The Big-Ass Book of Bling

THE VINYL COUNTDOWN

My dad can sew better than I can, and though I don’t like to toot my own horn, that’s saying A LOT! He decided one day that, to make extra money for our family, he would start doing upholstery along with his other business, which at the time was fixing cars. I owe a lot of my creativity and fearlessness—along with my ability to make really unfunny jokes—to my dad. For me, the best part of my dad’s upholstery work was the scraps of vinyl I got to use in my crafty projects! Making vinyl flowers was my favorite, and the projects in this chapter remind me of much simpler times in my life.

EVERLASTING FLOWER CUFF

Every time I see a flower on someone’s wrist I think of old-fashioned wrist corsages. I recall seeing a box of corsages that someone had saved at a thrift store once, and each one had a handwritten tag on it with the occasion at which it was worn. I often think of a white-haired woman looking in that box and thinking back on her first date, her first dance, and the first time she fell in love. Hopefully this cuff will inspire similar memories someday!

YOU’LL NEED

diamond 2¹/2-inch flat metal cuff

diamond Lumiere metallic paint in a color that goes with your vinyl or leather (I used burgundy)

diamond ¹/2-inch wide paintbrush

diamond ¹/4 yard altogether of vinyl or leather, in two different colors

diamond Scissors

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond Fiskars pinking shears

diamond 1 yard of leather, suede, or faux suede lace in a color that goes with your vinyl or leather

diamond Hot glue gun and glue sticks

diamond Large pin

diamond 14 inches of 20-gauge wire

diamond Needle-nose pliers (and wirecutters if the pliers don’t have them)

diamond 7 pearl beads

HERE’S HOW

 1  Paint your metal cuff with Lumiere metallic paint and let dry.

 2  Using regular scissors, cut your flowers out of the leather or vinyl, using the patterns. You will need five of them: two large, two medium, and one small.

 3  Glue them together with E-6000.

 4  Using pinking shears, cut seven small circles out of the vinyl, about 1 to 1¹/2 inches in diameter.

 5  Roll your leather or suede lace into spiral disks (like a cinnamon bun) that fit inside the circles, then glue them down with the glue gun as shown below.

 6  Poke a hole in the center of each circle with a large pin.

 7  Cut off a 2-inch piece of wire and make a tiny loop on the end. Place a pearl on it and poke it through the top center of one of the spiral disks. Do this for each disk.

 8  On six of the spiral disks, bend the wire so it’s flat on the back of the disk.

 9  Poke a hole through the flower with the safety pin and then push the remaining, unbent pearl through, until the disk is nicely flush. Bend the wire in the back to keep it in place on the flower.

10 Glue the bottom layer of your flower to the cuff first using E-6000 and then dab hot glue around the edges to hold it in place while the E-6000 dries.

11 Glue three disks on each side of the cuff with E-6000 and let dry.

EVERLASTING FLOWER HEADBAND

I’ve often wondered why girls are the only ones who get to wear flowers in their hair. I mean, I love flowers and sometimes I wish I could wear them in my hair—in public, anyway! I’m pretty sure there were some long-haired hippies back in the ’60s pulling off a flower child look. How did we get so conservative?

YOU’LL NEED

diamond Plastic headband

diamond Hot glue gun and glue sticks

diamond 1 roll of cord in a color that goes with your vinyl or leather

diamond ¹/8 yard each of vinyl or leather, in two different colors

diamond Scissors

diamond Fiskars pinking shears

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond 5 inches of 20-gauge wire

diamond Needle-nose pliers (and wirecutters if the pliers don’t have them)

diamond 1 crystal bead

diamond Large pin

diamond 1 yard of leather, suede, or faux suede lace in a color that matches your vinyl or leather

HERE’S HOW

 1  Dab a tiny bit of hot glue on the inside tip of your headband (starting at either end) and begin wrapping cord around the band, adding dots of hot glue on the inside as you continue wrapping as shown below.

 2  Using regular scissors, cut your flowers using the patterns below. You will need six of them: two large, three medium, and one small.

 3  Using pinking shears, cut two two small circles—one from each of your colors of vinyl or leather—about 1 and 1¹/2 inches in diameter, respectively.

 4  Stack all of the pieces except for one medium flower, from the largest to the smallest, with the circles on top. Glue all the pieces together with E-6000.

 5  Cut off a 5-inch piece of wire, bend a small loop at the very end, and string on your crystal bead.

 6  Poke a hole through the center of all of the layers of your flower with a safety pin, and then push the wire with the crystal bead through it. Bend the wire in the back to keep everything in place and to secure all of the flower pieces together.

 7  Cut a piece of vinyl about 5 inches long and 2¹/2 inches wide. Fringe it with scissors.

 8  Cut several 5-inch-long strips out of your leather or suede lace.

 9  Sandwich the strips of lace in between the fringed piece and the flower, and glue together with E-6000 and hot glue. Dab the E-6000 on your pieces and then use dabs of hot glue to keep it in place while the E-6000 is drying.

10 Glue the remaining flower to the back of the ornament to make it nice and neat.

11 Glue the entire piece to the headband and let dry.

ARCHERY SHOE CLIPS

I love everything about archery: the huge targets, the bows, and especially the arrows, with the beautiful feathered tips. I love that at the turn of the century, women would compete in this sport wearing beautiful dresses and corsets. These shoe clips remind me of that era.

YOU’LL NEED

diamond Vinyl or leather in two different colors

diamond Scissors

diamond Circle stencils or several glasses of different sizes

diamond Fiskars pinking shears

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond Feathers that match your vinyl (I used feather duster feathers for the small clips and rooster feathers for the larger clips. www.createforless.com is a great source for feathers!)

diamond 2 clip-on earring blanks

diamond 2 flat-back acrylic gems for the centers of the clips

HERE’S HOW

FOR THE LARGE BLACK AND SILVER CLIPS

 1  Cut a square about 6 inches by 6 inches from both colors of your vinyl or leather. Trace four circles in various sizes on the back of the vinyl, keeping your alternating color palette in mind.

 2  Cut out the circles with pinking shears.

 3  Glue the three largest circles together using E-6000 and let dry.

 4  Glue feathers on the back of the smallest circle.

 5  Glue that on top of the three large circles.

 6  Top off with a gem and let dry.

 7  Turn the circles over and glue the clip-on earring blank to the back on the upper end of the circle. IMPORTANT! Do not put glue on the flat disk part of the earring! Glue on the scalloped part. The flat part has to rest comfortably against your foot.

 8  Repeat steps 1 through 7 for your second clip.

HERE’S HOW

FOR THE SMALLER CLIPS

 1  Cut two small circles in your vinyl and glue them together using E-6000.

 2  Glue the feather and clip-on earring blank on the upper part of the circle and let dry.

 3  Repeat steps 1 and 2 to make your second clip.

BLOOMING FUSION

Scraps of leather, vinyl, and chain make up this large-and-in-charge piece. Add more flowers, change the colors, use silver chain instead . . . shake it up! Make one that suits your personal style and enjoy knocking a simple outfit out of the park!

YOU’LL NEED

diamond Scraps of leather and vinyl in several different colors

diamond Scissors

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond Fiskars pinking shears

diamond Large pin

diamond 3 large pearls

diamond 3 flathead jewelry pins

diamond Needle-nose pliers (and wirecutters if the pliers don’t have them)

diamond 2 yards of several different sizes of gold-tone chain

diamond 10 gold-tone jump rings

diamond 2 metal end caps

HERE’S HOW

 1  Cut your flowers using the patterns below. You will need 17 flowers altogether—five large, five medium, and four small, all in different leathers and vinyls, so that when you assemble them they have variation. Leave out three of the medium flowers to cover the backs.

 2  Glue them together with E-6000.

 3  Using the pinking shears, cut three small circles. They should be about 1 inch in diameter.

 4  Poke a hole in the center of each one with a large pin.

 5  Put a pearl on a flathead jewelry pin and poke it through the hole from the front to the back of the flower. Bend the pin so that all the pieces are secured together.

 6  Glue a flower on the back of each of the flowers to give it a finished look.

 7  Create a three-strand necklace out of your long chain and connect the ends of the chains together with jump rings. Make sure the strands are long enough to fit over your head.

 8  To make your tassel, cut a piece of vinyl or leather 2 inches by 4 inches and fringe it with scissors. Glue it inside an end cap.

 9  Create chain tassels with five 4-inch pieces of chain on a jump ring.

10 Poke holes on opposite ends of each flower with a large pin and add jump rings. Link them to the chain.

11 Add your chain and leather tassels where you feel they look best.

BLOOMING WALLET

It’s like a corsage, but it has money in it. Seriously, wouldn’t you rather have a bouquet full of money?

YOU’LL NEED

diamond Vinyl or leather scraps

diamond Scissors

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond 24 inches of 18- to 20-gauge wire

diamond Needle-nose pliers (and wirecutters if the pliers don’t have them)

diamond 8 crystal or pearl beads

diamond 6 inches of leather, suede, or faux suede lace

diamond Hot glue gun and glue sticks

diamond Fiskars pinking shears

diamond Large pin

diamond 3 yards of twine to match one of your colors

diamond Clothespins

diamond Wallet

HERE’S HOW

 1  Using the patterns below, with regular scissors, cut out enough flower shapes from your vinyl or leather to create six flowers that have three to four layers of petals each.

 2  Glue the flowers together with E-6000 and let dry.

 3  Cut eight 3-inch pieces of wire. Bend small loops in each wire and attach a crystal or pearl bead to each wire.

 4  Roll your leather or suede lace into a spiral disk (like a cinnamon bun) and hot-glue the end of the disk down so that it holds together. Using pinking shears, cut small circles just a bit bigger than the disk.

 5  Mount the disk on the small pinked circle and then on the flat flowers. Poke a hole through the center with a large pin and push one of the wires with a bead through all of the layers and bend the wire to hold the flower together. Repeat this process for the rest of your flowers.

 6  Cut out eight to ten 8-inch pieces of twine and twist a piece of wire around the center to keep it together, creating a tassel.

 7  Glue the tassels and the flowers on the top of the wallet and let dry. Use clothespins to secure the flowers in place on the wallet while they dry.

 8  Glue a flower over the snap on the front with E-6000 and let dry.

RAIN FOREST

When I was growing up, my mother and I had an obsession with Cher. I loved her costumes and my mom loved her belly button. In 1985, right after I moved to NYC, I ran into Cher at a salon on the Upper East Side, and she was just lovely to me. My obsession continues, and I’ve designed this necklace in honor of her. It’s very Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves, with a little Half-Breed thrown in for good measure.

YOU’LL NEED

diamond 4 pieces of approximately 30-inch gold-tone chains in different sizes plus about 60 inches for the tassels

diamond Needle-nose pliers (and wirecutters if the pliers don’t have them)

diamond 2 medium gold-tone jump rings

diamond 1 large gold-tone lobster claw

diamond ¹/4 yard of vinyl or leather in any color you like

diamond Scissors

diamond 24 inches of 20-gauge wire

diamond Sewing machine with zigzag stitch

diamond Lumiere paint in Metallic Copper

diamond Paintbrush

diamond Krylon Metallic Gold spray paint

diamond ¹/2 yard of leather, suede, or faux suede lace (I used orange)

diamond ¹/2-inch-diameter flat-back acrylic gems (I used orange)

diamond Hot glue gun and glue sticks

diamond 15 large gold-tone jump rings (you can make your own by following the instructions in the Crystal Chain-link Necklaces project)

HERE’S HOW

 1  Cut four pieces of 30-inch-long chain and create a four-strand necklace by connecting them all together with a jump ring at each end and a lobster claw for the closure.

 2  Cut four feathers out of leather or vinyl using the pattern below.

 3  Cut your wire the length of each feather and then zigzag over the wire by placing the wire onto the center of the back of each feather. On the sewing machine, zigzag over it to keep the wire in place.

 4  Fringe the feather with scissors.

 5  Add shimmer to the feathers by painting on the Lumiere copper. Add as much or as little as you want.

 6  Dust the edges of each feather with the Krylon gold spray paint and let dry.

 7  Cut seven 6-inch pieces of leather or suede lace and roll them like a cinnamon bun to create leather disks. Secure the ends with hot glue.

 8  Hot-glue a gem on each leather disk.

 9  Bend the end of each feather to create a loop. Add a large jump ring on the loop and hang at different points along your multistrand necklace. You will have to experiment.

10 Slip a jump ring through your gem-covered leather disks and hang from different points along your necklace.

11 Cut the extra chain into 5-inch pieces and add them to a jump ring to create a tassel. Make two of these and attach them at different points along your necklace.

WHIRLY BROOCHES

Okay, after creating 150 projects for this book, I just didn’t know what else to name these. My brain is whirling around right now and Whirly Brooches was the only thing I could come up with. It happens.

YOU’LL NEED

diamond Leather or vinyl scraps in two matching colors

diamond Scissors

diamond E-6000 glue

diamond Clothespins

diamond Lumiere acrylic paints in pearl turquoise, green, and gold

diamond Small paintbrush

diamond Hot glue gun and glue sticks

diamond Pearls in different sizes

diamond Pin backs for as many brooches as you want to make

diamond 14 inches of leather, suede, or faux suede lace (for the Leafy Brooch)

diamond Toothpicks

HERE’S HOW

 1  For each brooch, cut 5 sets of circles (small, medium, and large) in different colors of vinyl or leather, starting at 3 inches in diameter and getting smaller.

 2  Cut to the center of each circle, overlapping about ¹/4 inch where you cut to create an almost flat cone shape. Secure with a dab of E-6000 and a clothespin until it dries.

 3  Paint the edges of each circle with the Lumiere paint and let dry.

 4  Glue sets of three circles together with E-6000 and let dry.

 5  Cut out an oval 4 inches by 3 inches from your vinyl or leather. Glue several flowers on with E-6000 and let dry.

 6  Glue a pearl in the center of each flower with E-6000.

 7  Glue a pin back to the brooch with E-6000 and let dry.

FOR THE LEAFY BROOCH

 1  Cut a set of four circles, the largest being 3¹/2 inches in diameter and getting smaller.

 2  Cut to the center of each circle, overlapping about ¹/4 inch where you cut to create a very flat cone shape. Secure with a dab of E-6000 glue and a clothespin until it dries.

 3  Paint the edges of each circle with turquoise and gold Lumiere paint.

 4  Create spiral disks by rolling up the leather or suede lace (like a cinnamon bun). Secure the edge with hot glue.