Sunday Afternoon Earrings

Clothing exchanges have taken Minneapolis by storm and they are fabulous. They involve women I like, brunch, purging unwanted items from my closet, and coming home with free clothes. This is why I love them. Today I scored several items including two necklaces, one of which I shortened to a more flattering length. I made some earrings with the leftover beads.

Manga Me

I saw an extremely cute idea on Craftster.org and since my wonderful cousin had a graduation coming up: Yo. Time for another crafty gift. I found my way to the manga section of Barnes & Noble, which is fairly substantial (to a newbie). Luckily there was a pre-adolescent boy sitting in the aisle whose hunched posture and intense eyes-to-page proximity said to me, "Expert right here. Ask me." Thanks to him I now own my first manga: Love Hina (3).

Here are my versions of the earrings:



Then I stumbled across instructions for folding a paper wallet. Since my friend Ben is *really* good at saving money (and it happened to be his birthday) hark -- another crafty gift opportunity.





I actually shellacked the wallet for durability with the same clear spray glaze I used on the earrings (not high-gloss). I'll check back with Ben to find out how it's holding up (although maybe the Biggest Saver won't be taking it in and out of his pocket very much.)