Dinosaur Earrings!!

Last year my mom gifted me a bag of dinosaur party favors. There were six kinds, I'm still not sure what breeds (not the right word) they are. But they're light enough for earrings and just generally amazing, so it really doesn't matter.

One week last October I made a point to make a new pair every day, using my standard drill/headpin/hook method. They all kind of tie for favorite- here are the Stegis:

I've included the rest after the jump, as well as a handy link as to where to buy your own. Maybe later I'll post a how to- but as long as you have a power drill you can probably just guess and be right :)

Partial Recap

So...it's been a bit.

We'll need to change the name of this blog, probably.

I've really restarted making stuff...though I never stopped? I just recently refell in love with the process of creation, and regained my will to make things and the desire to share it. And other things I'm still formulating.

Since my last post....almost a year ago :)...I've made (partial partial list)

• About a millions EARRINGS- bottle caps mostly, but some fun things like these typewriter keys for a friend:

• Bags - yes, plural. Just barely. The version 2 of the bag I mentioned in my last post:

 

 And a new similar bag based off a storebought one from years ago- just in the test phase now though:

•  I've made a recent brief but intense foray into Aprons- here's my original 1.5 hr prototype:

And more recently they've gotten classy- though my favorites I don't have pics of here, I'll detail in another post.

• And well, everything else. Including infusing vodka a bit, and etching flasks to store it!

 

And that doesn't even include food. My god, the canning alone.

More posts soon. Promise promise.

Earring-A-Day 31: Pencils

So of course my last earrings of the month would be posted late, of course. Wednesday is/was office supply day, and it also became an upcycle day. Remember my oh-so-awesome Flying Spaghetti Monster Earrings? Those eraser meatballs came from pencils. Which I saved. As I tend to do with things.

I took those pencils, cut them up, and came up with this:

They're kind of shabby-looking, right? I used a box cutter. It was pretty tedious. I definitely need to buy a coping saw. But they're not bad. I was kind of inspired by this craftzine post, though when I drilled all my lead broke. Ah well. Here's another shot:

I wish I'd had more sections of pencil with writing, as I think it gives a nice touch.

Earring-A-Day 30: Rubber Ducks!

I picked up these ducks years ago, on a little group trip in college. A bunch of people I worked with were going apple picking, and there was food and stands near the farm. These immediately jumped out at me for earrings, but they say for ages in drawers and boxes as I moved around. It's nice to finally get them made.

Not at all seasonally appropriate, but completely adorable. Wish I had more.

Earring-A-Day 29: Mini Pin Cushions

When I sew, I have the terrible habit of putting pins in my mouth, mostly because I have no pin cushions. A lazy Sunday gave me the opportunity to create these mini pin cushion earrings with bottle caps, though I've had the idea in my head for at least the past two Mondays.

I love this fabric- I actually made a tie out of it a while back. So adorable, though you kind of look like a 6 year old going to church on Easter. Having some crazy idea turn out well is the best feeling in the world- and they're not too hard to make either.

Materials and Tools:
- Fabric (scraps)
- Bottle Caps
- Stuffing
- Earring Hooks
- Glue
- Pliers
- Scissors
- Needle/Thread

Start with a circle of fabric:

Use whatever needle and thread you have on hand (I had embroidery floss) to sew a quick running stitch around the outside of the circle.

Then tighten the string, creating a pouch.

Fill said pouch with your stuffing of preference and tie it closed:

Create your bottle cap earrings with (the usual method)- making sure the inside faces front. These caps are plain silver ones we use for homebrew, I didn't take pictures of the other side- sorry!

Put a big glob of glue in the cap and stuff the cushion inside, knot side down. I used Elmer's glue that takes forever to dry, so rubber bands came in handy:

Once it's dry, you have your adorable little pin cushions:

Now I won't have to worry about inhaling pins when I sew! Hooray!

Earring-A-Day 28: Paper

I was a bit stumped for today's earrings, though I guess I always am for studs. I'd gone so crazy preparing for the dud of a hurricane that I there really wasn't much to do today. Most stores were closed, and although it wasn't terrible out I didn't really feel like driving. So I took the opportunity to clean up a bit around the house, and used one of the ad's to make my earrings:

Call it a bonus upcycling day. Also, very easy. Just coiled up strips of paper. Hooray!

Earring-A-Day 27: Keys!

Ok, this was a lazy one, but come on- I was preparing for the hurricane! One of the things I wanted to do (which I didn't actually end up doing) was to put my bike inside so it didn't blow away. The problem: I always lose my bike keys. The lock I bought came with two keys- perfect for earrings:

This way they can live in my earring frame when I'm not wearing them so they won't get lost! Added bonus: shiny shiny.

Earring-A-Day 26: Soda Tabs

Friday was upcycle day, and I decided on soda (well, beer- Genny Cream Ale to be specific) tabs. There was an Etsy Labs day where they made bracelets and belts out of tabs a while back, but I wasn't able to attend. I think for that they used elastic- which makes sense for a bracelet, not so much for earrings- so I used duct tape. Here's a front and back view:

Yep, that's the same duct tape as Day 23's. Very easy, and I liked the way they turned out.

Earring-A-Day 25: Birthday Candles

The 25th was my birthday, and although nobody could've blamed me for taking the day off, it was actually very easy to come up with my earrings for the day: Birthday Candles!

You see how they're burnt? I tried to light them while wearing them. Fun fact: the melting wax puts out the flame. Instead I lit them while just holding them, D sang, and I blew them out. Still very cool. And less of a chance of me setting my hair on fire, which is always good.

Earring-A-Day 24: CD Cases

You know how I mentioned two fails in last week's office supply theme post? Well I managed to salvage one of them: CD Cases!

Are CD cases office supples? I think so- especially since I work in operations for a TV network and we use these for DVDs. In my previous position I always ended up recycling a number of these, so they'd even work for a Friday upcycle post, too.

Basically I put these in a reusable shopping bag and broke them. Originally when I took them out I thought the pieces looked too big/obviously CD cases and deemed it a failure. Last night I revisited the idea and broke off smaller pieces by hand. Then it was just a matter of drilling holes in each and looping some wires through to attach the hooks.

Earring-A-Day 23: Duct Tape Flowers

Another idea I'd had kind of fizzled out last night, but glancing around my room I happened to notice a roll of red duct tape I'd bought in an attempt to patch my rain boots. That attempt mostly failed, but red duct tape is very cool regardless.

I folded over strips to take away the sticky side, then cut out petal bits. I attached them together with that makeshift staple in the center. Kind of wish I'd thought of this for tomorrow, as I could've used an actual staple and saved myself some trouble. Does duct tape count as an office supply?

Anyway, here's another view of the earrings, showing the layers off a little more, and getting my requisite short depth of field picture in.

Purdy!

Earring-A-Day 22: Otter Creek Macaroons

I knew there was a reason I love making bottle cap earrings- they're so easy! These are a bit more complicated than the normal method I'd been doing. Instead of the standard single caps I put two together with wire.

I think they kind of look like macaroons:

In that last pic you can kind of see how they were connected with head pins. I wish I'd had a single longer piece of wire- despite my best efforts they moved around (noisily) everywhere I went during work.

OCB stands for Otter Creek Brewing. Technically we got these caps from Wolaver's bottles- which is owned by OCB. Wolavers makes a lovely coffee porter, though their wildflower wheat is incredibly tasty, too.

Earring-A-Day 21: Perler Bead Flowers (...?)

Not going to lie, pretty sure these are the worst ones I've made this month. But I was very much running short on time (I think I made these at 8 or 9pm on Sunday), so I was happy to get something done at least:

These kind of look like flowers...right? Maybe? Ah, well they're simply perler beads ironed together then attached to backings with glue. Easy, though it kind of shows more with these than others.

Maybe by the end of the month I'll get the stud thing down.

Earring-A-Day 20: Dominos

This past weekend was fairly insane for a number of reasons, so sorry it's taking me so long to post these last few days. For Saturday's pair of earrings it's an especially iffy post, as I gave them away that night.

They were dominoes I'd picked up at a church rummage sale a few months ago:

These were not $3.35 as the sticker says- I think I got a bag with a million things for $2? At most $3.

Anyway, I picked out two sevens (I believe a 4/3 and a 5/2) and drilled a hole in middle/top. I threaded some head pins through, made loops and attached them to hooks. Here's a closeup on the dominoes themselves- the back on these are pretty cool, too:

My hole for the one on the left would've been on the face of the domino above (below) the center dot. Have a ton left, will definitely make more. If I ever open an Etsy shop maybe I'll put some up.

Earring-A-Day 19: Earbuds

I have a hard time throwing some things away. Eventually old electronics will get tossed, but for example I held on to the innards of a rotary phone for far longer than is sane. I don't know anything about wiring, what was I going to do with it? Still not sure. Did eventually throw it out, after doing something awesome with the dial I'll have to post about soon.

Today's use up three sets of busted earbuds that have been sitting in my desk drawer. There may be another pair floating around, but I wasn't able to find them:

I was originally going to just do the Apple ones, and have a single pair long enough for me to actually put in my ears, but I liked the way the three together looked.

I threaded each of the wires through the loop, then used jump rings to cinch and secure the wires. I still may make them tighter just so I know they'll stay put, but overall I'm so happy. Especially since they're not in my drawers anymore! Well...I still have the jack ends. Maybe I'll make a matching bracelet. Or throw them out- you know, eventually.

Earring-A-Day 18: Legos

Well obviously I have a thing for nostalgia. As I've said. Apparently I like red more than I thought as well. Today's earrings: legos!

I've seen a number of lego studs, and some Sunday coming up I'll be kicking myself for not doing that. But these were taken these from my parents' house ages ago- it's not like I had my whole old stash on hand. Simple construction: drill, insert headpin, make loop, attach hook. Still, it's nice to make things that people recognize and like.

Earring-A-Day 17: Paper Stars

Today's earrings came out of a whole ton of fail. I had two different ideas before this- one featured plastic that was incredibly uncooperative, the other was too simple. And soon as I'd basically finished that second one a new strategy came to mind that I liked a ton better but was impossible given what I'd already done. Sorry about the vagueness, if I can work out the issues they will be featured the next two Wednesdays of the month.

Yes, it's office supply day! Today's are simple but cute:

 
Yes, those are the paper stars you probably made in elementary school. Thing is- I didn't learn until last week. Truly I had a deprived childhood.

After creating the stars with paper strips I used a sharp embroidery needle to create holes for my headpins to go through. Then it was just a matter of creating loops at the top and attaching earring hooks.

This is my first experience with paper earrings, and I'm happy the weather today is supposed to be nice. For added protection I may coat these in some outdoor mod podge I happen to have, we'll see.

Earring-A-Day 16: Bears

Are you ready? Brace yourself.

Today's earrings may just look like the cheapie bears that used to be ubiquitous at the registers of craft stores (are they still? I haven't noticed any lately, but I haven't really been looking), but if you notice, I've drilled through their ears. The question is: are they my earrings, or am I theirs?

I'll give you a minute to clean your brains off the walls, as I'm sure your mind was just blown. Or something.

Method was the usual: drill holes, insert wires, attach hooks. I didn't have any premade gold jump rings so I finagled my own. They're a bit on the heavy side but they're so adorable I don't mind.

Earring-A-Day 15: Troegs Caps

Today's are one of the more decorated caps I've seen: Troegs

All their packaging is similarly epic. I'm a big fan of coffee in beers, and their Javahead is pretty nice. Originally I'd had something else in mind for today's caps but when I went beer shopping over the weekend I remembered selection in North Jersey can be a little spotty, so I went with that.

And as I need two caps I picked up a Troegs I'd never seen before: Flying Mouflan

The description on the bottle really sold me:

We classify this beer as pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff. It is bold and intense–think hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs.

It was tasty for sure, though it's kind of hard to live up to that description...

Earring-A-Day 14: Wine Cork Studs

I think these earrings work well as a concept, and that my execution was just ok and didn't do it justice.

Apologies for the flash photo- it's a super nasty day out and all my non-flash pictures looked awful.

These are wine corks that I colored with sharpies and then carved shapes into. Stud backings were glued to the back. Ta da!

In a perfect world I wouldn't have had to color anything. The goal was to use corks from bottles of red wine, where the corks would've been naturally (and prettily) stained by the wine. Unfortunately the only other corks I had I used on Friday, and really, the color was far too pale to work:

I guess I could've bought a few bottles but I'm not really feeling having to go through that much wine right now. The final results of my improvised method weren't bad- maybe if I'd chosen easier shapes they would've turned out better?

Oh studs, you're the bane of my existence. Or, you know, the Sunday earring part of my existence.