Help! I have to post my application for NMIT this week (eek!) and I need some help in short listing some of my stuff. Here is a small selection of pieces that I am considering for the application. They will be  photographed more professionally for the application so this is just for an indicator of what people like. 

Chandelier earrings (these sit like a mini chandelier with the pearl hidden in curtains of shell beads) 

Michael Jackson charm bracelet

Shell and tortoiseshell wire wrapped charm bracelet

Bead woven earrings 

Bead woven rings

Tool belt necklace 

Swarovski crystal bead woven bracelet 

Chain maille bracelet

Cloisonné and crystal earrings

Would you be a kitten and pick your three favourite pieces? And tell me why you like them?

Love (your very stressed) Lady Smaggle

xxx

 Is anyone else getting sick of seeing my stocking necklace yet? It’s been linked to on Style Bubble, Urban Outtfitters blog, Nylon Blog (nearly freakin DIED when I saw this because Nylon is like the American Frankie), Highsnobette and several other sites where the authors have actually posted their completed necklaces! Although, to be honest, I’m getting kind of sick of it. I’m getting Smaggle rash. If anyone wants me I’ll be on my yacht…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Like any gal who lives in sub-zero temperatures I have a rather extensive collection of tights. Consequently I also throw many of them away when they get holes and ladders in them. I have zero patience which makes me rip them on too fast. This, coupled with a nasty habit of crawling around on the floor make my poor tights rarely last longer than a season. I was so upset when my yellow tights bit the dust recently and I decided it was far too soon for our relationship to end. So I shredded them to pieces and made a necklace out of them. I’m a heartless wench. 

 I just cut the legs off the body of the tights and cut the toes off.

Then I cut each leg open and cut them into strips, roughly 1cm wide.

Then I tied each end to an earring finding making sure that each layer was longer than the last. This sometimes meant tying two lengths together and trying it on to check that it was falling correctly.

Then I tied shorter pieces of stocking at irregular intervals along my strands. I also bought a DIY stud kit and put studs all along the strands and ties. I sewed a few silver charms on it too. 

Then I added a clasp and chain so I could wear it at different lengths. If you’re going to make this yourself I suggest that you wear it often through out the process of making it so you can gauge the shape and length of it. The total cost of the piece was $1.50. The tights, earring findings and chain were all junk that was lying around my house and the stud kit cost $1.50 from a discount store. Even if I had to buy the findings and chain it wouldn’t have cost more than a couple of dollars. 

This is the first D.I.Y post for Smaggle so if you have any questions just comment! 

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

I’ve had a few emails asking for close-ups of ’smaggle made’ jewellery so I thought I would give you all a peek at what I made last night…

These are for a benefit supporting Burma.

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

Not that anyone really needs instructions on how to do this but I have been cruising through the blogosphere today and I found this lovely picture of Natalie Portman over at Coquette…

And now I have decided that I want one for myself. Well not actually a dress but some sort of oversized white garment with twig like spatters across it. Then I started getting all kinds of craft panic. What paint do I use? Will the paint wash out? There were too many questions for me to cope with so I made a cup tea and went through all my craft books. And I hit the jackpot baby! 

This book is so hilarious. It’s full of manic looking childen wearing primary colours and smiling like hyenas while holding assorted craft items at awkward angles. It was published in the early 90’s so the projects are pretty daggy but there are some useful tips. For instance they recommend using latex housepaint for splattering on t-shirts. And I know everyone will think I am weird but I am going to say it anyway. I really, really, really want the mountain against the night sky hoodie. It so… Art Attack!

This is an art attack. This is an art attack. This. Is. ART ATTACK!!!! If you’ve never seen Art Attack you totally don’t get what I am talking about and if you have the catch phrase it really doesn’t work without the visuals does it?

So this weekend I am on a mission to find the perfect t-shirt to get all Jackson Pollock with. And there is also a section in the book on tye-dying. Mwah ha ha ha! Watch out Mama Smaggle I’m about to make a big mess…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

P.S Sorry for the teeny tiny photos. My work computer is being all weird and wants to choose the size of my pictures. For some reason it decided that the ones in this post were going to be small. I’ll try to fix the problem as soon as I can!

Seriously. My awesome-ness astounds me sometimes. I’m actually posting a proper outfit shot ON A SUNDAY!!! It’s a whole new level of Smaggle commitment. Lets see if I can keep this up. I also like the paparazzi type photo Mr Smaggle took. It makes me look all famous.

I’ve had such a lovely weekend - Yesterday I organised my earrings (O.C.D Town. Population: Lady Smaggle) and met my delicious friends Taë and Sally for lunch. In the evening Mr Smaggle, P.J (our mate) and I went to Skyfire. For those of you who don’t live in Canberra, Skyfire is a fireworks display that happens at Lake Burley Griffin every year in late March. For no apparent reason. There is no celebration or anything, it just happens. Rather bizarre but a lot of fun. We sat on the lawns of Parliament House. And we very maturely rolled on our sides down the hill until we felt sick and had to lie down. We then fell asleep watching episodes of The Office. This morning I made a pair of earrings for my friend’s birthday and then went shopping with Mr Smaggle. Tonight we’re off to see our friend’s band play and have a few drinks…

* Top from Sportsgirl

* Pants from Felt

* Resin ring from Dinosaur Designs

* Sandals from Marco Gianni

* Sunglasses from Paddy’s Markets

* Earrings from Myo Designs (more on Myo later!)

* Bag gift from my aunty

Oh and here are the earrings I made…

Do you think she’ll like them? Let me know what you think!

And while you’re at it tell me how your weekend was. I love hearing about your weekends!

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

When my play finished last week Daddy Smaggle said ‘Shit. Here comes the bloody craft mess.’ And the poor bastard was entirely correct. When I’m not rehearsing for a play I craft like an old lady. I think I have A.D.H.D and I just can’t sit still. Anyway, a few weeks ago I bought the book Sock and Glove which shows you how to make little animals out of socks and gloves. It is the cutest book in the world. I know Mr Smaggle has an unhealthy obsession with monkeys so with my newly aquired free time I decided to make him a Travel Monkey to keep him company on his business trips overseas. He took about 2 nights to make but only because I kept screwing it up and having to redo it. Normal people who can follow simple instructions should be able to make him in 1 night. Travel Monkey is a ninja and wears Japanese floral fighting pants. And although he is very busy taking care of Mr Smaggle, Travel Monkey managed to write me an email this morning. He arrived safely in San Francisco this morning and has settled into his hotel. He even sent me a photo.

He told me he is going to visit the Golden Gate bridge. I hope he’ll take a photo…

Love Lady Smaggle

xxx

 Yesterday one of my good friends got married at the Botanical Gardens. It was a secret wedding so no-one  knew about it until she arrived in a white gown. I was her stylist and here some pics of my handy-work. I think she looks gorgeous and that my styling had very little to do with it. She wore a white fluffy gown with a sweetheart neckline and the gown had little ribbon roses sewn all over it. I made a hairpiece from a feather pad  that I bought from greatqualitylowprices on Ebay and I used some left over fabric from when the dress was hemmed. I also made three glass pearl bracelets with matching earrings.

Wedding Outfit

After spending the afternoon with the bride and bridesmaid I managed to find 5 minutes to get dressed before I ran to the ceremony to warn the groom that she was on her way!

• White shift dress from Big W
• Black 3/4 sleeve top from Valley Girl
• Red wedges from Big W
• Black opaques from Myer
• Black chunky chain necklace from Itrip Iskip

 All in all it was a lovely day and the bride and groom are very happy together! Congrats to the MacFunks!

Shhh! I’ve been asked to be a stylist  at a wedding for a very dear friend of mine who I’ve been mates with for years. She is having an engagement party soon but it’s really a secret wedding and I am the stylist! But seeing as no one knows about my site yet (and won’t until after the wedding) I though I would put a sneak peak of the accessories that I made. I made a hair piece from a snowy white feather pad and chunks of material I cut from when the dress got hemmed- And I will swear on my Chanel 2.55 (that I don’t yet own) that I thought of this BEFORE the Erin Featherstone collection in 2007! The bride will vouch for this once the wedding is over. Also a three strand glass pearl bracelet with matching little earrings. Seriously this girl looks so gorgeous in her dress it’s almost a shame to accessorise it… but I did anyway. Will post pics of the final look once the big day has come and the proverbial cat is out of the bag. Oh if you want to get your own feather pads go to http://stores.ebay.com/ART-CREATIONS-by-SHIR-LEE she is a little stingy with the postage ($8 to post FEATHERS? I believe paper weighs more and costs less) but true to form her feathers are beautiful and reasonably priced. My advice is to stock up and make the postage worth your while!