The Life of Jennifer Dawn: Sand Dollar Jewelry Tutorial

Monday, June 20, 2011

Sand Dollar Jewelry Tutorial

 
Look at what we found at the beach while we were on vacation...

Are you wondering what Lydia Grace is doing?  
She was helping her Mimi and I to paint a hardener/whitener on the sand dollars to make them less fragile.  My mom wanted to use hers for a home decor idea.  I wanted to use mine to make some
jewelry.  Here's how...

I raided the jewelry making aisle at the craft store and stocked up on some $0.99 supplies (pearls, hooks, clasps, chains...).  I also bought some acrylic paint in metallic gold to paint a few of the sand dollars.

The painted sand dollars were used for necklaces.

I strung larger pearls to make the necklace for myself and smaller pearls to make the necklace for Lydia Grace.  I also used a smaller sand dollar for hers.   
(Tip: Instead of using pre-made jewelry loops to attach the sand dollars onto the necklaces, I made my own loops with pliable gold wire.  Trying to fish the pre-made loops onto the sand dollars only causes them to chip and break because the pre-made loops are way too tight to feed through the holes on the sand dollars.  Trust me...I learned this from experience.)
 Gold toggle clasps finished each necklace off.

I also made bracelets.

For these, I assembled gold chains, jewelry loops, and pendants together.  Lydia Grace's is a bit simpler, but both have a sand dollar attached to them with a pliable gold wire loop.

Happy Crafting!
lifeof

11 comments:

  1. These are sooo sweet! Love that you used real sand dollars for your pendants.. My daughter loved them.. especially the pearl necklaces.. Thanks so much for sharing with the Pink Hippo Party.. can't wait to see what you share next week!

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  2. sand dollars are my favorite thing to find at the beach! Very pretty!

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  3. those are so pretty. I really like the combination of the gold sand dollar on the strand of pearls.

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  4. SO pretty! I love the elegant beacy look. Just poppin in from Sew Chatty :)

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  5. Really pretty! I've been wanting to do this to a sharks tooth.

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  6. What a great idea! with 5 girls all summer (the two boys play with each other and dont like hanging with us girls lol) this would be an awesome idea! our beach has so many of them!!!

    denise


    Following you from the wednesday blog hop! :) Hope you can check me out :)
    Mommy2Nanny3Doggy1.blogspot.com

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  7. I want to make this.

    I am just reminding everyone about tonights link party that runs Friday evening through Mondays!
    I also have an ongoing give away link party now too.
    Hope to see you soon.
    http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/
    come strut your stuff

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  8. New follower here. This painted sand dollar is beautiful. Must vacation somewhere with sand dollars!
    Stop by www.cookieandclaire.blogspot.com if you have time I look forward to seeing all the great stuff you share!

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  9. What a fun way to use your beach find souvenirs! I posted a link to this on my blog's Facebook Fan Page:)

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  10. Hi Jennifer,

    I noticed you used Pure Gold mettalic spray. Have you ever seen pewter spray? I have collected sanddollars since I was a teen and I once saw someone with a pewter sanddollar hanging on her key chain. She mentioned her grand father made it for her. I have looked and looked and never found one. I own a sterling silver sand dollar that hangs on my key chain but as time goes by in bends and falls or simply slips off the key chain. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it.

    Thx!
    Julie

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  11. Where did you find the whitner and hardner

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