Straw bags are set to become the accessory of the season—and it makes perfect sense. They can easily be dressed up or down, they smack of vintage charm while remaining completely neutral and they subconsciously transport one’s mind to a charming picnic in the park, even if one is actually just walking to work in a slightly gloomy city.
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There’s a fashion-world equivalent to the self-dubbed-hipster quip, “I saw that band before they were famous,” and it goes a little something like this: I wanted these shoes before every single style blogger was wearing them on Instagram. I have to proof, too. Like an intrepid inventor who mails herself sealed envelopes filled with million dollar ideas, I pin the things I see and love and have to have. Thirty one weeks ago, I pinned these pom-pom-bedecked lace-up sandals and now, I finally have them.
In true Homemade Banana fashion, I opted to make my own iteration instead of clicking that buy now button because, well, they seemed so easy to recreate and saving almost $200 is nothing to sneeze at. The result is truly so, so similar that it makes it worth the little bit of elbow grease required to braid all that friendship bracelet trim. Plus, you have the satisfaction of knowing that although they were inspired by a now-ubiquitous style, your shoes are truly one of a kind.
Keep reading for detailed instructions on how to whip up your own pair of statement sandals. And yes, I am aware that last weekend marked the end of the summer season, but since I’m currently living in Texas where summer won’t end for a few more months, just go with me on this one! It’s never a bad idea to start stockpiling for next summer, anyway.
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• a pair of inexpensive lace-up gladiator sandals (the ones I used are sold out, but I found several other great options here, here, here and here)
• 15 to 20 colors of embroidery thread
• pom-poms (I used these)
• coral charms
• colorful stone beads like these
• E6000
• gold head pins
• jump rings
• needlenose pliers
• needle and thread
1. The first thing to do is whip up a few lengths of friendship bracelet from your stockpile of embroidery thread. The number and length you’ll need is entirely dependent on the sandals you’re working with, so use those as a guide. For each one of my sandals I needed one long piece and four shorter pieces of friendship bracelet, so 10 pieces total. This is definitely the most time consuming part, but it’s really fun to work on the bracelets while you’re watching, say, a Harry Potter marathon on TV.
If you’re having trouble recalling the ins and outs of friendship bracelet making from your summer camp days, check out this video for a quick tutorial. I used a five-color chevron pattern because it was the perfect width for the straps on my sandals. If you need a thinner bracelet, use fewer colors; if you need a thicker bracelet, use more.
2. Knot each length of bracelet both ends and trim off the excess thread. Fold the knots under so they don’t show and glue the ends down with E6000 glue. Then, apply a small line of glue down the length of the underside of the bracelet and place in on your sandal. Hold in place for about 30 seconds so it doesn’t move around too much when you let go. After you glue all of these on, wait for about 24 hours for the glue to fully cure before you touch the sandals.
3. In the meantime, you can get started on the other decorations. To create the all-important pom-pom charms, thread a head pin through a pom-pom and trim off the excess pin, leaving about 1/4″ on the end. Use your needlenose pliers to create a loop at the end of the pin, then attach a jump ring to that. Repeat until you have about 26 pom-pom charms. Then, repeat the process with any stone or coral charms you have. The more the better!
4. Once the glue has fully dried, go back in with a needle and thread and tack down the ends of the friendship bracelets. All it takes is four or five stitches—just enough to keep the ends from curling up.
5. Using the needlenose pliers, attach the charms you’ve made to the shoelaces, making sure to space them out evenly. Attach two or three charms to each shoelace end for a playful finish. And that’s it! All you have to do now is lace up those bad boys and take them out for a spin.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NewBeneful #CollectiveBias
Clarabelle, light of my life, apple of my eye. My dog, my soul. Cla-ra-belle: the tip of her tongue taking a trip of three steps down the muzzle to tap, at three, at the snout. Cla. Ra. Belle. For those of you, my dear readers, who’ve now stopped reading and started wondering why I’ve decided to so cavalierly swap in the given name of my 12-pound papillon for that of a famously victimized 12-year-old girl, just stick with me!
What I am trying to say here is that I love my dog very much. Those of you who know me will not be shocked at my comparison above, just as you have not been shocked to see me rock Clarabelle like a baby and hear me speak out loud to her like she can understand my words (she can). She’s a good girl and to really play into that age-old stereotype, she’s my bff.
You know that opening scene in 101 Dalmatians in which Pongo watches dogs and their humans parade down the sidewalk, a showcase of man mirroring beast in all manner of appearance? Clarabelle and I are not too far off. While I’ve yet to dye my hair black and white to match hers, we do share many similarities. We both prefer filtered water to tap. We both prefer soft surfaces to hard (this proclivity manifests itself in her refusal to lay down on hardwood floors and in my preference for memory foam mattresses). We both like to be well groomed and we both like the finer things in life, food-wise.
Just as my go-to meal on a busy weekday night is salmon and broccoli with a bit of brown rice, Clarabelle only eats food that contains protein as the number one ingredient. That is, I only buy her food that contains protein as the number one ingredient. She’s happier (and so is my pooper-scooper, ifyaknowwhatImean) when she sticks to this diet, and I guess a lot of other dogs are, too. Purina just reformulated their Beneful Originals and Incredibites food based on customer feedbag to this effect. Now it contains meat as the number one ingredient, and they’ve cut out all added sugar. Two big wins in my book.
After making the move down to Texas, I was running low on Clarabelle’s normal food stash, so I ran out to Target (Beneful is available at most major grocery chains) to grab a small bag of the Incredibites. Oh yeah, she won’t eat large chunks of anything because she is a lady—so this is perfect. Then I started to reconsider Clarabelle’s plain-metal-dog-bowl eating situation. After all, I ate my most recent meal off of a delicate robin’s egg-blue place setting, so she really deserved an upgrade. A few paint pens and plain white ceramic bowls later, my butterfly-eared bestie was eating her five-star meal in splendor. Scroll down to check out the simple DIY dog bowl tutorial, and click here to receive a free sample of the new Purina Beneful dog food.
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• two plain white bowls
• paint pens (if you’re just drawing on the outside, you can use whichever all-purpose paint pen you can get your hands on; if you’re writing on the inside of the bowl, be sure to use a food-safe paint pen like this one)
1. First order of business: select your pattern. I decided to go with this playful evil eye print, but simple geometric patterns would also look great!
2. Using your paint pens, start drawing on your pattern, letting each color dry before moving on to the next.
3. Draw a surprise message inside the bowl for your pet. I went with “good girl” and “Perrier only” but you’re only limited by your imagination. If you used a food-safe paint pen, be sure to follow the instructions on the packaging to ensure the paint is fully dried and sealed.
4. Let ’em chow down!
Update: our pals at Purina sent over a couple of delicious toys for Clarabelle to play with. Thanks Purina!
Let’s talk about Miu Miu. More specifically, let’s talk about those Miu Miu ballet flats with moto-inspired straps of black leather and interchangeable ribbons that tie around the ankle. You know, these masterpieces of must-have fashion. I can’t recall when I first laid eyes on these shoes; perhaps it was during a late-night e-stalking session of fashion week street style last spring. In any case, as it sometimes goes with outstanding pieces of design, once I saw these tough girl-meets-prima ballerina flats, I started thinking about how I could approximate them within my budget.
And thus my favorite DIY Discount project to date was born. I’m exceedingly happy with how these turned out, and I’m even happier with the fact that the whole thing cost about $35. Will these be inscribed with the name of the famed Italian fashion house inside? No. Will you love them very much anyway and get loads of compliments whenever you wear them? Most definitely. Keep scrolling for detailed instructions!
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• simple ballet flats
• black buckle straps
• grommets, grommet setter and anvil (I used a set like this one)
• mallet
• leather punch
• gingham ribbon
• needle and thread
1. Using the leather punch, punch holes on the ends of each leather strap. Make sure you have your hole punch set to the width that corresponds to your grommet size. A test piece of scrap leather is very helpful for calibration.
2. Figure out where you want the placement of your straps to be. They should be placed a little further forward on the foot than a typical Mary Jane strap, since you need to allow room for the ribbon. Take care to try on the shoe with the straps held in place to make sure you allow room for your foot. Once you’re happy with your alignment, hold the straps in place and use a pen to mark through the punched holes onto your shoe.
3. Using the leather punch, punch holes in the spots that you marked on the shoe.
4. Line up the straps with the holes in the shoe and click your grommets into place. You should have one grommet per side per strap, so four per shoe.
5. Using your setter, anvil and mallet, set each grommet. Here’s a quick reference video if you’ve never done this before—don’t worry, it’s super easy!
6. Cut four lengths of ribbon about 36″ long each (you should have enough ribbon to cross over the foot, wrap around the ankle a few times and tie with a bow).
7. Fold one end of the ribbon over about 1/4″ inch and repeat, so you have a triple layer of ribbon at that end. Place it just behind the black straps and sew into place on the inside of the shoe. Make sure to disguise the stitches along the topline trim as best you can. Repeat with the other three ribbons.
8. Style with shredded jeans and a silky robe. Or with your favorite little black dress. Or with pretty much anything you own.
I have a major (orange) crush on the Dolce&Gabbana accessories department. The jewelry, handbags, headwear and phone accessories that come out of the Italian house season after season are stunning enough to make a girl willing to work another job just to afford one or two of them. Among my current favorite pieces from the D&G Italian Summer collection are the intricate earrings dripping with ripe fruit that seems to be plucked straight from the orchards of Sicily.
And it seems I’m not alone—Beyoncé herself donned a pair of D&G lemon earrings on her Hawaiian vacation last week. So I set out to satisfy my Queen Bey taste on a pre-American-Idol-Jennifer Hudson budget. It took me awhile to source the perfect lemon drop beads and enameled leaves, but once I had all the materials ordered, these pretty earrings were a breeze to assemble.
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• rhinestones (I used these from Hobby Lobby, but you can use any rhinestone as long as it has a flat back and somewhere to attach a jump ring)
• flat earring posts (I used these 10mm ones)
• E6000
• leaf beads
• fruit beads (I used lemon beads from this bracelet and these orange beads mixed with these orange beads)
• daisy cabochons
• wire
• needlenose pliers
• jump rings
• eye pins
To make the lemon earrings:
1. Start by adding a bit of glue to the flat earring posts and gluing them to the backs of your rhinestones. Let dry completely while you assemble the rest of the earrings.
2. Add a bit of glue to the backs of the daisy cabochons, and attach them off-center to the bottoms of the rhinestones. Let dry.
3. Twist thin gold wire through 4 enameled leaf beads, creating a small loop before threading the wire back through the bead hole.
4. Add a gold jump ring to the top of each lemon bead. Thread two leaf beads onto each jump ring, making sure the leaves lay flat on either side of the lemons.
5. Attach the jump rings to the bottoms of the rhinestones. Et voila!
To make the orange earrings:
1. Start by adding a bit of glue to the flat earring posts and gluing them to the backs of your rhinestones. Let dry completely while you assemble the rest of the earrings.
2. Add one orange bead to the eye on the end of your eye pin. This will be the base for the earring.
3. Twist thin gold wire through about 7 or 8 more orange beads per earring, creating a small loop before threading the wire back through the bead hole. Now you’ll have a bunch of orange beads fitted with a thin wire loop.
4. Add jump rings to 5 or 6 leaf beads per earring.
5. Starting with the orange-tipped eye pin, layer on orange beads and leaf beads, alternating until you have a nice, full look.
6. Trim any excess, then connect the top of the eye pin to the loop at the bottom of your rhinestone teardrop.
