cut and paste necklaces

hello and happy monday to you! i'm working my way through a large coffee, sneezing my head off and looking back on some cut and paste fun i had this weekend. inspired by a beautiful patterned pendant i bought from jess swift last year, i decided to try a humble version made of paper. just as i did with the bookmarks, i collaged an 8.5x11 sheet of 80 lb cardstock with pieces from my stash - mostly stuff from old marie-claire maisons, anthropologie catalogs, and patterned papers. i covered both sides to make the necklaces reversible.



instead of cutting the sheet into rectangles like i did with the bookmarks, i cut circles with a 2" hole punch for the large disc and a 3/4" hole punch for the small. with a layer of collage on both sides, the paper was too thick to cut by hand, so i put everything on the floor and punched the suckers with my foot.



then i sealed the discs with a few coats of mod podge, hand punched holes in the tops, attached jump rings, slid them on the necklace strands (i bought these pre-made in packs of three at michaels) and was done.



these aren't exactly heirloom quality, nor as weighty or as durable as jess's (her patterns were mounted on bisque-fired clay and strung on a steel cord), but still, a fun splash of color for the summer. hypoallergenic, too, unlike this flowering monster in the background.



you could foof these up in a load of different ways - add some weight and texture with beads, use vintage wallpaper or gift wrap instead of mag/catalog pages, or substitute fabric for the paper... let me know if you try it! this is a fun project for kids, too, as long as the adults do the foot punching!