Charmsters - Re-Purposed Charm Swap

 If you are a long time reader of this blog, you know that I often find treats in my mailbox. This post serves as eye candy for people interested in handmade charms.

 

I belong to a Yahoo group called Charmsters. It was created by Laurel Stevens in 2007. We are a group of a little over 100 people that make and swap charms through the mail. Jean Brederode and Erin Keck became our group moderators in 2011 .

Participants sign up for specific swaps that interest them. This Re-Purposed swap was hosted by Nancy Clark.  Something on these charms had to be recycled, up-cycled, or re-purposed. Once we mailed her our submissions, she sorted the charms and shipped them to participants.

 

Here is a pictorial record of the contents of that swap.

Our hostess Nancy Clark made this charm using smashed metal buttons. She has an etsy store - renewedintent.etsy.com

Using some form of resin, long time charmster, Zhulia Abrok fashioned this postage stamp charm.

Laura Oneil re-purposed discarded gift cards. She packaged them with laser cut stationary and paper towel that achieved green color soaking up left over dye from Easter egg coloring.

 I have dismantled my share of vegetable steamers and often purchase them when I see them at garage sales, but have never cut up the individual leaves like Glenda Griffith did. She even used her husbands grinding wheel to round the corners.

Another long time member of the group, Lori Guerin used an old sewing machine bobbin to create this charm.

Minette Miller combined a small ornate key and some floral bead components to fashion this charm.

Marjorie Grace-Sayers combined gears and a brad to produce this steam punk inspired charm.

Erin Keck added an amusement park token to her steam punk mix.

Eunice Oakley decorated and beaded an industrial washer to create her charm.

Bella Richey gathered together an assortment of beads to assemble this charm.

Lots of tiny little goodies came along with the Barbie shoe charm that was marked renew your sole/soul.

Katie Margolis glammed up this chess piece with a wee bit of paint and some beads.

Susan Zacher got her game on and combined a translucent red poker chip and a Lotto game piece.

Denise Hase put together 3 beads and a washer for this charm.

Pen barrels painted silver and end caps make for a cute little bird house charm designed by the imaginative Jo Morrison.

The only charm missing from this line up is my own. The plan is to feature that in a future blog post. Hope looking at these creative interpretations makes you look twice before tossing that odd object. It might just be perfect for another use.

Carina