My “Aubrey” is wearing a wig from Blytheoholican, Natasha Moore stock coat, and Kuloft Mouse glasses.

She is sitting in my new lightbox I built.

I used my circle punch for my 1″ pinback buttons and a regular hole punch. All are 1″-3″ covered with Sharpies.

I put them in the oven at 325 and watched until they shriveled up. I tried to flatten them with a cup but it didn’t work very well. I also noticed that you could still scratch off the Sharpie (which no other tutorials mentioned). Maybe sealing them with spray enamel would help? They shrunk to charm size but some were a little distorted. I’m not super attached to all of them so I may just toss some. Any ideas on what to do differently next time?

My boyfriend bought a necklace when he was a boy and told his mom that he was going to give it to the woman he was going to marry. He gave it to me a few years ago J Well, it ended up breaking and I kept all the beads I could find. I decided not to make it a necklace again because I didn’t think I had enough beads. It meant a lot to me so I wanted to use the beads for something. I made earrings (clip-on as mine aren’t pierced), a ring, and a bracelet. I put felt on the base of the earrings and ring because I was gluing the beads and I needed a better surface. The bracelet is elastic.

This is a picture of the whole thing. Below are more detailed pictures.

Travel; the world is yours; great expectations; care for the environment; “when I do make a poor choice, I acknowledge it and move forward”; say yes to a better world; “I think anyone who follows their own instincts is alwasys truly unique in the end”; I am armed with good intentions; (cut off) create possibilities and express your vision of what is possible; create; express yourself; play; I am armed with good intentions.

Life’s too short to be a wallflower; I’m pathologically optimistic; love your friends, love the journey, love yourself, love takes time, love who you are; tell your family and friends how much you love them; craft; say yes to love; say yes to hope; a drop of edge, a splash of quirk, and a whole lot of work; feel the love.

(cut off)create possibilites and express your vision of what is possible; create; express yourself; play; say yes to shoes; blog worthy; create a life you love; I want to know more; inspire change.

Gym gym gym; create a life you love; keep a contented heart; personal best; nut up or shut up; say yes to health; how far can you go?; honor your physical self; say yes to curves; a down-to-earth attitude.

Keep a contented heart; say yes to me; inspire change; no matter where you fall on the socioeconomic hierarchy, you are expected to aspire to something better; open mind; raise awareness; mind, body, and soul; I can push myself further; label me versitile; you’re beautiful and smart; never hide; feel beautiful; life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks; (cut off) how far can you go?; work out, work it; brave and free; (cut off) a down-to-earth attitude; imaginative; do not wait for other people to change the world; listen, listen, listen, & then ask strategic questions, appreciate the moment; positive change.

I discover the magic key; I go searching for answers.

1.  Lose 15 pounds.  I will feel better and look better.

Fail! I have added more muscle and I’m around the same weight as I was (a little less)

2. Pass the GRE with a good score. Get into some good graduate schools. Get an internship.

Mostly Pass. I took the GRE in November and I got a respectable score. I might take it again if I feel like it. I changed my mind about graduate school because I want to get experience first. I have many applications done, more to go, and a response that will be coming early next year.

3. Have a better relationship with my brother.

PASS! I think this is due to both of us working at it.

4. Have a better relationship with my boyfriend’s parents.

FAIL. I pretty much gave up on this one. I don’t even want to try with his dad. Biggest asshole I know. If my boyfriend can’t stand him, I can’t either. 

5. Do the rest of my resolutions from last year. Manage my time better, make more times for things I enjoy, stop leaving the house with wet hair, wear/clean up makeup, make a bedtime routine, and stop biting my lips.

Mostly fail. I managed my time probably the same although I sleep more than before due to the fact that I don’t have a job or class so it’s easy to get lazy. That being said, I have all the time in the world for stuff I enjoy. However, that doesn’t include blow drying my hair lol. At least I try to hide it in a hood or a hat… I think I wear more makeup than I used to and I got better with washing it off at night. I also have nothing to do outside of my house so I often stay up late and a ‘bedtime routine’ consists of trolling and playing games on my iPod (now iPhone!). I stopped biting my lips for a while but my nerves get the best of me. I think I do it less than before, the added bonus of no more school! I wear chapstick more though so it doesn’t look as bad.

6. Declutter my life. After I graduate I’ll be back in the house with all my crap I’ve accumulated for 21 years. I am having a MASSIVE garage sale.

PASS! Everything I don’t need until I get a place of my own is organized into boxes in the basement and the rest of the stuff is in my room. Perhaps I bought too many clothes at Salvation Army this year but I’ll be donating some and selling some once it gets warmer so I don’t feel too bad.

7. Craft more. I will have more free time and I’ll be near all of my supplies.

SUPER PASS! I sewed a few a-line dresses for Blythe. I made a lot of my Xmas presents this year (salt dough ornaments, felt ornaments). I organized all of my collaging stuff. I also made thank you cards for my interview (don’t worry they looked very professional), rings for my friends, and little things for Blythe. I feel like I can never craft enough!

7.1 Sell them! Use etsy and my garage sale.

Pass. I tried. They’re still up on Etsy for now but the listings end soon. I e-mailed a boutique but I have to try again as they didn’t respond (not even a “no, we’re not interested”, bad business practice imo).     

2012 RESOLUTIONS

1.  The most important one. GET A JOB! I have been applying to research assistant/associate positions at a lot of schools but there aren’t as many postings as there should be because a lot of universities got their funding cut. If it hits a certain date I think I will just be going back into food service/retail because I have bills to pay L

2.  Make money other ways. Like selling my buttons! I need to find a local consignment boutique since obviously Etsy is not working.  PURGE! Sell clothes that are too good to donate. Have a garage sale. Sell crafting supplies I’ll never use (bulked together obviously). 

3.  Use my tablet more. I have a Wacom tablet that my parents got me for Xmas last year and I haven’t used it nearly as much as I should have. I need to make a new banner for my Etsy, business cards, thank you cards, etc.

4.  Craft. Try new things using old supplies. Don’t be afraid to fail. Just don’t do it with new supplies

5.  Lose weight. I won’t set a specific number goal because anything lost is good.

6.  LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY! I will be the first to admit that my pictures are not that good. I don’t know the basics of aperature, ISO, etc. I got a book from the library and I need to read the manual. Hopefully this will make more return visitors.

7.  Make my blog more successful. This will depend on #6 but there are other ways to improve too. Fixing graphics in Photoshop before printing, creating a ‘brand’ for myself, tweeting more interesting things, commenting on other blogs, and creating more original content.

I’ll stick with 7 resolutions for now as I passed most of mine before. Hopefully 2012 will be just as, if not more, lucky! If you have any helpful tips or words of encouragement feel free to leave them in the comments.