Halloween Jewelry

In the past couple of weeks I’ve shared DIY projects to decorate your home (here and here) and cards to send to loved ones (here) to celebrate Halloween, but today’s post is all about YOU!  Or at least decorating yourself for Halloween.  Today’s post is about making a Halloween Necklace and Bracelet using items you can find at Palette & Paper (you will be looking at the washi tape in a whole new light!).

Bracelet

Did you know that you can make a bracelet with a water bottle, washi tape (I used Little B's gold foil spider web washi) and gel medium?  It’s pretty awesome, let’s take a look!

First up, grab a water bottle, one that has a circumference similar to your wrist and is smooth.  Cut the bottle open and a strip that is slightly thinner than the washi you are using.  I used my heavy paper trimmer to cut a piece of the water bottle ¾ of an inch.

Tear off a piece of washi tape longer than your strip of water bottle and lay it sticky side up on your craft mat.  Liberally apply gel medium to the sticky side of the washi tape (this will help it really stick to the plastic).  Place the water bottle strip on top of the washi tape, apply more gel medium to the back side of the bracelet and wrap the sides and ends with the tape. 

Next up, cut a piece of washi tape to measure the exact width of your bracelet (in this case ¾ of an inch).  Cutting washi tape with a paper trimmer is so easy and such a great way to make “skinny” washi for a multitude of crafts.

Add more gel medium to the back side of your bracelet from edge to edge (over the part of the tape that you previously wrapped around).  Adhere your skinnier piece of washi to the back of the bracelet.
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Hold the ends down with whatever “paper weights” you have handy and leave the bracelet to dry.

To add to the spider web theme of my bracelet I wanted to add some spiders.  I had a pack of Tim Holtz spider charms (available at P&P), so I carefully, with a pair of needle nose pliers, broke off the charm eyelet and colored the spider with some alcohol ink (available at P&P individually or in packs of 3 colors).

Once your bracelet has dried, dab on a liberal amount of gel medium (P&P offers a few varieties of gel medium) where you want your spider(s) to be and glue the spider on.  I added two spiders to my bracelet so they would counter balance each other weight wise.  And lastly, a small piece of sticky Velcro can be added to the bracelet to keep it closed.

Viola - - a Halloween bracelet and no one will believe it is a water bottle washi tape!

Necklace

For the necklace, I gathered my supplies – Tim Holtz Spider Charms, Tim Holtz Crypt Cameos, Tim Holtz Typed Tokens – Halloween (all available at P&P) along with some other miscellaneous Halloween charms, bezel and a necklace chain I had.

I love adding in purple and green to Halloween décor and jewelry, so I decided to cover the two Crypt Cameos I was using with Alcohol Inks to make one green and one purple.  I also covered a few more spiders with alcohol ink.

For the Typed Tokens, I painted a quick coat of black gesso and once it dried (in a matter of minutes) coated it with Inka Gold in a gorgeous copper color and in platinum (this product is so versatile, you should a color or two next time you are in the Shoppe).

I wanted to make a center bezel for my necklace that tied into the bracelet, so I put some of my scrap washi tape on a piece of paper, coated the back side of the clear cabochon with gel medium and glued it to the washi tape.  Once it dried, I cut the cabochon out, painted gel medium inside the silver bezel and glued the washi backed cabochon inside the bezel.  

Once I had all of my pieces created, I laid out the chain and the charms in the order I wanted.

Then with some jump rings and a pair of needle nose pliers I attached the charms to my necklace chain.  

I love the results and can’t wait to wear my new Halloween Jewels over the next couple of weeks!