So you just received your new charms courtesy of HPB.com, now what? Whether you bought them for yourself or as a gift for someone else, here are 8 charming (pun intended!), quick and easy crafty ways to put your new HPB charms to good use.
1. Dangling Earrings
What you need:
- Pliers
- Fishhook earwires
- Jump rings (4 mm shown)
- Charms of your choice
Instructions:
- Use pliers to open the jump ring enough to put charm on
- Add jump ring to the fishhook earwire
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close securely
- Repeat first 3 steps on the other earring
Voila, you’ve made a completely unique set of earrings that you can boast about!
2. Leather Choker
What you need:
- Pliers
- Leather cording (3 mm width shown)
- Jump rings (8 mm shown)
- Charm of your choice
- Cord end caps (3 mm shown, these typically come in multipacks)
- Lobster clasp
Instructions:
- Cut your leather cording to fit around your neck
- Take one end of your leather cording and place it into a cord end cap, firmly press down on one side of the end cap with pliers, and then repeat with the other side
- Repeat this step with the other end of your cording
- Take your pliers and open the jump ring attached to the lobster clasp and add the clasp to one of the cord end caps, then pinch the jump ring with pliers to close gap securely
- Add the charm of your choice to a jump ring and slide the charm onto the cord
This is a super easy necklace to make, and if you grabbed one of our charm sets off HPB.com you can now easily change the charm and have 6 different looks for this necklace!
3. Stackable Beaded Bracelets
What you need:
- Pliers
- Jewelry elastic cord (.7 mm shown)
- Beads (4 mm glass beads shown)
- Jump rings (8 mm shown)
- Charm of your choice
Instructions:
- Thread beads onto elastic cord
- Once the bracelets is long enough to go around your wrist tie a knot to form a bracelet
- Cut off excess elastic
- Use pliers to open jump ring then add charm to jump ring
- Add jump ring to bracelet
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
This is also a great way to upcycle old beaded bracelets! You can mix and match different bracelets with different charms and wear them together.
4. Multi-Charm Keychain
What you need:
- Pliers
- Jump rings (4 mm and 8 mm shown)
- Charms
- Keyring with chain
Instructions:
- Use your pliers and open your jump ring enough to put charm on
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
- Repeat step one and two on any additional charms you want to add to the keychain
- Next, use pliers to open a larger jump ring and add all charms onto the larger jump ring
- Add larger ring to chain
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
This is a quick and easy way to add charms to purses, backpacks or even one of our new Out of Print totes or pouches! For an even more dynamic craft, you can add multiple jump rings to have charms hang at different levels.
5. Wine Glass Charms
What you need:
- Pliers
- Wire cutters
- Spool of 1 oz. round silver memory wire
- Jump rings (4 mm shown)
- Beads (4 mm glass beads shown)
- Charms of your choice
Instructions:
- Take your pliers and open your jump ring enough to put charm on
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
- Use wire cutters to cut off about 3 inches of wire and form a circle
- Take pliers and fold back one end of the wire into a backwards hook
- Add beads and a charm to the wire
- Use pliers to fold back the other end of the wire into a backwards hook
- Hook both sides together, and done!
This is one of my favorite charm crafts! With one spool of round memory wire you can make tons of them, and they make perfect gifts around a nice bottle of wine or set of wine glasses!
6. Ribbon Bookmarks
What you need:
- Pliers
- Scissors
- Ribbon clamps (9.5 mm shown)
- Ribbon (9.5 mm shown)
- Jump rings (4 mm and 8 mm shown)
- Charms of your choice
Instructions:
- Take your pliers and open your 4mm jump rings enough to put charms on
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
- Cut your ribbon to fit in the book of your choice (the average book is between 8”-10”)
- Add your charms (each on an individual jump ring) to a 8mm jump ring
- While your 8mm jump ring is open add the ring to the end of the ribbon clamp then pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely
- Insert your ribbon into a ribbon clamp and use pliers to close the clamp
- Repeat step 6 on the other end
This is the perfect craft for any booklover. For an even quicker version of this bookmark just take your charms on an 8mm jump ring and put in the middle of a strip of ribbon, secure in place with a dab of super glue and cut the edges at an angle for a quick and simple bookmark!
7. Camp Style Friendship Bracelet
What you need:
- Pliers
- Scissors
- Embroidery floss (# of strands and colors optional, 3 colors used here with 2 strands of each)
- Jump ring (4 mm shown)
- Charm of your choice
Instructions:
- Use your pliers and open your jump ring enough to put charm on
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely and set aside
- Cut embroidery floss into 3 ft. strands and tie together in a knot at one end
- Take one of the strings and make a forward knot around the others strands (to make a forward knot take your strand and make a 4 over the other strands and pull the tail through the 4’s loop)
- Repeat the forward knot about 10 knots, then switch to a new strand and repeat
- Continue to switch to each of your colors until the bracelet is the desired length
- Add your charm to the bracelet and tie a knot at the end to finish it off
You can do this with any number of colors or strings, and the best part is it only requires one basic knot!
8. Tassel Keychain
What you need:
- Pliers
- Scissors
- Embroidery floss (2 skeins)
- Jump ring (4 mm shown)
- Charm of your choice
- Keyring
Instructions:
- Use your pliers and open your jump ring enough to put charm on
- Pinch the jump ring with pliers to close the gap securely and set aside
- Create the loop and head of the tassel by wrapping one color of floss around the middle section of the other skein
- Fold the wrapped skein in half and continue to wrap both ends, binding both sides into one tuft
- Tie off the head of the tassel and cut off excess string
- Cut the ends of the string to create the loose ends of the tassel
- Attach charm to the tassel and put on a keyring
These tassels are great for a keychain or could even be put on an earwire to make a pair of fun summer earrings!
9. Metal Hook Bookmark
What you need:
- Pliers
- Metal bookmark hook
- Jump rings (8 mm shown)
- Charm
Instructions:
- Use your pliers and open your jump ring enough to put charm on
- While the jump ring is open add it to the metal bookmark hook
- Close the gap in the jump ring
These hooks typically come in multi-packs and with one of our charm sets you could easily make several bookmarks to pair with any great book as a quick and easy last minute gift!
We’d love to hear from you- what are you making with your HPB Charms? Comment or share pictures below!