Earring-A-Day 1: Flathead Lake Soda Bottlecaps

I'm happy August started on a Monday, it gives me a nice soft start to the month of earrings. Today's are this weird-looking drink that was on sale at the grocery store: Flathead Lake Soda.

Never heard of it before, but 99 cents for four bottles/two sets of earrings was a good enough deal for me. Sour cherry also sounded promising. It tasted alright, not nearly sour enough though- more like a cherry slurpee. The caps are pretty sweet though.

I've gone over the basics of making bottle cap earrings before, but never with pictures so let's do it again! You will need the following:

Materials and Tools:
- Hammer
- Thick nail (or an awl, if you want to get fancy)
- Pliers
- Scrap Wood (I use my cat's scratching plank)
- Bottle Caps
- Earring Hooks

Any bottle caps will do, but twist off is obviously much easier.

First, decide which direction will be up on your caps and hammer the nail through the edge of the cap. Try to get the hole in the middle of the side, if a little closer to the edge. Too far in and you won't be able to get the hook attached.

I was going to get D to hold the nail for this picture when I realized to get the size hole I needed I could just let the nail do the work:

This is why the scrap wood is necessary, unless you like destroying your table. Then it's simply a matter of plier-ing the hooks open and putting the caps on.

Ta da:
 

One day down, hopefully the rest of the month will be this easy...

Chutes and Ladders Coasters

I can remember the exact moment my board game collection started. It was the summer after my senior year of high school. I'd stopped by one of the best thrift stores (ever?)- Red White and Blue- and there it was: The Dinosaur's Journey to High Self Esteem. Created by child psychologists, a game where everybody wins. Not enough for you? This is the tagline: "Ever wonder why everybody likes dinosaurs? Maybe it's because they like themselves!"

Now I would never (ever) cut up The Dinosaur's Journey to High Self Esteem, but I will buy anything cheap that looks like it'll give me good earring fodder...and I have a standing rule to pick up any versions of pawn-based Clue I don't already own.

After the earrings have been made the boards are always left, taking up space, but generally too interesting to throw out. I've been making Perler Bead coasters for a while now, and the idea struck me not too long ago that game boards could work equally well assuming I found a way to make them waterproof.

The ultimate goal is to make a Clue set, with a coaster for each room, but before I go destroying something so awesome, I found an old Chutes and Ladders game that's perfect to test my methods. It's cute enough I'd actually use the coasters, but holds no real sentimental value if I eff up. It also comes with built in squares so I don't need a template...and I can use it to make a template for future coasters.

Materials:
- Game Board
- Mod Podge
- Acrylic Sealer Spray

Tools:
- Exacto Knife/Box Cutter
- Scissors
- Foam Brush
- Spool, toilet paper roll, or something similar

The process is fairly simple- I found my favorite scenes and cut out 2x2 squares over a phone book with an exacto knife.

 
The phone book did not survive. Since I did things fairly free-hand, some of the edges were a little rough- those I cleaned up with scissors. Now for Mod Podge!

I bought Outdoor Mod Podge (which I figured would be the most water-proof), and applied a number of thin coats. Since I wanted to protect the edges especially I first applied coats to the edges and top, letting the coaster dry on top of a pill bottle so it didn't stick to anything. After those dried a bit I flipped it over onto some parchment paper and applied a number of coats to the bottom. The only down side to this method is I could only really do one at a time.

And, as Mod Podge is never not tacky (as in sticky, not classless) for me, I finished it off with a coat of clear Acrylic sealer. I spent a nice hour or so outside my apartment complex with a garbage bag down in case my landlord caught me. First I applied three coats to the back, then set them right side up on toilet paper tubes to do the tops and pay special attention to the edges. I actually attempted a few that I'd Mod Podge-d and others that I hadn't, and I definitely like the results of two-step water proofing better.

Next I'll test these out, possibly at my favorite local bar. I'm debating adding a layer of cork or felt to the bottom so they don't sit in water. We'll see if I find something cheap on my next trip to the craft store.

And since the pictures kind of stopped there (I do have an outside pic with the toilet paper tubes but it was taken with my phone so it looks awful), here are my two favorites:

Eat and you'll get taller...you know, not obese or anything.

And the dual nature of cats.

I'm going to wait until I've perfected my methods before I do anything to these though.

Tabasco Bottle Earrings Christmas Tree Ornaments

My boyfriend is fairly obsessed with Popeye's Chicken. Don't get me wrong, it's tasty and all, but I've been slowly trying to move us away from fast food. A few months ago, however, I saw a commercial for their Wicked Chicken. It featured a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce. I knew I had to have it. They're heavy, but decided to turn them into earrings.

Materials:
- 2 tiny Tabasco bottles
- Jump rings
- Earring hooks
- Super Glue

Tools:
- Power drill with 1/16" drill bit
- Scrap Wood
- Pliers

Empty the bottles, wash and dry them well. Take the caps off the bottles and drill two holes fairly close together. There were small names imprinted onto my caps, and I tried to drill above and below them. Be sure to drill on scrap wood, so you don't destroy a nice table.

Once that's done, bend the jump rings to fit through the holes, and connect a few on to create a chain. Attach the earring hooks to the end. To prevent these from coming undone, glue the top to the bottle. It'd be best to make sure they're facing the right way first, though.

These are seriously too heavy to wear, unless you have robot ears. They're very cute though, and I guess they can be used as Christmas tree ornaments?

Earring Frame

I have a jewelry box, but my dangly earrings always got tangled up, and the bottle cap ones I made (expect another post one of these days) would come apart. I borrowed this idea from another site, and with a few tweaks made it even better.

This frame displays your earrings like art, and is much better than digging through drawers to find what you need. It probably costs more than an earring tree (do those exist?), but is unique enough that it's worth it.

Materials*
- Picture Frame
- Spray Paint (optional)
- Wire Mesh


Tools
- Staple Gun
- Staples
- Scissors

I acquired my frame from a craft store- but a better place to look would be a thrift store. Sadly all the good frames at the Red, White and Blue had art (or "art") in them and weren't worth the price tag.

The rest of the materials and tools can be found at craft stores or hardware stores. Pick the style and colors that fit the look you're going for. I like shiny things, so I went with gold spray paint and silver mesh.

Paint your frame (front and back), and once it's dry cut out a piece of mesh slightly larger than the hole in the frame. Where you staple really depends on the frame, but try and put the mesh as far forward as you can to leave room for the earring backs.

Hang it up using your preferred method- command adhesive, picture hanging kit, or my favorite: random nails.

Enjoy!


*It took me about 5 minutes to remember this word. It's so sad.