Bracelet strung with vintage buttons

Have had a busy couple of weeks exploring some other outlets
 for creativity and a mind that never seems to rest enough.

I decided to try my hand at a combination of jewelry making, with vintage pieces (okay, it’s the junk jewelry in the bottom of my drawer) to create new statement pieces.

I was a little timid at first in my approach.  Unsure how to put it all together, I began with a beautiful collection of Czech Glass buttons in brilliant colors…all lovingly preserved from I believe to be the 1930’s.  I bought some stretchy jewelry cord on clearance and started making fun bracelets by stringing these colorful buttons, whose purpose was once to be donned on fine clothing and serve functionally to keep clothing of all sorts all buttoned up!

Feeling a little more confident after throwing together about a dozen of these, I went back to the craft store, Michael’s.  I purchased some random charms, beads, and something I’d never tried my hand at before with jewelry making…tools!  Needle nose pliers and crimping tools.  Suddenly the sky was the limit and I was putting together seaside bracelets, with bold colors and silver charms made of starfish, dolphins, and sea turtles.

That was when I started rummaging through my junk jewelry, finding once broken necklaces and bracelets, containing perfectly good clasps and loops for my new pieces.

I also started incorporating vintage cufflinks into earring settings, with a little tooling.  I’m hoping to get a soldering gun for my birthday next month…love having a new hobby to play around with and to learn something new.  This started as a craft activity for kids over summer and has quickly turned into something I really enjoy.  Look for new posts on Pinterest in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, I’m sharing a few here.

Feels good to recycle and create at the same time…and then feed my other passion by writing about it J

Have a great weekend everyone!