Today seems like a good day to dye

Well, it's been a few months. Time for Franky to dye her hair again.

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6 bucks. 5 Necklaces. A poor college student's guide to living large without actually living large

So here's the deal. I go to JoAnn Fabrics with my sister to get a chain for the pendant she found at Repeat Boutique which was a bad idea in the first place because it is impossible for me to walk into that store without buying something (well, JoAnn's isn't the only store that I have that problem with but we won't get into my shopping addiction here). So we go to the jewelry-making section and I see this chain for 3 bucks and it's like 100 inches long and of course I have this weird affinity for long chains (to give you an idea of how long it is, when I put it around my neck it reaches to mid-calf on my 5'7" body). 

So I decide to get the chain for no logical reason because I have nothing to put on the chain, I just have this idea in my head that something will magically appear to me (classic Franky logic). Which wasn't an altogether crazy notion because I turn around and on the other side of the aisle is this gold, sparkly pendant for 3 bucks as well (clearly it's not real gold) and it looks like it is somehow detached in the middle. So being curious and hoping that I didn't just pick up the only broken pendant on the shelf I decide to get it to put on my chain. 

Turns out the pendant was not broken but it was actually two identical hemisphere magnets that were merely attached unevenly. And they were pretty strong magnets too. This is the moment when all the ideas of what I could do with this magically-appearing, magnet pendant came flooding through the idea valve in my brain (to be anatomically correct) and the following are the results of that anatomical brainstorm. 

First, there's the classic layered necklace look. Pretty self-explanatory. 

     

                                                              

Then there's this little ditty. I'll call this the tassel look. You start out with three layers of chain. Two of them even with eachother but let the layer with the pendant be about 6 inches longer. You detach the bottom half of the pendant then fold the top half up to connect about 3 inches above the other layers, folding the layer with the pendant in half. Then place the other half of the pendant between the chain and the first half of the pendant to make it look like one continuous orb.                                        Ha. Orb. That's a wierd word.    

This is what I'll call the assymetrical tassel. Practical title. It works. Anyway, it's basically the exact same thing as the tassel but you pull out the chain from between the magnets on one side. This one's pretty classy. 

And then there's this little doo-dad. Start with three layers. Two even, then let the pendant hang about 6 inches again. Use the detachable part of the pendant to create a tassel then take the hanging pendant and attach it up on one side letting the chain layers make a nice little scaffold. Scaffold? Sure. Scaffold. I'll call it the Scaffold. 

Then there's the short but dainty choker pendant. Also pretty self explanatory. Just wrap the chain around your neck as many times as the chain will allow without actually choking yourself and attach the pendant at the end. Now you're looking dapper! Way to go Franky! (Self encouragement is never tacky.)

Well, there you go. 6 bucks. 5 necklaces. Being a poor college student does not have to be entirely unglamorous afterall.

One Sewing Machine to Rule Them All

Frankly, this sewing machine is the icon of my life. If my life was an object, it would be this sewing machine. It's as simple as that. I guess if you have a hard time relating to this, it is similar to when you see a dress in the store and it speaks to you and you say back, "I think this dress is my soul." This is my soul-mate machine. It is my metal child. My kindred spirit as Anne of Green Gables would say.

This is an antique replica that I got from a local sew and vac (J&M Vac and Sew represent!) It is set in what I believe is an original early 1900s sewing table with a manual foot pedal. I immediately connected with this machine when I walked in the store. It was intense. It was a spiritual experience for me. It was exactly what I was looking for. And to make it's appearance in my life even more serendipitious, I was the only one who could operate it easily. I mean the people in the store who were teaching me how to use it were very knowledgeable but they didn't have the calf muscles of a dancer to operate the pedal like me. I mean, not to toot my own horn but...yea no, I'm obviously bragging here and there's no way out of it.

Anyway, moral of the story, this machine was a pivotal moment in my life because suddenly all the sewing projects I had stored in my head became possible and what followed was an avalanche of creative output and yes, I felt a little bit like Anne of Green Gables right there again.