Rachel Robin's Nest

Well what do you know?  Rachel is at it again!  Making things she found on Pinterest.  Yaaay!  Seriously, my pinboards are so full, I’ve got to start making some of this stuff or my head is going to explode.  I intended to have this post ready to go before the holidays, but unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

These babies are quite pretty.  I first saw them on Pinterest months ago, pinned them, and promptly forgot about them because I got distracted pinning another 8 gajillion cute, fun ideas.  Then, a week or two before Christmas I found another website with 25 homemade gifts for under $5, and wouldn’t you know it, there they were again.  It was like a sign from the cosmos that I should make some for Christmas gifts.  So I did.  And I’ll share them with you today, although you should definitely check out the original tutorial as well, because I think hers are a lot prettier!

How to Make Paperclip Earrings

Materials:

• Embroidery floss
• 2 paper clips (size is up to you)
• Earring hooks
• Scissors
• Glue gun
• Elmer’s glue

Directions:

1. Unbend the paper clip at all the corners and shape into an isosceles triangle (2 long , equal sides and one short side)
2. Fasten the edges together with a tiny bit of hot glue.  The less you use the better.  I know it’s kinda tricky, and you can see on mine that you end up with a fat area.  As far as I can see, there’s not really a way around this.  If you find one, please let me know!
3. Cut a long piece of embroidery floss (approx 2 arm lengths) and wrap embroidery floss tightly around the entire surface of the paper clip, securing with small dabs of Elmer’s glue.  I placed tiny dots, then dabbed them flat with my finger so that the glue would dry very thin and clear
4. Once all of the metal is covered, start wrapping the embroidery floss around the paperclip however you want-make a messy web, a spider-y web, go dream catcher style, or wrap the whole thing.  It’s really up to you.  Just make sure that you secure the floss by going around the edge, and use some Elmer’s once in a while to keep it all together.  The tighter the better!
5. Once you have a pleasing design, secure earring hooks and you’re good to go!

These green ones are for my best girlfriend Mandy, and I made some purple ones for my friend Lauren.

Aren’t they pretty?  And making one pair only took about an hour, so they’re not too time consuming.  Give it a try and I bet you’ll be surprised at how nicely they come out!