ACCESSORIES: Gold Foil Twig Jewelry Tree

One of the many areas that I need to get organized is my jewelry box. It’s a mess with bracelets, rings and earrings mixed together. Sometimes it’s hard to find a matching pair of earrings and I give up and put on the my my standard small hoop earrings. In an effort to organize a few pairs, I made this little gold foil twig jewelry tree.

DRESS CODE: What I Wore {Business Travel Clothes for 50+}

Today I’m sharing a really different post with you. I love fashion and accessories but I rarely post pictures of myself or share things that I wear. I recently was away for a week-long business trip for my day job as a senior marketing manager and documented my outfits. I work remotely from my home office and was traveling to the corporate office for the first time. I planned (shopped) for this trip for a long time because it was a packed schedule with meetings, dinners and more meetings.

As you can see from my post title, I’m in the 50+ age group (eeeep how did that happen?) so I don’t want to dress too young but I also don’t want to dress matronly. So here are the outfits I wore and a few tips that I learned for my next trip in a few months.

ACCESSORIES: DIY Shell Magnifying Make Up Mirror

For a long time now, I’ve relied on a magnifying mirror in my bathroom to apply my make up. Funny how the regular mirror seems so far away the older I get. In my bathroom, I have a nice swing arm magnifying mirror but I also have a variety of handheld versions. I found this small 4 inch mirror in one of my make up bags and decided to give it a little facelift.

ACCESSORIES: Craft Stick Wrapped Bracelets

Have you ever made popsicle stick bracelets? It’s an old-school craft that’s been around for a long time. For this project, I’m using craft sticks. They’re narrower and a little longer than a popsicle stick. You can get them at most craft stores.

ACCESSORIES: Initials, Inc. Overview and Giveaway

I wanted pass along an opportunity to you that sounds like a great way to work from home with fantastic earning potential, award winning training and a product line that is very current. It’s called Initials, Inc. The company was founded by two sisters, who gave up their careers for family and began an embroidery and monogramming business.

Extra Credit: Novica: The World is Your market {& Giveaway)

I have such a treat for you today. Last year, I was first introduced to Novica and shared a review and giveaway here on homework. You can read it here. I’m happy to once again be able to share this wonderful site with you and host another giveaway on behalf of Novica and their many artisans.

The beautiful gold and green crystal bracelet on the left is what I reviewed last year. This year I chose a sky and sea blue palette and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m also giving away a gift certificate to Novica so one lucky winner will get to explore the many beautiful treasures on the Novica site.

Accessories: Crystal and Bugle Bead Bracelet

When it comes to jewelry, I’m definitely a bracelet girl. Some people look great in big statement necklaces, fun earrings or blingy rings. But I love bracelets. I like to layer them and wear several at once – bangles, beads, stones – you name it.

Accessories: making a pin with dimensional magic

I have boxes and boxes of jewelry making supplies but I don’t often make jewelry. I haven’t really mastered the chains and jump rings and I don’t even own those little pliers that you need.

Accessories: martha stewart tote {and a giveaway}

Even if you don’t travel that often, you may be like me and use a tote bag almost every day. I have lots of tote bags but none of them are designed for my work needs. I usually end up tossing in all my goodies into one of my large tote bags – even my laptop. The items above are just some of the things that I usually “tote” around with me.

Accessories: jewelry giveaway and guest recap

Here’s a question for you… Can a girl have too much jewelry? Normally, I would say no but my jewelry box runneth over!

You may recall I was extremely lucky to be selected to review the new Styled by Tori Spelling jewelry line. Playing with and creating all the jewelry was so fun but honestly, it’s more than I could ever wear. I’m going to use some for gifts but I also created TWO prize packages to share with you.

The prize packages are a mix of the Glitz and Boho lines. 

Each package will contain; a necklace top, necklace connectors, several necklace bottoms, several necklace pendants and danglers. Fun!

To enter, click on the Rafflecopter entry below and follow the entry instructions. There are several chances to enter.

Rules:

• Anonymous and no-reply entries must leave an email address in order to be eligible to win. If I can’t contact you, I’ll draw a new winner.
• Once the winners are drawn I will send an email to each winner. The winner must contact me within one week or a new winner will be selected.
• Open to U.S. mailing addresses only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S.

I want to thank the following bloggers {friends} who shared guest posts here on homework while I was away. I loved all your projects – you are all a great source of inspiration to me! 

If you aren’t familiar with these blogs, please stop by and visit them for some amazing creativity. 

Uncommon   |   Nifty Thrifty Things   |   Jacolyn Murpy   |   Craftberry Bush   |   The Answer is Chocolate   |   Yesterday on Tuesday   |   Saved by Love Creations

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

Accessories: crafty, easy, stylish jewelry

I’m so excited to tell you about this new collection of easy to assemble jewelry. It’s called Styled by Tori Spelling and no, it’s not sold in high-end boutiques and upscale department stores – it’s available in major craft and hobby stores.



That’s right – these collections; Boho, Glam, Noir, and Glitz by Styled by Tori Spelling are so easy to create, you don’t have to be a jewelry crafter or a a crafter at all.



The idea is simple. There are mix and match pieces that you can interchange. For example; to make a necklace you pick a necklace top and bottom and use the connectors to hook them together. No pliers or fancy jewelry making tools needed. There are pendants and danglers you can add to make your piece even more of a statement.

The pieces above are from the Glitz and Boho collections that I received to try out. 

You can also make matching earrings. Just connect the earring dangler to the earring hoop or finding. Want to change the look – swap out the dangler.

For a dramatic look, showcase a bold pendant on a necklace top and bottom.

You can also make bracelets. Again, this is so easy. You simply use the clasps to hook the bracelets onto the bracelet rings.

For this piece I used four bracelets and also added the leaves from a pendant dangler. 

Note: [crafty confession]: to add the leaves, I did use pliers since I was using the pendant differently than it was intended for. The leaves were clustered on a dangler and I added them individually to the bracelet links. 

Another project a little outside of the box, I used this adorable owl pendant to make a bookmark. 

This is also a pendant dangler but decided to glue it to a barrette for statement hair accessory. 

The pieces are truly stylish with current looks like these beautiful metal textured leaves with turquoise crystal beads. The Styled by Tori Spelling jewelry is available at Michaels and Jo-Ann – the pieces may vary by store but with such a wide assortment in each collection you are sure to find something to suit your style.

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

Check out some of the Styled by Tori Spelling posts by some fellow bloggers.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Darice and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

Accessories: bloom and grow

This post brought to you by Bloom.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

I usually don't post about make up and beauty but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell you about this new social network site. It's called Bloom.com. Pretty things plus social networking - what a great concept!

At Bloom.com you are able to discover products for your personalized needs based on the unbiased feedback and what is trending in the social world.

Women Helping Women
That's what Bloom.com is all about – a social beauty store that's revolutionizing the way you buy beauty products. I spent quite a lot of time on the Bloom.com site and was amazed at the selection. They have over 10,000 items from 150+ brands. And, each purchase comes with a FREE customized BloomBonus gift filled with luxury products tailored specifically for your beauty needs, plus 10% back in BloomDollars. First time purchasers can get 30% back on their first order.

What I also liked about Bloom was that the products range from budget friendly to high-end brands. Something for everyone.

Here's what the founder & CEO had to say.

Hi, I'm Julie Mahloch... busy mom of three and founder of Bloom.com. I love beauty products and I always want to look my best, but once I turned the big 4-0 and started getting more interested in anti-aging products, I realized how frustrating it is to figure out what to buy. My girlfriends and I would often chat about the overwhelming options. Sure, we could read about the latest trends and must-have products, but who has time to stay on top of it all? We all just want something that works, right?

That's why I created Bloom.com. I wanted a place where women could join together and share their honest opinions and experiences… a place that would "know" each woman and their needs and remember which products worked or didn't work… a place that would recommend the ideal products for each woman based on HER beauty profile.

I hope you love how easy it is to find the best products for you at Bloom.com. Now you can get the right products, and save time and money! Our hope is that you will NEVER buy the wrong beauty products again.

Here's more exciting news:  Bloom.com currently has an awesome giveaway to Win a spa vacation for 4 girlfriends! ­ all expenses paid at the luxury 5 star Aria hotel!

How fun would that be! All you have to do is join Bloom.com, it is free to enter. For every friend who joins you get an extra spa weekend entry, and for every friend who joins & buys you receive a $25 credit to your account (No Limit!).

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

Accessories: button earring holder

I have a lot of earrings. It’s easy to keep the hoops together by looping them to each other but the dangling and stud earrings are always floating around in my jewelry box. Sometimes I can’t find a matching pair.

Accessories: paper and mod podge charm bracelet

There are so many fun diy jewelry ideas floating around lately. I’ve seen some pretty fabric flower necklaces and a lot of charm bracelets.

I was taken with these two charm bracelets and filed away the idea.

{left) Sandy’s Space – Paper and Mod Podge bracelet

{right} Just Something I Made – Shrinky Dink bracelet

I decided to use Sandy’s paper and Mod Podge method and dug through my paper supplies. I wanted something natural looking and delicate for spring.



I found some rice paper with bits of leaves and foliage pressed into it. I Mod Podged the rice paper onto heavier cardstock and once it was dry, I cut out the charm shapes. Two more coats of Gloss Lustre Mod Podge sealed the charms.



I’ve had the silver link bracelet forever and can’t even remember where I got it. The finishing touch was the beautiful vintage seam binding I just bought from one of my favorite Etsy shops – Carmelos.

 

I wove the seam binding through the silver bracelet links and added the charms with embroidery floss.

With a little paper, Mod Podge and ribbon and you can create any type of charm bracelet you want.

Thanks for visiting!

Carolyn

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