THREE DIY Necklaces: 100% upcycled

Three DIY necklaces--including one that is a "modifiable" or "interchangeable" bib--and you guessed right, 100% recycled, upcycled, and thrifted materials!

It was so nice to wedge in a bit of crafting time yesterday, amidst the chaos of child rearing, full time college, and homemaking. After a full day of work, tidying up, cooking a pot roast dinner and taking care of every single pet in the house (from turtles to guinea pigs there are EIGHT total!), I had a tiny slice of "me" time!

The inspiration started on Pinterest (sounds familiar, right? I mean, who ISN'T cracking out on Pinterest lately? Follow my board here.) I was looking at DIY jewelry and found lots of ideas and inspiration which turned into new ideas and...well...three DIY necklaces!

I think my favorite is the pearl necklace shown above, but all of them turned out so cute!

The mess in the kitchen started with: A glue gun, scissors, scraps of fabric, and tons of recycled jewelry bits that I had been hoarding.

ALL of the jewelry I used was thrifted and recycled. Some parts were broken or missing pieces, others just repurposed.

I knew I wanted a big statement, "bib" type approach for the flat collar style strand I bought at Hope's Outlet in Grand Haven, MI the other day for .49.

That very same day I bought a baby food jar filled with different size faux pearl beads for .99. Craft time!

Also shown above is a cute elephant brooch I saved (broken) and two matching earrings whose posts had long since broken off. I decided a clever idea would be to actually make a bib style cut out that could simply slide on/off my necklace base (one point for a Chantal, not Pinterest!). I'll be creating new pieces to wear with this strand that is interchangeable! I used hot glue to decorate the fabric I used for the main piece--it is actually white vinyl with felt backing, just like tablecloth material! Flexible and light. You could easily sew the beads on and be much fancier, more patient, and smarter.

The scarf necklace was a TOTAL Pinterest scavenge! See the inspiration I pinned HERE. I used decorations from upcycled vintage earrings and a special Catholic patron saint medal that belonged to my grandmother. I affixed them to the "danglies" on an old gold necklace I no longer wear. Simply tied this thing together. Too easy--it only took 5 minutes to make.

I'm looking forward to doing more of these for my "Project Gift" AND I think I'll be giving one of my creations away to blog readers! YAY!

I love the twisted bead style necklaces I see around so I figured these .99 thrifted yellow plastic beads and a .49 chain (both from Hope's Outlet in G.H.) would do well to be tied and twisted together. I actually sewed the clusters to keep their shape. Then I fixed each end to the leftover strands of the necklace I took apart for the scarf based project above. Now each side clasps together on a normal chain. Easy peasy!

So there you have it! Three completely recycled, totally fabulous DIY necklace approaches. I will try to work at least two of these into outfit posts very soon. How much fun it is to repurpose old jewelry and sad little lost parts.

Go forth, and make new!