When I saw this necklace promo on Discount Queens for just over a dollar with free shipping from Amazon, I knew I was in.

I knew when I bought it that I didn’t like it as it was… But I thought it would be a great candidate for a crafty makeover!

Okay, so here’s where we started: a brass-colored owl and chain with plastic “gem” eyes and details.

First I sprayed the owl and chain metallic silver…

It looked okay, but it was missing something…

…So I added eyeballs with a sharpie. Yikes! Definitely not it!

Next I lightly sanded the “gemstones” to let them peak through. Umm… No.

So the owl got a coat of black spray paint. That looked pretty good… But I’m not much of a black clothing/accessory person, so…

I tried sanding the colored bits and edges. Still didn’t like it.

Then I thought a really graphic color might look kinda neat, like a yellow or pink or something like that. Thanks to my craft-enabler ahem, friend Marisa, I grabbed a bit of her orange spray paint and set to work.

I held a paper bag in between the owl and the chain to spray the chain back to silver again without covering the orange on the owl.

This would have worked really well in the fall, I think, between the color and motif… But I just wasn’t feeling it as I stand here on my tippy-toes expectantly awaiting the arrival of spring…

So back to silver the old gal went again.

Then I brushed on some pale aqau/robin’s egg blue from leftover china cabinet paint samples.

Finally happy with the owl color, I pulled out my little bag of thick thread/embroidery floss to make a little tassel to add to my owl…

I settled on this great vintage gray wool to use for a mini tassel. To make one for yourself, first wrap a length of thread around and around your fingers.

Then tie the bundle of thread into a bundle right in the center.

Fold the two bundle ends to each other to fold the bundle in half and wrap thread around and around what was the center (the same place you just tied a knot) and tie it off.

Then just snip the loops of the tassel and trim if necessary. I tied the tassel to the bottom of the owl pendant.

And there you have it! Now the necklace price AND style are much more me, wheeeee!

So, anyone else ever makeover a cheap piece of jewelry to make it kinda fabulous? Do tell!

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