Spring Cleaning: Coin Clutter

If you are like me, you have various collections of random clutter. Over time, I forget all about it, and it kinda becomes part of the household landscape.

One of the things that piles up in our house is loose change. We put it any spare container we can find; old margerine containers, mason jars, decorative boxes. Once one container is full, we move onto the next. When we moved into the new house I packed the containers filled with change in a box and there they stayed, for a year and half!

Time to get rid of this unecessary clutter!

I hit up a local office supply store and bought an automatic coin sorter for $40, and some bags of paper coin rolls.

It look about an hour and I turned this...

Into this:

And wowie, wow...it's over $180!

Stretchy Bracelets

Stretchy bracelets seem to be popping up everywhere these days. I find myself drawn to the ones that are all one type of bead, with one standout bead or clasp.

While perusing one of my favourite jewelry websites, Stella & Dot, recently, I found these adorable Mini Soiree stretchy bracelets ($12-$18 each). I wanted them, immediately. Problem? They are for kids, and are insanely a tad too small for my wrist. Seriously, can these get any cuter?

They have a grown up version, but they don't come in the fun colours that the kidlet ones do. Bummer. Major bummer. Not to mention that these will cost you $36 each!

I hit up a local craft shop and found some glass beads on clearance that I love the colour of. I couldn't find any crystal beads so I picked up some cute twisted wire beads instead...they were sparkly enough for me. After a trip to grab some stretchy string and crimp beads from the Dollarama (hello!) and I was set. After 20 minutes of work I ended up with three super cute bracelets for less than $18...TOTAL!

I am so excited to wear them, they are perfect for summer! C'mon summer!

And here is my little Butter, totally wiped after a long evening of catching up on her favourite blogs!



Out of My Comfort Zone

Ok, so I am known to be a bit stingy. I am not ashamed to admit that I like to save a buck...or ten.That's why I am always game to try and recreate something I've seen online or in a catalogue. And I don't limit myself to furniture, I have an affinity for jewelry, too! Problem is, I don't really now the first thing about making jewelry....so it's really a trial and error kind of process. Mostly error.

My first foray into creating jewelry was when I saw this ring on Etsy. I loved that it was quirky and unique, but I wasn't about to pay $89.00 for it.

Unfortunately, THIS was the result of my attempted recreation. We didn't do an officially weigh in but the 'guesstimate' was 2 lbs. Yikes! Failure!

Kristel G

Even though my first go didn't work out as I'd hoped, when I saw this necklace from Grace Jewelry, I thought I had to try to redeem myself and avoid paying the $45 they were asking for it by making my own.

I found some beads and chain online at Artbeads.com and ordered what I'd need. I eagerly waited for the postman and, two weeks later, my package arrived. Right away, I knew I had made a massive miscalculation. The beads I ordered were only about half the size I thought they'd be, and one of the chains was also much more dainty than I figured it would be. Anyhowdydoody, I was determined to make it work!

Here's my version of the necklace...and it only cost me $23!

I like it. It's not as chunky as my inspiration, but that's okay. For half the price of the original, I can totally live with it!