From Makeup Bag to Wristlet: A Makeover Story

A sparkly wristlet.

No, don't bother checking your calendar. It's not Monday, but this is a makeover post. It's actually two makeovers in one. A 2-for-1 deal. Iron Craft's challenge this week is called Taxman. The challenge is to make something to do with money, but not counterfeiting. I assume. Let's hope.

Once upon a time (all good stories start with once upon a time) I had a chain belt with a coin detail in my stash of Stuff-I-Never-Use-But-Might-Someday. That stash is getting crazy, by the way. Also in my stash? A makeup bag I never used. It was a freebie and pretty cute, but too big for my purse and I like a clear makeup bag, anyway. It just makes it easier to find everything in a hurry. But I digress...so here's how I turned my makeup bag into a wristlet.


Ingredients:

• Bag
• Chain belt
• Pliers
• Silver acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Bowl
• Water

The ingredients.

The coins on the chain belt.

The first thing I did was paint the bag. I used three coats of watered-down silver acrylic paint. Let them dry well in between coats.

Painted bag.

While that was drying, I figured out how long I wanted my strap to be and had to use two sets of pliers to shorten the chain.

A strap in the making.

Using the existing lobster claw clasp, I simply ran the chain through a loop on the bag and used the clasp to attach the strap.

Finished strap.

The other side of the bag had a loop, too. And, of course, that needed to be dressed up as well. I took the hoop and a couple of inches of chain off the rest of the belt, threaded the chain through the loop and attached the end to the hoop.

The hoop.

The hoop needed something else. A tassel. I removed two lengths of chain, found the middle and hooked them together with a link. Using another link, I then attached the tassel to the hoop.

The beginnings of a chain tassel.

And that's it. That's the story of how I turned a freebie bag and an out-dated chain belt into a wristlet.

Finished!

The End.