Button Bracelet Closure {with Modern Marigold}

Hola!  Amanda and I are swapping blogs today!  She's got just the thing for finishing off your bracelet to share here today.  And I'm sharing a little download for packaging up your little gifts.  Come see me?

Take it away Amanda!

Hi there! I'm Amanda, and I love flowers and sunshine. I love finding frogs and bird's nests with my two little chickies. My favorite food is BREAD (mmm bread). I blog about vintage/modern style, sewing, and my domestic (mis?)adventures over at The Modern Marigold -- come visit, ok?

And do you know what else I love? Friendship bracelets, of course!
(Jenn is a genius for dreaming this swap up.)
And I'm so glad you decided to swap. (You emailed us, right? Right!)

I love wearing friendship bracelets, but I don't want to wear them 24/7. Although they would make awesome imprints on your face after you've slept on them all night {sah-weet!}. I couldn't really find any tutorials for how to make a button closure, so let's have at it, shall we?

First, you'll need to start your bracelet with a loop. 

{clockwise, from top left}

1. Cut embroidery floss to size. Fold in half.

2. Knot to form a small loop. This is your buttonhole.

3. Make the friendship bracelet {just pretend it's in the same colors, mkay?}

4. Braid an inch or so at the very end.

5. Then braided inch.

6. Knot the end of the braid nice and tight.

7. Thread one strand through a needle.

8. Starting below the button, bring the strand up through a button hole.

9. Pull the strand through.

10. Send the needle back down through the button hole opposite.

11. Pull all the way through.

12. Pull so that the button is snug with the knotted braid.

13. Thread a second strand. Repeat steps 8-12 using the other two button holes.

14. Alternating button hole pairs, thread all remaining strands through the button.

15. Braid a nice little tail and knot tightly.

16. Et voila!

In case you want to try some different closure methods, here are 4 more ideas for making your bracelets removable:

Knots at each end

Sliding knot

Loop + braids

Toggle clasp

{TIP: Remember to get your partner's wrist measurement if you use a non-adjustable closure method.}


Thanks for reading, friends, and thanks for having me over, Jenn! See you real soon!

Thanks so much Amanda!  Look at you go getting all fancy with your bracelets!  Luv it.  

Friendship Bracelet Swap 2011

Hey Friends!  Are you excited?  Welcome to the Friendship Bracelet Swap 2011! Amanda and I have a super fun week planned for you guys, should we get it rolling?! 

Here's the deal-io on the swap since I know you guys are ready to get rocking on some bracelets...

To sign up all you need to do is email us at 

braceletswap@gmail.com

with your 

NAME
email address

blog url {optional}

Then get started on making THREE bracelets!  Yep three because you will be making three new friends!  Amanda and I will be matching you up with three other people.  We will send you an email letting you know who you will be swapping with and their contact info.  It will be up to you to contact your new friends and get their mailing information so you can send them their totally rad new bracelets.


You can sign up for the Friendship Bracelet Swap through next Wednesday July 27th.  We will get you hooked up with your swap partners by July 29th.  Please, please, PLEASE!  mail your bracelets no later than August 5th.  

Source: honestlywtf.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Now just in case you forgot  how to make friendship bracelets, here are some refresher coursed for you.  


Honestly...wtf has been blowing me away with all of their bracelet DIY lately.   THIS post was the inspiration for our bracelet swap.  It has a quick rundown of how to whip up some bracelets.  


Right after Amanda and I put our heads together The Purl Bee  so kindly came out with an amazing tutorial as well.  Perfect timing!  


We have also put together a couple of Pinterest Boards with links to tutorials and some pretty fab pictures to get your creative mojo going.

Source: turnedtohippie.tumblr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Now we know that the bracelets are the frosting on the cake.   The super cool part about doing a swap, especially a FRIENDSHIP bracelet swap is that you can make some way awesome friends!  We would love it if you all {and us} came away with new friends in your lives.  Go out of your way to get to know your swap partners.  Friends make everything better right?!   


All right.  Is that enough to get you started?! Did I leave anything out?  Be sure to check back here and over at the Modern Marigold all week for more ideas, tutorials and other fun stuff that we have planned for you!


{oh and did you count how many times I said Friend?  Cuz the first one to comment with the correct number wins a bracelet from me.}

Insta Friday!

Oh Insta Friday how I love you.  I seriously love taking more pictures and having a "camera" with me at all times to catch silly or fleeting moments of the every day.  Come follow along and catch a glimpse in to our week...

This girl has been cracking me up all week.  This was last friday and seriously one of the best days we have had together in a while.  The whining has been getting me down the past few weeks but this day I had a super non-whining girl and I loved every second of it.

We got all our jobs done Saturday morning and decided to spend the day at the "beach".  The river has finally gone down and mellowed out a bit so we hit up the beach for some splashing.  Too bad it hasn't warmed up any.  We ended up at the park 20 minutes later but she found a friend and spent the next two hours playing hot lava.  Yay for kids with imaginations.

I haven't been able to get all the fab bracelet tutorials out of my head lately.  I spent Saturday and Sunday making some and putting together a friendship bracelet swap with my friend Amanda from The Modern Marigold.  So stock up on supplies this weekend cuz next week the great Friendship Bracelet Swap {summer 2011} is coming and we'd love to swap some bracelets with you!  

I spent a good couple hours folding fabric and cleaning up the craft room.  I felt my creative vibes slowly coming back the cleaner it got.  It sure is nice to be able to see the floor ;)

We got a pack of feathers from Hobby Lobby and put together some barrettes for the little lady.  If only she left anything in her hair for more than 2 minutes.  

Ivy's new favorite movie is the Parent Trap.   The first time we watched it, about half way through she asked me when the parrots were coming out of their trap.  I'm pretty sure the anticipation of parrots is what kept her watching.  Now she loves it as much as I do!

My little "helper" tied up all my string in a big knot while I was working on some bracelets for next week.  I think its almost worth it to just buy new floss.  That knot is going to take forever.  

  If you just can't wait till next week to see what else we are up to you can follow along on instagram, my user name is jenn_warnick.   Happy Insta Friday!

  

A little sneak peak

Oh man, will you jump up and down and get a little excited when I give you a little sneak peak of whats coming next week?  Cuz I'm jumping up and down and a lot excited about it.  Have you been needing something to keep your hands busy at the pool or while watching So You Think You Can Dance?!  Yeah, me too. 

 Well, its time to pull out the embroidery floss and your third grade skills, peeps.  The great Friendship Bracelet Swap {Summer 2011}  is coming!  Right here.  Next week.  Won't you join me?  

The Perfect Summer Salad

I don't like tomatoes.  I like salsa, and pasta sauce but I can not stand tomatoes by themselves.  I don't even eat them out of this salad.  But it is the best salad ever.  I love everything about it.  Except for the tomatoes.  But luckily my husband tag teams me and eats my tomatoes for me.  We work well together. 

I want to call this salad Caprese salad but I think that is not quite right since there is bread.  So for now its just the perfect summer salad.  I got the recipe from our ward cookbook and I know its a major hit.  Who knew bread in salad could be so good.  

Caprese {with bread} Salad 

{via Lucy Lowe}

1 loaf of day old baguette

grape tomatoes 

basil

 mozzerrella

olive oil

balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper.

Slice your baguette in half, butter and broil until golden.  Cut up your perfectly toasted bread in to one inch cubes. 

{I can't think of many things I love more than perfectly toasted bread.  Hmmmm}

Cut up your mozzerrella and tear up some basil.  You can either cut your tomatoes in half or leave them whole.  I selfishly leave them whole so I don't get yucky tomato on everything else!

Put it all in a large bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Add some salt and pepper.  Toss everything and there you go.  The perfect summer salad.  The best is that you can add as much or as little of everything that you want.  I think even if I was making it for myself I might add the tomatoes just for the pretty color!