How to Recycle Earrings

People have been wearing - and losing - earrings for almost 5000 years. They generally wear earrings as a pair. So what do you do when you lose one? And what about earrings that simply go out of fashion? Here are some ideas for putting them to use.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Glitz up the fridge by making magnets with your solo earrings. Use wire cutters to clip off the posts, and then glue the earrings to tiny magnets.

2. Tack it to a bulletin board. Orphaned pierced earrings are perfect for tacking up photos, notes and clippings with style.

3. Design a broach with retired earrings. When you've collected several earrings, remove the posts, arrange them on foam core and secure them with a hot glue gun. Add a pin backing. Decorate a picture frame using the same idea.

4. Decorate a small Christmas tree or a wreath with earrings. Add to your collection of clip-on earrings by sifting through costume jewelry at thrift shops and flea markets. Use larger earrings on the boughs of a standard-sized Christmas tree.

5. Replace a button at the last minute with a clip-on earring. If you realize you're missing a button, clip the earring to the button side of a blouse, and then button it through the buttonhole. As an alternative, take the top button from the blouse, use it to replace the missing button and move the earring to the top of the blouse.

Tips & Warnings

• The oldest earrings known earrings were discovered in what is now Iraq and date to 2500 B.C. Clip-on earrings were introduced in the 1930s. By the 1950s, women no longer pierced their ears. By the 1970s, piercing was back in fashion.

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