Product feature Friday!

Here is what is trending in the shop this week!

ALSO HUGE NEWS….

No code needed! I’ve realized I have been doing shipping wrong, so as a sort of “hey, I goofed, sorry!” I have decided to offer free domestic shipping!

Polyvore Love.

I have been on Polyvore for years now, I could waste hours on there. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a website and app where you can create collages called sets with clothing and jewelry items. They also have awesome contests with great prizes where you submit sets around a certain theme! I personally have never won, but fingers crossed!

I recently started posting my rings on there and users have started including them in their sets. It is so cool seeing how girls would style them! Here is my favorite, featuring one of my polka dot rings!

cruella De Vil by dressmedisney featuring wire wrapped jewelry

Wire wrapped jewelry
etsy.com

Love this so much!

Anyone else on polyvore?

Let’s Talk About Crafts, Baby.

I haven’t always been crafty and I am certainly not artistic. I went through a scary amount of failed crafts before I found one that I was actually good at. (I have a cupboard full of failed crafts, I call it where craft supplies go to die.) I just like having a hobby and I get so much satisfaction when I make something that I am proud of.

Growing up I wanted to be a fashion designer, I would buy sketchbooks every time I went to my local craft store and fill them up with horribly written poetry and future dream prom dresses (including one that I had Justin Timberlake as my date.) These sketches were pretty much triangles with a stick figure legs and heads. Which leads me to my second failed craft…sewing. I got a C- on my pillow project for my middle school’s Home Economics class, you would think that would lead me to the assumption that I am no good at it, but I tried again many years later when my fiance bought me a sewing machine for Christmas. I was so excited to use it! I looked up easy projects on pinterest, and decided on a beer sock, because that is totally practical, right? When I finally sat down to use it the needle broke and just about blinded me, so I was scarred for life and decided to give up on that as well. Fast forward a couple years and I decided that I wanted to give candle making a shot. Now this one, I was pretty “okay” at. I made these little soy candles in vintage tea cups and it was like it was straight off of pinterest! But then, I went to light said candles and a number of them literally exploded, so there goes another failed craft!

It should be noted that I don’t like to read tutorials, I tend to just get the materials, and go with it. I am a visual learner, and sometimes that works in my favor, but most times it does not. A couple months ago I was browsing the interwebs aimlessly and I came across this tutorial on making bangle bracelets out of wire. They looked so easy so I went and got the materials and after about an hour I gave up, and thought to myself, “maybe I can make rings out of this?” So I tore apart my apartment looking for a marker, or anything that I could use as a ring mandrel… I happened upon a potato masher which ended up making a perfect size 6 ring! I started making them like crazy, and gave them away to friends and family. And that my friends, is where Mary & Alice was born! Making these rings is seriously so fun, and haven’t been this happy in a long time!

(I have since upgraded to a real mandrel, I swear.)

Enough about me, are you crafty? What sort of crafts do you make, and what do you make?

Hey new friends!

As my first blog post, I figured I would dedicate it to introducing myself. So here it goes, in list form!

1. My name is Jenn and I’m from Ohio.
   

   That’s me being a selfie queen.

2. I am engaged to my best friend and we are getting married next year! (woooooo)
3. I love making pretty things, and I live for a good DIY project.
4. I am the owner/maker of Mary & Alice. I make rings out of various types of wire and beautiful colored glass, stone and turquoise beads. Here are some of my favorites!

   

   

   

   
   
5. I have a cat who is literally my best friend. Her name is Ernie and she is poly-dactyl, which means she has extra toes on each paw. She is the sweetest little girl on the planet.
   

   Just being an angel.

6. You may be wondering, who is Mary and who is Alice. Mary Alice was my nana’s name and she was always my number one fan. She was a maker herself and she always inspired me to create. I opened my shop in honor of her legacy and passions!

That list could have gone on forever, but I guess I should get back to it.

In this blog you will find DIY projects, wedding planning rants and DIY’s, pictures of my cat (of course), music suggestions and updates on new products that I am working on.

Thanks for sticking around through my “about me” spiel, you’re great!

xoxo

Jenn