All photos by Brandon Lippard

Supplies: Shotgun shells, glue (I recommend Gorilla Glue), craft brush, exacto knife, ornament hooks and last but not least… GLITTER!

Glue time.

Spread time.

GLITTER TIME!!

Dry time.

(Pretty glitter picture. Thanks, Martha Stewart!)

After the shell is dry, carefully cut a little hole near the top of the shell and rotate the blade to make the hole a bit larger. You will then insert the ornament hook in the hole and secure it around the rim of the shell.

Decoration time!

Holiday sparkles

More sparkles!

Merry Christmas!

Lots of love to you and your family!

Send me photos and any other ideas you have! Can’t wait to see! UPDATE: here is a great crafty post from Julie Golob on more  firearm-related decorations you can create at home: https://www.juliegolob.com/christmas-fun-on-the-range-easy-ornaments-how-to

You just finished reading Get Crafty With Shotgun Shell Ornaments on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

If you find any other items that you think should be added to the list, jot them down in the comments below. Happy shopping!

Eddie Bauer 1936 Skyliner Hunting Model Jacket. This gorgeous jacket has just the right amount of  form with plenty of function.  Just imagine it with a soft red scarf for the season.  I love pieces that are classic because, regardless of the current trends, they never go out of style. It will keep you cozy for many winters to come.  (This is another one of my favorites.)

Gun Monogram Decal as found on Etsy. Be still my heart! This Southern Girl was taught that if it wasn’t moving, it needed to be monogrammed. I love that this trend has come back.

Gun Girls need a little adventure in their lives and Georgia Pellegrini shows them how it’s done. She’s extending her offer for this wonderful weekend at Barnsley Gardens – probably the most magical location I have ever been to. If you have the time and inclination, take GP up on this offer.

This Prana Terracotta Meme pant has perfect pockets for a mag, spent shells or any other small necessities on or off the range.

Anthropologie has a category dedicated to the Outdoorswoman on their website. One of many reasons I love them. Another one of those reasons is this adorable, affordable ring and jewelry holder. It’s simple, it’s classic, it’s a giraffe. Simply perfect. P.S. – I can never get enough of the Anthropologie catalogs. The photography is just stunning and it always puts me in the mood for the season. Have you seen this one?

Hunter + Rag & Bone boots. I am a little obsessed.

The Giving Keys - a phenomenal gift for this very special season and perfect for the rough-around-the-edges yet sparkle-loving gun girl. The premise behind these keys with uplifting words (like “love”,”hope”, “believe”, “dream”, etc.) engraved on them is to wear yours and then, when the time is right, give them to a person who you feel needs the message that the key presents. Then hit up their website to share your giving story. To warm your heart even further, these keys are produced by people transitioning out of homelessness. I am proud to say call Caitlin Crosby, creator of the Giving Keys concept, a friend. She is one to keep an eye on!

A handy bag for shotgun shells or birds, if you have taken up hunting. John Hart designs are a staple in Texas. From key fobs and make up cases to gun covers and luggage, these guys have it all and they are so durable that you will be passing it down to your kids one day. Color options range from neutral tan to vibrant purple and each piece is customizable with a leather label on which you can add your name or initials.

Coming in from the cold means two things. 1)Fire 2)Hot tea. If you are a tea snob like me I do not jest when I tell you that David’s Tea will blow your mind. If you have the luxury of stopping in to one of their stores, do it. It will change your life. The good news for those of us who can’t make it to NYC or San Fran is that they ship. My flavor recommendations: Cream of Earl Grey, Buttered Rum and Forever Nuts. Trust me on this one. You will not be disappointed.
You’re welcome.

For me, candles make a house a home. I’ve searched far and wide for the longest lasting, highest quality candles (I hate wasting money) and I have landed on this label. Their complex scent notes just make me happy. You can find them at Anthropologie.

Best. Lipstuff. Ever. Not quite lipstick, but far more than just a balm, I can not get enough of these Fresh lip products. Perfect for the range, the field and virtually every other occasion. Not to mention, they have SPF 15, so they protect as they soften. Don’t you just love multi-tasking products? Check out Sephora’s exclusive packages of three or seven of these fantastic products that I can not seem to live without.

A gorgeous option for cold weather footwear that’s functional but has plenty of style. As if they weren’t impossible to resist to begin with, the reviews of these Sorel boots are stellar. Hey Santa, put me down for a pair of these!

You just finished reading Gifts For The Gun Girl on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Girls Guide to Guns is proud to announce our official partnership with DuraCoat Firearm Finishes.

The Girl’s Guide to Guns DuraCoat line is comprised of a Finishing Kit with seven color selections and a line of seven stand-alone colors. The kit version includes the chosen color and an optional shimmery topcoat, should you desire to show a bit more of your personality on your favorite firearm.

The current Girl’s Guide to Guns DuraCoat selection. Help us choose the newest color for the catalog!

NOW FOR THE CONTEST!!!

In honor of our new product line, we are holding a contest for ideas on the

DuraCoat Finishing Kit

newest color kit/name combo beginning Wednesday, October 9, through Wednesday, October 16. The winner of the contest will receive a Girl’s Guide to Guns DuraCoat Kit in the color of her (or his!) choosing and her name will be posted in the 2014 DuraCoat Finishes catalog.

You can enter by simply submitting a color and name combination on our facebook posts or in the comments on GirlsGuidetoGuns.com. At the end of the contest, we will choose our five favorites and post them in a poll on facebook and the GG2G website. Readers will have 24 hours to choose the winner.*

Tip: Think fun, gun related names. Do you have a favorite nail polish color? Submit it! There is no limit to submissions.

And stay tuned! After this contest ends we will be launching one more with another chance to win a Girl’s Guide to Guns DuraCoat kit. Get those creative juices flowing! Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

* If you prefer to remain anonymous in your suggestion, please email us with your entry.

Get creative with DuraCoat & Girl’s Guide to Guns!

You just finished reading CONTEST!! Choose & Name our New Gun Paint Color on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

I’ve been on the fence about beauty pageants for quite a while.  Are they good for women and our collective self image? Meh. I have my doubts. But this contestant has definitely got my attention. In this People Magazine article, Miss Kansas, Sgt. Theresa Vail explains that she wants to demonstrate to young women and girls that beauty comes from within. And while it is not the first time we’ve heard these words from a beauty contestant, coming from Sgt. Vail, the message takes on a whole new meaning.

“Nobody expects a soldier to be a beauty queen,” Vail says, “but I’m all about breaking stereotypes.”

She is a living example of the latest social mantra that “strong is the new beautiful,” and interestingly, she doesn’t shy away from the heavy stuff:

“I was bullied when I was a kid. It got so bad that I nearly took my own life … My dad [an Army dentist stationed in Germany] took me hunting with him and it saved my life. Ever since then, I’ve been an outdoors girl,” she says. “My passion is empowering girls through male-dominated outdoor sports.”
She adds, “I want to help them develop confidence, to let them know that they have what it takes to accomplish anything they want to accomplish. I know many young girls look at beauty candidates and think, ‘What a perfect life they have.’ But I want them to know that I haven’t led a perfect life. And that beauty comes from the inside.”

This one officially has my respect. And if that heartfelt message was just a little too sappy for you, not to worry. She exercises her badassery on a regular basis:

She’s also an expert M16 marksman, a bow hunter, a skydiver, a boxer and a mechanic. She finally had to stop motorcycle racing after breaking all the fingers in her right hand – a potential stumbling block, she decided, to reaching her goal of becoming an Army dentist. She can skin a deer, she has a great squirrel stew recipe (it features sauerkraut) and, one day, she hopes to hunt bear with her bow and arrow.

Seeing this paradigm shift in that bastion of beauty standards, The Miss America Pageant, is no small event and I look forward to seeing more women and girls proudly making shooting, hunting and, what the heck, even our armed forces a part of their identity.

Keep up the good work, Miss Kansas. We will be rooting for you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

https://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0,,20732653,00.html

UPDATE:

Though Theresa didn’t win the competition, she has made some great inroads in pop culture for women who shoot and hunt. Great job, Theresa! Can’t wait to see what you do in the year to come.

You just finished reading Miss Kansas is a Badass on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Hey, our primary concern here is safety, right? That safety means taking good, holistic care of yourself, which includes cancer prevention. Whether you are defending yourself from a bad guy or getting regular mammograms, the same objectives apply. We need you around, sister! And too many of us are seeing the signs of sun damage, including melanoma, at a very young age. Check out these videos from Birchbox to refresh yourself on the good habits you should maintain every day and especially while you are on the range:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You just finished reading Don’t Forget The Sunscreen! on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Such a cute finished product! Be sure and send us photos of yours, too!

• 100 empty shotgun shells
• 100 count string of Christmas lights
• 15′ round wire floral wreath
• red ribbon (approx. 2″ wide and 20′ long)
• floral pins (the pins are shaped like staples, but the legs are about 1-1/2″ long)
• glue gun
• bow of choice

You just finished reading Christmas Craft: Shotgun Shell Wreath on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Its true.

I also happen to be a decade-long lover of the Discovery Channel. Favorite programming includes Sons of Guns, Dirty Jobs, Shark Week, and of course, the longest running of them all: MythBusters. (Especially their gun myths!)

So when I got this tweet from the Kari Byron, the lone female on MythBusters, wearing the Gun Necklace I created, I kind of geeked out.

Kari Byron showing off my necklace.

If you would like to snag one of these for yourself, or to check out the other guns in my collection, click here.

OR cut and paste the link below:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AddieMia

You just finished reading MythBusters’ Kari Byron Wears Girl’s Guide Jewelry! on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

OK, so she is holding it a little improperly, but at least she is keeping her finger off the trigger. That is definitely a step in the right direction. Love her or hate her, this is most certainly a sign that main stream pop culture is becoming more comfortable with shooting. That is a very good thing, my friends.  Be sure and read the article below. And feel free to giggle out loud at the term “rifle gun” as it pertains to skeet shooting (whaaat??). Sigh. At least they are trying.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2189608/Kim-Kardashian-totes-huge-rifle-gun-goes-skeet-shooting-family-vacation.html

When Claire Dunfy (Julie Bowen) went to the shooting range by herself in and almost-not-negative way on ABCs Modern Family last season, I was shocked and excited at what this might mean for us as shooters. Could it be that the gun meme is changing? Will our right to bear arms be attacked a bit less now that loveable (ok, and some not so loveable) Hollywood A-listers are capitalizing on shooting range photo ops? Only time will tell, but I do believe that we should be loud about cheering these characters and people on when they are supporting our 2A. Even if they don’t necessarily mean to. Give them some love. Other groups are fantastic about working to have their agenda publicized positively through pop culture. Why not us?

Claire (Julie Bowen) explaining to Gloria (Sophia Vergara) what she has been hiding from the family – her shooting addiction!

You just finished reading Kim Kardashian Shoots! What It Means For You on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Contact them for custom orders here: brilliantbackstraps@gmail.com

BrilliantBackstraps.com

You just finished reading Got an M&P9? Bling it out, sister! on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!

The proprietor of Pretty Dangerous, Julie Ruster-Price, and I began a conversation about the origin of her business and found out that this chick has walked a pretty interesting road.

Julie has a long history in the fashion and merchandising industries, which served her well when it came time to create the custom holsters that are at the center of the Pretty Dangerous line. Like many of us, Julie appreciates beauty and has a refined aesthetic honed over a lifetime of being a girlie girl. Few of us, however, choose to take the step of a second career as a police officer. That is exactly what Julie did. She notes that she loved being a police officer, but an injury and the unexpected passing of her mother lead her to her latest career path; that of an entrepreneur.

Julie Ruster-Price

Julie started down the road of designing the Pretty Dangerous signature holsters after finding that she was unhappy with the options that were on the market at the time.

As a police officer, I had more basket weave than I knew what to do with and if I had to stare at the color blue any longer I was going to scream. I wanted something pretty and simple that would protect the trigger of my gun.

After a little market research, Julie realized that other women were looking for the same thing.  Julie got creative and began to experiment with various shapes, leathers and colors. It took her a couple of tries on the manufacturing side, she says, but the third time was indeed the charm. “I finally have the safe, luxurious product I have been looking for.”

So why all the effort for an item that few people will ever see? “Not many people see it, but I see it,” she says. “It makes me feel good to carry it.”

In addition to the holsters, Julie also offers a purse and super cute clothing options on the website.

Julie credits her supportive husband and the memory of her mother as motivating factors in the long and fabulous journey that has brought her to the genesis of Pretty Dangerous.

the back

What were some of the life lessons Julie learned along the way?

• Never doubt yourself.  Continue to tell yourself you can do it.
• If you dont enjoy what you are doing, you will never succeed. Do something you love.
• Start small and you will be astonished as to what you can accomplish.
• Push yourself.
• Go with your gut.

   Thanks for taking the time to chat, Julie! We wish you the very best and expect to see a lot from Pretty Dangerous in the near future!

You just finished reading Pretty Dangerous Accessories on Girls Guide to Guns. Please consider leaving a comment!