Washer Necklace



If I were to make a pie chart based on all of the time I have spent crafting in my lifetime, a giant chunk of that pie would be reserved for jewelry-making; however, small, metal pieces and beads plus an eight-month-old moving around and putting everything she grabs into her mouth makes for one VERY anxious madre! Needless to say, that pie piece keeps getting more and more narrow; however, every once in a while, I have a jewelry-making binge fest while my sweet pea naps. My most recent binge resulted in this washer necklace. I was inspired by a variety pack of washers I found at my local dollar store, so I got right to work on turning them into a super cute necklace using split rings and chain, bringing the total cost of the necklace to under $2.00.  Here are the steps I took to complete this sweet accessory:

The box of washers purchased for just $1. Whoop!!!

Materials:

-split rings

-chain cut into 9, 12-link pieces

-6 extra small washers

-6 small washers

-4 medium washers

-1 large washer

Instructions:

1. Cut chain into 9, 12-link pieces

2. Attach a split ring to the end of a piece of chain and a split ring and lobster clasp to another piece. These will form the necklace closure.

3. Attach one of the smallest washer to the opposite ends of each of the chains using a split ring and needle nosed pliers

4. Attach a split ring to the opposite side of the washers on each side of the necklace and connect to another piece of chain.

5. Continue this process with washers gradually increasing in size. At the end of the 7th and 8th pieces of chain, attach one split ring to each side and connect both rings to the largest washer.

6. Attach a split ring and the final piece of chain to the bottom of the largest washer.

7. Using split rings and washers of various size, attach them to the middle chain randomly.

And there ya have it, folks! Frugal and fab!!





Children's Magnetic Bedroom Message Board

Magnetic sign for my niece, Adrienne

This is a really cute and SUPER easy project to make yourself for a child’s room, or have your child make it! I found really nice rectangular and oval metal serving trays at Dollar Tree that I decided to use as the base of the room sign. Using about nine inches of ribbon, I used a hot glue gun to glue the ends of the ribbon about four inches apart on the back of the serving tray. I then cut a piece of felt to fit the back of the serving tray and glued it (to avoid leaving marks on the wall). While you could easily purchase magnetic letters, I happened to have a ton of foam letters leftover from a project I had completed ages ago, so I put magnetic pieces on the backs of those letters to use on the room sign, instead. The magnetic letters can be moved around to say whatever message the child wants to state.



For my niece Alison's room. Yes, I am aware there is an apostrophe missing. It bothers me, too! I ran out!



Ditto on the apostrophe thing

A rectangular serving tray was used for my nephew Derek's room sign



He's a bit of a Yankees fan!