ASOS Ribbon Stretch Bracelets

Who would pay $17 for two simple ribbon bracelets?! Not me. And don't you either. Follow my tutorial below to make the ASOS Ribbon Stretch Bracelet yourself.

This tutorial produces the SAME EXACT bracelets that ASOS sells. Know how some of my tutorials produce "look-alike" results? Not here. 

Here, you will make literally the same piece of jewelry. 

For literally less than $2.

Are you stoked yet?

All these bracelets are is a ribbon strip woven on stretchy cord.

 Believe me, I checked it out.

The results will vary if you use thicker ribbon, or different color ribbon. Feel free to make your fav colors into bracelets. Maybe even use different strips of ribbon in the same bracelet? Could be cool!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are scissors, tape (not completely necessary), ribbon (I used satin ribbon a little more than 1/4" thick, this produced great results. Don't go more than 1/2" thick and don't go too thin), pliers, a crimp, elastic cord, and a large-holed embroidery needle. You also need clear nail polish to coat the end of the ribbon so it doesn't fray. Your ribbon needs to be different lengths depending on how large your wrist is. The best bet is to use ribbon still on the spool so you have a lot left! This ribbon above gave me just the right amount, I was lucky!

Step 2: Cut a length of elastic about 1.5 times the length you want your finished bracelet. Thread on to your needle; leaving about 1/2" loose on one side. Secure needle to the cord by tying a knot with the long end and 1/2" end, then tie another knot nice and tight to completely secure the needle on. Coat the end of your ribbon with clear nail polish to make sure it doesn't fray. 

Thread the ribbon on your needle, then as seen in the second pic, bunch it up a bit and stick the needle through again. There should be a little less than 1/4" between each time you stick the needle through.

Step 3: Continue threading on your ribbon, bunching it up again and again. Slide the ribbon down gently every so often onto the elastic. When it is long enough (bottom pic), slide all the ribbon onto the elastic, cut the ribbon and coat the ends with clear nail polish. Center the ribbon "snake" on the elastic, and cut off the knot/needle. Slide on a crimp and bring the other end of elastic through the other side, pull tight so the ends of the "snake" meet. Crimp shut, cut off excess elastic.

These would also make good scrunchies. For a pop of color use neon ribbon!

Feel free to make them in different colors!
Also, I used ribbon with those loops on the sides for the yellow and blue here. Cute.

Fashion Victim Nails

Je-ne-sais-quoi!

That's what you'll have with these nails.

Any madame who is obsessed with fashion will definitely want to follow this tutorial.

Plus, a great way to use all your old magazine back issues. Recycling is ALWAYS in style!

The final product reminds me of ransom notes; high-fashion ones, that is!

A totally cool manicure that is genuinely one-of-a-kind.

You can use any color of nail polish you want. You can also finish with a glitter coat as I did, or leave your nails un-sparkly. Your choice.

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are old fashion magazines, scissors, nail polish, clear lacquer, modpodge and a paintbrush.

Step 2: Cut out a bunch of small pictures, words, logos or icons from the magazine. Get a good variety and make sure they can fit onto your nails. If some of them are big, it's fine to cut them off as I did to make interesting compositions. 

Paint the nails your color. Apply a coat of modpodge to the back of the clipping you want on your nail, and press clipping to nail firmly. Press down on all edges to adhere. Let dry. Continue with other nails. If some of the clipping sticks off the nails, gently file down to meet nail's edge.

You can also layer clippings, such as images with text, to make cool-looking compositions.

Step 3: Paint the nails with a coat of modpodge over the decal. Let dry. Now, paint a couple coats of clear lacquer, making sure to completely cover nail and make it water-proof. Let dry in-between each coat.

Add glitter if you'd like!

Ooh la la! 

Color Monday; Just Picked Palette

Mmmmm, berries, just picked. Do you like strawberries or blueberries better? For me, it's the former.

A bright palette of contrasting colors!

Gemstone Bottle Tops

Here is a way to add style to your home!

These bottle toppers kind of remind me of something you'd find at Anthropologie or Pier 1, no? They'd probably be wayyy more expensive than these that you can make yourself, just saying'.....

This is just a super-easy and super-quick tutorial you can whip up in less than an hour. 

It was inspired by the urge to use up some of my more unsparkly glass gemstones, that I couldn't use in my jewelry. Plus, I had a small old bottle laying around that was found in the garage. Why not make art out of it?

Use this technique to spruce up other bottles you have laying around. They can hold anything you want! Beads, buttons, gems- whatever!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are glass gemstones (they need to be glass so we can bake with them. If you have flatback plastic ones, you can glue these on after baking), clay, an old glass bottle, glitter, clear lacquer and a paintbrush.

Step 2: Take a large marble of clay, and pinch one end to make a knob. Measure this knob so it fits nicely on the bottle top; not to loose, not to tight. Once you've go the right size, take your clay and roll it in the glitter, making sure you press the glitter down onto the clay to adhere.

Step 3: Press in your gemstones around the top, not on the knob part. When you've got all your stones in, press it on the bottle again to make sure the knob didn't change sizes. Bake at about 125 degrees for 20 minutes or so. You may need to adjust depending on what oven you are using. I use a toaster oven. Once dry, seal with lacquer. I also added one coat of glitter nailpolish for extra sparkle! I didn't paint this on top of the gems though, they might get glassy instead of faceted.

These would look great in bottle sets, maybe with jewel-toned glitter tops. They would also look great for a tablescape at a party, maybe each one holding different color beads or shells!

Easy Sequin Bracelet

Very colorful, very sparkly, very easy. 

Yes, and a very easy technique.

This quick tutorial will have you whipping up bracelets for you, your friends, your other friends, maybe even one for your dog (don't judge).

Anyway, the tutorial awaits!

Step 1: Gather materials. All you need are some large sequins, two crimps, one clasp and jump ring, and fishing line. Or, you can use clear nylon beading cord.

Step 2: Cut a piece of fishing line that's a little longer than 2X the length you want your bracelet to be. Bend in half and thread on the jump ring, then the crimp through both sides of the cord. Crimp shut. 

Take a sequin; put one end of the thread through one side, then the other end through the other side. Bring the two end pieces up, pinch, and thread the sequin down all the way to the jump ring end. The fishing line is indeed a little slippery, just to warn you!

Step 3: For the next sequin, repeat the above step; but, to make your bracelet lay nicely, we have to make sure the cupped part of the sequin will face in the opposite direction of the last one we threaded. This way, the sequins will lay on top of each other nicely, instead of bunching up (yes, I know a blue sequin is at the end near the jump ring unlike a yellow in the last step. I decided to change the color I wanted to start with- just disregard!).

So, repeat the above step, but make sure you flip the sequin before threading with fishing line so that when you thread it all the way down, it faces the opposite direction of the one before it.

You can see how they lay on top of each other in the second pic.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until your bracelet is the desired length. Finish off with the other crimp and clasp.

If you did it right, it should lay nicely without bunching up!
Sparkly!

Strawberry Basil-Ade

My second recipe post- another summery drink!

It's 100+ degrees in Chicago. This summer calls for 'em.

This time, it's my take on a strawberry-lemonade-basil combination. I thought if strawberry and basil went together, and strawberry and lemonade went together, and basil and lemons go together....

wouldn't they all compliment each other?

Turns out the combination is very exotic-tasting. Well, at least for a suburbanite like me. 

Anyways, I used sweet basil that I grow on my deck. Do not use other types of basil (like Greek basil or Thai) because these are spicier and I really don't know how your drink would turn out!

Again, feel free to alter some of the measurements to fit your taste; like my last drink, there are no totally specific measurements.

This drink is NOT going to be super sugary sweet and fake tasting, like many bottled lemonades and such. We are using real lemons here people, and no corn syrup. It will be more like a tea of sorts!

This makes one drink.

Step 1: Gather ingredients. You need a half of a lemon, a leaf or two of sweet basil, and a handful of strawberries. The strawberries I used were from my garden, so they were the size of grapes! If you use bigger ones, it will give it more good strawberry flavor, so that's ok. I used an organic lemon so it was a bit smaller as well.

If you don't like the flavor of basil, feel free to swap in raspberries or maybe even mint, but I can't vouch for the taste here. Experiment!

Step 2: Place all chopped ingredients (except lemon) in bottom of glass. Squeeze lemon juice over top, discard lemon.

Step 3: Muddle with a wooden spoon or if you're fancy, use a muddler.

Make sure you muddle till everything is a pulp, get all the juices out.

Step 4: Add in 6 oz of water. You can also swap regular water for club soda if you like the fizz! Mix.

Step 7: Now, strain this mixture through a fine sieve into another cup, pressing down to get all the juices through. Rinse out your first cup, and pour the strained drink back into the cup. Sweeten with honey, raw sugar, or whatever you like. I only used about 1.5t and it wasn't very sweet, but that's how I like it. If you want it sweeter, add more.

Add ice, garnish with a lemon slice!

It turns a beautiful color!

All photos and instructions copyright Allison Cooling for Quiet Lion Creations.

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!

Color Monday; Hot Chick Palette

Spicy! Bright reds, oranges, greens and yellows are contrasted by a stark black.

A very assertive scheme.

Kenneth Jay Lane Strawberry Necklace

Sweet! This cute necklace by Kenneth Jay Lane looks like a piece of candy! Best of all, you can make it yourself and save about $115. Super sweet!

Red is traditional, but I am NOT a traditionalist.

Yes, mine is turquoise. Why not?

All you need is some leftover polymer clay and a few more "ingredients"....

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are Sculpey Polymer Clay, Triple Thick Gloss Glaze, a paintbrush, Gold Acrylic Paint, a long chain, and Round Stud Rhinestone Nail Art Decoration. You will also need a length of thick wire or a headpin with a loop, and a jumpring.

Step 2: Shape your clay into a strawberry shape. Roll into ball and gently pinch the one end to make it elongated. No, make about 8 little teardrop nuggets, these will be for the strawberry petals. 

Step 3: Flatten those teardrops and attach them to the top of the strawberry. Flip them up a little at the end to mimic a real strawberry. Take your length of wire or headpin with the top looped and stick through the top of the strawberry, press down far to secure. Make sure only a little bit of the loop sticks out, so that it's not totally noticeable. After baking, you can add some superglue around this spot if you like to make sure the wire won't pull out of the strawberry.

Step 4: Take your little stud decal; pick off one of the gold studs and press into your strawberry. Continue all around to add seeds on all sides, make sure you press the studs far down to secure.

Now bake your strawberry. I do about 125 degrees in a toaster oven for 25 minutes or so. Paint the top petals with the gold acrylic paint, and cover all in a clear lacquer to finish. Add to chain with a jumpring.

Delicious- you're all set!