Easy-to-Make DIY Leather Earrings

This Sizzix Design Team post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  I am a huge fan of handmade jewelry.  Why?  Well, I love that with just a few inexpensive supplies you can quickly and easily create beautiful jewelry that looks pricey.  With the holiday season right around the corner, handmade jewelry is an awesome gift idea, so today I'm going to show you how to make some really pretty leather earrings perfect for the jewelry lover on your gift list.

 My favorite thing about these earrings is that they're sooo light!  You can make a large pair of these, and when you wear them, you may forget you're wearing earrings.  They're that light, y'all!  And like I said, they're really easy to make.  Let me show you how...

Make These Ten Minute DIY Leather Earrings

This Sizzix Design Team Post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for supporting Pitter & Glink! Hey, y'all!  Do you realize how long it's been since I last shared a jewelry tutorial?!  Wayyyy too long!  So today I'm remedying that.  Using some of the new Sizzix jewelry-making tools, I'm showing you how to easily make these DIY Leather Teardrop Earrings.

These earrings are so stylish and can be made in about ten minutes.  You read that right: ten minutes! And with all the yummy leather colors that Sizzix has to offer, you can make a pair of these to match any outfit.

Embossed Emerald Statement Earrings

Hey, y'all!  My newest design team post is up on the Sizzix Blog.  I'm showing you how to make a beautiful pair of Embossed Emerald Statement Earrings.

These earrings are so easy to make with the Sizzix BIGkick and Vintaj metal blanks and dies.  Because they're statement earrings, they're big, but they're so light you could wear them all day without your ears hurting.  Head over to the Sizzix Blog for the full tutorial.

Domed & Embossed Metal Rose Earrings

Hey, y'all!  Being a blogger is a unique type of "job." No, I'm not a full-time blogger, but I do consider blogging to be a job because it's a lot of work.  I have this little piece of the internet because I like to share my creativity with others in hopes that I'll inspire someone else to be creative too.  
It's like when you try a really great restaurant for the first time and you feel like it's your duty as a friend to tell your best friend all about the place so that she can enjoy it too--I share my creative projects because creating things gives me so much joy and I want others to experience that joy.  Unfortunately, sometimes with blogging--especially if you're a small blogger like myself--it's easy to fall into the trap of feeling like no one is listening.  
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Sizzix and asked to be part of their 2015 Design Team.  I was excited that Sizzix liked my work enough to want me to be a part of their team and excited about the possibility of sharing my creativity with more people.

I happily accepted the position.  I'll still be blogging here at Pitter & Glink as I always do, but every month I'll be sharing a couple of projects on the Sizzix Blog.  Today I'm sharing these beautiful Domed Embossed Metal Earrings.  You can find the full tutorial on the Sizzix Blog.  
Before I end this post, I want to take a minute to say thank you to all of my loyal readers.  You are the reason why I haven't given up on blogging yet, the reason I keep working hard to come up with new projects and improve my photography.  And you are the reason why I have the confidence to share my creativity with more people on a bigger platform.  Thanks, y'all!  Hugs!

Metal Stamped Geometric Earrings

Hey, y'all!  I have a quick and easy metal stamping tutorial for you today: Metal Stamped Geometric Earrings.  If you're scared of metal stamping because you don't know if you can line up your letters correctly or maybe you'll misspell something or you don't want to buy a whole set of metal stamp letters, this is the project for you!  You don't have to worry about any of that with these earrings, and you can complete this project in three steps.

First of all, you need to gather your supplies.  I initially received my beginner metal stamping supplies from Goody Beads, and I've added to my collection since then.

DIY Gold & White Beaded Wire Earrings

Hey, y'all!  As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been all about jewelry making lately.  When the weather finally warms up, I'll be back to working on furniture makeovers and wall decor, but when it's cold, making jewelry is a great indoor craft.  This weekend I tried my hand at making wire jewelry.  The end result was a pair of Gold & White Beaded Wire Earrings.  Once I figured out my technique, they were really easy to make.

To make your own beaded wire earrings, you'll need a few basic jewelry-making supplies.

Supplies:

• 24 Gauge Wire
• 20 Gauge Wire
• Small Beads
• Two Earring Hooks or Lever Back Earring Findings
• Ruler
• Round Nosed Pliers
• Flat Nose or Needle Nose Pliers
• Wire Cutter (My other pliers cut wire.)

To begin making my earrings, I cut a length of 20 gauge wire.  (I didn't measure the wire that I cut, but I would guess it was 7 or 8 inches long.)  I used my round nose pliers to create a loop on the end of the wire.  I will admit that I am terrible at making loops with wire, and I don't think I ever make loops the same way twice.  For that reason, I encourage you to find someone else's blog post on how to make wire loops.  Maybe you can learn the correct way the first time and won't struggle like I do.  Once I created the loop, I began creating a long, skinny wire rectangle by using my pliers to bend a 90 degree angle in the wire.

I measured 1/8" from my initial 90 degree angle and created another 90 degree angle in the opposite direction.  (See the picture above.)

I used my ruler to measure 1 1/2" and again used my pliers to create another 90 degree angle.

I used my pliers to bend the wire again 1/4" from the last bend.

I measured 1 1/2" inches again and bent the wire into one last 90 degree angle.  I wrapped the excess wire above the rectangle that I created.

While the plain wire rectangle would make a pretty pair of earrings, I decided to add beads to mine using 24 gauge wire.

I cut about five inches of the 24 gauge wire and twisted one end of it around the bottom of my wire rectangle.  I then threaded beads onto the wire.

After I finished beading the wire, I wrapped the end around the top of the rectangle and cut off the excess.  I then repeated all the steps above to create a second beaded wire rectangle.  The last step to creating my earrings was adding a lever back earring finding to each beaded wire rectangle.  I would have preferred to use earring hooks instead, but I don't have any gold ones in my craft stash.  (That or I've hidden them from myself, which is very likely.)

I think the finished earrings are unique and pretty.  I've been crushing on gold and white lately, so I'm loving the bead combo.

If I were to make the earrings again, I would practice my loop making skills a bit more.  (If you have an easy way to create wire loops, please share with me in the comments!)  I'd also shorten the distance between the wire loop and the top of the wire rectangles.  This was a learning process for me though, and I'm excited to make some more wire jewelry in the future. Related Posts:

 Simple Silver Earrings

 Simple DIY Earrings

Rhinestone & Chain Earrings

Marbled Polymer Clay Statement Ring

Hey, y'all!  As promised last week, today I'm sharing another polymer clay jewelry tutorial with you. Last week when I was playing with my clay, I ended up mixing some colors and creating a fun marbled clay that I used with some molds to create a pretty statement ring.  I'm calling it my Marbled Clay Statement Ring.

 To create your own ring, you'll need the following supplies:

• Polymer Clay (several different shades)
• Clay Mold (I used a Mod Melt Mold)
• Clay Knife
• Clay Glaze
• Paint Brush
• Super Glue or E6000
• Ring Blank
• Oven Safe Dish for Baking
• Oven

I have a huge pack of polymer clay that I bought a bajillion years ago.  Whenever the mood strikes, I pull it out to get my craft on.  To begin creating my ring, I selected a few different clays from the same color family.  I also pulled out my one of my Mod Melt molds.  Mold Melt molds are great for clay because they're rubber, and you can easily remove your clay from the mold without messing it up.

I used my clay knife to cut a bit of polymer clay from each block.  I cut the most clay from the emerald block and added little bits of the different colors on top of it.  I rolled all the clay up into a tube.

I then rolled the tube into a clay snake.

I cut the snake into a few different pieces and stuck them together.

I then held the clay perpendicular to my hand, smooshed it down flat and kneaded it until I got a pretty marbled consistency.  (Please note that this is not an exact science, and it's supposed to be fun, so mix your clay anyway you'd like.)

Once my clay was sufficiently marbled, I put the side with the prettiest marbling face down into my mold and smooshed the clay into the mold to make sure that it filled all parts of the mold.

I carefully removed the clay from the mold by peeling the mold away from the clay.  (If you try to dig the clay out of the mold, you'll mess it up.)  I had a little excess clay around the clay gem, so I cut it off with my clay knife and smoothed the edges of the clay with my finger.  Because I hate to waste clay, I used my excess clay (not pictured) to create a few more gems.  I then put them on a glass dish that I have designated my "polymer clay baking dish" and baked them in the oven according the clay package directions.

Once the clay gems were cooled, I used a paint brush to apply a couple of coats of Sculpey glaze to them to give them a little shine.  I had to let them dry for 24 hours after I applied the glaze.  The it was time to make some jewelry!

To make the statement ring, I simply used super glue to attach a ring blank to the back of my clay gem.  I let the glue dry for about a day.  (You could definitely use E6000 for this project, but that glue has so many warnings on it, I'm scared to use it much.)

Isn't my new statement ring fun?!

It's big and chunky and full of marbled goodness!  And guess what?  I even made myself a pair of matching earrings using the pearl-shaped gems, super glue, and earring posts.

Now do you want to play with polymer clay too?  Buy yourself some (or take out the clay that you haven't used in forever) and make yourself some pretty jewelry.  If you do, please share it with me via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  I'd love to see your creations! Related Posts:

 Pink & Gold Polymer Clay Earrings

 Faux Agate Clay Earrings

Mold Melt Rings

DIY Pink & Gold Polymer Clay Earrings

Hey, y'all!  I have been wanting to play with polymer clay again ever since I made my Faux Agate Polymer Clay Earrings.  Since I had a day off this week (well, actually two days because of bad weather), my wishes came true, and I made a few new pieces of polymer clay jewelry.  I want to share one of them with you today.  I made some new polymer clay earrings, and they're SO Pitter & Glink!  :)

To make these earrings, I used the following supplies:

• Polymer Clay: Neon Pink, Pearl Pink, and Gold
• Clay Circle Cutter
• Craft Knife
• Mod Podge
• Glitter
• Clay Glaze
• Jump Rings: 8 in total
• Earring Hooks
• Jewelry Pliers
• Baking Dish
• Oven

Begin by mixing some of the pink clays together to create a subtle marble look.  I mixed enough to create a quarter-sized ball.

Knead the clay and roll it flat.  (I used my craft knife as a rolling pin.)  Then use your circle cutter to, of course, cut a circle from the clay.

Repeat the process with the gold clay.  I put glass glitter in my clay, but I soon realized that was a bit unnecessary.  It worked best to carefully smoosh the glitter into the flattened clay.  You live and learn, right?

Once you have a pink and gold circle, cut each circle in half carefully with your craft knife.  Then use  something like a toothpick, paintbrush end, or small nail to put holes in each circle half as you see in the pic above.  You need to put an extra hole on the edge of each pink circle half as seen in the pic above as well.  Then bake your clay according to the package directions.

After I removed the clay from the oven and let it cool, I decided that my gold clay wasn't glittery enough.  I added more glitter using sparkle Mod Podge.

After the Mod Podge dried, I used a brush to apply glaze over all my clay pieces.

Once I let the glaze dry for 24 hours (yep, that's how long the instructions say to let it dry), I put my earrings together using my jewelry pliers, jump rings, and earrings hooks.

The earrings turned out cute!

I'm sure they're not for everyone because they are pink and glittery, but I like them.

If pink and glitter is not your style, you could always make a gold and white pair or any other combination your heart desires.  I can't wait to show you the other polymer clay jewelry I made, so stay tuned for more next week. Related Post:

Simple DIY Leopard Earrings

DIY Photo Pendant