Caring for Your Engagement and Wedding Rings

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This was the topic of a recent email I got from Martha Stewart - I'm still on the wedding daily email subscription since my sister got married earlier this year.  I was particularly interested in the cleaning of your jewelry section:

Clean Your Ring

To keep your ring sparkling, clean it often to remove lotions, skin oil, and everyday dirt, which cloud it. (1) You can soak the ring in warm water and mild dishwashing liquid, and scrub with a soft toothbrush, says Tracy Lantz, associate director of public relations at the Diamond Information Center. Or (2) soak it in equal parts ammonia and cold water for half an hour, and let it air dry. Any brand-name jewelry cleaner is another good option.

I tried both options on my stud earrings.  They were in dire need of a cleaning.  I found that the ammonia concoction was far more effective than diswashing liquid.  All the yucky grime simply melted off into the solution.  Awesome!

Succulents

Here's a easy way to add a little green for those of us that do not have a green thumb. Succulents are low maintenance plants that are a beautiful accent anywhere at home or in the office. I saw some at the gardening center in glass containers that looked very modern. It's easy to replicate the same feel with found items at home.

I used a glass container from an old candle. After the fact, I realized it's better to lay down an inch of gravel or aquarium stones to help drain the soil. Then transplant your succulent, that's it! I bought mine for $2.99 and got 2 plants in one container.

 

Garland

Here's a quick, cheap and easy paper garland. I made this for the baby shower at the office.
Supplies:
Paint chip paper (free @ Home Depot)
Paper punch cutter
Ribbon or twine
Hot Glue

Assemble:
Punch out the paint chip and hot glue to the ribbon or twine.

Pretty Pearls

I've been lusting after a string of bronze pearls for a long time. I was struck with inspiration last night at Joann's. A pack of these glass pearls were only $1.49 (2 packs) and the ribbon was $1.99 for the roll. I had to also buy a bead needle to thread the peals on sale for $1.39.

The holes in the pearls where super tiny, so I couldn't thread the ribbon thru it. Instead, I used a gold colored heavy duty sewing thread I normally use for hemming jeans. It worked out just fine.

Finished off with a bow on the strand and double knotted the thread. I used another bow to cover up where I tied the knot.

End result is a beautiful necklace for less than $7 with plenty of ribbon left and threading needle for future projects! So really, it was probably less than $5. Pictures didn't turn out as well tho! But you get the gist of it.

Refinished Dresser

Here's my first refinishing project. I used to watch Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic in college and loved the idea of salvaging something old and ugly and bringing it back to life with a coat of paint. As I got older, I grew out of Shabby Chic. Now in need of more storage space and not wanting to spend on buying another piece of furniture...here's my solution. I was trolling Goodwill and Salvation Army for a well made sturdy dresser that I can refinish on the cheap - my budget was $10-20. No luck there, no vertical dressers only horizontal ones. Then my neighbors moved out and left this out. We wiped down the entire dresser inside and out, slapped a water based primer (Valspar Multipurpose) on it and 3 coats of "green" (zero VOC) semi-gloss paint (Olympic). The work was done on the patio and dried in a day since Tues was exceptionally hot and we waited for each coat to dry before applying the next. Primer and paint cost $20 total. I still have 3/4 of the primer left and 1/2 of the paint for future projects. The knobs cost $8. So for less than $30 we have a sturdy well made dresser that looks fab. Ikea would have been the other option, except the drawers tends to bottom out and I wanted something a little more durable.

Initially I wanted to decoupage the top with a graphic print yellow fabric or paper, but I haven't found anything yet.  I'll probably line the inside of the drawers with some fun kids wrapping paper Lisa left at my house from last Xmas.