DIY Cufflinks: Tutorial

It so much fun coming up with new cufflinks for my husband.  The fact that I could use it as an entry for So You Think You're Crafty makes it all the better. 

Have you seen the price of a pair of cufflinks?  The price tag, huge!  It's hard to find a decent pair for anything less than $50.  When I discovered that you could buy the blanks to make your own, I jumped all over it.  I bought two bunches of the blanks, the flats and the recessed cufflinks.

All of them were very easy to make.  Each pair I did use E-6000 glue, I will break down everything else that was used for each pair.

I will start with the baseball cufflinks.  Needed is a pair of recessed cufflinks, your glue, a marker, scissors and a utility knife.

Place your cufflink on top of the ball face down, mark around your cufflink.

Cut out your circle with your utility knife.  Once cut, take the edge and peel up your circle baseball pieces.  They are glued down, but it didn't take much to get them to come up.  You will need to trim up the edge a little bit as they will be over-sized.  Cut a little at a time until you get the perfect fit.

Place enough glue to cover the bottom of your cufflink, then place your baseball circles in there, taking special care to make sure that your stitches do not pop up.  Once the glue is dry, gift them up for your husband/dad/uncle, etc.

The golf cufflinks are a little more complicated, but very doable.  You will use all the same items that you did for your baseball cufflinks, but will need to include a bandsaw and sand paper.  Your initial cut will be made with the bandsaw.  Make sure you make your cut based on depth, not on diameter.

Once your cut is made, mark your circle from the cufflink in the center of your cut.  Either cut it out with a utility knife or scissors.  Once you get it close, you will want to shave the edges down with your sand paper.  I used 150 grit sandpaper.

Once you have them sized to fit your recessed cufflink, layer it with some glue and place it in.  Clean any glue that might seep up from the side and once dry, gift them up!

The fishing cufflinks required flat cufflinks, glue and the bandsaw.  I cut the diameter of the bobber to match the top of the cufflink.  Then I glued it down. 

That is it!  Easy peasy!  The only simpler one was the lego cufflinks.  All that required was a flat cufflink and glue.

In all seriousness, each pair of cufflinks broke down to less than $3.  That's for the pair!  Take that stuffy men's store that overprices these things!

Is anyone out there in blog land going to be making some cufflinks?  Is my husband the only one that wears them?  Any good ideas for some fun quirky ones that I haven't made?

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Tater tots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party

Last Minute Kid Costume: Charlie Brown

This past weekend we had a Fall party to go to where it was encouraged for everyone to dress up.  While, we have a stack of pajama costumes that I could have put on Colton...but, since I was making my costume and Maben's, I really needed to make him one too. 

Inspiration struck and I decided to make Colton into Charlie Brown!  The hardest part...scouring the mall for a yellow polo shirt.  After dragging the kids through about 10 stores, bribing them with carousel rides and letting them play some games in a kids store, I finally found a yellow polo shirt at Burlington Coat Factory.

I paid $4.31 for this shirt.  The biggest problem with it...all that embroidery!  It took a few hours in front of the TV to rip all those stitches out, but I eventually did it.  (and I only created one hole in the shirt)

After that, I pulled the shirt over piece of cardboard and measured out and marked my chevron stripe.

I then mixed up my black acrylic paint and fabric medium to make fabric paint.  I then painted the stripe with lots of brush strokes.  I didn't want a solid stripe because I remembered in the comics that it was typically done with more of an artistic brush stroke flair.

Once I let that dry, the next day I put Colton in it and I had myself the cutest Charlie Brown ever!  I also think this Charlie Brown will get more than a rock when it comes time for some trick-or-treating.

This costume cost me $4.31.  All I had to buy was the shirt.  I had the paint and fabric medium on hand already and Colton had a pair of black shorts too.  Even if you did have to buy fabric paint and shorts/pants...I am sure the whole thing would still cost less than $10.  If you can't find a yellow polo shirt, check out Hobby Lobby or Michaels for a plain yellow shirt.

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I've Got Style...Because I Needed To

Okay, I am proud of myself and the fact that I actually rocked a cute outfit today.  It's not my normal look, but that's because I have a tendency to cover myself with paint, glue, food, sawdust, etc.  I don't want to ruin cute clothes with all that stuff.  Today was special though, I needed to look like a put together functional mom since I had a meeting at our local elementary school this morning.  Gotta make a good first impression!

Shirt, Cami and Leggings: Forever 21  Shoes: Target

I am so proud of this outfit for many reasons!  First, I am small enough to feel confident rocking horizontal stripes!  Second, I am small enough to feel confident rocking leggings!  (Yay for sticking with my weight loss, you can read about that here).  The key here...I have confidence now!  And by far the best part of this outfit...the back.  Not rocking the pony tail for lack something to do with my hair, it was intentional, so I could show off the awesome crocheted back.

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