The other day, after making my luggage tag tutorial, I was showing my daughter, Jamie, how the eyelet pliers worked to squish the eyelets. I pressed one, not attached to anything, and let it drop to the desk. Then I sat there and stared at it, for something like 30 seconds. She thought I was off my rocker. Guess I’d never seen a squished eyelet that wasn’t stuck in something. It looked pretty cool and I decided I had to make something out of it. (This is how my brain works.)
So with a pile of vintage enameled eyelets, (or grommets…same thing?,) I sifted through for the pretty blue ones, pressed a bunch and linked them together with jump-rings. I connected the ends with a lobster clasp and made a bracelet, finishing it off with a little scissors charm.
Eyelet/grommets are sold in most every craft and fabric store. I found my pack of 300 in a sewing supplies pile at an antique store for $3.50
Ok, maybe not the craftiest of crafts, but seriously, I’d never thought outside the box with these little buggers before. Gosh, you could mix up the colors, weave them into a mesh using jump rings, connect to make flowers, add beads strung between the hole…there’s so many ways to go! I think this would also make a great kid craft project!
I can’t decide which side of the eyelets I like best, the smooth or the peeled.
If buying supplies for this project for kids, be sure to get soft metal jump-rings for easy opening & closing for little hands.
cute idea. I love the color of the eyelets you found. lucky girl, you.
Great idea! Isn’t it exciting when something completely different than the norm just jumps out at you?
Verrrrry creative! Way to think outside the box!! Love it!
Those are beautiful! I love how your mind works. 🙂
Once again, so creative I can’t stand it. I’d never have thought of that and I have a TON of eyelets.
Wow I will never look at eyelets the same way again! 🙂
Pretty! Whodathunk?
Very cute. Kind of like chainmaille with eyelets.
Very cool idea, I think it makes a neat looking necklace 🙂
The best ideas usually come from “accidents”. Very cute bracelet!
Very clever…it does look like chainmaille.
That is so how my brain works, too. Maybe explains the boxes and piles of stuff I keep because I just KNOW I can make SOMETHING out of it someday, lol!
Thanks for the kind words! I actually just recently stumbled on your little blog, and just fell in love with your projects! I especially loved the pin-cushion truck!
I really want to make these bracelets with my niece now. She would love it! I’ll have to keep my eyes out for some super-cute charms to go on them!
Great idea!!
This is so, so, SO COOL! I love it! Heather from CroqZine emailed me about this and I was blown away when I saw it. Super creative and so pretty! I’m really excited about this because I have BINS of these things. YAY! I’ll be linking once I calm down. =)
Love the idea! Now, if your brain could just be mass produced, packaged and sold…we could all buy it and turn the world literally on its ear!
what a great idea!!! I still have tons that I never really used in scrapbooking. LOVE the look of the jewelry!!!
Holy cow! That is genius! I just love how your brain works!
Hi Cathe,
Thanks for stopping by my blog! OMG, your bird IS the same as athe sheet music!! That is really neat!! I just love your creative ideas…can I add your blog to my favorites?
Have a beautiful day~
Carol Anne
Now that’s really cute and so creative! I’ve got a ton of eyelets laying around the studio, I may have to try this one out. Thanks a bunch! Oh and I just favorited you shop and added your cute button to my sidebar!! Love your blog, thanks for some inspiration!
Jamie 🙂
What a great idea! I would have never guessed they were eyelets, so pretty 🙂
Serendipity – what a great result. The scissors charm works really well, too.
Serendipity – what a great result. The scissors charm works really well, too.
Whaddoyamean not the “craftiest of crafts”? I would expect to see these on Etsy or somewhere!
Oh, the cleverness of you! (to kinda quote Peter Pan)
Awesome! I love it! I love, too, how altered art teaches us to continually think outside the box like you’ve done here! It’s a whole new way of viewing the world–we really look at things!
Actually, grommets and eyelets are not the same thing. While an eyelet is a single piece of metal, a grommet takes two distinct metal pieces that are usually pounded together with a rubber mallet to join together, and they can come in much larger sizes than eyelets, and are typically used for more rugged purposes.
http://www.metalgrommets.com/faq.html