3-D Paper or Felt Earrings

One guy buys an expensive new car and another guy has to settle for a used one from the same lot. Some woman can choose any jewelry piece she wants, but you have to settle for costume jewelry. That's okay; at least your costume jewelry won't look cheap. You can make gorgeous earrings that, even though they cost very little, you'll be thrilled to wear. Using inexpensive things like paper and felt can help you become a fabulous earring designer.

Often, when we think of paper, we think of it being flat. But when you make earrings from flat things, like paper, felt, or foil, the finished jewelry item doesn't have to be flat. Make 3-D designs by the way you assemble flat items, and with the embellishments you use.

Draw any shape you want, from a heart, to a puppy, to a lighthouse, by using a stencil. Draw the tiny design onto one material, like paper, then draw a smaller one on felt, and an even smaller one on foil. When you stack the three different shapes you create a lovely design that can be embellished even further. On the top shape you can glue on a rhinestone, a button, or another tiny choice. Make your own combinations of things cut from paper, foil, wallpaper, shelf liner, cardboard, felt, doilies, lace, and similar materials.

Add more interest to the earrings just by the way you cut them. Start with a large design that was cut with pinking shears, add a shape that was cut with regular scissors, then another shape cut from scissors that leave a scalloped edge. Or, create your own combination.

Even without stencils you can make lots of 3-D earrings. Purchase cardstock shapes - like squares, circles, triangles, and similar types, and stack them. Card stock comes in a variety of colors and shapes so it's easy to create interesting designs just by the way you pair them. For example, glue a circle onto a triangle, and the triangle onto a square, and you'll have a cool geometrical design that's fun and colorful.

A piece of thin cardboard can help you make an elegant version of paper earrings. Cut a small square or circle as the earring design. Then, cover the front, back, and sides, with metallic paint. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper to be a bit smaller, all the way around, than the square or circle, and stick it to the wet paint, on the front. Since scrapbook paper comes in thousands of designs these earrings can show off your love for pets, your interest in nautical things, or even a funky, tie-dye design.

No matter what type of earrings you make, when you're finished cutting all the pieces, poke a hole in the largest shape, near the top. Open a jump ring, slide it through the hole, then clamp it shut on the hole of the wire earring hardware. Make a slightly different version by hanging one shape from the wire hardware, then using jump rings to hang on another, and another. A long design like that is very elegant yet easy to make.

Make lots of different types and wear them with everything. They can be made in a jiffy using even things you might already have, like a folded foil piece, printer paper images, envelopes, or even shapes cut from greeting cards.