Re-purposed Vintage Earring Bracelet

So, if you are like us and collect vintage clothing and accessories, you well know that over the years, either because of age or carelessness, some items become damaged or lost. We have several incomplete sets of vintage earrings that have either been stranded somehow, possibly when moving or cleaning and others that are in just bad shape. Even if I no longer have the pairs, I just feel bad tossing them out because of how pretty they are. Needless to say, we were so excited when we discovered you don't have to get rid of them and you can actually give them a new life by turning them into bracelets! How sweet is that?

We just love recycling items and giving them a new life, even if it is not how they were originally intended to be used. 

Here is what is needed:

 Adhesive - (Make certain it is one that can be used for metals!)

Bracelet Blanks - (We had to look this up and suggest you do the same if you are not very jewelry savvy. They are not easy to find in stores, so our suggestion is you order online.)

Vintage Earrings - (Depending on how many blanks are on the bracelet, that is how many earrings you will need. Ours had 5 blanks, so we used 5 earrings. Also important to make sure the size of the earrings you are planning to use are similar to each other and depending on the shape of the blanks, that will be the same type of shape you will want to have in the earrings you are using. For example, for round blanks, use round earrings.) 

Next step is removing the back of the earrings, so you are left with a smooth, flat surface. We did this simply by bending the metal back and forth and pulling off with jewelry pliers. Now, simply assemble the pieces and glue on to your bracelet blanks. Allow enough dry time. Over night should be more than sufficient. Once the glue has dried, your bracelet is ready to be worn and enjoyed!

DIY Collar Clips

DIY Collar Clips

(fun way to spruce up those collared shirts)

These bad boys were recently created by yours truly.

Let us start off by saying it is ridiculous how easy it is to make these. It was Michelle who stumbled upon this idea and being that we're big fans of collared shirts here at What's Bippin'? She was very excited to have us try to recreate it for one of our craft projects.

Here is what is needed: 

• 1 pair of vintage clip-on earrings (easily found at your nearest swap meet/flea market or thrift store) 
• 1 jewelry chain of your choice (ours were purchased for close to nothing at Wal-Mart, however they are also available at Michael's)
• glue (make certain it is a glue specifically for use on metals)

Measure how long you would like the chain connecting to each clip to be. Shorten to your desired length. On the back side of the earring, with the clip part open, glue your chain to the middle. Allow plenty of time for the glue to dry before closing clip to prevent it from being glued closed. We let ours dry over night just to be safe.

And voila! You now have ready to wear, perfectly functioning, awesome collar clips!

If there is anything we would have done different with this project, it probably would have been to choose the chain first and then the earrings. Finding a chain to match the earrings already purchased turned out to be a little trickier than expected and a bit more pricey. Other than that, it was easy and inexpensive, leaving us very satisfied with the finished products. 

FYI: These also serve as sweater clips.

Decorating Coffee Mugs with Sharpies!

Design and decorate your coffee mugs using Sharpies! 

We have seen this idea floating around cyber space for a while and it looked pretty cool, so we figured we would try it. We have to admit that a motivating factor was how inexpensive it is. You can use any old coffee mug you have laying around or go to your local dollar store and purchase one or two for close to nothing. The other thing you need is Sharpies or similar permanent markers which are also relatively cheap to purchase, if you don't already own any.

Pre-heat your oven to about 400 degrees. Next, decide on how you want to design your mug. After you have created your masterpiece, simply pop it in the oven for a good half hour. This should set your design and make it smudge-proof. Note the emphasis on the word "should". When discussing this craft with a friend who had tried it previously, she mentioned after a few washes the designs begin to fade. So, we were thinking some top coat/sealer should be incorporated into the process, however we found no tutorials including this as a step. We we will wait to see what happens with ours and if need be later look into different sealing options.

Voila! We present our final products...

I personally loved the colored mugs Michelle used as opposed to my boring white ones. Makes for a really nice contrast. We spent about $4-$6 each (we saved a bit with the metallic Sharpies, since Michelle already had those) and we were pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Fabric Rosette Necklaces

The holidays have provided time off from work, thus allowing for plenty of time to craft and work on numerous projects on our to do lists. We gather inspiration from multiple sources for these crafts. Of course, there is the ever popular Pinterest, other blogs, YouTube and even our own ideas from long ago that we failed at and are reattempting.

One of our latest projects was the fabric rosette necklace. The blogger whose tutorial we followed for these assured it would be "easy" and "fool proof", which was enough to convince us to give it a go. We would like to think of ourselves as beginners in the area of crafts and thus are super excited when we read labels such as "easy", "fool proof", "little or no sewing necessary" and "no way you can go wrong". This particular blogger however, has had some years experience crafting so we should have guessed that "easy" to her would be the equivalent of "extremely difficult" for us. Ha-ha!

We struggled and were about to throw in the towel, when finally it came together... well, somewhat. 

Lets start with what was needed for this project first: scrap fabric, glue gun, glue sticks, scissors, felt, necklace chain or ribbon, rhinestones or pearls for the center (optional, but also serves to hide imperfections).

*Please note when picking out fabric to use for the rosettes we strongly suggest you stay away from stretch fabrics, thin fabrics or fabrics that fray easily. (you can thank us later)

Honestly, the hardest part is forming the fabric to look like rosettes and decent looking ones at that. Second hardest is making them in different sizes. For some reason all our rosettes kept turning out to be the same size no matter how long the scraps of fabric were. 

With the majority of our crafting, Michelle usually likes my finished product more and I usually like hers more. Grass is always greener, I guess.

The whole thing was a pain in the butt. We would by no means use the word "easy" to describe the process, but knowing now what would have made it a little easier and more or less how to go about it, we probably will try again.

Ta-da!

Best,

Michelle and Lesli