ASOS Feather Gem Drop Earrings

Another feather earring tutorial!

This tutorial shows you how to make the ASOS Feather Gem Drop Earrings. 

They are really simple and quick to make. Feel free to experiment with colors of gems and/or feathers. The longest part of this tutorial is waiting for the glue to dry!

These are really good for any parties, because you can make them in about an hour and have a totally unique accessory in a pinch!

From ASOS

My version!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, ear wires, two feathers (synthetic please!), ribbon ends, superglue, and plastic gems in various sizes (the ones I used are for nails).

Step 2: Attach ribbon ends to the feathers. Then, lay out your gems. You will need 12 gems. 5 in the biggest size, 4 in medium, and 3 in small to get the graduated look. Then, simply pick up a dab of glue on a toothpick, dip the gem back in it, and attach to the center of the feather. Repeat, evenly spacing all your gems till you reach the bottom. 

Step 3: Wait about an hour or until they are dry. Attach your ear wires and you are finished!

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!

Gauge Inc BFF Necklace

What kind of friend wouldn't love a handmade necklace?

These necklaces by Brooklyn-based Gauge Inc. are 14K gold and come with a hefty price tag of $100. However, as you can see, they are totally doable for a DIY. And I'm sure your friend will love the handmade version much better!

These necklaces are super easy to make; you literally trace your handwriting with wire. Best part is you can use any color of craft wire to suit your bestie's tastes. Make one for them and one for yourself! Add charms, even, to the bottom of the f's for some sparkle maybe? Go wild!

Let's get started.

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, plain craft wire (nothing special here!), a necklace chain and jump rings, a pencil, paper.

Step 2: Draw the form for your pendant. Make it look like this, or as close as you can get. The dimensions of the BFF are about 1.25" long and .75" high. Now, take a long piece of your craft wire, about a foot or so. Start at the loop above the "B". Simply curl the wire with round nose pliers to start. Then, "trace" your BFF with your wire, using your pliers and fingers to hold and bend the wire in place.

Step 3: Continue to trace. I have pictured the steps I took here. Make the wire fit your BFF form as close as possible. I used my fingers a lot to gently bend the wire in the right direction, then used my round nose pliers to get the details and precise form. 

Step 4: Sharpen the "F". I squeezed the bottom of the "F" with a flat pliers to get more of a sharp arc instead of a rounded one (second pic), to match cursive writing better. Then, when you've reached the end of the last "F", cut the wire with a little more than .25" to spare (last pic). Make a finishing loop with this excess.

Step 5: When you've got it finished, flatten the pendant so it's nice and flat and lays properly. Then, attach your jump rings on the loop on the "B" and top of the last "F", and attach these to your necklace chain. Finished.

Surprise your friend/s with these awesome necklaces! 

Dainty and cute!

A close-up.

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!

Aurélie Bidermann's Peace Bracelet

I like this bracelet. It has a cool hippie vibe, and helps bring some part of the summer to the winter! From Aurélie Bidermann, this simple wrap bracelet can be made within like 15 minutes or less, seriously! And, it sells for a whopping $110! Really? Make yours at home for literally a couple bucks, if that. 

All that's needed is a large peace-sign pendant, and some embroidery floss. Too easy, too cool!

My version!

Step 1: Gather materials. All that's needed are scissors, a large peace sign pendant (you could use other colors or other materials (Bidermann uses a mother of pearl charm), mine was a turquoise one.), and embroidery floss in green, blue, red, orange and yellow.

Step 2: Knot on the floss. Start with the yellow. I used about 10" of each thread (because when folded in half when you knot, it will equal 5" on each side of your pendant). You need to cut enough thread just to make sure you can tie on the bracelet to your wrist. I have small wrists and ended up cutting some thread after tying. So adjust as necessary. To make the first knot, just thread the string over the front of the peace sign, then thru the hole behind. Where you see that open loop at the end, thread the ends (you see in my left hand in the first pic) thru that hole, front to back. Pull the ends tight to the pendant.

Step 3: After the yellow, tie on the orange. Then red, blue, and green. Do the same to the other side. To wear, tie on the loose ends and leave the ends long. If they are too long, you want like a couple of inches, cut down like I did.

Finished; easy, right!

From Aurelie Bidermann

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!

ASOS Bottlecap Ring DIY

From ASOS

Kitschy cute! This ASOS designer bottletop ring is super fun and really easy to make on your own. It's really as simple as painting an old, recycled bottle cap and gluing on a ring blank. Customize the colors and the face for your own unique look!  

Best of all, this only takes THREE STEPS!! Super-quick to make. Make them in all different colors and with different expressions!

DIY version

 Let's get started.

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are acrylic paints (use white and black for the ASOS look), clear lacquer (or clear nail polish), a paintbrush, an old bottle cap, and a ring blank. You will also need hot glue and super glue.

Step 2: Use the white to paint your bottle cap, sides and all. You need a lot of coats, maybe like 8 or more. Make sure paint is completely dry before applying next coat. When you've got a solid white, draw on your cap with a pencil to outline the features. Then, paint them in with black acrylic. Let dry.

Step 3: Take your hot glue, and make a huge blob in the center of the bottle cap. Attach your ring blank. When the glue is dry, pull the blank away from the bottle cap, making sure the hot glue is still attached. This will make a "mold" of sorts for your ring blank to sit in, and make it fit nicer in the cap. Then, take superglue and smear over the glue glob and re-attach. This will give a nice, stronger hold with your glue. Let dry, then paint over the front with clear lacquer for shine. Let dry.

FINSIHED. Isn't that simple?!

I made a pirate and a girl with eyelashes too!

The trio

Marc Jacobs- Striped Star Hair Clip

Marc by Marc Jacobs- Hair Clip

I think this next tutorial is just plain cool! I loved these Marc by Marc Jacobs Star Hair Clips. Their simplicity but cool color combinations in contrasting stripes really stand out in hair. So, obviously I found a way to make my own. 

I used polymer clay and added rhinestones for extra sparkle. I also made mine on bobby pins so I could stick them anywhere on my hair!

Mine, in various colors.

Below is the full tutorial.

Again, like many of my tutorials, this can be customized to fit your liking. Choose your own colors in your favorite combinations! I also used a cookie cutter to make my star. You can use different shapes to make different styles!

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are polymer clay, bobby pins, glass rhinestones, a paintbrush, small cookie cutters, clear lacquer, super glue and hot glue. If you have a pasta machine you use to roll clay, this is needed as well. If not, use a rolling pin.

Step 2: Choose 3 colors of your clay, shape into balls. The original Marc clip uses yellow, black and gray. Run these through the pasta machine on the second setting, or just roll thin with your rolling pin. 

Step 3: Cut about 1/4" strips from your sheets. Place these strips side by side and gently rub the edges of the colors together to adhere a bit. You will have one panel of your colored strips. Carefully pick the panel up without separating the strips, and run through the pasta machine again, on the next thinnest setting. Or just roll thinner with your pin. You may need to roll it through a couple of times to make sure the clay sticks really well. Take a separate ball of one of your colors again and roll it through the machine on the first setting. Place your thinner colored stripes panel on top of this plain one, and press down. This makes sure that your cutout will be a little thicker so it won't break!

Step 4: Find a nice place for your cutout, and use your cookie cutter to make the cutout.

Here are pics of a red/orange/purple one I made.

Run this panel through pasta machine....

Place stripes on top of plain panel, cut out.

Step 5: Add rhinestones. Here are my three stars. I added three rhinestones to the top of each, just to give some sparkle. Press the rhinestones down into the clay to secure. If you like yours plain, keep them plain!

Bake these at about 125 degrees for 20 min. You may have to vary this as I use a small toaster oven.

Step 6: Finishing. When these are all baked and cooled. Clear them with the lacquer. Let them dry completely. Squeeze a small line of hot glue on the back, and stick the end of the bobby pin in the glue to secure. Let dry. I have found that the hot glue won't be enough to hold on to the clay. When I first made these, they came off of the hot glue after I wore them once! So I think it's good to superglue them as well. Carefully detach the star from the glue glob and score the clay with a sharp knife or pin to help create texture for glue to hold to. Then, apply superglue to this score mark and re-attach your hot glue/bobby pin glob. Let dry again.

Wear, wear, wear!!

Super-cool and sparkly!

Use to pull hair back...

Decoration on my topknot!

All three!

The trio again

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated :)