Rose and Lace Necklace

With the weather so frigid and the air so crummy lately, I've been really looking forward to Spring and finding myself drawn to both floral and feminine things. I saw this great tutorial on how to make polymer clay roses and thought I'd give it a shot. I decided to make mine more stylized and to use them as beads for a necklace.
I started out by practicing with Jellybean's play dough.  I made several green roses for her. She stuck each one on a toothpick and added it to her creation.

I love scented play dough. Mmm, smells like green apple.

After I'd practiced for a little while, I decided to break out the clay.

Then I carefully poked a hole at the base of each rose using a toothpick. If you need a hole for your project, definitely remember to do it before baking.
After the roses were baked and cooled, I decided to stitch them to a lace ribbon necklace I found at Hobby Lobby.

I love the way it turned out. The necklace might work better as a choker, but I fear that my neck is too short to wear it like that.

A rose beaded necklace strung on lace. What could be more feminine? I kind of love the blue rose the most. I made several more roses and plan to put together a hair clip for Jellybean. More on that soon.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Odds and Ends:

I'm in an odds and ends mood. In other words, I didn't feel like I had anything for a complete post, so I'm just going to throw a few things out there.

First: The best way to thread a needle. 
Maybe everyone knows the easiest way to thread a needle (I learned how when I was 12), but maybe you don't. I got thinking about it and decided it was kind of tricky, so here's a tip:

Loop your thread around the needle and pull tight.

Slide needle out of the loop and then simply poke the loop through the eye. (the needle's eye, not your eye. hehe) Works every time with no thread licking. You've seen people do that.

Second: My burgeoning belly. 
I'm twenty-five weeks along and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm starting to have the following awkward conversation All The Time:
Random person: "You look so cute!"
Me: "Thanks!"
Random person: "So when are you due..looks like you are getting close."
Me: "Actually, I'm not due until the end of April."
Random person: *pause* "Oh...well hang in there, you look great..."

Unfortunately, I even think that I look further along than I am. Plus, I have such a long list of complaints that I'm starting to feel like I'm whining to D far too much of the time.

Yeah, that's my best attempt at a photo.

At least my amazing sister gave me a really cute cardigan to wear. Having something cute wrapped around my mid-section takes a little bit of the edge off of my complaints.

Third: A sneak peek! 
I spent nap time yesterday working on a new project. I was very inspired by a simple tutorial I saw last week, so I got to work. I'll share it all next week!

See you after the weekend and...

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ