and snowflake earrings in GREEN.

Everyone else will be shopping on Black Friday but you can win a treat for yourself or a gift for someone on your list! Sounds like a win to me...

Winner announced Friday, November 25th.

Good luck!

Harry Potter Crafts

Trying to do a bit of cleanup today around the house...no I haven't moved yet and it looks as though the snow is going to beat me. Oh well, it will get figured out! I wanted to share a few 'before' shots for you today with the Harry Potter crafts I did for the party the other day.

Also this is all evidence that you can do some really cool things with little to no money. Work with what you have, be creative and have fun with it!

 First up: Wands! The party was supposed to be BYOW (Bring your own wand) but being the nerd that I am I decided to make some after finding a super cool tutorial online. Sticks from the yard plus hot glue and paint that I already had= the most awesome Harry Potter wands ever! They seriously rivaled the one 'real wand' from Harry Potter World.  Cost: $0

While google-ing  'Harry Potter Parties' I found lots of kids parties. Go figure. But an idea I did really like was the platform 9 3/4 bit. So I went to a fabric store and found this in the remnant bin.

Tip- don't try to paint straight lines on grass! Dumb idea...I moved to some concrete to get the job done. I had to bust out one of those little knee saver pads to work on this project but it was worth it.

 I used a board in my garage to make the horizontal lines. I poured out a TON of paint...you actually don't need very much at all. To make the 'bricks' I found a smaller board about the right size and just staggered the bricks.

At the party it was taped right to the door so when guests entered the party they had to 'go through it'. Project cost: $3

 Of course I needed a sign for platform 9 3/4 ! Some people would say I am a hoarder..but I say I am useful. I rummaged around the garage again and found these old cabinet doors from when our kitchen was redone years ago. These have come in handy in many a craft project! I busted out a drill and put two small holes in the 'upper' corners to hang it from.

Then I busted out some red spray paint I already had and gave it a coat front and back. I traced a plate to get the circle and free handed the lettering and numbers (sketched it out a bit in pencil first). All the paint I already had and then We just used some cord I had to string it up. It looked pretty cool lit by the outdoor light as guests arrived. Project cost: $0

 For my Bellatrix costume I had this black costume-y 'basic' shift in my costume closet. I first cut the sleeves off and then 'sewed' them back on with a thick black cord. It was a bit skinny towards the  bottom so I slit up the sides to the hips, layered it over a black poofy prom dress and then used my mock black corset I made for the cemetery walk and layered that on top. I also added some gold paint swirls to the shift around the neckline and on the sleeves.  I don't have a good 'after' shot but for no money it was a pretty sweet costume. Costume cost: $0

 The day of we were still crafting, decorating, and cooking like mad. The birthday girl was going as Hermione and wanted a time turner. She is holding it in this picture. The hourglass is two mini bottles filled with a bit of salt and hot glued shut. Then we found two craft frames (the little plastic kind for needlework) so I hot glued those back to back and then built up some hot glue to put the hourglass. Once it set up I painted the glue with a bit of gold paint so it gave it a little shimmer and didn't look so much like glue! Found an old vintage chain in my jewelry making box and done! Might be my favorite craft of the day because it came together really randomly just grabbing things from around my craft room. Cost: $0!

Pendants!

Here are some new pendants that I hand-painted. I am pretty pleased with them. We have MN Nice, Lace teardrop, matte finish spiral, bubbled oval, and romantic stamp pattern heart. I made these for myself but was thinking about putting some into my etsy shop. Thoughts?

Minnesota Nice! Get it? I had to make this one! Slug from Atmosphere was wearing a t-shirt at the concert that looked like this. If I put any of these into my shop the proceeds are going to go to Operation MN Nice.

Blog Giveaway on Artsy Fartsy Shopaholic

Hey all! AFS also known as Artsy Fartsy Shopaholic is hosting a series of giveaways in honor of her 5th year anniversary and she asked me to be a part of it! Head on over to her blog to enter to win my "Rain Cloud" necklace from the etsy shop! She did a very sweet write up and you can also enter to win other very cool stuff.

Shop Update: Ready for the Holidays!

I am so excited to bring you some of my new holiday collection today! Playing off of the 'classic' RubyMarilyn designs I am bringing some holiday cheer and kitsch into the mix.

 

  

 

I was really tempted to call the necklaces 'ugly sweater' necklaces but I don't think they are ugly! Over the top? Maybe. I think it really depends on how you wear them but I am absolutely in love. LOVE I SAY. So Christmasy and fun. The scarf and the neckwarmer were born into being to deal with my over-making of crochet snowflakes. I just can't get enough. Once I get a pattern in my head I need to make it and usually several times over! I love the gray scarf so much because most of the snowflakes are unique. I think that makes it kind of fun.

Stay tuned. More pieces will be added to the Holiday Collection later this week. I was just too excited about these to wait!

Etsy Update

It has been so rainy here. It has been so depressing out I decided I didn't want to leave the house at all. (Ah the privileges of the unemployed!) So anyhoo I have been working on catching up on some things. I updated the shop today with a few more items and I am working on some new designs to come out soon. The new thing right now is that instead of just have silver findings (chain, clasp) I have finally branched out and am now including gold.

Agatha in Black w/Silver Chain

Agatha in Mustard w/Silver Chain

Agatha in Black w/Gold chain

Agatha in Mustard w/Gold chain

  Hibernate in Brown

Zombie Ribcage

One day I was playing around with some yarn and was trying to make something or other. It was pretty much failing but from it I got this idea. It sort of looked like half a ribcage. So I went back and started playing around with that idea.

And now behold: The Zombie Ribcage Necklace.

I also made this one that reminds me of a large spiderweb.

Perfect for anyone who is looking for a little goth-glam this season. Both are now in the shop.

Etsy Update

A few new items in the shop today. Tomorrow I will be adding some that are more Halloween-esque so be sure to stop back!

Falling Leaves- Brown


Falling leaves- Red

Blueberry Morning


Cranberry Crush


Blue Lagoon


Crabapple