Glue Gun Glam!

This is a fun way to use items you probably already have on hand for inexpensive, unique and pretty earrings!

Would you believe the main material for this project is...Drops from a glue gun!?

Supplies:

• Printer with paper and ink
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Silicone or non-stick heat-safe mat
• Gold spray paint
• Acrylic paint in various colors of your choice
• Gloss finish lacquer 
• Jump Rings (2)
• Earring findings (2)
• Strong adhesive (like E-6000)

Do this:

I started by printing off some circles in different sizes, and wound up using ones that were about an inch in diameter.

Place the page of circles underneath the silicon mat.

Using the circles as a guide, place dots of glue on the mat, making sure none of them touch!  

IMPORTANT:  Let them cool before you join the dots with more dots.  Otherwise, it will all just glob together.

After the forms cool completely, spray paint front and backs with gold paint.  To make this easier and less messy, I strung my forms on a piece of twine and tied it to either side of a cardboard box.  Let paint dry completely.

Get your acrylic paints together.  I used a metallic gold, pineapple yellow, a dusty green, peacock blue, navy, and dark purple.

Begin by choosing three colors (I used yellow, peacock, navy) and use one of each color to paint the sections on, then middle, then bottom.  You'll probably need two coats.

Then just dab on colors in a close shade with a tiny paintbrush, then dab off with paper towel.  I dabbed at it until I got a look I liked.  I also swirled similar colors together.  When it was a little dryer, I used the metallic gold and repeated the brushing-and-dabbing process.  Last, I used a tiny bit of copper colored Rub-n-Buff around the very edges, but you could do without that if you want.

After this dried completely (didn't take very long), I liked the look, but it was a bit dull, so I used a glossy lacquer spray to make it shiny.  I did three coats, with just a little drying time in between.

Next I took a jump ring and attached it to the earring finding.  

Using E-6000, I simply glued the jump ring to the back of the form, making sure the hook faced the correct direction and didn't get glued.

Once the adhesive dries completely, they're ready to wear and show off!

By the way, I saw similar earrings for $420, but these were SUPER CHEAP!!  The only supplies I had to buy were the jump rings and the earring findings.  

Jump rings - $1.39 for a pack of 12 = 11.5 cents each.  I used two, for 23 cents.
Earring findings - $1.39 for a pack of 8 = 17 cents each.  I used two, for just under 35 cents.
I already had everything else and used minimal amounts of each, so basically these earrings cost me less than 60 cents for the pair!