Boho Bobby Pin Earrings Tutorial

I look for inspiration daily and I also am constantly looking to use things I already have to create with. It is especially fun for me to make something out of something it was never intended to be, like Bobby Pins for earrings. Recently, while collecting lovely images on Pinterest, I came across an image of adorable, simple earrings using bobby pins and fingernail polish, etc.... View my inspiration here, at: The Metric Child

And, these are mine. They are fun and easy to make!

My 16 year-old daughter loves them and they are beautiful in her long brown hair. I'll show you how I made them!

You will need

• 12 bobby pins 
• french hook earring wires 
• craft wire (I used a plastic coated wire, but any would work) 
• assortment of embroidery floss 
• assortment of fingernail polish 
• scissors 
• needle nose jewelry pliers 
• jewelry wire snipper 
• piece of card stock (I used an index card and folded it) 

Place bobby pins on  two folded 4"x 6" index cards in half. Pin bobby pins to card as shown.

Begin painting stripes with various polish colors.

Let dry and watch out that you don't get a giant drip, I mean half a bottle on your desk top! Yes, it wrecked the paint! :)

My earrings have a little bead on them so I painted it too.(one blue and one purple)  I found that the top of the polish bottle was a perfect place to balance them to dry.

I also ended up painting the wrap-around coils with a gold-ish brown polish.

Make a loop with your wire, about 2'' in diameter, wrapping the ends around twice to secure it.

Turn it upside down and form a small loop. Wrap ends around a couple of times and snip close to knot, making sure sharp edge is not exposed.

One of the bottles of nail polish was the perfect size to re-shape the loop and get it nice and uniform.

With your jewelry pliers, carefully bend loop open far enough to slip the wire on and gently bend it back to close.

Let fingernail polish dry completely.

I happened to have this sweet creature, Janie to provide company and comic relief. You can read more about her here!

After the polish has dried, thread the bobby pins on to the wire. Divide them in the middle and separate.

Take three different strands of embroidery floss, hold them together and loop the group through, as shown. (slip knot)

At this point, I found it easier to stick the earring wire in this little box of food coloring that I happened to have on my desk,to hold it in place while I braided the strands of embroidery floss. You could tape the wire to something too. Do another set of three different colors next to this one. You will end up with four little braids. Tie a knot, leaving an inch or so hanging down. After knotting, gently pull the strands apart a bit to give them a frayed look.

Finally, separate one strand of an accent color and tie it in a secure knot. Cut at a length to match the braided strands.

Ta Da!!! So colorful and so easy!!! For more creative projects visit my Tutorials page.

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