The "cheating" post, jewelry with buttons

I know, I know, the whole series was "Jewelry Making for the Non-Jewelry Maker" and it required no special tools or supplies. Well...these both have just a teensy bit of special supplies. But they were so easy to do I had to include them! You've still got a week left till Christmas! You can totally knock these out. Easy.

 The main ingredient of the jewelry today? Buttons. Yes, buttons. You'd be amazed at the buttons you can find these days, some of them don't look like buttons at all! Like that pretty pink pendant. Yes, it's a button, and this is the easiest necklace ever! Less than a minute to make.

You will need:

• Button
• Jump ring
• Premade necklace (you can find these at Hobby Lobby)

That's it! Wait for buttons to go on sale and you've got a majorly inexpensive present. To make one:

Take button off of paper. Open the jump ring, thread it through the button.

Attach it to the necklace. Close the jump ring. Told you it was easy!

And the results are lovely! Only hardcore Joann stalkers will ever know that you're wearing a button around your neck. Ready for some easy peasy earrings?

You will need:

• Small buttons
• Two earring posts
• Button shank removers (Six bucks at Joann in the button aisle. Bring your coupon)
• Hot glue gun (E6000 would be better)

This one is a teeny tiny itsy bitsy more tricky, but it'll still take you less than a minute to make!

Using the button shank removers, remove the shank of the button.

Bam. Now it has a flat back.

Do it again to another button so you can have a pair (unless you only have one pierced ear, in which case skip this step)

Bam. Pretty rose earrings on the cheap, no cabochons required. I'll spare you another picture of my face, you get the idea right?

I hope you enjoyed my little series! Remember, next month I am redoing "Jewelry Making 101" which should cover everything you ever wanted to know about making your own jewelry. Got a question? Shoot me an email and I'll cover it in the series.

Happy crafting!

Vintage style cuff

First things first, this idea isn't originally my own. It was inspired by {this} tutorial over at I Heart Naptime.

Mine's a little different though. When I saw this pretty pleated ribbon at Hobby Lobby the very first thing I thought of was "Oh!! That would make an awesome cuff!" And here we are. You wanna make one?

Uh, don't mind the pic, I changed my mind a lot while I was making this. So, besides the glue gun, heat sealer, and scissors, you will need:

• Pleated ribbon
• Ruffled velvet ribbon
• Buttons
• Velcro
• Satin ribbon

Just pretend everything is in the picture, mmkay?

Wrap the ribbon around your wrist and subtract an inch. Cut the smaller ribbon the same length, and glue the ruffled ribbon on the pleated ribbon right down the middle.

Ok...I cheated a teensy bit here. I used button shank removers to take the shanks off, but this isn't necessary. You could glue them down just fine or use your scissors to take the shanks off. Don't throw rocks at me!

Arrange your buttons on your cuff in a pleasing way, and glue them down.

To close the cuff, I cut two 2 inch lengths of matching satin ribbon and heat sealed the ends. I glued them on the back side of the cuff.

The Velcro part of it...it's really just measuring and guessing. I wrapped the cuff around my wrist and overlapped the ribbons, then a glued on the Velcro where the ribbons overlapped.

See? It didn't totally match up, but since I measured it against my wrist it worked out perfectly!

And I really love how it turned out! The gold buttons really gave it a more vintage-ish feel.

(Dude, my hair is cuh-raaaazy in this one!)

I seriously love it, I want to wear it with everything and I am typically not a bracelet person.

We still have one more day of the Jewelry Making for the Non-Jewelry Maker series! Though tomorrow...I cheat a little bit. :( There are a few easy to find jewelry supplies but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some really simple jewelry.

I'll give you a hint. It's the necklace I'm wearing.

Ribbon and chain necklace

I am still sticking to my "no fancy tools or supplies" rule here, promise! Today's tute comes from the trim departments of both Joann and Hobby Lobby. You would amazed

Yup, seriously. That's some metal trim from Joann. It's a bit pricey, so if you go looking for it make sure to bring some coupons. The whole thing ties together with ribbon (as do most of these creations.) Ready to make your own?

Aside from scissors, glue gun, and heat sealer, you will need:

• Metal trim (or if you want to break the no supplies rule the jewelry section has some lovely chain)
• Satin ribbon

These materials lists seem kind of pointless don't they?

First, cut your trim to about 12-14 inches long.

Heat seal the end of a 12 inch length of ribbon

Thread it through a link and glue it down. Repeat on the other side.

Don't worry, I'll keep your secret when you give away one of these to each of your friends and neighbors.

Oh wait, you have some chain leftover?

Same thing as the necklace. Measure the chain around your wrist and subtract an inch and use 7ish inch ribbon strands.

Weave some pretty trim through the links if you're feeling really fancy.

Use another length of ribbon to cover up raw edges. Better make two for good luck. NOW you're done.

I've been really into stacking bracelets lately! (See that ring? It's a button threaded through a thin hair tie using the same method from earlier this week. Holla!!)

Hope you're having fun with this little series! I have one more tomorrow and one "cheating" post.

Happy crafting!

Sparkly garland necklace

Here I go again making necklaces out of garland. (In case you missed it the first time, check it out {here}) I can't help it though, garland can just be so pretty! Especially when it's sparkly...

May have looked better on the tree, but nope! A necklace it shall become.

A very pretty holiday necklace! I am thrilled with how it turned out! Wanna make one?

Aside from your glue gun, your scissors, and your heat sealer (remember that trifecta we use everyday?) You will need:

• Sparkly garland, got mine at Hobby Lobby
• Thick satin ribbon (think this is 1 3/4")

And that's it. Easy peasy 1-2-3sy.

Cut two lengths of garland, one should be two inches shorter than the other. I did a 14 inch strand and a 12 inch strand.

Cut and heat seal two 12 inch lengths of ribbon. I also folded over and glued down the ends so that it would be a little bit more sturdy for the garland.

Glue the longer strand of garland to the bottoms of the ends of the ribbon (as shown) and then glue the shorter strand just above that (as not show, because I spaced and didn't take a picture.)

And that's it. Seriously. I feel silly posting these tutes because all but one took me less than 10 minutes! But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show you how to make inexpensive jewelry at home with no special tools.

I am now a sparkly, dress clad, ready-for-a-party happy camper. That's the last of the "formal" looking jewelry  tomorrow we start casual, everyday jewelry! See you then my friends! :)

Vintage style ring

As promised with your little teaser yesterday, the tutorial for the beautiful vintage style ring! It is so easy, you'll want to make a million of them. Not to mention they are adjustable, and take less than five minutes. Is that enough persuasion for you?

And they are so dang cute!! Eeps!! Ok, you will need:

• Old hair tie
• Vintage pin (or a regular pin, or a button)
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon

Yeah, that's it. And you've probably already got all of it.

Measure it around your finger, you'll want it to be a teensy bit smaller than your finger so it will fit snugly. 

Cut it (oops, forgot yo mention you needed scissors, sorry). 

Hot glue the ends together. Cut a small piece of ribbon and heat seal it. 

And glue the ribbon around the raw edge of your ring. 

Pin that little pin on over the ribbon. The thickness of the band and the ribbon should keep everything nicely in place. If you have a button sew or glue it on. 

And slap the sucker on! Five minute cocktail ring anyone?

This is my serious model face. Obviously I've perfected it over the years!

But in all honesty, pay attention to that ring. That blingy little sucker deserves the attention. Not my lack of eyebrows. It's one of the major downfalls of being naturally blonde...your eyebrows are naturally blonde and they kind of disappear into your face. One time, when I was a wee youngin, I was in the grocery store with my mom and suddenly shouted:

True story. No, it really is a true story. And to think they've actually gotten a teensy bit darker since then.

Come back tomorrow for the last bit of "formal" jewelry! Hope you are liking the series so far. :)