Necklace Refashion-Leopard

          I have had this necklace staring at me for 4 months just wanting to be refashioned.  I won it in a Bunco game back in September.  I love these kinds of necklaces, but I am not a pink girl.  I don't know what it is, but pink has always been kind of a struggle for me, so I knew immediately that I wanted to refashion it.

        For this project, you need:

1. Necklace to refashion
2. Acrylic paint- Whatever colors work for you
3. Mod Podge
4. Tissue paper
5. Paint brushes
6. (I ended up not needing the Xacto knife, but I thought I would need it for the sharp point edge on the sides of the beads with the tissue paper, but my fingers worked just fine.)

The first step was to pick a base color that could create a texture.

 This brown acrylic paint was becoming very goopy inside, but that was perfect as I wanted to add some texture to these beads.  I took an old paint brush and stippled/pounded the brown paint onto all of the bright pink beads.

 

As you can see here, the brown didn't cover the pink, but that is perfectly fine as I was going to be putting on a thicker, richer color over top. 

Here you see that I used a dark maroon color over top of the brown..... now this was more of the color that I was wanting over the hot pink.

I went through and painted both sides of the hot pink beads (using the stipple/pounding "technique"), first with the brown, then with the maroon paint, letting the top dry first before turning it over to do the back side.

So here we are with the hot pink beads completely covered and painted maroon.  I was really happy with the color and texture, but they were more matte and I wanted them to be more glossy so that they looked like real beads and not like they were painted.....

 So out comes the trusty Mod Podge.

 Take the Mod Podge and simply just coat each of the painted beads.  

 When that is all coated, let it dry.  It will dry clear, but it will create a glossy finish to give the beads a "real" look instead of a painted look.

 Here you can see that the left ones went clear while the right ones were still drying.

Next step- Tissue Paper!  Now, if you remember this post, I am repeating the same technique with the same tissue paper..... but this is a smaller surface and may be a bit more tedious.

 This stuff is seriously so easy to work with. 

 Paint the surface

 rip a piece of tissue paper and stick it on it

 paint over the tissue paper and press down as you move along to make it as smooth as possible.

 I did find that while working on the tissue paper, it really worked great to drape the necklace over 2 bottles of paint to get it up off of the surface so that it didn't stick.

After doing both sides of all 7 beads, the necklace is done!

 I really do think that with the layers and the Mod Podge, it really will hold up as long as you don't take something sharp to it ;-)

 Before and After

It was nice before, but it became ME after

Here it is on!

So what jewelry pieces aren't quite right for you?  Do you have an awesome piece that could just use a little creativity?  This is a piece that I can totally see myself wearing often as a great statement piece.  I do love my large necklaces!

Red/Copper belt redo

Back last year, I bought this pink belt for about $5 from Charming Charlie.  

I loved the shape & texture, but the color was a bit soft & light for me.  I decided to get my paint on with it.

I painted the elastic band with fabric paint & a sponge while pounding the paint in as deep as I could, doing my best to get it as even as I could.  After painting the band with Brick fabric paint, I then took My Angelus Brick leather paint to the vinyl (after rubbing it with Acetone).  After that dried, I took my cotton rag with so e water & rubbed the whole vinyl down with Copper leather paint in order to give it a metallic iridescent sheen to it & to enhance the texture.  Painted the buckle rid with Gold nail polish & let it all dry.

The color & look are gorgeous!  Now that I have worn it a few times, I think I will paint the whole thing with Pod Modge to help seal it as the buckle has been digging in on the sides & ruining the belt. I think the Mod Podge would help protect it like it did in my Tissue Paper shoe post.

Here is the outfit I put together with the belt.  This is one of those outfits that I put together for the first time and felt AMAZING in!  My favorite shoes & skirt combined with a ruffled front button up shirt with a gold metallic cardigan & my painted belt.  I loved the whole outfit & how I felt in it and the belt was a great color for the combo.  Expand your vision & possibilities & see what you can come up with!

Leather Cuff Refashion

I bought this great leather cuff off of the Yard Sale page back last year for a $1.  

It had super shiny rhinestones & silver studs that I didn't care for, so I painted them with gold & brown acrylic paint.  The rhinestones still weren't working for me, so I took a skinny brown leather belt from a pair of my maternity pants & cut it up to cover up the rhinestones.

I figured the sizes I needed & just literally hot glued them all into place.

Just to let you know, I did use brown metal paint for the hardware & it has been chipping off through time, so fingernail polish would probably be a better option.

I had left over braided belt, so I wrapped it around a plastic ring that a scarf I purchased was hanging on, 

And created a bangle bracelet OR, I actually made it with a different intention in mind that I will cover in a different post ;-).  So from this free belt taken from some pants, I was able to create 2 different accessories that are unique & of course one-of-a-kind which is what I always aim for ;-). 

Look for another post in the near future that will show multiple pictures of what the braided ring was actually made for.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! 

Photo Shoot Necklace

     Who here loves FREE stuff?  I definitely do, and I am sure there isn't a soul out there who doesn't.  I was offered this fabulous necklace for free by a friend.  She had ordered this and they sent her the wrong one.  

     She had originally ordered a brown one and they sent her black, but they were letting her keep the black.  Knowing that I love to refashion and try new things, she sent me the black one.  Now..... I am fully aware that people are sitting there saying "that is gorgeous as is, why would you even touch that?"  Here is why.... I don't wear black!  If you want to learn why I don't wear black, click here or the link in the side bar.

     So, I pulled out my paints and got to work.  I first painted over the black sections very carefully with a brown metal acrylic paint.  I then very lightly painted the peacock blue color over the brown as to not get the blue in the creases.  

     Then, if you refer back to this post, I did the same technique on the whole necklace as I did the shoes.  Small dab of brown metal paint, a drop of water and a cotton rag.  I rubbed the blue sections as well as all of the gold so that it wouldn't be so shiny.....voila.  I now have my very own one-of-a-kind necklace that I love wearing and feel good in.

    You can see here in this picture that I chose to wear it and pair it with a chunky chain necklace over it to give it the substance I was going for.  I sure do love layering accessories and making things very unique to me and for them to suit me better.  The black and gold would have been gorgeous, but it isn't something that I would have felt comfortable wearing and that suited me.  By painting it the way I did, it has now become one of my favorite pieces that looks great with so many of my clothes.  What do you have in your closet that just isn't quite right on you?  Ever thought of how you can switch it up to work for you?  It is one of my favorite things to do to see how I can make something work better for myself.  I challenge you to try it if you haven't.