Pop My Top

I love quirky and fun. Bottlecaps the definition of quirky to me. They are an affordable type of kitsch that brings back memories of our childhood, or afternoons tipping back a cold beverage. Good times.

{Pop My Top earrings}

In 2011 I met Cathy Collinson at Glass Garden Beads at the Bead & Button show. I had admired her bottlecap beads for some time and as I pawed through her bins of thousands of different bottlecap beads I asked her if she had ever seen the Point Root Beer guy from the Stevens Point Brewery (they make beer and soda). Yes! She told me that she sells out of them almost immediately because they are so fun with the signature conehead guy (do you remember the Coneheads from SNL? The Pointer guy looks like their grandpa) and the quirky sayings on them. Things like... Get the Point... Turn Me Loose... Twist & Shout... Point Well Made.

{back of the earrings - Turn Me Loose - can spin around depending on your mood!}

I told Cathy that I could get her all the Point bottle caps she could want just by going down the street to the little pizza place. I did that for a few months, stopping by now and then and carting out a bag of bottlecaps at a time. I ended up with a full gallon bag of Point Root Beer bottlecaps and a second bag of other caps. Then I met up with Heather Lawrenz at the booth during this years' Bead & Button and presented my offering and my request: would they take what was useable from this bag and make me 100 bottlecap beads with assorted messages on each side? (Usually they try to match the message.)

{bowl o' bottlecap beads}

Within about a week they had made up the bottlecap beads for me - super speedy! - and I had them in my hands. I have ones with holes from top to bottom, a few with two holes near the top for stringing, and some from side to side, with the images upside down so no matter which way they flip it will be right side up! Clever!

I plan to make fun necklaces and bracelets and earrings like these for sale in our little home town where the Stevens Point Brewery is located... and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, home of the Pointers.  In this pair I used some quirky pixies from MyElements in the Pointers' colors of purple and gold. I hope that the fans snatch them up in time to cheer their team on. Go Pointers!

{Stevie Pointer}

What about you? Do you love kitschy and quirky? Do you have a favorite bottlecap in your collection of things? Do you ever make earrings appealing to a sports team or activity? Do tell!

Erin Prais-Hintz invites you to go on a journey of inspiration at her blog Treasures Found :: Inspiration is Everywhere. You can view a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ or purchase her new line of 'Simple Truths' in her Etsy shop.