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!

Nugaard's Briolette Trapeze Earrings

This tutorial is really good for impatient people. That's because these earrings seriously take about 10 minutes to make, and there is only 3 steps. How easy is that? 

Inspired by Nugaard's Briolette Trapeze Earrings,  the handmade version is super customizable and easy to whip up for any last-minute occasion. The original version uses faceted briolette gemstone beads which can get pricy; so, I used glass teardrop beads which are way cheaper and still give the same look. You can use any colors you want, too, and alter the length or even metal color to customize.

The Nugaard earrings.

My version

Let's go!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, gold chain, gold ear wires, thin gold wire (like 26 gauge), and 10 6mm glass teardrop beads.

Step 2: Cut about a 3" piece of your gold wire. Make a super small loop at the end, and twist wire to hold. Thread on 5 of your glass teardrops. Then, make another loop at the end of the wire to finish, twist, and cut.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 to make your second link. Take your gold wire, and attach a piece to both loops on your link. My earrings turned out to be about 1.75" long, but you can use any length of chain you'd like to make them shorter/longer. Just make sure the same amount of links hang from each loop, otherwise they will be lopsided! Then, just thread the two ends of chain onto your ear wire (I had to cut the bottom off my ear wire and re-loop it, as it was facing the wrong way originally. Make sure the loop faces you so that your dangle faces forward).

Ready to wear!

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

Gorjana Earring DIY- "Love Story Hoops in Chocolate"

Gorjana's Love Story Hoops with chocolate pearls

From jewelry design company Gorjana, famous for their simple yet chic metal designs, comes these classic hoop earrings made with pearls and faceted silver beads. Gorjana jewelry has been featured in tons of fashion magazines including People and InStyle, to name a few. 

These earrings are perfect to wear to both work and parties, as their simplicity lends itself to many outfits and styles. My tutorial below shows you exactly how to replicate these. What's good about these earrings is that you can change the colors of both the pearls and the faceted beads, as well as make them with either gold or silver wire/findings to suit your taste.

  

My version!

  Plus, the Gorjana earrings are $80. I made mine for less than $4, using wire scraps and glass beads. 

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, silver (or gold) craft wire, two silver (or gold) ear wires, 4mm glass pearls and 3mm faceted glass beads. If you don't have chocolate-colored pearls and silver faceted beads, like I didn't, I will show you how to transform them with a little nail polish and toothpicks!

To make your chocolate pearls, simply stick the pearl on the end of a toothpick and dip into a tube of shimmery brown nail polish (I used Sally Hansen Beautiful in Bronze) and stick the other end of the toothpick in some thumb tack to hold it upright and still. Repeat with other pearls and let dry about an hour (you want the nail polish to fully dry so it isn't  gummy, so no rushing!). For the faceted beads, stick onto the end of toothpicks as well, but paint these with a coat of silver nailpolish, no dipping. If you dip, it will smooth out the facets in the beads too much. Let these dry as well. Gently twist off toothpicks to release.

I used 4 pearls and 5 faceted beads per earring. The Gorjana earrings have 5 pearls and 6 faceted beads, but I wanted my hoops to be a little smaller (their hoops are 2" wide). You can choose what you want to do! 

Also, if you want to use different color pearls and faceted beads, go ahead! These earrings are totally versatile!

Step 2: Make the beaded link. You want to cut about 2.5" or so of your craft wire. Make a small loop at the end with your pliers, and string on your beads: faceted, pearl, faceted and so on, ending with a faceted. Cut excess wire if needed and loop the side closed. Repeat for second link.

Step 3: Make your large loops. Loop the remaining craft wire around a bottle of paint or some other round object and then cut to create two large loops. Mine were a little less than 1.5" wide. Take the ends of the large loops and make a small loop with your pliers on either side (last pic.). Now twist these small 90 degrees so that they are streamlined and don't stick into the center of the small loop.

Step 4: Finish. Take your beaded link and attach to one of your large loops (first pic.) on either side. Repeat with other link and large loop. You probably will need to gently bend all the wires a bit so that they create one large circle. To finish, add your ear wires to the top of the earrings.

This is what they should look like!

How they look when worn.

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

DIY- Anthropologie "Perched Harmonies" Necklace

Ready for another tutorial?

Anthropologie's Perfect Harmonies Necklace

What a pretty necklace. Not a pretty price! Make your own $68-looking Anthropologie designer necklace at home for barely no money at all. All that are needed are some beads, wire, and wire-working skills (don't worry, nothing too complicated here!). It's surprisingly quick to make, took me less than an hour.

My DIY Anthro Necklace

Get out your pliers; let's make some jewelry!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, thick gold wire (I just used craft wire I found at a hardware store, it's 3mm in diameter), thinner gold wire, a gold necklace chain, clasps for your necklace, two jump rings, 4mm round glass beads-assorted colors. You will also need a hard surface and hammer for making the pendant. I used a regular hammer from my garage (which gave the wire a rustic texture), but it would be a totally smart idea to use a jewelry making hammer found here, because it will give you that smooth shine. Also, you can use a stainless steel bench block found here to hammer on, which will give your piece a totally professional look. Those two tools are great to buy if you want to make more wire jewelry!

I used just plain 4mm glass rounds, as the Anthropologie necklace uses faceted gemstone beads. You can find similar 4mm gemstone rounds , like the ones I used, here.

Step 2: Make the wire pendant. Cut a little less than 3 inches of your thick wire. Go outside to your garage-or, a nice hard and somewhat surface. A sidewalk would even work, if you don't have the bench block.

 Time to hammer. Carefully hold one end of the wire while hammering down, flattening the wire slightly as you go. You don't want it super flat, just slightly. Use even pressure throughout the wire.

When it looks slightly flatter, hammer the ends extra hard to sort of "push" the wire outwards, flattening it a lot. Your wire should look like this when done. See how the ends are hammered more?

Step 3: Make the holes. I positioned a small ice pick with a nice point right the my end of my wire. I tried this with a fine nail at first; it just bent as the wire was stronger than it! So, if you don't have an ice pick you could probably use a tougher nail or a screwdriver. We just need something with a somewhat fine point. Again, I hammered this through both sides of my wire to make holes. Your pendant should look like this when done.

Step 4: Add your beads to the pendant. Use about 10 inches of your thinner gold wire; wrap the end around one end of your hammered wire a couple of times to secure. Then, string the beads on the other end. THE ORDER OF THE BEADS IS CRUCIAL TO GETTING THE LOOK; the Anthro necklace goes: clear yellow, yellow, opaque mint, blue, purple, pink, clear, red, orange, jade, pink, red, blue.

If you don't care about it looking the exact same or don't have the exact colors of the beads (some of my colors were slightly different hues), then just go with what you want. No worries.

Start wrapping the beads onto the pendant. Position a bead right against the front of the wire, pull with your right hand tightly while holding the bead with your left, and take the thin wire under the hammered pendant and up behind the back, then back down across the front. Continue about 3 more times to secure the bead to the pendant before adding another bead. Continue with the other beads to weave on all 12. 

Here are some close-ups so you can see the weaving technique. When you have the beads strung and excess wire, wrap almost up to the hole, trim, and fold the trimmed end across the back to hide. 

Step 5: Add your jump rings to the holes in the pendant. Attach even lengths of your wire to either end, and your clasps to the loose ends of the wire to make a necklace. The Anthro necklace is 17" long, but you can alter the length if you want.

You are finished! If you want to experiment, try different colors of wire like silver, bronze, copper, etc. Just make sure all your findings match your metal color. Also, you could use different colors and styles of beads (crystals, plastic, metal beads, wood, whatever!) to match your personality. 

The Anthro necklace, worn

A close-up

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