"Fourth" Bling

Since I decided for the first time to decorate for the Fourth, I thought hmmm.....maybe I should decorate myself too. My wardrobe staples are black, white, grey, neutrals...boring I know but then everything goes! But I did buy one of "Old Navy's" patriotic tees ( they had BLACK woo hoo!) so to get in the spirit, I made some earrings and a bracelet to wear with. I started making jewelry because I have to wear clip earrings (long story...nothing against pierced ears but apparently there's "stuff" in your ear lobes that supports pierced ears and I don't have it) . And...I like "bold" earrings. Put those two together and they're hard to find because someone has decided that anyone who wears clip earrings wears very dainty small ones. I'd like to have a word with you.  I started out buying two pairs of earrings and combining them and then decided if I was going to do that, I might as well go all in. So now that I've put you to sleep with how I began making jewelry...

Findings are just stuff from Michaels, silver faceted beads I bought in a ginormous bag, and blue and red Czech crystal. The red enamel stars I picked up from Ben Franklin Crafts.

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A Little Bit of This...A Little Bit of That

is probably how I would describe my "making". Paper, general crafts, re-purposing, some knitting  / crocheting, mixed media, beads, wire, jewelry a little sewing. You name it, I pretty much play with it. I've been wanting to make one of the bib-style necklaces we've seen around blogland and Etsy. So here 'tis...I was not sure if I'd even finish it so I didn't take any pics along the way.

 

I kept it simple and made rolled rosettes from tee shirt scraps and layered organza flowers with a metallic bead center. I wanted it lighter for Summer so instead of adhering to felt like I've seen a lot of the tutorials do, I made a sandwich of a scrap of a flour sack towel, iron on fusible stuff and a scrap piece of muslin which gave it body but not weight. Glued the flowers randomly, trimmed it close to the edges, and sewed a length of chain on each side. Finished off getting the length I wanted by stringing beads onto stringing wire and added the clasp. 

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