Easy Peasy Tie Cuff Bracelet

I love easy jewelry making projects!  Today I'll show you how to make a cuff bracelet from a thrift store tie and an old button with little more than a glue gun.  Yep, that's right....no jewelry tools are required.  Here are a few that I've made:

You'll need a few supplies that you're likely to have in your crafting arsenal already:

- Glue; both hot glue and E6000®
- Small scrap of felt
- A button, piece of broken jewelry or some other embellishment of your choosing
- A cuff bracelet blank
- Several binder clips (AKA: alligator clips)
- And....a tie, silk or otherwise

Of course there is a video tutorial for this one that you'll want to watch for all the little tips and tricks.  But in a nutshell, here's how I made these bracelets:

1. Cut your tie so the it completely covers the front of your bracelet blank with enough extra to fold over the edges.  It is best if it does not completely cover the back.
2. Use a bit of hot glue along the edges on the back to tack your tie into place.
3. Cut a piece of felt big enough to cover all of the rough edges that you just hot glued into place but small enough that it's not visible from the front of the bracelet.  Use E-6000 to glue it into place.
4.  Use your binder clips to hold the felt in place while it dries.
5.  Glue your embellishment (with E-6000) into place on the front of the bracelet and clip it into place with another binder clip.
6.  Let everything dry for an hour and remove your clips.  And, viola! Your cuff tie bracelet is done!

DIY Paper Bead Stretch Bracelet

I'm officially sick of the rain.  It's bad enough that it's chased me back inside to work on jewelry rather than playing in the garden or with power tools.  But, rather than be blue, I thought I'd whip up a little video tutorial to show you how to make your very own stretchy paper bead bracelet.

There are no jewelry tools required for this bracelet and it's as easy to make as it is to wear! All you'll need is:

• Paper beads
• A few store bought beads or smaller paper beads if you prefer
• Stretch Magic beading cord
• A dab of Krazy Glue
• A pair of scissors 

Don't forget I have lots of paper bead making tutorials over on my YouTube channel.  So if you need some help making your paper beads, be sure to check out some of my other video tutorials.

What You SHOULD Be Upcycling: T-shirts

ELEVEN MILLION TONS OF CLOTHING END UP IN LANDFILLS EACH YEAR! Are you as mortified as I am?  And did you know that two billion T-shirts are sold annually around the world?  Ladies, I think it's time we let the men keep their T-shirts...no matter how many they own.  

There is an interesting history to the T-shirt and it turns out that my favorite movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz, plays a hefty hand in it. While the word T-shirt became an official American-English word when it made its debut in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1920, it was in 1939 when the first promotional T-shirt made its debut, for the Wizard of Oz.  Its popularity as a outer-wear garment, however, didn't catch on until Marlon Brando wore one in A Streetcar Named Desire in the 1950s.  And now....we're at 2 billion annually!

That 2 billion T-shirts translates to 800 billion gallons of water each year...just to grow the cotton required to make them.  JUST FOR T-SHIRTS, nevermind the jeans that you're going to wear with them!  As an avid thrifter, I can tell you that we waste so many resources on nonsense T-shirts.  Yes, I said nonsense!  Let me ask you, have ever had a large family reunion or company retreat and been given a T-shirt to wear for the day?  I see them all the time at the thrift store and they are not cute, not something that you'll ever wear again. 

T-shirts have quickly (and sadly) become disposable in our society.  So, I'm on a mission.  A mission to free the landfills of the world of the perfectly usable textiles that are smothering them.  And I'm going after the T-shirt (to start with)!  So raid your hubbies closet (or yours) or head out to the thrift store and snatch up some of those beauties and let's get started.

You've heard of T-shirt Yarn, right?  Well, if not, I've whipped up a little T-shirt Yarn Video Tutorial to show you how quick and easy it is to make.  And I've been hard at work developing new craft projects that will allow you to use T-shirt Yarn while never picking up a crochet hook or knitting needle. I just posted my first project and hope you'll check out my Finger Knit, Beaded T-shirt Yarn Bracelets.  

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel while you're there so you don't miss a single project.