mint – Page 4 – A Smith of All Trades

Hey new doors, heyyyyyy

April 3, 2013 Jessica Smith

After running around like crazy people last night doing some long-overdue grocery shopping and a Costco run, we finally made it to Lowe’s to pick up our new doors! Who wants to see some terrible photos of our doors? Hopefully you do.

I totally sissied out yesterday when it came to carrying them into the house, but we got them in and laid them on our floor. They are rather… beige. But that’s just for now! I am nervous that they will look too fancy on our Plain Jane house, but I am also fabulous at second-guessing my decisions when it comes to things I cannot return. *gulp*

The door on the left will be our front door, and the other will replace our crummy car port door.

I was a little nervous about leaving them ont he floor because of the pup, so I made a door cage out of chairs to keep Rem out.

He doesn’t seem too interested though.

On to the swatches! I am loving the idea of a teal front door. I think the mint will get lost in the whiteness of our house, so a bolder pop of color is in order. I also like the vibrant blue. The hubby also likes the blue and hates the teal… so I should be nice and go with that. But I make no promises.

Sometimes a girl just needs a teal front door! And even though my hubby doesn’t quite believe it, I can always repaint the door if we hate it.

Those were some quality photos, huh?

Hope you enjoyed. I have no idea when we’ll get a chance to hang them, but you’ll be the first to know once I know!

Happy hump day!

Craft Projects, Jewelry, Quick and Easy Crafts

Gunmetal and mint necklace

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 Jessica Smith

How was everyone’s Easter? My weekend was filled with three different dinners, a birthday brunch and simply way too much delicious food. Basically, it was awesome. My older sister came into town, and it was the first Easter and birthday we’ve celebrated with her in a decade (or so it seems). My mom, little sister and I took her to brunch in Baltimore at Cafe Hon to celebrate her birthday. It was a ton of fun.

Sunday was dinner at my dad’s house with my stepmom’s family and her brother’s partner’s family. I’ll give you a second to figure out that relationship 🙂 We only get to see them at Easter, which makes the holiday even more enjoyable.

My Easter craft was pretty simple, and I’m only just sharing it now because the weekend was SO busy and yesterday I had a killer headache. I even missed trivia, so you know it was crummy.

Anywho… I needed a new necklace for Easter. Yes, needed.

I had this old chain that I’d been hanging onto. I liked its chunkiness, but the length was awkward. You know what I mean…. long enough to occasionally disappear under your shirt and just the right length to get stuck in cleavage… basically, the worst length for a necklace!

I cut the necklace in half using really strong pliers, then added a new section to the necklace of bright mint beads.

The beads were a gift from my bestie, and were a totally sweet thrift store find. To add them to the chain, I used beading wire and a crimp bead. I looped one end of wire around the end of the chain, then flattened and crimped the crimp bead so no beads would fall off.

Then, I strung the beads with gunmetal spacers in between, closing the wire at the other end with a crimp bead.

In about four minutes, my boring, awkward-lengthed necklace was transformed into the perfect necklace. My sister really liked the whole thing hanging asymmetrically, too.

AND, it is also the perfect length to wrap around my wrist to become a chunky bracelet. #Winning.

I hope you all had a great Easter. The weather is finally getting warmer in Maryland, so hopefully I can start to tackle a few larger projects I’ve been wanting to do.

Oh, and our doors are supposedly in! Joyyyyyyyy 🙂 I’ll make sure to show you when they are all installed and beautiful!

Craft Projects, Jewelry

Green mesh-like pendant

March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 Jessica Smith

I don’t really know what to call this necklace I made this past weekend, so let’s call it a mesh-like pendant. All in all, it was a little tricky to make, but I think it is pretty and very unique, so here goes!

For this project you’ll need elongated beads (pearls are optional), eye pins (a loop on one side, a pin on the other), and some chain.

To begin, stack one of your beads and a pearl on an eye pin, and close the other end into a loop. Make a second eye pin in the same way and connect the two where the pearls meet. I suggest using a jump ring in the middle (not seen in the photo below because I realize this a few eye pins into the pendant).

Now, make an eye pin with one bead and no pearl — take this and connect it to the two green ends of the two eye pins that connect to the jump ring in the center.