estate jewelry

Shandee's NDAD Creation

Shandee is a girl after my own heart. We share a love of vintage jewelry so when I saw what she made with her grandmother's earrings, I swooned!! For those costume jewelry fans, I think you're going to swoon too!  See what Miss S made...

My remake isn't clothing, but jewelry! I LOVE true vintage items, even though a lot of them are not wearable. When my grandma passed away last year, I was left with tons of awesome costume jewelry. Most of it being gorgeously gaudy earrings that I would never wear as such. I didn't want to toss it all out, and didn't want it to sit forlornly in a drawer, so I decided to convert them into items I WOULD wear.

I bought a bunch of cheap adjustable rings on eBay (here's a bunch on Amazon!), snapped the posts & clips off the back of the earrings, did whatever tinkering was necessary to get the ring base to fit flush against the piece of bling. For some I filled the hollow inside with epoxy, others I cut circles of old gift cards to make the back surface flat.

New Dress A Day - Vintage DIY Rings - Old Earrings

I then used good sturdy craft glue - I've found E6000 is the BEST for quick-setting and durability - to affix the ring to the bling. And what do I end up with? A ton of cute, vintage cocktail rings!

New Dress A Day - Vintage DIY Rings - Old Earrings

I also used one of the earrings to make a matching fascinator, by gluing feathers to a clip.

New Dress A Day - Vintage DIY Rings - Old Earrings

Shandee, you're fabulous!! I think I'd have fun playing with all of your vintage baubles. Turning earrings into rings and fascinators is such a great idea to make use of your grandma's fabulous stash of jewelry in a way that you will want to wear it! I swear by E6000 too and just love the results. Can't wait to see what else you make!