Shrinky Dink Snowflake Earrings

    

      I love projects that are "No guilt." For me, that means projects that are inexpensive, use materials I already have, and have a good use or purpose for making them. So far this is one of the least expensive projects I've done, and I'm quite happy with the result.
      I decided to make a small package for my sister and her family who live in Washington. She has three girls and a boy, and all the girls have pierced ears. It started out as a package to celebrate the first snow, so I used a snowflake theme.
      You can find the tutorial for a snowflake gift box here. For the earring card I just copied two of the bottom hexagons and made the seam into a perforation cut. Then I added two small circular holes to hold the earring wires.

For the earrings you will need:
1. A craft cutting machine such as a Silhouette, and some sharp scissors.
2. Pieces of thin, clear, #6 plastic big enough for your shape
3. A cutting file in the shape you desire (Snowflake shape provided below)
4. Jump rings and earring wires, jewelry pliers
5. An oven and aluminum foil

For starters, you'll need to get your hands on the thin, clear #6 plastic. This is the plastic used for Shrinky Dinks. But you don't have to buy full sheets for small projects like this. In fact you can find lids for pies, cookies, and even Cafe Rio burritos that are made out of #6 plastic. Just look for this symbol:

Since my snowflakes are so tiny I didn't need a lot, so I just used the lids from our burritos and cut out the smooth triangle-ish pieces, as shown below.

    

Then I positioned the plastic on my Silhouette cutting mat and cut out my snowflake shape. The flake should be about 1.5 - 2 inches across. Or bigger, if you like bigger earrings. It shrinks a lot.

You are free to use my snowflake pattern below. I found that the tear-shaped hole on the tip was just the right size for a jump ring. (Here is a short video about using the handy dandy trace feature on your Silhouette to convert the pic to a cutting file.) I am aware this shape is not symmetrical, but I actually prefer it that way because it's true to the free-hand version I cut out of paper.

      I used the setting for adhesive magnetic material and that seemed to cut at a good speed and depth. Make sure your plastic is really stuck onto your mat so it doesn't move around, which can easily happen especially because this setting passes over each cut twice.

      I made sure all the pieces in the holes had come out, then I turned my oven on broil and placed the wire rack close to the top of the oven. I used a piece of aluminum foil as a "baking sheet" and just kept the oven door open as I watched the shrinky magic happen.

      It will curl and warp and move and (if you're like me) scare you to death that you've just ruined your whole project. Just wait until it stops moving and shrinking and getting thicker, and you can take your perfect little miniature snowflake out of the oven. Be careful not to touch it before it cools and hardens.
      I haven't used this method for any other shape, but I plan to soon. Please let me know in the comments if you adapted this method and what you made.

Thanks and happy crafting!