As some of you know, I can’t let a holiday got by without creating mini-somethings. Once again I just had to turn these Sweet Peeps into charming, tiny, shrinky-dink bracelets. I say shrink it, string it, and strut it. And if you’re willing to also share it, you can wrap some tiny gift boxes in the Sweet Peeps paper patterns and add a few ribbons and flowers to complete the gift.
If you want to make a few of these you will need the Sweet Peeps Graphic Set (from LD) for the little charms. That set will give you all of the animals and eggs. Since you will be having to cut the pieces out by hand, this is the best set to work with. If you have a great cutting machine that can cut through Shrinky Dinks material, you could probably use the Sweet Peeps Icons Print-Cut set, but my cutter is not good for that thickness of material, so all shrinky-dinks that I make are hand cut.
Make sure when purchasing Shrinky-Dinks that you are buying for the computer ink jet printer kind, which can be run through ink jets only, not laser printers. I am linking you to their website here if you need to learn more (look for the “for inkjet printers” kind on that web page). Make sure you follow the instructions for shrinky-dinks. The color on the art will darken as it shrinks, but because most of the animals are pastel, they should look fine when shrunk. Also, it is very important to pre-hole punch the individual pieces before you shrink them, if you are wanting holes at the top of the pieces for stringing. I use a .125" or larger hole punch to end up with the little pin holes at the top of the charms. I might even recommend a .25" punch.
Once you have little shrunken Easter charms you can string or bead them into package tip-ons as well as fun costume jewelry for you and your peeps. I was able to find these cute glass beads that resemble the vintage style candy called Sixlets, and then, sure enough, I found the candy for Easter at Walmart to complete the vintage look. I was able to get the beads and Shrinky-Dinks material at Hobby Lobby, but you might have to find some of those items online. Oh, I even got these cute glass jars at Hobby Lobby and then spray painted the lids in pastel colors. These jars come in many sizes, the smallest much like a baby food jar.
I finished this fun project with papers as gift wrap from the Sweet Peeps Paper Pack, then used the Sweet Peeps Labels and Cupcake Toppers to embellish. I also used some precut colored flowers to add a few more touches to the gift boxes.
Another cute idea would be to use the cupcake toppers set as the charms, or zipper pulls, earrings, lots of ideas, with the Shrinky Dinks material. The circle art would be easy for trimming by hand. Also, one last note about trimming Shrinky Dinks is that I think it’s a good idea to leave a little white space around each item as you trim it out. Remember that a little space needs to be a little more for shrinking. I think the items shrink about 2/3’s of their original size.
1 comment:
You've captured the spring feeling auntie! This is just too cute. I love it! :D Miss you.
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