Handmade Necklaces

A wise woman (Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous) once said, ‘You can never have enough hats, gloves and shoes.’

The same could be said for rings, earrings and necklaces.

It’s the latter that has been my recent obsession--I can sit down with a head full of ideas and my boxes of recycled and gifted beads and end up with something nice and new to wear around my neck!

Here are a few of my recent creations:

 Hunters Necklace

I made the base of this necklace with a combination of cord and chain (including an old chain bracelet).

The whole inspiration comes from the vintage stag button, which was given to me. Whilst I don’t condone hunting for sport, the theme became ‘hunting in the times of old’, meaning when hunting for food was practically a necessity.

 Heritage Necklace

This is another necklace inspired by something given to me! In this instance the inspiration came from the old coins, which came into my possession with the holes already in them. The oldest (and largest) coin is from 1881!

 Black Beads & Button Necklace

The button is the inspiration for this necklace. I wanted a simpler necklace that would allow the button to become a feature, rather than one charm amidst many.

To avoid making the necklace too plain, I included small orangey beads (from a broken necklace) on the strand of smaller black beads.

 Beads & Bow Necklace

I made this one using ribbon from a chocolate box, a gifted button, and a selection of beads. The inspiration was the colour of the larger beads, which came off a broken necklace.

*A tutorial for how to make this necklace is now up!

 ‘Cameo Collage’ Necklace Knockoff

This necklace was made following a tutorial on Flamingo Toes (one of my favourite crafty places to visit!) It’s a knockoff of a necklace by Anthropologie, which is itself gorgeous, but far beyond my price range.

For this necklace I used a heap of charms that had been accumulating in my supplies! These charms came from my Nanny, an uncle, my mum, stuff from my childhood, old necklaces, random charms bought in Glastonbury and even a couple of cheap card-making charms! I’d been saving them up for something special and when I saw the tutorial on Flamingo Toes, I knew I’d found that something!

Check out the Cameo Collage necklace knockoff tutorial on Flamingo Toes here.

Valentine's Recap

With Valentine’s Day mere hours away, here’s a recap of this year’s Valentine-related posts on Unfortunately Oh!

These ‘hanging hearts’ are a cheap, quick way to finish off Valentine’s décor. All seven of these could easily be made inside a day with time to spare.

Tutorials:

Fabric heart with charm

Scented hanging heart

Beaded heart

Recycled soft drinks can heart

‘Heartcatcher’

Engraved wooden heart

Messy wire hanging heart

This button badge heart picture is a remake of a fantastic picture selling online at £175. The original 'Button Badge Heart Picture' by Brigitte Herod costs far more than I can afford, so I made my own--and explained the process in this handy how-to.

Another heart for hanging on display was this heart-shaped wreath, made using wire, a florist’s decoration, and some ruffled trim. Again, this was posted on Unfortunately Oh!: Ruffled Heart Wreath Tutorial

To all the jewellery lovers out there, this Key To Your Heart necklace tutorial is for you!

And of course, where would we all be without a little shopping?  In ‘Valentine’s Décor’ I looked at what’s on offer at three stylish online shops. Pictured above: Heart bowl and nibble dish set, £33 (includes a bowl, 3 dip dishes & spoons plus a tray) and Gingham heart tea cosy, £30 (various colours).

Whether you're attached or single, I hope you all have a fabulous valentine's day! 

Don't Panic: Last-Minute Gifts You Can Make

T'was the night before Christmas,

And all through the house...

Panic set in! You haven't a present for Aunty Nora!

It's not quite the night before Christmas yet, but with a week until the big day, a fair few of us could be engaging panic mode: forgotten presents, relatives difficult to buy for…this time of year can become a nightmare! 

Unfortunately Oh! brings you some suggestions for handmade gifts and stocking fillers that can be whipped up in anything between half an hour and a day.

Bright as a Button!

Whilst rooting through my Mum’s button box, I happened upon some gorgeous vintage buttons that belonged to my great grandmother, and started to wonder, how long have we been using these buttons anyway? And what could I do with them?

A Brief History
Buttons have been used for millennia. Archaeologists have found buttons dating back to the Bronze Age--that's more than 3,000 years ago!
Yet buttons weren't going to be used as fastenings until much later. People of the Bronze Age used them purely for decoration, and made them from of all kinds of material such as wood, bone and metal.

By the age of the Romans and Greeks, the button was still used for decoration, but eventually they began using them as fastenings by putting them through loops of thread.
Buttons were brought to Europe by the 13th Century, and it's believed that the traditional button hole originated from Germany.

As with any new gimmick, buttons became extremely popular by the mid-14th Century and as time went on, historical figures such as Henry VIII and Louis XIV were known to wear ensembles absolutely bedecked with buttons.

Famously, metal buttons were said to have been added to the cuffs soldiers' uniforms during the time of Napoleon to stop soldiers wiping their noses on the sleeves!

In 1860's London, Pearly Kings and Queens emerged--people wearing costumes covered in tens of thousands pearly buttons. Obviously these were a great tourist attraction, and occasionally these characters can be still be seen.

The world has since seen novelty buttons in all shapes and sizes. Buttons began to be produced in plastic and hence became less special, but there are still thousands of avid collectors out there!

Sources & More Info:
The History of the Button
Wikipedia


Things to do...
So what can you do with buttons, anyway?
Once you step away from the idea of the simple fastening, there’s a great number of ideas for customisation or other projects that utilise buttons.

Here’s a few inspiring links:
www.buttonjewellery.co.uk has many pre-made items that you can buy if you’re not so keen on making your own!

Button necklace tutorials:
[1] [2] [3]
*If you have a lot of buttons you could also make a stacked button necklace by threading them together as you would beads.

Button bracelet tutorials:
[1] [2] [3]

Other ideas
Embellishment for shoes
Woven Button Coaster
Button Pillow
Button-decorated purse 

In Customising Cool Clothes, Kate Haxell suggests using buttons to embellish a waistcoat, pockets and turn-ups. Likewise you could use buttons on collars, bag straps, headbands, hats, cuffs and hems!

...and for a bit of fun:
Ginormous Button Pillow@Instructables

Left & Right: Button necklaces made by a volunteer at Sussex-based charity Humanity at Heart.
Centre top: Plastic button & chain necklace
Centre bottom: Button detail on pocket