I’m a day late posting this because I went home to suburban Detroit for my little sister’s surprise 30th b-day party yesterday. The handmade gifts were well received including the pink and orange Emmeline apron I made and this “Diva” sock monkey by Dulce.

Okay, so the point of this post is to invite you all to read this week’s craft column featuring Catherine Hodge, a talented jewelry artist who I met at Craft Club. She lives in suburban Grand Rapids like me, and – unlike me – is able to bead and twist metal into beautiful adornments. I invite you to read her story then check out her shops here and here. And as an added bonus, download Catherine’s tutorial for making a pendant clip necklace.

I don’t wear stilettos on my feet because I’m an athlete and want to avoid fashion-related pain as much as possible. But I’m totally up for dangling stilettos from my ears. I just bought these “red stiletto” beauties from Catherine and can’t wait to take them out for a test drive.