DIY ::: Borrowing from the kids

With the neon trend happening right now, I’ve found the kids section of my go-to craft stores to be quite the score. Check out these sturdy plastic links – they came in a bag of 50 pieces and in an assortment of colors – white, black, pink, green, red, orange, yellow and turquoise.

I chose the black, orange, green and white links to create a variety of different summery arrangements as both necklaces and bracelets – so versatile and so easy! (They are disconnected on one end allowing you to easily snap them together to create an endless amount of chain link combinations – also making it easy to snap on to some gold chain I had on hand. I played around for hours!)

DIY ::: Put a bird on it

After a little DIY, a collection of pretty birds get put on display for the summer season.

The small pink birds are charms I found at Michaels that came as a pair. I bought them with the intention of creating charms for some sandals but I thought they needed more of a spotlight so earrings they became  – using super glue, I affixed gold earring posts to the back. The beauty of posts vs. dangly earrings is that posts can be used as brooches, too! And you can combine them for unexpected effects – I love the sweet shape they make when facing each other.

The parrot earrings were a gift I received in high school that I have probably not worn since then – but after a fresh coat of lime green paint, they are now a favorite summer piece (the original color was the yellow with pink and blue feathers).

DIY ::: Meet the Easy Belt

Meet the easiest and cheapest belt you’ll ever make. I found these amazing braided tiebacks (normally used for drapes) at Joann on sale for less than $4! I immediately saw their potential as belts.

The store had about 8-10 different colors but I chose what fits my wardrobe most – nautical stripe, gold and black. My initial instinct was to connect them with a gold clasp but I eventually found even easier and more versatile solutions that I have handy: brooches, ribbon + buttons, scarves…the possibilities are endless!

Here’s a sampling of what I’ve tried so far – the best part is that depending on your closure of choice, you can wear it around your waist (a la the brooch and short scarf option) or around your hips with more forgiving ties like ribbon or a longer scarf.

(Now I’m wondering if I can rig these into a necklace of some kind…)

Enjoy!