DIY Leather bracelets {2 styles}

I have had a few leather bracelets pinned on Pinterest for a while now. I don’t like to just be a ‘pinner’ & let them sit on my boards forever, but instead I actually try to check things off my pinned list! Now I can finally check off a couple of my pinned jewelry ideas! In particular, these two pins – bracelet with sterling silver accents & quotable leather bracelet (on etsy for a hefty price!). Here are my versions of the two styles:

I started out with some really great quality flat leather lace, in two different colors (for my two different bracelets), both 5mm wide – Blackberry & Cognac (I love the black edges on both).

So first I’ll start with a {HOW TO} on my “DIY quotable leather bracelet” --->

As I already mentioned, I started with the Cognac flat leather lace (5mm), and I also had some E-600, and sterling silver findings (the metal quote part comes later).

I measured my wrist (how big I wanted the bracelet, also accounting for the findings) & measured the leather accordingly, then cut two pieces at that length.

These end caps are 10mm wide, so the two pieces of 5mm wide leather fit perfectly inside.

I put some E-6000 inside, then squeezed the leather in & let it sit until dry.

**be sure when you put the leather in the end caps that you twist the leather, at least once (or as many times as you want). Then you can wear this bracelet with or without the metal quote, and it still looks awesome.

 

You could stop there with the bracelet, or you can keep going & add the twisted metal quote! The bracelet I was inspired by used a piece of pure aluminum, which I didn’t have access to. So instead I used what I had available – recycled car metal! Maybe not as shiny & “pure” as the aluminum, but I get points for recycling, right ;) plus, it’s free! I also used a sledge hammer & some metal stamps.

Can I just say that this is a lot harder than it looks to make the twisted quote part of this bracelet. Mine did not turn out nearly as beautiful as the pinned etsy shop listing, and I need A LOT more practice with my letter stamping! Props to whoever it is that makes the original bracelet!!

I cut out a 3/8” wide by about 4” piece (I didn’t know how long I needed it!) of car metal & grinded then sanded down the edges until it was smooth. Then I stamped the lettering. Again, I need A LOT more practice! Oh well!!

I went the easy route to make my lettering stand out – a sharpie and an alcohol wipe. (scribble over the lettering to make it all black inside, then wipe away the excess with an alcohol wipe).

Then I started twisting it. Harder than it looks! Or maybe this car metal just isn’t easy to work with. I don’t know.

I slid it over the end of the bracelet (by the way, you might want to make the twisted metal before you make the bracelet, then you can just slide it over the leather, not the findings!). Once it was on the bracelet, I kept squeezing it with my jewelry pliers until it fit a little more snug. It isn’t nearly as pretty and smooth as my inspiration, but it will do [for me].

And the finish product (see the uneven twisting?! UGH)

 

Now on to my  {HOW TO} for bracelet #2, “DIY leather wrapped bracelet with sterling silver accents” --->

For this bracelet, I used the Blackberry flat leather lace (about 3 meters x 5mm), sterling silver beads (they looked the “silver” part!), bead thread, needle, and findings. Aside from the leather, I got all of these items at Joanns, but I will say that I much prefer the findings that I used on the bracelet above. 

This bracelet was time consuming and, to be honest, the beading was a pain! Each section of 10 beads needed a new piece of bead thread, so there was a lot of tying knots & threading needles. Maybe there is an easier way to do this part, but that is what I did.  

 

There were a lot of sections of the beading, because I used the whole 3 ft (about) length for this bracelet. In the end it was worth it! I didn’t measure in between the sections of beading because I wanted it to look more sporadic and random, but they were spaced at about 1.5 – 2.25” apart.

[I used the best findings I could find for this project, but again I’m not super excited about them. I’d definitely recommend square end caps that fit exactly. These do work, just not as awesome as the ones I used above.]

The finished product, [and I’m totally in love with it!]

If you have any comments, tips, or questions, please share. I’m not an expert, but personally I think these turned out pretty awesome (and I didn’t have to spend $45+ for them, like on etsy). I love DIY!!

**MORE DIY JEWELRY PROJECTS**

‘Christmas Present’ coin banks

I recently made some super cute ‘Christmas Present’ banks for my boys, and they (ages 4.5 & 2.5) are about to get their first lesson in saving & spending wisely!

The idea behind it is to earn money (by doing work around the house!) and save it in their present bank until it’s time to buy Christmas Presents for each other. They do have piggy banks, which are collecting quite the savings, but those are not to be opened or touched until we, their parents, deem it necessary! But these Christmas present banks are reserved for the sole purpose of buying presents for Christmas!

I know my boys are still very young, but when it comes down to it, money is a big deal (unfortunately). They love finding money & holding it. They love being able to buy candy in a candy machine. But more importantly, there are many lessons to be learned with money; instant gratification or long-term happiness, debt or savings, etc. I don’t think there is a “too young” when it comes to learning how to treat money?

Not only money (and saving) but the act of giving on Christmas. I hope these boys, with the money they earn and save over the next while, will find joy in the act of giving. No, it doesn’t have to be store bought, but there is a lot to be said about a little child that can give up hard earned, saved money in order to give a gift, especially to their sibling [trust me, I have 7 siblings]!

I hope that giving gifts on Christmas (bought, homemade or as simple and kind as a hug) will become something they look forward to every year, and all the time for that matter.

And with that, here is my ‘Christmas Present’ coin bank HOW-TO --->

{what you need}

• wood (I used pine and my dimensions are approximately 5 1/2”W x 7 3/4”H x 3/4”D –and- 7 1/2”W x 6”H x 3/4”D)
• scroll saw
• sander
• drill (handheld or press)
• plexiglass (picture frame quality)
• sharpie
• Dremel (or you can use a handheld drill)
• spray paint (colors you want & clear coat)
• masking tape
• tiny little screws (smallest I could find at the hardware store)
• screwdriver

Okay, lets get started! [Beware: lots of cell phone pictures, taken at night…didn’t want to get my good camera full of saw dust!]

First I drew out a couple sketches of what I wanted the banks to look like. Not the best quality picture, but you get the idea (if you can see the lines!). I drew it the exact size I wanted it & then measured about an inch for the width of the bank walls.

I cut out those sketches & used them as a stencil for the actual bank. I like to tape it down on the wood & use a little bit of spray paint to make a quick outline. You could always just trace it thought. Take it to the scroll saw & get to cutting! Make sure the bottom edge of the bank is flat – as in, it is level and can sit on the counter.

To cut out the inside of the bank, I drilled a hole (using the drill press, but you could use a handheld drill), then I had to take out the scroll saw blade, put it through the hole I just made & tighten it back up. Then I was able to cut out the inside block.

Next came the plexiglass cutting. I laid a piece of plexiglass on the cut bank and made sure it was about 1/4” bigger than the inside of the bank walls. It was just a hand drawn line, and I made one for each side of the bank. Next, I took them to the scroll saw & cut them out too.

Then came the coin slot. I REALLY wanted a coin slot at the top, like a regular bank, but because of the height of the bow on top of the present, it made for a very difficult process. I’ll have to collaborate with Grant (my husband) to figure out a better way to do this part, but I’m not really sure there is an easier way to do it due to the width of the wood I was drilling through. What I did was, using the drill press, drilled multiple holes (slightly thicker than the width of a nickel and just over the length of a quarter). Even then, I was only able to get through about 3/4 of the wood.

The rest of the process was tackled with the Dremel (using the same drill bit). [**By the way, Back Friday is coming up and that is when we got this Dremel, years ago. Totally worth it!!]. I did some drilling from the bottom of the slot (or where I guessed the bottom would be). It doesn’t look pretty from the bottom, but the coin slot works!

  

After that drilling endeavor the painting began. I always use Rustoleum 2x coverage spray paint (primer included). I painted the ‘ribbon’ parts first, on both sides of the presents (drying in between). These colors are Apple Red & Sky Blue.

Once dry (24 hours-ish later) I used masking tape to take when I wanted the “ribbon” to stay & covered the bows. Then painted the rest of the presents in the other colors – Meadow Green & Deep Blue (Rustoleum).

Almost done!!

With the plexiglass I cut previously, I put them on the present & drilled holes through, and barely into the wood, for the tiny little screws.

 

Screw on the plexiglass & DONE!

These boys are beyond excited about their new present banks! Now it’s time to start earning money!!! Which is also great, they are so much more helpful around the house now ;)

 

Enlarged Outline Photos {family style}

This project came to me one night, just before my head hit the pillow. I love getting inspiration like that; out of the blue, when I’m super exhausted, but ends up being the perfect idea.

We have vaulted ceilings in our house & it’s hard for me to decorate on those walls. We’ve lived in our house for over 4 years and there hasn’t been anything on this wall, until now! I knew I wanted these pictures to be big, a huge statement when people come to our house. But it’s not just for others that visit us. I love looking at these pictures, particularly the cute little grins on our boys!

So here we go, this is how I made our enlarged outline photos of my family to go on the walls of our vaulted ceiling in the living room.
(if you are more interested in buying them instead of making them, by all means, visit our shop HERE!)

 
I went to Home Depot & bought a sheet of MDF (1/2”). I also had them cut it right in the middle so that it would actually fit in my truck without sticking out the bed. Did you guys know that? Home Depot will make one cut for free, so you might as well utilize that free gift when you are purchasing a huge sheet like MDF (comes in 4’ x 8’ sheets).

When I got home, I cut them to size on our table saw. My boards are 14” x 36” and I set the table saw fence at each length and cut all four before I switched the fence to the next measurement. Working on my efficiency skills right there, folks!

I also routered all the edges with a bevel edge. MDF isn’t the best thing to router, so I had to be careful about it and went with the blade so that it didn’t tear the board to shreds.

 

Next came the paint. I’m a solid Rust-oleum fan, particularly when it comes to spray paint, so I went with Rust-oleum protective enamel, satin white(got it at Wal-Mart for less than $4). That little 8 oz. can barely covered all four boards, but it was practically the perfect amount. I probably could have use another 1 ounce, but I made it work.

Meanwhile, as the paint dried, I got to work in the Silhouette Studio. This is the main part of the whole project, the photos. Here’s a quick run through on how-to:

(1) Find the pictures you want to use.
(2) Import them into Silhouette Studio.
(3) Trace. This part was a little more involved because I had to adjust the ‘high pass filter’ and the ‘threshold’ until it was how I wanted it to look. It’s best if the photos are a higher resolution & overall all good quality when it comes to this part, otherwise it gets pretty gritty and pixilated, or weird dark spots because of the lighting, etc.
(4) Adjust the size of the picture and crop as needed to make it fit on your board (again, mine was 14” x 36”, then adjusted for the beveled edge).
(5) Cut the vinyl. My Silhouette only cuts 8.5” wide, so it was quite the process getting things cut & lined up in pieces. Ugh. I need a bigger vinyl cutter!!

Once the paint was dry (24 hours later) I lightly sanded with a fine grit sandpaper. Then I cleaned off the dust to prepare the boards for the vinyl. Now, just to be clear, these outline pictures are white & black paint. Not vinyl. I used the vinyl as a stencil, not the actual art piece. I didn’t know if the vinyl would line up perfectly or if you would be able to tell that they were in pieces (because my Silhouette only cut 8.5” wide, and the boards were 14” wide), and I thought that would be pretty tacky if you could see the pieces that didn’t go together exactly. So I opted for using the vinyl as a stencil and then black paint for the picture.

 
[sanding, and part of a board ready for painting - with the stencil & paper & tape applied]

It was a bit time consuming to apply the vinyl stencil and cover up all the edges & places that I didn’t want painted, but it was so worth it! Once that process was done, I painted. I used Rust-Oleum 2x coverage spray paint, semi-gloss black.

before                                     -and-                                         after
 

The fun part was the reveal. Peeling off the vinyl, tape & paper after the black paint was dry. For every picture, I was nervous that it wouldn’t turn out right, but each time I finished, it was perfect. Check out this video of the reveal on my picture, it makes me smile every time (literally, as you will see at 26 seconds in!!)

 

Hang them up! I tried a new method for hanging these pictures. I didn’t want to deal with a nail in the wall, let alone 8, so I talked myself into these Command strips.I saw an advertisement on Hulu for them so I went with it.

Two sets of these large mounting stripscan hold up to 8 lb pictures, and my boards are 6.5 lbs each. It was really easy to apply them too. The instructions are right on the back of the container, so I wont do a step-by-step descriptive for that process. Although, here is a quick picture lesson for ya!

Then you admire your work, every day! I think one of my absolute favorite things about these new pictures is that my 2 year old sees them and every time will say in his language who each one is and laughs. It is the cutest!!

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If you are interested in purchasing your own enlarged line art portraits, please visit our etsy shop – HERE!

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