I have a serious thing for jewelry. The problem is, like with any undying obsession habit, it can get pretty expensive. Even buying supplies to make my own jewelry can cost a pretty penny and extra pennies are sometimes hard to come by these days. That's why I love it when I find ways to fill my jewelry box that don't cost me a thing!
The other day, while digging around in my craft closet, I came across a bag of cardboard tubes that a relative had given to me. One in particular stuck out. About the size of an empty roll of duct tape, it seemed perfect to use as a chunky bracelet.
All it needed was a bit of sprucing up. I dug up some lace scraps and leftover streamers and got to work with my trusty decoupage glue.
I layered on the paper first for a nice pop of color in the background. Once the paper is dry, go ahead and seal it. I used a spray on sealent for decoupage. If you skip sealing it, just make sure you keep your bracelet away from water. You really don't want the paper to come undone or the color to run the second you go to wash your hands.
Now, for the lace! Glue it all around the outside and let it dry. Things can get messy if you try to rush. For the inside, I suggest using glue at its regular consistency to hold down the lace. There will be some overlapping going on and the thinner glue just doesn't have what it takes to reign in the stiffness some laces can have.
If you look close, you can see that I put another layer of paper around the inside and sealed it with a gloss spray. I just wanted to smooth things out and make sure my lace stayed in place. There's a reason I suggested using thicker glue for the inside. Ha!
I may have mentioned this in a past post, but I really love projects that are flexible. Nothing kills my imagination and enjoyment like instructions that are set in stone. The beauty of this project is that you don't have to use any of the same objects I've used here. Use anything that will fit your wrist. Trade the streamers for tissue paper, pages from a magazine, or hell, even paint it! Who says you even have to use lace at all? Give the kids some crayons and a few stick-on plastic jewels and it's time for dress up! There are so many things you can do!
What's the strangest thing you've ever done for craft supplies?
Last month I spent two hours taking part in a music opinion research poll that contained way too much Linkin Park for anyone to remain sane and that's coming from someone who is well aware of their terrible taste in music. By the end of the survey, I'd started listing buildings in my hometown with rooftops high enough to properly leap from.
Is it obvious that I'm not much of a Linkin Park fan? Sorry, boys (I'm sure their hearts are just ripping at the seams), but you've still got hubster's joyous vote of "meh". At least there's that.
Anyway, the point is that in return for two hours of borderline musical torture, I got $100 worth of Amazon rewards. Worth it? Well, I'm broke, so I'm gonna go with a hearty hell yes!
The first thing I did was pre-order season 4 of True Blood... Don't judge me! With my lust for blonde vikings sated After that was out of the way, I remembered that I was running dangerously low on glue. I mean, my last little bottle was making horrible gasping sounds. Now, decoupage is my favorite form of art (or crafts, whatever your opinion may be) and an empty bottle of glue just wouldn't do. To the search bar I went and that's when my whole life changed, because it never before occurred to me that glue was sold by the gallon. By the gallon, people!
Yeah, that's right, I'm the kind of girl that gets excited over mass quantities of glue.
Just look at that sexy beast!
Let's talk more about glue, shall we? Shut up, you know you want to.
I know there are other kinds of glue out there besides plain old school glue. There's even fancy, specialty glues just for decoupage, but you know what? They all suck. At least to me, anyway. They can be kind of pricey and I run through glue way too quickly to spend that much and in the past, every time I've tried using something other than plain glue, I end up getting everything all gooped up. My paper tears. It dries funny. I can't get an even coat. Of course, there's a very good chance that all I am is a bull in a china shop and it isn't really the special glue's fault, but I prefer to blame it all on the glue. Stupid, fancy glue! No, nothing works quite as well for me as plain, old, watered down glue.
Have I said glue enough yet? Too bad.
Yes, plain, old, watered down GLUE! That's where the smaller milk bottle comes in.
I fully admit to being a little on the lazy side, so I don't like measuring stuff unless I have to. That's the beauty of this DIY decoupage glue. As long as it still makes stuff stick, it doesn't matter! Just mix the glue and water to whatever consistency you feel comfortable with.
And there you have it!
Now, before I show you a few projects I've finished with this very same glue, I want to give a shout out to my favorite place to get most of the rest of my supplies. SCRAP Denton. It's a reuse store where everyone can buy and donate leftover art supplies and other odds and ends. The second I started shopping there, my imagination exploded like never before! I'm telling you, I haven't been to a regular craft store in months! Shops like these should be everywhere.
Okay, so here's a few examples of what I've created with watered down glue and SCRAP on my side:
