Saturday, September 26, 2009

Turning old junk into new funky stuff to wear on my ears

Thursday, while Noah was in the the big boy room at co-op (his nursery school...we can't call it a preschool, but it is), I sat at Panera Bread with a cup o' joe in hand and looked through coupons. I realized very quickly that I should carry scissors with me at all times if I want to get serious about 'couponing.' So I ran across the suburban strip mall parking lot to Michael's craft store to get me some of those much needed scissors. We really have a great/awful suburban set-up here: Target- with a Starbucks inside, near a Bed Bath and Beyond, near a PetSmart, near a Marshall's, near Michael's, near Panera, near Wegman's...I'm in heaven/hell. Conflicted about consumerism in general, and my own shopping addiction in particular. So, anyways, at Michael's I found a cute pair of scissors shaped like an elephant on clearance for 50 cents! And a cute plate for a dang penny. And then I wandered around by the beads...and I suddenly was so sucked in and inspired to make my own jewelry. Ha! Because I have so much time on my hands. And because I can really afford yet another hobby. Sigh. I purchased some earring 'findings' and wire/thread stuff. I also looked around at beads, held them in my hands, draped them over my wrists...and did NOT buy any! I realized that I have several broken necklaces, bracelets, hair bobbles, etc...just waiting for me to repair/recycle...and recycle I shall! I plan to de-bead a couple old necklaces and attach those beads to these earring findings...voila! New funky stuff for me! I can also make some gifts for my little nieces in Florida...or my sister, mom, aunt.
So we'll see how motivated I am with this project. I have completed one set of earrings so far...  And I have plans plans plans!
I googled something like "how to make jewelry with recycled stuff" and found a fantastic crafty blog. http://www.leethal.net/ It's this cool Portland chicky named Lee, and she has many projects...but I really loved her ideas about making earrings out of old sweaters. Yippee! Just the kind of inspiration I was looking for. Some of my beloved sweaters have been attacked by the woolie woolie monster. But they can be transformed, re-made, made anew! We all can. Hooray! Here's a pic of my first pair of earrings:

This picture is indeed blurry- it's not your eyes!
These lil' leaves were on a big clunky broken necklace. I removed them and made them into some cute nature-inspired earrings. Oooh...ahhh... yay! ; )

3 comments:

Beth said...

I cannot wait to see the earrings made from sweaters! I knew you had that "crapper" gene!

Anonymous said...

I like the earrings! Post other things as you make them, you're artistic!
Mommy

Tiffany said...

Fun! I tried that before. I made a few bracelets. If you don't recycle it does become a very expensive hobby!

Gray Sea

Gray Sea