Clay Jewelry

This is a March of the Bloggers guest post!

"Clay Jewelry"

by Jessica of Jagsmitty

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We're almost to the weekend, girlies! That means finally some time to go shopping, have tea with friends, and catch up on all those lovely DIYs you've seen on blogs throughout the week!

Today's great DIY project comes from Jessica of Jagsmitty. Her blog covers the range of fabulosity... from fashion to DIY! Let's jump in to her awesome demonstration of clay jewelry!

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First, I want to start off by saying thank you to Loren of Frock Stock for asking if I would like to guest post. I feel very honored. I love Frock Stock, it’s such an adorable boutique! Cute clothes and fast shipping too!

Now to jump right into my post! I would describe myself as queen of everything DIY. If I can make it, most likely I will. The best part of DIY is you get to put your own spin on whatever it is YOU make! Which means it’s unique and nobody has anything like it.

My post, as you know by now from the title is about making jewelry out of clay and other items. With a few simple ingredients (and of course a little bit of creativity) you can do magical things!

Supplies: ‘clay,’ toothpicks, acrylic paints, paint brush, beading wire, jewelry pliers, old necklace chain or store bought chain.

The recipe I use for my clay jewelry is one that can probably be found anywhere. It calls for: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and enough water to create a ‘play-do’ consistency. Once you get this far, let your imagination run! You can make just about anything. An idea that I haven’t yet done myself is find objects in your house that have unique textures on them. Roll them over your flattened clay and cut out objects.

Once you have your shapes ready place them on a cookie sheet. No need for foil as they bake so long they won’t stick. Using a toothpick, poke holes in your shapes where you would like them to be threaded. Bake them at 250⁰ F for 2 hours. After they have baked and cooled you can start decorating!

Acrylic paints seem to work best with the clay. You will have to apply more than one coat as it does soak up the paint slightly. Get creative! There are so many colors to choose from! Including glitter and metallic!

To attach the shapes to a chain, I used beading wire that I cut and twisted with jewelry pliers. I did this so that the shapes did not hang funny on the chain. You can see how I did this in the photo below.

So simple right? And definitely a lot of fun! I’m thinking about having a jewelry-making party with my friends! I think the trickier part in this whole process is coming up with ideas. Here are a few completed necklaces I did thus far!

Enjoy! And I hope I sparked the creativity in you! I would love to see projects any of you do, so send me your links to photos! :)

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As someone who doesn't DIY a lot, I honestly have to say I had never heard of doing clay jewelry but I think the items Jessica made are AMAZING. It's such a cheap way to imitate anything you've been coveting!


Don't forget to check out Jessica's blog once you're done leaving her some comment love! (Three more days until our last jewelry giveaway!)

<3 Loren of Frock Stock

Vintage Jewelry Remade

This is a March of the Bloggers guest post!

"Vintage Jewelry Remade"

by Carrie of LadyLuxe Designs 

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Hope everyone had a fun holiday yesterday! We've got a really cool blog post for you today, so snuggle up with some tea and get ready for some great DIYing. Our blogger Carrie runs a fabulous blog about her own jewelry and accessory creations. Carrie's concept today is all about taking old jewelry that may have lost its appeal and turning it into beautiful new jewelry. Wait until you see this awesome piece she made!

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Are you a DIYer? Do you like challenges? Well, I definitely love a good challenge, which is why I enjoy jewelry design. I love using a vast variety of materials for my creations. Vintage supplies are some of my favourite materials to work with. I love the challenge of taking something that has definitely lost its "cool factor" and breathing in some new life. Let’s take these vintage earrings below, for example. To the naked eye, they're - well - pretty ugly. My challenge was to see beyond their ugliness, incorporate them in a piece of jewelry, all without tossing them out.

First, I began by cutting the backs off each earring or pin, with a simple wire cutter.

Using a silver wire bracelet as a base, (purchased at my local Dollar store), I began to glue each earring and pin to the bracelet. The BEST glue for metal material, in my opinion, is E6000.

OK. I know what you’re thinking. This is still pretty ugly, right? Well, I would agree, which is why I broke out my Krylon Silver Metallic spray paint.

Once the glue was dry on the bracelet, I spray painted it with a couple of coats of paint, and finished it with the clear coat.

Then, I got really crazy! I used another bracelet I purchased from the dollar store, cut it apart and glued the gems on the base of my new piece.

Here’s the finished product!

Now I have a new piece with some texture and sparkle! The moral of this tutorial is “waste not, want not”. Before you throw your old jewelry out, consider remaking it into something cool again.

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What an incredibly cool concept. It ties into the last post about shopping for vintage... you could totally find old jewelry in a thrift store for this project!

Hope everyone loved the jewelry giveaway yesterday. We're giving out more this week so don't forget to leave some comments for Carrie with your twitter name or e-mail!

Once you're done with that, head over to her blog... you won't be disappointed!

<3 Loren of Frock Stock

Plus Size is Coming! + Frock Stock Site Updates

Our pre-order of Plus Size items we showed you a few posts ago is still set to go for January-February, but we've found another item we love, meaning Plus Size is coming to Frock Stock sooner than we thought! This top is set to arrive next week.

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This charming Strawberry Daiquiri top will go perfectly with vintage-looking skirts or skinny jeans.

Sizes will be in juniors 1X, 2X, and 3X. Exact measurements will be available once we receive the top.

New Updates

-Now that I've graduated with my Bachelor's in Music (hurray!) lots of changes are coming to Frock Stock. Our Size Guide, Shipping, Return Policy and Blogger's Discount pages have all been updated recently.

-New Jewelry has been added to the New Arrival page and I am so excited by how beautiful some of these pieces are. More will come in the next few days, along with dresses, and the plus size top above.

Please let us know what you think about the plus top and new jewelry items! Your opinions help us decide what to stock.

<3 L

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at a few of the jewelry items we just ordered!

Tell us which is your favorite!

Winners and Updates

Hello Frock Stock ladies!


I want to start by saying thank you so very much for all your orders during the Thanksgiving sale. The amount of orders we got was more than I could have ever hoped for and I am just so proud of how this little business is doing. :')

We started in September with only a small amount of jewelry, handbag, and accessory items. Now we have multiple pages of jewelry, several dresses, other clothing items, and lots more orders coming in! I'm so happy for all the expansion and hope to keep building our inventory just as steadily in the months to come. You ladies helped make all this possible. Every single order helps the site expand. You can look forward to sweaters and other items in the next few days and weeks and eventually in the near future we are hoping to add shoes and plus sized items.

Tonight I will post the lovely things I got thrifting on Black Friday and next week you shall all get to view glamorous pictures from my big opera recital this coming Saturday! Once I am done with this recital and my graduation I plan on making lots of nice changes to the site. Hopefully I can clean up a lot of the look, add features like international shipping, and whatever else you ladies would like to see added (we are always taking suggestions! post below or send us an e-mail at frockstock@gmail.com).

Alright then, enough chatter. I know you lovely ladies are all waiting to hear who won the jewelry giveaway! There were soooo many entries in the tweeting contest, so I literally just put all the names in a hat and made it totally fair. Here are your winners!

Our order winner of this adorable owl necklace is @liznesh !

Aaaand...

The cutest little bird necklace goes @blogdressmaking !

Congratulations ladies and thank you to everyone who participated!! I'm sending you both twitter messages to get your addresses so I can send you these adorable items. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

<3 L

Thanksgiving Sale! Jewelry Giveaway! New Arrivals!

That's right, ladies! In honor of Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Cyber Monday/etc.etc.etc. we are having a gigantic sale!

We know that on Black Friday you're going to want to hit the malls, that's why we've made this sale extra long for your convenience!

Shop the sale!

JEWELRY GIVEAWAY!

You voted for the products, and now we bring you our oh-so-easy jewelry giveaway!

All you have to do is copy+paste this message in your twitter:

Love modern-vintage clothing? Get 25% off the entire @FrockStock store 11/18-11/28! Bloggers get 30% off! http://frockstock.webstorepowered.com/

And that's it! Each day you post this message from 11/17-11/28 you will gain an entry into the drawing. We will literally put your names in a hat and draw at complete random, so the more days you post this (limit one a day, though you can certainly post it as much as you like!), the more likely you are to win!

Rules:

Make sure you post your twitter name here if you intend to enter, because it's possible others might retweet this without participating in the giveaway. That way we can keep track of all your posts and give you credit!

PRIZES!

Silver Bird Necklace, $7

Participate in the twitter postings and you're eligible to win this adorable bird necklace!

Silver Owl Clock Necklace, $11

Place an order during the sale and you're eligible to win the most popular jewelry item on our site! It's no longer available to purchase, so this is your only chance at it!

For each item you purchase during the sale, you'll gain an entry to win the clock necklace. Again, make SURE you post here if you want to enter in this contest. Those who make orders are certainly eligible to win the tweeting contest as well.

NEW ARRIVALS!

Last night we added tons of new arrivals to the site, some of which only have one in stock, so make sure you get them before they're gone!

Shop New Arrivals!

Alright, ladies! Good luck and happy shopping!

Gold Collection

Coming soon to Frock Stock! All items will be $10 or less! 

As always, let us hear what you think! Which piece is your favorite? :)

Upcoming Giveaway!

Pssst...

We're going to be having a little contest at the end of next week. The requirements will be SUPER easy for anyone to enter! So the question is...


What should we give away?!


Pick from any of our jewelry items...



And the item with the most votes will be the contest's prize! You most certainly can vote for more than one. :)


Currently in the lead:

Silver Owl Clock Necklace $11









<3 Frock Stock

Fall Outfit with Frock Stock Jewelry

Hello ladies!

I wanted to follow up my last post by showing you some of those fall colors put together in a great fall outfit. I paired moss, rust, eggplant, and chestnut together to make a beautiful autumn ensemble along with some of our jewelry items that are perfect staples for your closet.

 

My absolute go to outfit in any season is a cute printed dress. I feel vintage and feminine when I've got a great frock on. The moss leaf print is what fall's all about. This one's got an elastic waistband, which I feel can make a girl look awfully frumpy, so I usually hide those with a strategically placed belt (in chestnut here). Chestnut tights, orange-rust pumps, and an eggplant purse all wrap up the ensemble nicely by copying colors found in nature this season.

Now for the jewelry!

I absolutely love shiny gold jewelry right now. As long as the gold isn't tacky shiny, there is a real beauty about it and it just seems to go well with any vintage outfit. These are two of our favorite pieces on the site, our Purple Jewel Earrings and our Gold Bird Necklace. The colors really complete the outfit and are certainly in the fall spirit!

I chose purple, but the jewel earrings also come in green and orange, which I feel would've also gone beautifully with the outfit.

View these earrings and similar items here: Frock Stock Jewel Earrings

Recently our blogger friend Candice showed off the green pair on her blog and looks absolutely gorgeous in them! Check her blog out here: Tea Time Thoughts

Alright ladies! I hope you are outfit-inspired for this beautiful fall weekend. I always love hearing what you think of our items, so please leave a comment about the outfit or the jewelry below!

<3 L

PS... have you viewed the new jewelry collection yet? Check it out if you haven't! New Frock Stock Jewelry

Halloween Fever

Hello ladies!

First I'd like to start off by saying thank you to all the orders we've had so far this weekend! The sale is going splendidly and I'm glad you all are getting a good deal this weekend. For anyone else who has their eye on something, don't forget tomorrow is your last day for the 20% off everything on the site (except of course, if you're a blogger... we always have our 25% off love for you...)

Haven't looked at the Blogger's Discount yet?



This weekend was absolutely lovely. Great fall weather (though it's supposed to finally hit the 30's tomorrow in Chicago... brrrrrr), fun Halloween-related adventures, and a big jewelry buy for the site were some of the many highlights for me.



I got the joy of being a judge in a children's costume contest on Saturday. Of course, being a self-affirmed crazy cat lady, I had to dress up as my cat...

My cat, Sophie, whom I've always called a "Halloween cat..."

Any resemblance? I got the ears/tail/bowtie set from Target for $5 and supplied the rest with my wardrobe. Hurray for cheap costumes! I still think if anyone's going out tomorrow and needs a costume idea, you should put on your favorite vintage frock and be a "50's Housewife." Just sayin'...

Magnetic Nail Polish??

Article 1

Article 2

Was just posting about this on twitter, and wanted to see if anyone had tried it out yet. I love OPI's shatter because I'm terrible at DIY nail polish art, so I still feel like I'm getting some kind of unique look without having any personal skill. I'd love to see if this is as good as it sounds!

Oh, and let's not forget about the jewelry photo shoot I mentioned... Here's a little sneak peek at some items we'll be adding mid-week...

Like what you see? ;) Let us know what you think!





Don't forget tomorrow is Chipotle's annual free burrito day! You have to show up wearing some sort of aluminum foil. Can't wait for my Chipotle adventure! Hope you ladies all have a wonderful week and a Happy Halloween! :)