As much as I love sewing, sometimes I get the urge to do something a little different. I’ve been planning some of my DIY Christmas gifts this year and I thought it would be really fun to make some pretty jewelry for friends and family.
Flower cabochons have always had sort of a vintage feel to me and I find them to be really beautiful. You can buy them from many different sources online (here are a ton sold on Etsy) and they are really reasonably priced. Basically they are just molded resin and are really lightweight and easy to work with when crafting. You can attach them to just about anything, but this year I decided to make rings, earrings and hair pins.
If you get these going in assembly line style, you will have plenty of jewelry in no time!
DIY Cabochon Jewelry
by Lindsay Wilkes from The Cottage Mama
Supplies:
Flower cabochons (found here)
Blank bobby pins, rings or earrings
E6000 or other industrial strength glue
Instructions:
Gather up all of your supplies for this project.
Gather up all of your supplies for this project.
Like I said above, you can purchase some really gorgeous cabochons via Etsy.com. I ordered all different shapes and sizes so I would have a wide variety of different styles and colors.
As far as the blanks go for bobby pins, rings or earrings, I purchased the earrings and bobby pins online and found the rings at our local Joann super-store. You will have more of a selection if you order online, but you should be able to find all of these at your local craft store. Our lovely blog sponsor, Crafter’s Vision carries some different blanks as well.
I bought adjustable rings because I’m not sure of everyone’s ring size. Just make sure the blank portion of the ring is smaller than your cabochon (or at least the same size). The square rings (that came in this variety pack) didn’t really work for this project since the blank was too big.
E6000 is a great glue to have in your stash of craft supplies. It’s super strong and dries clear. You can find this at your local craft supply store. If for some reason you can’t find this, then just look for another industrial strength glue. Jewelry gets a lot of wear and tear, so you don’t want it falling apart.
So this project is really simple. Take a dab of glue and place it onto the blank jewelry, then press your cabochon on top. Leave them upside down to dry for at least 24 hours.
For the smaller pieces, like the earrings, I just put a dab of glue on some paper and dipped the top of the blank part of the earrings and pressed them to the cabochons.
These make great gifts for girlfriends, teenage girls and teachers.
Package these pretties up and you are good to go!
Lindsay Wilkes is the owner and designer behind The Cottage Mama. She creates timeless, vintage inspired sewing patterns for children’s clothes. She is also a fabric designer for Riley Black Designers / Penny Rose Fabrics, author of the book ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls’ and can be seen teaching nationwide and online in her video series ‘Lessons with Lindsay’ sponsored by Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery machines.
Thanks Lindsay! What a great idea….can’t wait to try this.
Jennifer Collier
I love cabachon jewelry, they are so pretty – yet so incredibly easy to whip up in under 2 minutes, and make a great gift. Lovely photos!
I just found you and love your stuff! 2 questions: What size cabochon did you use for your earrings? Did you glue a few roses together for the rings? If so, what sizes are those roses?
What a lovely collection you’ve made! :o)
Cute wee pressies :o)
This is such a great idea!
So cool! I love stuff like that! I bought some already made from a great etsy shop a couple years ago but i think it would be really fun to make some myself!
Just lovely Lindsay! What a great gift idea.
such a nice and simple gift idea! Love it.
Your photos look good enough to eat!
I absolutely love the little bobby pins. I’ve seen these all over Etsy at one time or another and never thought of making them myself. Yours turned out lovely.
Lindsay, I love these. What a terrific gift assembly line! 🙂
What a fun and easy gift to make with my girls to give to friends!