Wednesday, October 15, 2014

DIY: El Dia de los Muertos Reversible Embroidered Necklace

Oh, y'all. I know I shouldn't say this after a glorious Fall Break (of which many of you were unfairly shafted) but I am so stinkin' beat. I dunno if it's the weather, the lack of proper nutrition (last year's Halloween candy for brekky? Don't mind if I do, nom-nom-nom.) or the fact that I stayed up entirely too late working on this here DIY. All I know is that the absolute highlight of my day, THEE single most glorious moment was, are you ready? The removal of my bra. That's right. I do believe the words: "OMG, So. Much. Better." came outs my mouth. And just as I was throwing the blankets over my head for a lil afternoon shut-eye, the hubs says those dreaded oh-crap, I-totes-forgot! words, "Happy Anniversary! Wanna go out for dinner?" 

To which I threw off my blankets to expose my super seductive sweatpants and inside out t-shirt and said, "Why would you wanna go anywhere when you can stay (patting the bed) right here?"

This was understandably met with silence which was then followed by, "So. Halloween candy dinner?"

Das right. I know how to do a 13th year anniversary, y'all.
Mitch (the man who actually hates that I refer to him as "hubs" which, of course, can only mean one thing: refer to him as "hubs" as much as possible) and I began dating my first year of teaching some 17-ish years ago. So many things have changed since. I no longer wear ill-fitting mom jeans or color my hair (both things the hubs talked me out of, thankfully) and that dude no longer shaves. Everrr. 
Oh, pardon me, was this a DIY post? I just can't believe I got sidetracked with a sidebar conversation, that's just soo-oo-oooh unlike me (cue fake laugh and hair flip). Ahem. Let's chat abouts this DIY already, shall we?
When anniversary man and I were on our recent trip to SoCal (excuse me, but I gotta know, does calling Southern California "SoCal" make me sound as a-hole-ish as I think it does? Yeah, that's what I thought), we took a trip down Olvera Street. I absolutely loved it there especially all of the Dia de los Muertos goodness.
Like these happy dudes. Knowing that we had a long plane ride ahead (and many rounds of traffic jams. It's LA, people. No matter what time of day you travel, one thing is for certain: you will be sitting in your car on a highway at a dead stop for no visible reason.), I brought some fabric and my embroidery supplies along. After being inspired, I drew a rough idea in my sketchbook and then proceeded to draw out my idea on fabric in colored pencil. 
And after a coupla hours (okay, prolly more than that, I'm super slow and picky. I take out more stitches than I put in!), I had this complete. Oh! I forgot to mention...
This here was the wooden blank I used as the template for my necklace. I picked this up (along with several other woody-goodies) from Rock'n Wood. Super great shop and lightening fast delivery, y'all! When I bought it, I originally thought I'd be painting on the base but then the idea of adding embroidery popped into my extraordinarily small brain.
To adhere the embroidery to the wooden base, I use my trusty Tacky Glue. Y'all I love this stuff. So much so I even hypothesized what the REAL Aleene might be like here. After adhering both my little embroidery pieces, I added some ribbon (from some old Anthropologie gift wrap) around the edge. I had a really groovy old broken necklace that found a new life in the form of this here piece.
And since traffic proved to be extra trafficky, once finished with one side of my necklace, I decided to do the reverse. So, in honor of the hubs and I's anniversary, I did a dancing couple (just kidding, this idea had nothing to do with our anniversary, I'm not nearly as sentimental and thoughtful as I'd like y'all to believe. Hence the sweatpants and inside out t-shirt.)
This time I actually have photographic evidence of the process. Here's my wee sketch.
 And my lap whilst sitting in traffic. You can kinda see the white pencil lines on the fabric here.
I got all cray with the teeny tiny stitches. Surprisingly, for someone who doesn't loooove embroidery, this was actually super fun. Well, "super fun" might be a bit of an exaggeration. Enjoyable? Satisfying? Fun-ish? Better than wanting to throw myself out of a non-moving, stuck-in-traffic car? That's prolly more like it.
 Oh, look, me pre-sweatpants. 
Thought bubble: How many hours until I can take off this stinkin' bra?!

And there you have it, kids! A reversible Dia de los Muertos embroidered necklace. Thanks for dropping by...now, time to wrangle up last year's Halloween candy. This anniversary dinner ain't gonna unwrap and give us cavities by itself!
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12 comments:

  1. You are sooooo talented-what can you not do???
    Btw-I have that SAME thought bubble every day!!!

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    1. Seriously! Let's all revolt! I try to keep my weekends as bra-free as possible ;)

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  2. Ok. I love the DIY necklace, especially side 2, but this here comment is not about that. My comment refers to you being, yet again, my kindred spirit. Seriously. It's the bra thing. First thing that comes off when I come home from anywhere. Sometimes I cannot wait. I have often taken it off in the car (hubby driving) on the way home from a long trip somewhere, pulling it out my sleeve and waving it at him proudly. Then of course, the problem usually is this: uh oh, I forgot we were stopping to grab a meal. Bra gets quickly shoved into a pocket or purse, and yours truly, arms crossed over chest as though I'm cold, hot-foots it into the restaurant restroom ASAP before I'm discovered. Yup. We should be sisters.

    Suggestion: Chinese takeout, delivered to your door, goes real well with the Halloween stash!

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    1. Haha!! Thank you, that was heeee-lariously put! As I was driving home from work today I was actually daydreaming about taking mine off. DAYDREAMING! What's funny is that we were looking at Sunday Afternoon at La Grande Jatte (sp?) by Seurat today and all I could think was: those poor ladies, look at all those undergarments! Can you even imagine?! I don't think I'd ever leave the house ;) Great suggestion, I'll save it for next year ;)

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  3. You should check out Tucsons All Souls Parade the second weekend in November. It is amazing!!

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    1. I recently heard about it!! I will check it out, thank you for the reminder!

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  4. Not sure how much you drive through Franklin....but have you seen the big white house on Main Street with the Halloween display that has skeletons having a party on the porch ??? SO amazing ! If you don't know what I am talking about....when you leave Johnson .....go back towards town on the street that has the car entrance...11th Avenue - back towards town. Stay on 11th through the light and oh.....sidebar.....check out the house on the right that is totally wrapped in spider webs with smoke and creepy music and fog !!! ....ok....I'm back....continue up to Main Street and then take a left. The house is a couple blocks down on the left. Has a huge porch set up with tables and about a dozen skeletons having a party. A must see.

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    1. WHAT?! Oh, I've been missing out! I will definitely be driving by and snapping some photos this afternoon. Thank you for the heads up AND the great directions (I need 'em!).

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  5. Anonymous10/16/2014

    Next time you go to CA you should put it at the Onterio airport. Much less crowded and very fast and friendly. Might be a drive into LA area but worth it.

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  6. I luuuuuuv the necklace!!!!

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  7. Happy Anniversary! Amazing couple. Inspired!

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  8. Happy Anniversary! Amazing couple. Inspired!

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