Sparkled: christmas ornament

Friday, December 2, 2011

Leather Bracelets

Hey Crafters!
Need a creative, one-of-a-kind Christmas gift for a girlfriend? How about a leather bracelet, or two?! I have two great tutorials for you today, thanks to Delighted Momma and Oh the lovely things, on making two different kinds of lovely leather bracelets!. I thought both of these were just delightful :) I love unique projects like these! You can find all of the supplies for these cuties at your local craft store. My local Jo-Anne's has a light tan color, dark tan color, and a black color to choose from. I like the black and dark tan the best! They are about $4 for one strip. You need an entire strip of leather for the bow bracelet, but I bet you can get two bracelets out of one strip of leather for the painted chevron bracelet. Not a bad deal! The only frustrating part for me with the bow bracelet, was getting my needle through the leather. Not the easiest task in the world, but 5 minutes of frustration is so worth this awesome bracelet. Check it out and let me know what you think! Happy crafting!

Leather bow cuff bracelet

You will need :
- A piece of leather, approx. 22cm x 10cm (approx. 8.7" x 4")
- Scissors
- Leather glue or super glue
- Thread
- A snap button

1. Cut an oval piece of leather, approx. 22cm x 10cm (approx. 8.7" x 4"). You can make it longer or smaller, depending on the size of your wrist.

2. Form a bow.

3. Secure the bow by wrapping thread around it and knot.

4. Cut a small rectangle of leather, approx. 4cm x 1cm / 1.6" x 0.4"

5. Glue the small band of leather over the thread.

6. Sew the snap button, one part of the button at one end of the leather, and the other at the other side.

And Voila!

DIY Painted Chevron Bracelet

What you will need:

Strip of leather (found at Michaels)
Some kind of closure. I used button snaps
Paint brush
Acrylic paint
Scissors
Blue painters tape

Decide how wide you want your bracelet and cut the leather accordingly.

Cut out thin triangle strips like above and place evenly spaced along the leather strip.

Paint the strip of leather.

Wait about 20 minutes until the paint is dry.

Attach the button closure.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Ornaments

Hey pretties!
I think we have all made our own Christmas ornaments at one time or another. If you're like me, you have a bunch of gaudy ones from grade school with your face plastered on the front of it. Oh, yay... ;) Even if you had the worst buck teeth ever, Mom probably still to this day, loves to put it front-and-center on the Christmas tree. Lucky you! I assure you that not all homemade ornaments are bad! I love making my own ornaments; it really puts me in the Christmas mood. Whether you make a paper, felt, plastic, or glass ornament, it is better than the rest because YOU made it! With all of these cute DIY ornaments, you can switch out all of your old embarrassing ornaments for these cute ones! Goodbye buck teeth! Most of these awesome ornaments have tutorials for them, so click on the links underneath the pictures to find out how to make them!

You can buy glass or plastic ornaments like these at craft stores that are empty and you can just pull the tops right off and back on. Stuff them with paper, feathers, little painted styrofoam balls, glitter, leaves, or even paint them! Be creative! Send me pictures of the ones you make and I'll put them up! Happy crafting!