Flowers.Buttons,Rhinestones...HORRAY!!

So my next project is very easy, very fast, and very affordable.  First of all I would like to say I am a closet craft store shopper.  When I have had a hard day at work I do one of three things....

1) drink 

2) eat

3) walk around thrift and craft stores

So as you can see the third option is the healthiest and most fun, so I often spend 12-20 minutes browsing a store on my way home.  While I was browsing last week I stumbled upon a cute pair of buttons and thought wow I really wish these were earrings.  I made one ring in my high school art class about 13 years ago, so I have very little experience with jewelry.  I bought the buttons for a little under 2 dollars and held on to them.  This weekend there was a packet of rhinestones that were in Hobby Lobby's clearance section so I bought them as well.  The only thing I was missing was earring studs and backs, which are conveniently cheap too!

 

So basically I took...

*a packet of earring studs/backs

*a packet of rhinestones/pearls  

*a pair of buttons
*a file....which is not the best option(you will read this later)

*E6000 glue

 Once you have supplies the rest is really easy.  All you have to do is open packets, find pairs, glue to earring studs and wait 24 hours! 

The white flowers above were a little harder because they are the buttons that I had found.  Luckily these buttons were plastic and my husband has a lot of tools...haha!  First I cut the loop off the back with a scissors as close to the smooth back as I could and then I got a heavy duty file and shaved the rest of the backs down, this took a LONG time.  The day after I had finally filed down the backs I found a 5 dollar button back cutter at Jo-Ann Fabrics OF COURSE!  So i think that it would be well worth the investment if you want to make buttons with loop back into earrings!

Here are my earrings when all done...nothing special, but very easy!

 

My first project

Here is my first "shared" project.  I am making these as gifts for my little cousins so girls if you are reading this... NO PEEKING!

 

I kind of stumbled upon these two very cool looking metal serving trays at my local thrift store.  They have some really fine details on them that make them vintage looking.  I tested them out to make sure the magnets would stick to them well and they did.  So for a whopping $1.50 per tray I couldn't say no!

After finding such interesting trays the rest all seemed to just come together so well.  I went to some craft stores and browsed the shelves for anything that stuck out to me, this is where the FLOWERS, FEATHERS, AND BUTTONS seemed to just draw me in!  I decided on a color pallet for each tray and just started filling my shopping basket.

When I got home I put out all of my finds on the table and just started piecing together one magnet at a time.  I also bought some small notepads that matched the theme for the boards, this way I could glue on a magnet to the back right away.  It was important for me to lay out all the magnets before using any glue...mostly because I am very indecisive, but also that way I could make sure that all the boards shared some similar characteristics.

After piecing together all the magnets I started to glue them together hot glue and/or E-6000 depending on what type or material I was using.  I also had to sew a few of the pieces together, but if you do not sew you could just look for flowers that are pre-made from a craft store.  Hobby Lobby has some very reasonable pre-made flowers in their scrapbook and craft sections.  Some of the magnets that I made were not very even or had a lot of different materials all meeting up in the back so I just glued on some felt to smooth out the surface and made the back look a little prettier before I glued them to the magnets. 

 

 * One thing to note is to make sure to get strong enough magnets that they will be able to hold up all your beautiful creations AND a note or picture too.  I also attached multiple picture frame hangers to the back so I could hang the boards on the wall without the fear of them falling off due to their weight.

After about 24 hours the glue dries and you have a new and completely unique magnet board