Create Something New With Your Broken & Old Jewelry….Part 1 – Rings

The other day I was at Goodwill and saw a big bag of jewelry priced at $5.99. You couldn’t really tell what all was in there and I figured most of the items would be broken or mismatched but I was thinking there were things in there I could use for making wine charms.

You know, I was at a different thrift store a couple of months ago and saw a big bag of jewelry that I THOUGHT was marked $7.50 (I didn’t have my glasses on). I told the salesperson that I wanted it, she rang up all my purchases and when she told me the total, I was a bit shocked that my total was so high. As I handed her my credit card, I started my mental math and asked why the cost was so much. As we went over the prices, I realized the bag of jewelry was marked $75 not $7.50…..HUGE difference! I apologized and said I didn’t want the bag for that price…..and was surprised when she told me jewelry wasn’t returnable and since she had already rung it up, it was now mine. Ok, I know that the thrift stores have a policy of not being able to return jewelry but I was still at the check-out, I hadn’t signed my receipt and nothing had been bagged. It was obvious I hadn’t pulled anything out since it was still taped up….and I had mentioned at least 10 times while we were at the jewelry counter that I thought $7.50 was a great price. After a 30 minute debate WITH the store manager and several clerks, they finally decided they would take it off my total….I haven’t been back. So $5.99 at Goodwill was a good deal. And just a reminder that jewelry is not something you can return at most thrift stores.

One woman’s old jewelry is another woman’s new treasure!

I was so excited I could hardly wait to get home and explore my bag of goodies! It took me a couple of hours to untangle and pair up the matching jewelry and I was thrilled to find out there were some great pieces in there that I would personally use as is and lots of fun stuff I could use to create something new. (Which then led me to my own broken jewelry to rethink what I could do with it.)

Here’s what I dumped out.

Here’s the matching pairs of earrings I discovered in my bag. There were actually 20 pairs. I like 14 of the 20 and will wear them. The others I’ll take apart and use for something else, or donate them back to the store. A lot of them are simply tarnished and will look great once cleaned. So I figured that even if the only things in the bag were the 14 pairs of earrings I was keeping, they cost me about 43 cents each!

Here’s 5 necklaces I found and will keep as they are and wear.

 

Two more necklaces I’m keeping and necklace pendants I can slip on any of my own chains.

So I had mainly bought this bag for possibly making wine charms…..and found 17 charms already made. I will most likely take these apart and make up some new ones, but with some cleaning, these would work as they are. *You should always clean your wine charms after using! Even though your mouth isn’t touching them, your hands most likely are!

Here’s a couple of bracelets that were also in the bag. I’m going to take these apart and change them up. (Which will be in a later post).

A few more pieces in the bag that weren’t  broken but items I won’t use….I do know some little girls who will like some of these though.

Our cats are always interested in checking out what I bring home! I know Harpo is just waiting for me to turn my head so he can bap a couple of things to the floor.

 

From mismatched earring to ring!

I found so many earrings that I loved but they were missing their mate. And to be quite honest, I don’t know if I would wear some of these pieces as actual earrings even if they did have the matching piece. But I liked them. And that’s when I got my “aha” moment. I got in the car, drove to Michael’s, picked up a few items and then really started having fun.

I thought these lone earrings would make fun “statement” rings!

I bought these silver-plated rings for $2.99 (at Michaels) but they have all different types of ring bases, including more expensive metals. (I was experimenting so bought the least expensive ones).

All I’m doing is clipping the back off the earring.

I actually picked up the wrong glue for metal materials so for this experiment, I simply used Elmers Glue!

So this is just an example of taking an earring you can’t find the mate to but still love and turning it into something else you can wear and enjoy. I have worn both of these and each time, someone has told me they love it. I am going back to Michaels and picking up more ring bases and using ALL of my single earrings I’ve held on to (thinking I might find its mate-which hasn’t happened in years!), and making new rings. I should have a “new” ring to wear for any occasion or event for years to come! I bet you have an earring you’re still holding on to even though you don’t know where the matching one is.