Making Necklaces from Hardware

I am not having a lot of luck moving my pictures around today, so these are not in the order I would like for them to be in.

I'll have to wait until Scott comes home to help me straighten out my problems. I like to have text between the pictures so I can exlain things better, but Blogger isn't going to let me do that right now.

I got this idea from the blog of Shelly Katzung, Accentuate 'N Ink. She posted a tutorial on how to make necklaces from washers, like you would find at Lowe's. Some of her washers have scrapbook paper on them and look very cute. She traced around the paper and cut it out so it was the size of the washer and she glued it on. Then she covered the top of it with Glossy Accents so it would protect the paper and have some shine.

Shelly also had a tutorial on covering washers with ranger Inks. You just dab it on and let it dry. That is what I used to make my necklace.

The top photo is what the washers look like at lowe's, if you'd like to try this on your own. Shelly used clips she found at Joanns to attach the washer to the necklace. I went to Joanns and bought the only four clips I saw, and I think they add a great professionally finished look to the piece. I included a picture on the clip in its packaging so you know what to look for.

The bottom photo is my finished necklace. I used a red color, maybe Plum. I have only a few colors and could only play around with what I had onhand.I also used some silver additive, which seemed to help intensify the color and attch it to the washer. Next time I try this, I'll be wearing gloves as my ranger ink skills are messy and my hands were dyed after this project. The silver circular item I added to the encklace is a donut from Stamping Bella. She has a line of plastic pieces called Donuts and Dots. But, you could wire wrap a small bead or pearl or crystal if you'd like.

Scott will not be so happy when he sees me going through his tool cabinets looking for items to color! Now I can color coordinate screws and nails if I want!