Hello World,

I have been seeing chain bottle covers recently, at places like Pier 1, but even on clearance they are more than $10.  They didn’t look too difficult to make, so I made one myself!  It was super easy to make, and could be a great to give along with a bottle of wine as a present.

Check out below, to see how to make one as well:

1. Gather your materials: chain, jewelry wire, jump rings, pliers, and a bottle to use as a template.

2.  Use the jewelry wire to measure around the neck of your bottle. The shorter you cut your wire, the higher on the bottle it will sit.

3.  My wire measured about 5 inches, after I bent a hook shape at each end.

4.  By making a hook on each side, you can easily slide the cover on and off in the future.

5.  I used four jump rings, but you could use more if you want your cover to be more dense.

6.  Measure a section of chain.  I used the same length of chain for every layer.  Each of them were 4 inches long.

7.  Lay out your first round of chains, I made 4 loops.

8.  I attached 2 chain ends attached to each jump ring.

9.  Place what you’ve made so far on your tester bottle, to see if you are happy with the chain draping.

10.  Add a jump ring to the middle of each chain section, and drape 2 chain pieces, like the previous layer.

11.  Continue until you reach the bottle of your bottle.  You could add beads, sequins, or charms if you want to spice up your cover even more.

PS. I bought the Sea Glass wine while at the Washington coast, because I thought the bottle was pretty. It tastes okay.  It would be better in sangria than just by itself.

Over the years, I have collected quite a pile of jeans- some were my parents’, my boyfriend’s, and my own.  Denim is such a sturdy and classic fabric.  Here is a tutorial to make earrings with denim. This would be a great project for denim scraps.

Check out below, to make your own pair too. 🙂

1.  Gather your materials: denim, scissors, pliers, a grommet kit, hammer, flathead jewelry pins, some beads (I used faux pearls), jump rings with matching chain, and earring hooks.

2.  Cut a piece of denim, large enough to fit both feather pieces you will cut out.

3.  I drew a feather shape with a water-soluble pencil on the backside of the fabric.

4.  Cut out two feather pieces.  If they aren’t exactly identical, it’s not a big deal because you will be fringing them later.

5.  I looked at a seagull feather, and noticed that feather barbs are angled down towards the center.  Make small cuts down each side, making sure to not touch the spine line you drew.

6.  After you have fringed your denim, stretch it length-wise to slightly curl the feather.

7.  Make a small hole in the end of the feather, and place a grommet in the hole.  (This way your earring won’t tear apart.

8.  Use a grommet kit (usually comes with the grommets at Michael’s) to secure the grommet.

9.  Place your anvil on a counter or table, then the denim feather right side up, and the grommet in the hole with the sharp-side down. Hammer the setting tool on top of this setup. (This will curl all the sharp edges down on the grommet.)

10.  Attach a jump ring through your grommet, along with some chain and your earring hook.

11.  At the end of the chain, I attached a pearl bead on a flathead jewelry pin.

Imagine what else you could make with denim! Happy Crafting!

Pinterest has inspired me to try so many new recipes!  I found this one a while ago, but never remembered to buy a loaf of dinner bread. I followed the recipe here: Link.

Except when I made mine, I used ciabatta bread (my favorite!) instead of sourdough, and used sharp cheddar and parmesan instead of provolone. (I used these cheeses instead because my provolone had gone bad… 🙁   ) I also omitted the mushrooms due to personal taste and forgot to get poppy seeds.

This bread was soooooo delicious.  Oooey gooey cheese that pulls apart so easily! I definitely will be making this for a party in the future. Next time, I will use more of the original recipe though because poppy seeds would top it off wonderfully.