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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Upcycled Drinking Straw Jewelry: Tiny Leaves Of Green

Today, a fun tutorial for you.  Please to peep these itty bitty earrings, which are just an inch long:




Cute, no?  Here's a yellow pair.


The flowers are pressed glass; the stems are your basic seed beads.  Now for the cool upcycled bit: those darling tiny leaves.  Yep, you may have already guessed.


A green plastic straw from the Starbucks!  Just the latest in my series of ideas for upcycling these dastardly iced drink cups - which have an unfortunate tendency to collect in my car, my trash and my life.  (Click here to check out some of the other projects.)

So here's the DIY.

Cut a thin slice of straw.  Smash it flat and poke a hole in the middle.  Hey presto!  The double-leaf shape forms automatically!



On a long headpin, thread a pretty bead for the flower.  Then intersperse the leaves with seed beads, like so:


Cinch everything up tight, and create a wrapped loop at the top.  First make a complete circle of wire:


Then use flat pliers (called chain-nose pliers) to make a couple of wire wraps beneath the loop.



Snip off the excess wire.  If there's a sharp bit poking out, carefully tuck it in with the chain-nose pliers.


That's your flower stem done!  If you have two ears, make a second one.  Then just add earwires, and that's all she wrote.




I sure hope you liked this one.  I have a couple more drinking straw ideas, hope to share them in a bit.  Later, dearies!

6 comments:

  1. Oh Queen of Recycling, let me take a sip aka bow :D

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  2. These are très fierce. Michelle you are our trashion fashionista. OOOH this would also be really cool with purple straws, like wisteria blossoms (my fave flower and color). My mom got me a disc cutter (I haven't tried it out yet because I am waiting for the bottles to be empty) so I can make the beads like the ones on the necklace (the green ones made from plastic soda bottles) I gave you but out of thicker plastics like shampoo bottles and they come in such pretty colors. I can't wait to see what else you come up with!

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    1. Wisteria blossoms, omg, that is brilliant! Must find a purple straw and try it! Wow, your mom is so on the right wavelength with that one...or did you give her a hint? I want to see what you make - damn it, empty those products into mason jars and start disc cutting!

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  3. I LOVE this one! Only you see the potential in an ordinary green straw. Brilliant!!!

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  4. Oh my.. Only you can think this smart way! very cute idea and a fun recycling.. you can also try making other accessories with these.. even some kids crafts too.. Well done Mich :) Thanks for sharing!

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  5. You are so creative. You take repurposing to another level!! The landfills will see you coming and they will fear you!

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