%20-%20Mad%20in%20Crafts "DIY Nautical Charm Bracelet Using Earrings"){kind=small}
This is a sponsored post.I was given complimentary materials to use, but the opinions in this posts are 100% my own.
I don’t do coastal décor. I am just not a beach girl. Give me the choice between a sandy stretch of shoreline and a vista of majestic mountains, and I will chose the mountains every time. Consequently, there are no starfish or pieces of coral or jute nets in The Mad House. BUT, I will happily jump right on board the nautical fashion bandwagon, er, bandsailboat.
I love the white, gold, and navy colors, the pearls and the anchors. The bold stripes? Be still my heart. That’s why when I was asked to come up with a beach-themed project, I went the nautical jewelry route. You can make your own personalized charm bracelet with some special craft paints and inexpensive earrings! Here’s how.
To make a Nautical Charm Bracelet, you will need:
cheap earring and beads
elastic cording
jewelry pliers
jump rings
DecoArt enamel paints
paintbrushes
Yes, those X earrings have erasers as earring backs. Classy.
I found the cheapo earrings and wrap bracelet at a local thrift store. The earrings were very 80s and the wrap bracelet wire was rusty. None of them were in good enough shape to wear on their own, but with a little effort they could make a trendy nautical charm bracelet.
I clipped the end of the rusty wire, removed the beads. and restrung them onto a length of stretchy cording. My cording came in the package of dollar store beads I bought to make a sun catcher with my kids. The stretch of the elastic cording makes adding the charms on later much easier.
In addition to the earring charms, I created a sand dollar charm using a circle charm and some Americana 3D Enamel paint. The gold paint adds some shimmer and texture to the charm.
Americana Glass Paints are available at Michaels, JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, Pat Catan’s Craft Centers, A.C. Moore, Beverly’s, and other fine craft retailers. For more information on Americana Glass Paints visit the DecoArt website. PLUS, starting today DecoArt has a rad rebate going on! Buy $5 worth of Americana Glass Paint and get a $5 rebate!
To turn the earrings into bracelet charms, I used a pair of jewelry pliers to curl the earring posts back on themselves to form a loop. Add a jump ring, and the earring is now a charm. If you can find clip-on earrings, you don’t have to do anything to them. Just clip them right onto the bracelet!
I added the charms to the beaded cording, then doubled the length of the piece over to make brand new charm bracelet!
The cool thing about the bracelet is that the charms can be added and removed to suit your tastes on any given day. It’s even pretty without any charms. But what fun is that? I decided to make some more charms to mix and match on my new charm bracelet.
I have had these little acrylic crystal charms for years now, never knowing what to do with them. The were kind of plain on their own, but when I saw this tutorial by Aunt Peaches on Elizabeth Banks’ website (yes, Effie Trinket loves crafts), I knew I could jazz them up with some color. I used the Americana crystal gloss enamels which are colorful, but transparent.
Just one coat of the enamel paint turns a plain clear charm into a colored gem!
I painted each of my little crystal charms a different color. More colors means it matches with more outfits, right?
I removed the nautical charms and added my newly colored charms, and now I had an entirely new look for my bracelet. Fun!
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