Tool Time Tuesday...Hardware Store Jewelry

Are you singing Aretha's song right now?
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Do you know you can buy stylish jewelry from the hardware store? Well, check out the chain section.
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This first necklace is made with beaded chain at $1.49 per foot. I purchased 3 feet for a total of $4.47 plus 19 cents for that little doo hickey that you pinch the beads in to attach them together. The decorative parts are some of the washers from this post. The washers are decorative and handy if you're sewing with them. You can also hang a pair of little scissors when you're hand sewing.

Close-up of the washers.

This next set is a necklace and bracelet. The black chain is only 54 cents a foot and I purchased 3 feet for a total of $1.62. I just used pliers to open the links, measured it so it went over my head without closures and then linked it up again. I had enough for the bracelet too. I even have some for earrings, but I need to find the wires from an old pair of earrings for that.

This last one is a super belt!! I used 4 feet of chain (it's actually called "sash" chain...I think they are finding us out again. Maybe I need to wear a mustache and a disguise when shopping in Home Depot!!) This was 84 cents a foot and the belt took 4 feet for a total of $3.36. The rectangle is a slide pull key ring I used for the closure. Nothing to do for this one...just slip it on and hook it up.

Here's a little "keeping it real" picture...dog fur next to the chain that's hanging down. Why do yellow labs shed in the middle of the winter. I can make another dog with the hair that she loses. We bought stock in lint rollers!!

I want to thank Kelsie for taking most of the pictures of me. Here is an example of the one I took of myself in a mirror. Looks like I was drinking!!

Here's a close-up of the key chain closure.

That's all for now...so go on out there and shop in the chain section of your local hardware store. People will never know where you purchased it and more importantly they'll never know how much you paid.

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I've linked this post to CSI's Hardware Store Challenge
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Have a great Tuesday...oops Wednesday (better late than never)

~Karen~

Tool Time Tuesday...Hardware Store Jewelry

You read that correctly...Hard "Wear". You will be wearing something from a hardware store after this Tool Time. I know what you're thinking right now..."this girl has a screw loose". Hey, screw loose, that's a TTT joke!!
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Monday morning I ran to Home Depot before I went to work to pick up a piece of sheet metal that was going to be this week's TTT. However, Home Depot didn't have the same piece that I saw at Lowe's, so I had nothing to take a picture of for this week's Tool Time idea. Hmmm, what do I have at home in my box of goodies. I'll do my conduit pipe idea. So off I went to find the bracket I needed.
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Well, look what I found instead of the brackets...conduit locknuts (what ever the heck that is), but it looks cute to me. We have conduit pipe in our basement. It's that pipe they run electrical wires through and it attaches to an outlet box. These must be a locknut for that, but it looks like jewelry to me...WOO HOO!!! A whole new world in the hardware store for you and me. I didn't have time to explore other possibilities, because I had to go to work, but my mind was ticking all day.


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You will need a bag of these. They are only 73 cents for 20 of them!!! I'm telling you, we need to keep this on the hush hush. If the hardware store big wigs find out what we do with their cheap stuff, they're going to raise the prices for sure.
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Then I ran over to the aisle where they have all the little bags of screws, washers and nuts and I found these. They are lock washers that are split. See the little picture of it...the 2 ends meet, but aren't attached so they separate easily. All the little bags of things are only 98 cents.

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They separate easily with these two...one for each hand when you open up the little ring and when you close it.

Figure out your design. I was doing mine at 10:00 am Monday morning when I had to leave at 11:00 for work. If I had more time, I would have experimented with colorful beads.

First, you need to open up a little ring, slip on a big one and another little one. Close that one up with the pliers. Open up the third little ring and slip it into the last little ring and add a big ring. Close it up and continue on.

The first step will look like this. Two little rings are attached to the big ones with a little one in the middle.

Keep going until it is your desired size. I used 6 big rings and 18 little rings. I didn't use any jewelry closures, I just squeezed my hand through and it fit fine. You can add a clasp if needed, I just didn't have any on hand. There is a black shadow on the rings in this picture, but it isn't there in person. They are really shiny.

And here it is...isn't it pretty?!!! What's it made out of...who knows. The bag of little rings says stainless, but I'm not sure what the big rings are made of. Will it tarnish, will it turn your wrist green, how long will it last. Not sure of anything, I just made this up this morning. It's definitely a Tool Time experiment, but so cute. Not to mention cheap. I figured the big rings are 4 cents a piece and the little ones are 8 cents a piece. So for $1.68 it not bad.

If you were a fly on my wall this morning, you would have cracked up. I was all dressed in my work uniform ready to go to work. I wanted a better picture of the bracelet...not just sitting there on the table. So I undressed and put on an outfit just to show it off. I changed my top twice so the color would look good in the picture. I know...screw loose! Not to mention, I hate taking a picture of myself in the mirror, so I took a bunch...was my butt sticking out, why does my hand look like a man's hand in certain pictures, how did I get the cat's tail in this picture. I had to suck in my stomach, hold my breath, try to snap the picture with one hand, while making sure the camera strap wasn't in the picture!! Oh well, all in the name of blogging, right?!

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Have a wonderful Tuesday,

~Karen~
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ps...I just thought of another idea for this...wouldn't it make a really cute belt? Just need to think of a closure for it. Back to the hardware store.

Tool Time Tuesday...Sewing Necklace With Nuts and Bolts

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I'm nuts and you'd better bolt to the hardware store for these!!

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These little beauties are called eye bolts. They range in price from 83 cents to $1.49...or free if you steal them from your husband or boyfriend!! Did I say steal, I mean borrow. If you do borrow theirs, wash them first! These are steel, zinc plated. That little fact is not important, it's just there were some chrome ones that were more money, don't buy those.

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The eye bolts come in different lengths and different widths. For example, the first one on the left is 1/4" x 4" the middle is 3/16" x 2 1/2" and the one on the right is 1/4" x 2". They all come with one nut (no, not me) on the bottom.

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Here is a picture with the nut removed.
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This little doodad is called a fastener...I think. Bring this picture with you to the hardware store and tell them you want this thingamabob.


The loop slides off the metal stick with a spring like tension...nothing to unscrew. Why do you need all these things, well......

Tah dah! They all hold thread. Big deal you say, well look a little further.

They can hold three to four different colored bobbins if you're appliqueing different fabrics in one project.

or they can hold one little one too.

one long spool....

one long spool plus a bobbin.

But the cute part comes when you add an old sterling silver necklace!!! You are going to be the talk of the town. No seriously, the town will talk about you if they see you wearing this in public. This is for home use or at your guild. If you are a daring trend setter, well have at it.

Sorry for the dreaded self portrait in the mirror, but everyone was in school so I had to take the picture myself.

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Isn't cute. You can sew til your heart's content without searching down the couch cushion for your thread or have it rolling across the floor as it falls off your lap when you stand up.

You won't find it in the Tiffany's catalog, but if we all band together, maybe one day we can go out in public wearing one of these.

If you tie one end of a ribbon to the eye bolt and the other end of the ribbon to your favorite little scissors, you have another great necklace.

I had to remove the ribbon from my shirt it was fighting for attention with the necklace ribbon. Don't forget to match the ribbon to your outfit!

So, ladies there you have the second edition of Tool Time Tuesdays. Go forth and conquer your fear of the hardware store. Walk in there with your heads high and say..."I would like a 4" eye bolt to make a necklace for my thread" If you say it with confidence, they won't give it a second thought. If your voice waivers even a little, they'll call security!!! Just to be on the safe side, take a copy of this last picture with you and blame this crazy idea on me!

Here are a couple tips:

• bring your bobbin and spool of thread with you to make sure it fits over the bolt.
• every once in a while as you're sewing, tighten the nut on the bottom of the bolt.
• or even better, have the thread come off the spool in the same direction as the nut is being tightened so it won't unscrew.

Have a great Tuesday and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

~Karen~