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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Awesome Gift Artisan Earrings

A couple of months ago my sister-in-law and I went to this great boutique where we found these beautiful colorful earrings!!  We were grabbing pairs and pairs when I started looking at them more closely, and you know me, I of course said "Hey, we can make these!"  And make them we did (after buying several pairs to wear until ours were finished!)  My sister-in-law and I painted 15 pairs in an hour and for less than $20 for all!!  They are going to be the perfect friend gifts, for not only her friends but also her teenage daughter's friends!!  At close to a $1 a piece, you really can't beat them!  The charms we bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off  About 1.50 for 4!  The earring hooks we also found at Hobby Lobby for a couple bucks.  Thanks to my beautiful sister-in-law for modeling!

On to the tutorial...

Supplies:
  • Foam sponges (at least 3)
  • Charms
  • Earring hooks (These are kidney shaped) 
  • Acrylic Paint -- Enamel is great, but any acrylic will work  Also if doing them all one color you can use spray paint too!
  • Black Acrylic Paint
  • A Mixing Glaze (I had the Valspar glaze ($15) on hand from furniture refinishes, but you can also find smaller versions at local craft stores) 
  • Polyacrylic to seal <Not pictured>
Step 1:  Paint acrylic paint over charm


 Step 2:  Apply second coat of acrylic paint -- Check the back of the charms, if paint has bubbled paint back side too!


 Step 3:  Let paint dry, if using enamel paint they looked great at this stage and really if you are using enamel paint you could leave them like this.


Step 4:  Mix equal parts of black acrylic paint and mixing glaze 

Step 5:  Using a foam brush glaze mix over charms


Step 6:  Using a damp paper towel carefully wipe off, wiping gently to not remove all of the black, wipe off glaze that may have puddled on back.


Step 7:  Let the glaze dry, grab your sealer or polycrylic


Step 7:  Brush polyacrylic over the tops


Step 8:  Let dry and put them on the earring hooks



Now for the step by step pictures of our 15 pairs, we made in an hour!


The pictures below are pictures of the charms glazed and unglazed!


All done and ready to be given!




Again more modeling pictures!


Not glazed (Butterflies)








I love them all!!  Do you have a favorite?   They were so inexpensive, they are light weight, original and beautiful!!  Thanks again to my beautiful sister in law for letting me take her picture with every color!

Thanks for visiting!!


A HUGE Thank you to Kari at UCreate for featuring!!

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27 comments:

  1. The Spencer'sDecember 13, 2011 at 10:22 AM

    Super cute. They look store bought. :)

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  2. AmyDecember 13, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    I love this idea! I am going to try it! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Little City FarmDecember 13, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Wow, they look great. And your sister-in-law is a gorgeous model!

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  4. Rachel // Maybe MatildaDecember 13, 2011 at 1:45 PM

    How beautiful! I love them! Great idea to do it yourself :-) These would make such perfect little stocking stuffers!

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  5. JennyDecember 13, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    Cool earrings! I love your SIL's haircut.

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  6. Down By the Bey'sDecember 13, 2011 at 3:09 PM

    Hey Brittany- I didn't know you had such a cool blog! Awesome!

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  7. Paulette, Jvona & RachelDecember 13, 2011 at 4:35 PM

    Just discovered you over at CSI. You've got some great ideas! I'm looking forward to perusing the older posts at my leisure. I'm a new follower. Check me out, if you have time over at:
    3sisters.pjr.blogspot.com
    -Paulette

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  8. UnknownDecember 14, 2011 at 5:06 AM

    These are super cute!! I am pinning these on my pinterest board. Kudos!

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  9. CarolDecember 14, 2011 at 7:20 AM

    Love these. Thanks so much.

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  10. anjaliDecember 14, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    there are surely beautiful…but how about the total expense on each earring?

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  11. BrittDecember 14, 2011 at 11:58 AM

    Thank you for all of your comments!! We loved how they turned out!

    Here is the cost break down: First the charms I bought for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. At 50% off they are super cheap about $.75 - 1.25/pair. The earring hooks were cheap too running about $3 for 30 hooks. The paint, glaze, and polycrylic I already had on hand, so for me it was free. If you have to buy them the acrylic paint is anywhere from .50 - 2.00 a bottle, depending on where and when (on sale) you buy it. The large bottle of glaze I used was $15 at Lowes, however you can buy much smaller versions of glaze or mediums at your local craft stores for about $3. The polycrylic I bought at Lowes or Home Depot, you can use any type of sealer, polycrylic versions are better than polyurethane because they don't yellow your paint. There are also semi-gloss sealers available at craft stores for anywhere from $3- 7 dollars. So to summarize for the if you don't have the supplies on hand already you definitely will want to make more than one pair to spread out your total out of pocket costs.

    Charms 15 pairs = $11.75
    Hooks 15 pairs = $3.00
    Paint (2 bottles) = $3.00 (on hand free)
    Glaze = $3.00 (on hand free)
    Sealer = $3.00 (on hand free)
    Total = $23.75 -14.75

    $1.58 - $.98 a pair

    ReplyDelete
  12. MeganDecember 14, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    just wanted to let you know this post lit up pinterest! i pinned it and then saw about 125 other people pinned it, and that was just in the first two days! get ready for some serious traffic to your site! love these earings btw1!!

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  13. Alyssa - Live. Love. Craft.December 15, 2011 at 7:42 PM

    Super cute! Love your blog! thanks for the comment also! if you'd ever like to guest post, i'd love to have you!

    ~A

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  14. scozad1December 16, 2011 at 8:30 AM

    Those are great looking! I sure am interested in more pics of that great looking hair cut--can you post more pics of that?

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  15. kymommy77December 16, 2011 at 4:14 PM

    Hi! Just wanted to say how much I love these. My daughter and I made some last night to give her friends for Christmas and they were a huge hit. Thanks!!

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  16. AnneDecember 16, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    This might be a dumb question, but I've never made earrings before so I thought I'd ask. What's involved with attaching that second kind of earring hook you used (I have some of the kidney-shaped ones but to me they're not very user friendly and would rather use the other kind that appear in your pics at the end)? Is it just a matter of opening up one end with a pair of pliers? I made a pair of earrings tonight with some stuff I had on hand so I wanted to figure out how to attach the other kind of hooks so I could wear them. :o)

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  17. BrittDecember 16, 2011 at 9:17 PM

    Yes, all you need is a pair of needle nose pliers to open and close the loop at the bottom of the earring hook. SUPER EASY!!

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  18. BrittDecember 16, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    kymommy77 I am so happy to hear that you made them!! I would love to see some pictures!!

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  19. AnonymousDecember 17, 2011 at 7:42 AM

    Awesome project! I just wanted to let you know that I featured it yesterday on "You Sew Rock Me Fridays" at my blog Sew Rockin'. Here's the link: http://www.sewrockin.com/2011/12/16/you-sew-rock-me-fridays-9.

    I can't wait to see what else you come up with!

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  20. Christa @ BrownSugarToastDecember 17, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    Super cute!!! I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for those charms!!!

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  21. Rachel@oneprettything.comDecember 28, 2011 at 1:19 PM

    Oh wow, those are gorgeous! I love the glaze and can't wait to make these. I would also love to link to your tutorial if you didn't mind!

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  22. BrittDecember 28, 2011 at 9:12 PM

    Rachel, sounds great, thanks!

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  23. ReginaJanuary 11, 2012 at 5:52 PM

    Great idea! I love all the colors~ :)

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  24. Jessica @ A Zest of JessJanuary 12, 2012 at 8:55 AM

    This is a fantastic idea! I'm so glad you put the whole tutorial up, and I LOVE the way you left some brightly colored. I'll probably never pay $8 a pair again! :)

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  25. HaleyApril 2, 2012 at 9:28 PM

    Okay, earrings are way cute, but I need your sis-in-law's hair cut. For reals. I need more pictures.

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  26. ReviJuly 13, 2012 at 10:33 AM

    Clever! Love our earrings, don't we?
    -Revi

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  27. Muhammad AtifAugust 10, 2012 at 11:51 PM

    I really love unique gifts idea.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments!!! Your comments are the absolute best part of blogging!