First, grab some card board. Now it doesn't have to be fancy card board, just reasonably thick. You could even go to your pantry and rip up the box from the cookies you've been dying to polish off!
One side of your card you might want blank, (the inside if your using that cookie box!) Now if you've got card that's waxy on one side you'll want to use that side for this next bit.
Second, grab some little things like beads or small, I mean tiny, shells or semi-precious gems.
You may have some lying around from previous craft projects, if not, get creative, go into the garden and find some pebbles from the soil or even raid the kitchen drawer and ball up bits of foil, don't worry about the healthy grilled chicken you had planned for tonight, it'll wait!
Third, and now for the fun part! Get some glue like Aquadhere (this is only available in Australia, but any clear drying glue will work) something that will set clear, and squeeze a dollop on the side of card you want as the seen side of your brooch. The dollop should be the size and shape you want your brooch to be. Sprinkle randomly or arrange with painstaking precision the little things you found before so they are set in the glue. (It's really up to you!)
Fourth, waiting, and waiting and waiting. If you used Aquadhere you might have to wait a couple of days for the glue to dry, depending on the thickness of it, and the temperature of where you are. When the glue has set cut around the edge of the glue and there will be the main body of your brooch.
Fifth, use clear nail polish to varnish the back of the brooch. Alternately you could use the glue you used, but then you you will have more drying time, or you could even use, say, varnish! For those who reckon it's a good idea why not try egg white?!
Sixth, and the last bit really! Put a bit more glue on the back of the brooch and attach either a safety pin or a brooch back you can buy from most places that sell craft supplies. Depending on what you used in your brooch you may want to varnish the front as well.
For a fun addition to the process, colouring the card with pencils and metallic pens can be really quite eye catching.
Please, above all, enjoy!
By Banshee from Tasmania, Australia
You don't need expensive materials to make new jewelry. To make this beautiful brooch, I used a piece of old jeans, a piece of a plastic shampoo bottle, a few beads and crystals. It is easy and quick to make such a brooch.
Don't throw away your empty egg cartons. You can make beautiful roses out of them, then glue them onto an old pin. When painted, the cartons make a beautiful almost canvas-like material.
Origami is the art of paper folding. I made this brooch by folding denim from old jeans instead of paper. I used the origami scheme for folding a dove.
Don't throw away your old jeans. Fold a few denim circles, add beads and you will have this original brooch. I like very much the contrast between the raw edge of the denim and the pearlescent color of the beads.
You don't need expensive materials for craft projects. I used fish scales to make this brooch. Since I could not decide on the color, I made it multi-colored.
Never discard double-sided fabric scraps, even if they are very small. You can use them to make a great rose brooch.
This brooch is easier to make than it looks. Choose your favorite colors in felt and learn how to make this pin using the tutorial on this page. You may already have most of the supplies at home leftover from other projects.
Some scraps of ribbon, cloth, and embellishments are the main supplies needed to make this cute ballet dress brooch. It is sure to please!
Pretty leftover fabric can be upcycled into one of these pretty floral brooches. Just make a yoyo and add a decorative button in the center.
This is a page about how to make a recycled jewelry brooch. These recycled jewelry brooches are the perfect way to repurpose your broken necklaces, single earrings, or even jewelry that you just don't wear anymore.
