Repurpose your jewelry and save

Austin is a very eco-conscious city and what better way to protect the environment than to recycle? Repurposing your old or broken jewelry can be a great way to reuse existing materials and gemstones to create new styles that you’ll want to wear right now.

One way to recreate designs that are in stores right now is to combine older elements like lace or crystal with newer trends like ribbon or feathers. The necklace pictured is a new piece that is on display at the Austin boutique Blue Elephant located in the North Lamar Central Market shopping center.

Another idea is to use old beads and findings from a single piece and rearrange them on a new chain to give the piece a fresh look. The best thing about reusing old elements is all that money you’ll be saving!

If you are not sure of your ability to design something new, don’t fret, you have options. There are lots of local Austin jewelers that love to take on custom work. If you’re not sure what your options are, you can contact Austin based companies like Creative Chick Designs to find out what your options are. With a free consultation, you’ve got nothing to lose. Some companies will even offer to buy the materials that are unused from your new designs.

Whatever you decide to do with your pieces, you can’t lose by repurposing pieces that are just collecting dust in the bottom of your jewelry box!

Austin City Limits (a.k.a Mud Pit)

This year's Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) had all the makings to go down in history as one of the best so far.  Lower temperatures, Pearl Jam as the headlining band, plus a ton more that had people running from stage to stage so as not to miss a single number.

Friday was perfect weather...80's and slightly overcast, fresh green grass to lay in, and lots of happy people.


Saturday had a great lineup of bands, but I woke up to rain, waited for the rain to stop before heading down to the park....and ended up waiting all day.  That's right, it poured all day and night.  I saw on the news that the park had turned into a mud bath, but I had no idea what I was in for on Sunday.

I bought a pair of tall rainboots anticipating the mud (probably the last pair in all of Austin).  The entire park was a mud pit...seriously, inches deep.  People were splashing, walking around barefoot, rolling in the mud, loosing their shoes and more.  It was pretty comical since I was protected by my wellies, but it was pretty gross nonetheless.  They covered the mud in hay to try to minimize the effect and that just made it smell like a barn.  All in all, the day turned out to be a blast partially due to the company I was with, partially due to the amazing music, and partially due to the endless people watching.

For you crafters out there, the people who had retail booths did an AMAZING job.  I can't imagine vending at that show, but there were some great products out there!