DIY Shrinky Dink Jewellery Tutorial - Diamonds are a girls best friend!

Remember a little while back when I made Game Of Thrones sigil badges out of shrinky dinks? Well I'm at it again, but this time I am making fancy jewellery!

It is true what they say. Diamonds ARE a girls best friend! And so are crystals and emeralds and sapphires, anything pretty really. BUT who says they have to be real? If you cant afford a selection of jewellery with real diamonds and other gem stones, (lets face it, who can?) then why not make your own for super cheap?  They are pretty darn easy to make too! So today I am going to show you how you can quickly knock up your own gemstone earrings, necklace and brooch!

Before you start you will need to find some gem stone shapes which you like, and can print out. I downloaded most of the diamond/gemstone/crystal shapes from mini-eco. Aren't they so pretty! I love all of Kate's Tutorials, they are fantastic, you can check them out here. I copied the image onto my computer and coloured each gem stone shape separately.

Emerald Brooch

You will need:

• Shrinky Dink Printable Paper - print out 1 gemstone (mine measured  approx 6cm by 5cm at its widest points before being cooked.)
• An Oven
• A Brooch Back
• Superglue

Print out your gemstone onto the shrinky dink paper, and cut it out carefully. Bear in mind before you print that it will shrink quite considerably, and the colour will also darken. Follow the instructions on your packet to get the best results. Here is what mine looked like before I had cooked it...

...and here is what it looked like afterwards. Quite a difference right? So make sure you are printing it big enough for your brooch back to fit on. Once you have cooked it, all you need to do is glue on the brooch back with the super glue, (be careful not to get it on your fingers!) and you're done!

Diamond Earrings

You will need:

• Shrinky Dink Printable Paper- print out 2 diamonds -  (measuring approx 5.2cm by 4.8cm at the widest points before being cooked)
• An Oven
• Earwire hooks with spring and ball (or dangly earrings to you and me)
• 4 small jump rings
• A hole punch
• Tweezers

Start off by printing and cutting out your gemstone shape again, but this time you are going to punch a hole in it at the top so that we can attach the earring. It is easier if you have a single hole punch, but it could be done with a normal one if needed.

Then, bake it as before, and when it is done you can attach the earring.  I found that I needed to attach 2 jump rings, as when I only attached one the diamond was facing sideways rather than forwards. I don't have any proper jewellery making equipment, so I just made do with a pair of tweezers. You will need to bend each jump ring to hook it on, then bend it back once it is attached, and I found that was the easiest way to do it.

Gemstone Necklace

You will need:

• Shrinky Dink Printable Paper-print out 5 gemstones (the diamond in the middle measured 5.2cm by 4.8cm before it went in the oven)
• An Oven
• A piece of chain
• 6 jump rings
• A hole punch
• Tweezers

Follow the same steps as with the earrings, but instead of punching one hole at the top, you will need to punch one hole on either side of each gem before baking.  Once cooked simply attach a jump ring to either end of your chain, then attach the gems to each other until both ends of the chain are linked up.

I hope you enjoyed my Shrinky Dink DIY'S today. I do have one more I would like to share with you, but I will save that for another day. If you do give this a go I would love to see your results!

Laura xXx