School Holiday Project 23 - Making Bling Bracelets

My niece came over for a sleepover and we were looking for something creative to do when my eyes fell upon the packet of Dala Foam Rubber Ice Cream Sticks. Inspiration struck and I measured it around her wrist. It was a tight fit, but fit it did. Well then, all that was left to do was to turn it into a bracelet and, as everyone knows, all bracelets are better with a bit of bling on them.

We use these funky ice cream sticks that are made of foam rubber for today's project. These brilliant little items are manufactured by Dala. Ask your local craft dealer to get them if they don't have them in stock.

Another great product by Dala are these rhinestones which come in an assortment of colours.

Put small dots of craft glue where you want the rhinestones to go.

Now stick these onto the foam rubber.

Cut tiny pieces of Velcro to tie the bracelets with.

My niece wanted to spray her bracelet with Dala Fabric Spray. I thought it was a brilliant idea and allowed her to go ahead.

Doesn't that look lovely?

I then, quite wrongly!, stuck the Velcro to either end of the back of the bracelets. If I had stopped to think about it, I would have realized that one should go at the back and the other at the front. This mistake was rectified later when we actually fitted the bracelets.

This is one happy girl, getting right on top of the table to get closer to her project.

The bracelets were done, but we still wanted to play some more.

Having been inspired by niece's use of the Fabric Spray, I figured we could add some more sparkle to the bracelets with Dala Fabric Liner.

My addition was a silver twirl around the gemstones.

My niece insisted on trying out all three of the liners I had available and carefully drew some hearts on her bracelet.

I love this! At this point we were forced to walk away while the glue and paint dried, or we were in danger of smudging everything up. See how pretty the colors are when they dry?

It was at this point when we realized our mistake with the Velcro. We carefully loosened it and re-applied it to the right sides. This also made me realize that the Velcro would come off too easily and I needed to think of a way to stick it down more firmly.

Split pins would do the trick!

I used a Dala Craft knife to cut slits through the Velcro and foam rubber.

The split pins were then pushed through with the legs ending on the Velcro side.

These split pin additions actually contributed to the beauty of the bracelets. Bonus!

Use the back of the craft knife to press the split pins flat when opened.

All that remains to do now is to fit the bracelets on the arms of little girls. The four-year old absolutely LOVED hers and refused to take it off for bath time. Fortunately we convinced her it would last longer if she did and she complied.

For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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