Guest blogger: Swell Designer!

J’adore Junk Earrings
with Guest Blogger Alexa Westerfield

Hey y’all! It’s Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner from the Swell Life guest blogging today!! Valentine’s is right around the corner and I wanted to get a head start on my crafting, so I made some funky and chunky earrings for the occasion!! If you have visited my blog in the past couple of weeks, you may have seen my Make a Modern Statement Ring. Well, I took that same technique and made these bold earrings! The cool thing about them is that they really can be made with jewelry junk and left over trinkets and supplies!! And I’m kinda addicted. I love making these little collages and spray painting them!!! What can I say? I have fallen in love with spray paint all over again! Anyway, here are the instructions, I hope you LOVE making these fun earrings as much as I did.

J’adore Junk Earrings

Supplies
– Capiz shells w/ drilled holes (I purchased mine at Michaels)
– Plastic pearly hearts (also purchased at Michaels)
– random jewelry findings, jump rings, spacers, rhinestones, etc.
– Liquid Fusion glue
– toothpick
– red glossy spray paint
– clear spray sealer
– 2 ear wires
– round nose pliers
– paper plate
– newspaper or cardboard surface
– tweezers
– camera phone or digital camera

Instructions
1. On a flat surface lay out your wooden disk and various findings. Play around with shapes and combinations until desired collage look is achieved. At this point, I took a picture so that I could go back to this arrangement later.
2. Lay out your various findings and disk onto cardboard, laying flat.

3. Prepare area outside or in well ventilated area for spray painting. Following spray paint directions, apply several coats, letting dry in between each application. Make sure to also flip and paint other side as well. Don’t overspray…this may cause puddling on your surfaces.
4. Review your composition on your camera and start reconstructing your arrangement. I applied a little dab of glue to the backs of each finding and placed it onto my wood blank. Depending on how picky you are, you may want to use a toothpick to apply Liquid Fusion or arrange your findings using tweezers. Let dry thoroughly.

5. At this point, I actually sprayed another coat or two of spray all over the piece. I then coated it with a shiny spray sealer.

6. Open and close jump rings with pliers and add to capiz shells. Open and hook ear wires to each jump ring and close.

7. Yay! You now have a really cool pair of earrings not just for Valentine’s, but something to wear year round! Every pair is totally different and unique!

Thanks Kathy for letting me share my project on your blog and for inspiring all of us crafty folks on a daily basis!!!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. “Swelldesigner” is a graphic designer at iLoveToCreate by day and a swell, crafty lady by night. She loves being creative in all ways, from photography and jewelrymaking, to trendspotting and blogging. Connect with her on her Swell Life blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy 🙂