Fun and Easy Jewelry Crafts for Tweens

Nothing says "summer" like a bunch of kids screaming about being bored! If you're going as crazy as I am this year (I have three adolescent boys climbing the walls here in Texas!), you need some ideas!

Make Paperclip Jewelry

For this project you will need:

Colored paperclips and colored safety pins
Jewelry findings such as chains and ear wires

To begin, dump a bag of plastic coated colored paperclips and painted safety pins (available at the craft store and stationary store) into a couple of saucers on your table. Give each girl a neck chain and pair of ear wires (also from your craft store).

The girls can chain two or three clips or pins of varying colors together, then hang them through the chain or the ear wires. This makes truly colorful and fun jewelry and is currently all the rage with the tween set - necklaces made like this are selling for over $10 in Claire's, while earrings are selling for about $8! Your girls can make these for themselves for pennies each.

Sculpey Beads

Purchase five or six colors of Sculpey polymer clay at the craft store. Let each girl create beads by rolling the clay into balls, cylinders, or ovals, or pressing into cubes, squares or other shapes. Gently push a toothpick through each bead and bake according to the package directions. After the beads are cooled, string them on embroidery floss.

A fun technique for making Sculpey beads is to marble the clay by rolling out "snakes" of two to four different colors, then twisting and pulling until the colors are all swirly looking. Then pinch off small amounts and create the beads. These marbled beads can be alternated with solid color beads using the same colors of Sculpey as are in the marbled beads.

Papier Mache Bangles

This is a messy one. You'll need to create papier mache medium using flour and water. Kids love messy crafts!

Materials:

Papier mache medium, created by mixing flour and water until it forms a runny goo.
Cardboard rings that will fit over the hand
Torn strips of newspaper, or colored tissue paper
Acrylic paints (for newspaper)
Polyurethane glaze

Simply cover the cardboard rings with the torn strips of newspaper or tissue which has been soaked in the papier mache medium. Make sure the edges end up rounded so that the bracelet will be comfortable. Use acrylic paints to cover the newsprint, or to add little decorative motifs to the tissue. After the bracelet is dry, brush it with polyurethane glaze to give it a nice shine.

Every one of these crafts was tested many years ago by my now college aged daughter and I. We had lots of fun making our own jewelry, and you will, too!