Office Supply Earrings

As a private tutor, I travel from home to home, bringing the stuff I need to work with my students with me. To be prepared for any eventuality, my kit can be large. I was pleased, therefore, to find this brand new "office in a binder" at the thrift store - for $2, it was mine!

Then, the other day, when I was waiting for a student to finish working on some math problems, I started playing with some of the supplies to make some earrings. I used only what was in the kit to make one earring, then I made the second one when I was home and able to take photographs.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

You will need:

• Two paper clips. I used black ones because those were the ones that came with my kit, but I recommend using plain metal ones if you have little holes like in my ears.
• Tape flags, post-it style
• Staple remover
• Pencil or pen

Step 2: Make the Earwires

Start by bending the end of the outer wire outward a little (photo 1). You can use your fingers or a pencil for this.

Bend the outer wire vertically where it meets the end of the inner wire (photo 2).

Using a narrow part of the pencil, bend the paper clip around it to form a loop (photo 3). You can use this loop to hang beads if you like.

Bend the inner part of the clip downward (photo 4).

Flatten so the earring is all on one plane, as much as possible (photo 5).

Step 3: Add Tape Flags

I used three colors of flags. For the first color, I folded over the flag a little. The next color was folded over more, and the next, even more.

Each one was punched using the staple remover. It's tricky, but with patience, you can make the teeth meet and punch a little hole. I tried as much as I could to punch them in the same relative spot.

Then thread them on the dangling part of the earring.

Step 4: Repeat

Do the whole process again for the second earring, and there you have it - a cool, colorful pair of earrings made purely of and by office supplies!