I think I missed my calling...

Earlier this week, I headed out in search of some earrings to wear with a new dress I got for an upcoming wedding.  Since the dress is quite the departure from what I usually go (I little more traditional and "safe") I still wanted to add a little splash and some whimsy with accessories.

Since the dress has some turquoisey/teal in it, I thought it might be fun to do some bright turquoise feather earrings and then found these babies at Aldo  which I thought would be absolutely perfect.

They were a gorgeous soft blue feathers but still looked classy enough to work for a wedding without being too funky. Plus, they were on sale, couldn't beat that.

Of course, when I went to see them in person, they were much different than they appeared, they were actually REALLY LONG!!!  As in past my sholders long.  The feathers were a lot larger than they appeared and there were actually 4 of them, NOT 3.  I also wasn't sure if the color was right as they were less blue in person and almost greeny.

But I figured for $12 if they didn't work, I could always wear them to something else or modify them somehow.  Of course, I did end up finding a perfect pair at the next store, but since these weren't returnable, I figured I'd see how they worked when I got home and keep the Claire's pair in mind.

Of course, when I got home and tried them on, they were definitely NOT going to work as is, and I was never going to wear them with anything else in their current state.  But I knew they would look great with 1 or two feathers instead.  So I set to work faster than I've ever worked on anything. (which explains why I have no BEFORE or progress photos).

I whipped out my jewelry making tools and got to work.  Opening 1 jump ring, I was able to remove the 3 dangling chain feathers easy peasy.  Next step was to fix the shortest feather.  They had left a really long tail on it, so I opened the feather holder, removed the crimping bead, trimmed the end, moved the crimper down and re closed the holder.  It took about 5 mintues and I was left with this:

Much better! 

I kind of miss the pretty gold chains, but for this particular dress, this short length is the best.

Of course, I kept the pieces I removed so that in the future, I can add them back on or create different looks, etc.  In the meantime, I think they look pretty awesome in their new spot:

I simply put all the strands on a large jump ring and hooked it over a thumb tack and instant glamour to my bulletin board!

A little closer shot.  They look great with the silver faux croc!

This is the third time in a week I've modified accessories, maybe I missed my calling. 

I'm feeling inspired I think next week I might be taking me a trip to Michael's to see what I can come up with!