Earring holder tutorial

I'm back from San Francisco! It was so much fun (too much fun, since I've been back since last Monday and I haven't even posted all my pictures yet!). I'll get around to posting about my trip this weekend, but until then, I thought I'd post a quick tutorial!


This tutorial is for a simple and economical earring holder! Although I'm sure there are better earring holders out there (I personally used an empty jelly jar!) this earring holder makes a quick project that will hopefully help you keep your earrings a bit more organized. All you need is an embroidery hoop (the larger the hoop, the more earrings it can hold), fabric, thread, and sewing pins. Embellishments like fabric yo-yos, sequins, embroidery, or anything else can help to make your earring holder special.


To start, cut a circle of fabric that is a little larger than the embroidery hoop. When selecting fabric, choose one that has a weave that forgives repeated use of needles and is a bit sturdier (but still thin enough to be pulled through the embroidery hoop). Before tightening the hoop, make sure the fabric is taut! Add any embellishments to your fabric while in the hoop.


If you want your fabric to stay put for long-term usage, stitch the fabric on the back of the hoop together. Otherwise, you can change "backgrounds" whenever you feel like it!


Finally, use sewing pins as pegs to hold your earrings in place! Hang your earring holder somewhere convenient :)

Guess where I'm going on Friday....

blog vacation

I hate to have to do this but I need a bit of a blog vacation! I'm super slammed at work and at school, so I'll be quiet until July 2nd or so... Here's hoping you guys have a nice June!

Nothing really to blog about...

I haven't been up to much lately (no crafting and no fun!) so I don't have much to share with you guys today... it's also the reason I've been so quiet on my blog! Instead, my sister said I could share this with you. She recently got a new job as a lab assistant at the University (she's very science-y) and she is going on all of these fantastic hikes on our island to look at/ collect snails that are native to Hawai`i (she'll be going in a helicopter for a project soon!)

Endangered O`ahu Tree Snail: Achatinella/pūp

While she was on a hike recently, she spotted this little guy... a native happy face spider! (Don't look if you're afraid of spiders... although these little guys are nice!) They're a little rare/ endangered, and the only place they are found in the entire world is in Hawai`i (and then only on four of our eight main islands: O`ahu, Moloka`i, Hawai`i Island, and Maui). So its nice that this one had eggs! You can read more about happy face spiders here. In case you didn't know, Hawai`i is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, thanks to millions of years of geographic isolation. Hawai`i is also known as the "endangered species capital of the world," which means that there are more endangered species per square mile in our Islands than in any other place on the planet; unfortunately, we are also the extinction capital of the world :(

Endangered Happy Face Spider: Theridion Grallator/ nanana makaki`i

Conservation efforts have helped to stop some of the most dramatic losses of biodiversity, but there is still more to be done. In fact, the need to protect our plant and animal life is the reason that people visiting Hawai`i (whether they are tourists or residents) are required to fill out a forms declaring if they are carrying any fruits, vegetables or animals. We even have dogs at the airport that are specially trained to smell and find exotic plants and animals. These precautions extend past the airport too... our pet stores don't sell ferrets or hamsters (!) and Hawai`i has some of the strictest quarantine laws for pets. Although these measures are very strict, these efforts are helping to the protect unique biodiversity of our Islands.

takoyaki takochu

You must know of my love for takochu by now... Someone once asked me how many I have, and I counted 50 (addicted much?) Anyhoo, my sister brought me these little guys from Japan! Aren't they wonderful? They're colored to look like takoyaki, complete with sauce, bonito flakes and nori! I decided that I would improve on my free takochu pattern and make some takoyaki takochu! I like how they turned out :)

My sister's trip to Japan

My sister visited Japan for the first time shortly after the tsunami/ earthquake earlier this year, although she didn't visit areas directly affected by the tsunami. The disasters in Japan were especially meaningful to people in Hawai`i... so many of us have family and friends who are Japanese and maintain their ties to Japan. While there was a palpable sadness and despite all that had happened, there was still a spirit of resilience and strength! I thought some of the pictures my sister took showed this really well.

Although it was a sad time to be in Japan, and she felt bad being there as a tourist, my sister really enjoyed herself and loved being in Japan; in spite of the tragedies the Japanese people my sister met were able to smile and were extremely nice. Knowing me and my love of kawaii, she brought me a really nice selection of Japanese goods :)



My favorites were these chirimen items... the chicken and cookies in a box is from the chirimen museum in Kyoto and the bag is also from Kyoto!