I received an email from Etsy saying I could receive 100 free MiniCards for my store.  They just arrived today!  They came in a cute box, with 20 of each of my designs.  With the MiniCards, you are able to pick up to 100 different designs if you want, but I just stuck with 5.

If you have an Etsy store, I would recommend getting some too!  The shipping was only $5 and they are really nice quality.  The font and images are really crisp, and the cardstock is nice and thick.

I probably will order from them in the future due to the quality. I usually print my own at home or at Office Depot, but the image quality and paper thickness is never as thick as I would like.

To get your own: click here.

They were free (except shipping) because they have the Etsy logo on them.

PS. I was not paid in anyway to talk about these, I just was really excited about them. 🙂

Hello World!  I apologize for not having a new post for almost a month now!  School started up again, and being my final year, there was no easing into the assignments and projects. I also am working two part-time jobs, so I have little-to-no free time.

I am really excited to say that Can Can Dancer now has 100 followers on Blogger!  To the random person who pinned my neon t-shirt reconstruction on June 14th- Thank you!  That was the moment I actually started getting traffic.  I have had this blog since 2009, and up until June 14th, 2012 I only had 10,000ish views. Now I have had over 308,000 views!

Here is are some pieces I recently made. I have broken necklaces, keychains and earrings and I finally gave some of them new life.

Check out below!

You may have seen this button on one of my zipper flowers.  It seems really high quality, and might even be from an old uniform.  I used it for the closure on this wrap bracelet. I bought leather cording and the turquoise beads at Michael’s.  Making wrap bracelets is really time consuming, so if you try to make one, do it while watching a long movie.

I finally bought some earring posts. I bought a new type of glue, and this is my guinea-pig pair. I have been wearing them everyday (even in my sleep) to see how the glue holds up. If the glue is strong, I wil be making earrings for Etsy soon.

I bought some filigree ring bases, and I am testing them out as well.  Last year I bought a nice pair of fused-glass post earrings, and I lost one while walking to class. I took a shortcut through a grassy lawn that day, and was never able to find the missing earring.  I took pliers, yanked the post off, and then glued it to the ring base.  The ring base has not turned my finger green and is really comfortable (and adjustable).  Once this one makes it past inspection, I’ll start using these bases for Etsy as well.

This cute little butterfly is from a broken keychain. (At least I think that is what is was.  My friends like to give me their broken accessories instead of throwing them away…) I bought bobby-pin bases and man they are study. Once I have ore free time I will start making sets and selling them on Etsy as well.

These ones are made with vintage buttons as well.

As you can see, I have a large crafting to-do list ahead of me. I have a day or two off next week, so I actually might get to have a crafternoon for once!

Happy Crafting!

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.