Summer Runnin’

Tip Of The Day: A cheap AND easy way to get the earrings you want, without scouring the stores and spending too much on something that kind of works, but not really.  And getting pissed off and returning the offensive, over-priced pair, then assuaging your annoyance with a new pair of shoes.

Further Elucidation Of My Cheap Deal: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it half a million times (because I’m repetitive like that), I do not do crafting (Update: However, I now DO sew – which is not the same thing at ALL).  I lack any and all skill at the womanly arts.  It’s a wonder I don’t live in complete filth, existing on half-baked Totino’s Party Pizzas and watery Ramen noodles.

However, I’ve also let it be known on these faux-pages that I plan on wearing a Raven costume to the Bristol Renaissance Faire (Update: That was for last year’s Faire – this year I’m all about my Green Bay Packer Elizabethan).  And no, not the Raven from That’s So Raven – the Raven from Indio-European mythology.  The Raven King, The Trickster and all that.  Except I’ll be a Queen, not King, and the only trick I know is “I’ve Got Your Nose.”

And for those of you wondering how a Raven fits in with the Renaissance please note that both Bristol and the MN Festival allow for many fantasy characters.  Bristol even has a Fairy Realm, where a mythological creature like the Raven would feel right at home.  Now, let me reiterate – they allow FANTASY creatures, NOT Sci-Fi. Please, no more with the Star Wars costumes like this.

But I digress.

Anyway, I needed to find cool silver feather earrings to go with my costume.  And although feather jewelry was HUGE a year or two ago, good luck finding anything nowadays (Update: feather stuff is a bit easier to find, but very expensive, I think).
 
I was afraid I would have to borrow earrings (which is fine, but I really wanted my own, so I could dress in my Raven costume at a moment’s notice, without any of the pieces missing), until I wandered into the beading department at Jo-Ann Fabric.  And found these for $4:

‘They would make perfect earrings for my outfit,’ thought I, ‘I wonder if I could actually make them myself.’  Then, I found the earring hook-y-dos that the feathers could dangle from.

All those for just 99 cents.  In that moment, I knew that even my non-crafty self could make a pair of earrings. Here’s how:
Open the little loop dealie at the bottom of the hook-y-do.
String the feather by its loop dealie – see it there at the top of the feather?
Close back up the opened loop dealie, so the feather won’t fall off during vigorous Ravening.
My tool of choice?  A tweezers.  Apparently I do not own needle-nose pliers.

Wanna see the results?  Sure you do:

And look!  They hang from my ears and everything.  All this for just $5 and tax.  Plus I had a 10% off coupon, so who’s the thrifty girl?