Posts Tagged ‘recycling’

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 2 – Bottle Cap Baubles

Monday, November 14th, 2011

What *can’t* you make with a bottle cap? That seems to be what our design team wanted to find out.  Check out all of the fun and fabulous bottle cap jewelry, bottle cap home decor and bottle cap holiday accessories you can make! *

santa-bottle-cap-charm

Santa Claus charm bracelet - or wine bottle adornment! Or both!

how-to-make-bottle-cap-jewelry

Supplies for bottle cap necklaces.

Our bottle cap jewelry-making kit contains bottle caps, ball chain and clasps, jump rings, earring findings, the hole punch pliers, and  clear epoxy dots to cover the images. The only other thing you need is white craft glue, scissors or  a 1″ hole punch (highly recommended!), and paper or pictures to insert in the caps. (Many of these examples use images from Simply Swank’s Christmas collage sheet.) Plus embellishments of course. Lots and lots of embellishments!

Upgrade to rhinestone chain for loads of holiday sparkle.

bottle cap napkin rings

Add chain or ribbon to turn monogram bottle cap charms into napkin rings or place cards.

These thin silk ribbons are so pretty. They are even long enough to use as gift wrap – which then becomes a pendant necklace!

Silk cords - classy, reusable gift wrap?

Or, fill bottle caps with your favorite illustrations for lovely gifts.

Normally we advise people to use images that are in the public domain. However, when Sondra bought art from Corid on Etsy, Cori included several itty bitty images with the order. These images were too cute to go to waste, so Sondra them in some of her bottle cap creations. (The general rule is that if you purchase the artwork, it is yours to do what you wish with it for personal use – EXCEPT reproduce. So if you have an original, great, but don’t copy an artist’s work.)  Here’s another Corid image:

A charm bracelet can also be used to personalize a wine glass, or decorate a wine bottle. What a great double-duty hostess gift!

So there you have it! Bottle caps made into necklaces, charm bracelets, gift adornments, napkin rings, place settings, wine bottle markers and more!

One more idea: use family photos or kids artwork to make Christmas tree ornaments, for your own tree or as teacher gifts! Enough for today – stay tuned for day 3 of the DIY Christmas jewelry countdown tomorrow! ~ Cindy

* Recycling or upcycling is always a good thing. However, it is much, much easier to use new bottle caps for these designs since they don’t have rubber liners. Rubber liners keep your drinks sealed, but they get in the way of sealing an image in place.

Creative Community: Rings & Things at the Great Spokane Art Party 2011

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

The slogan for the 2011 Great Spokane Art Party “Eat, Drink and Be Artsy” was very fitting!  Saturday, May 7 was a fun-filled evening of delicious food, tasty wine and hands-on art.  This inspiring fundraiser benefits Blueprints for Learning, a non-profit organization working to increase the quality of early child care and education in our community and the Community Building Children’s Center.

At the event, several talented local artists mentor participants in creating collage magnets, handmade clay tiles, watercolor paintings, printed silk scarves, mono-prints, handmade paper, stick puppets, felt beads, jewelry and more.  Rings & Things has participated in the event since its inception.

At the sold-out event this year, we created nearly 180 individual pieces of jewelry!  The project was interchangeable magnetic jewelry using buttons made by Justin East. 

Russ and Dee donated the findings for the project, and various Rings & Things staffers and their friends worked the event. If you are interested in participating in this event next year, or in other community projects in the Spokane area, let us know!

Next on the calendar is the ‘Make It Art’ booth for kids at ArtFest. Also, please contact Russ if you’d like to help with recycling at ArtFest (June 3-5, 2011).  Every year he coordinates the recycling efforts at this and many other community events!

Local art perched on mountains of recycling!