Imitation is...

...the sincerest form of flattery, right? Today, I bring to you DIY earrings. Making my own jewelry is a fairly common theme here, between my chalcedony and pearl wedding earrings, pearl and gold wedding necklace, copycat crystal earrings, and my "magical" metal clay earrings. As usual, I had a very direct source of inspiration. In this case, a gorgeous pair of earrings from Anthropologie, which cost $218. Whaaat?! 

Since I couldn't come close to justifying spending that much money, I decided to make them myself. I headed to Nomadic Notions to get my supplies, just to find that they've permanently closed. Cue a moment of panic, because the next closest legitimate bead store was across town. Luckily, their website said that some of the employees from Nomadic Notions decided to open their own shop just a couple of blocks away, so I went there instead. The Bead Stash is still building their inventory, but they're off to a great start!

My supplies were very similar to the original earrings, with the exception of the clear stone: 

• 2 coin pearls
• 14 mint beads
• 2 gold head pins
• 2 leverback earrings 
• Gold (brass) wire -- 24 gauge

I too often ask for forgiveness on my picture quality... but here I am asking again. It was super dark when I made these, and I only usually only had one hand to snap pictures since I was holding the earring with my other hand. You don't mind too much, right?

First, I put the pearl on the head pin and bent the top over to make a loop (which would later be hooked onto the earring). Next, I took my wire and began wrapping it around the head pin above the pearl to create a starting point.

Then, I made my first and smallest loop (slightly larger than the pearl), and then wrapped the wire around the top to secure it.

Please forgive my lack of documentation of the next steps... total blogging fail :( I continued to make larger and larger loops following the same steps, plus adding beads to the second smallest loop. After the loops were added, I wrapped the wire around the tops of the loops and pearl. Ta da!

Repeat, and voila.

I made these for a couple ladies in my family and changed the size according to their preferences. The pair above were for John's grandmother, who typically wears small-ish earrings. The pair below are ones I made for myself, which are a good bit larger. To make them bigger, I spaced the loops farther apart, but you could also add additional loops if you wanted.

Closeup!

The best part? They were significantly less than the $218 Anthro was charging. In fact, you could consider them 95% off, and way more special!

Copycat

One of my sorority sisters posts her latest jewelry creations on Instagram and invites you to purchase the pieces from her wonderful shop on Etsy. Her shop is called BeCause, because she donates 15% of the proceeds to a hunger relief program through a nonprofit called World Food Program USA. It's such a worthy cause--I hope you'll check it out! She also does a lot of custom designs for bridal parties.

A while back, she posted these gorgeous earrings that I haven't stopped thinking about.

True to form, I never have original ideas of my own, but I figured they were something I could recreate. I hit up Nomadic Notions for the beads and earring hooks since I already had the gold wire. The most important thing when bead shopping was to make sure they were top-drilled, meaning that the hole didn't go through the length of the bead. The two crystal beads and gold-filled hooks only cost $9 and some change. If you need to get the wire, I bet you could do this project for under $20 and still have a ton of wire leftover. Not a bad deal!

I've had this wire for quite a while and assumed that the gold probably cost more than the silver (although I couldn't really remember, and I have no idea if it's gold plated or just brass, hah), so I decided to use the silver as the base structure to help save a little of the gold wire.

I slid some wire through and cut it to the length I thought would look nice, then gave it a little twist.

Next I wrapped some wire around the base to beef it up.

Then, I started with the gold. I made a little loop at the top for the earring hook to hold onto. (Yikes, sorry for the blurry picture).

Then I just started wrapping. There was no real technique… I just wrapped until I was satisfied with how they looked.

Ta da!

Lastly, I put them on the hook.

They aren't a perfect match, but I think that's part of their charm. Plus when I actually wear them they won't be so close together and the differences won't be as obvious.

That was quick and easy! I encourage you to try it out yourself, but if it feels like a little too much to take on, visit Sarah's shop and order a pair that will only require the proverbial swipe of your credit card.