Upcycled Painted Cross Stitch Cuff

Upcycled Painted Cross Stitch Cuff

Posted by DecoArt on Mar 22nd 2016

Ever since I made my Painted Cross-Stitch Dress last spring I've been pretty obsessed with all things faux cross-stitch. I'm always excited when another opportunity arises to create more!

And with Earth Day approaching (April 22!), I'm all about getting my upcycle on. In fact, I tend to hoard things rather than throw them out if I think I could possibly reuse them in some way. I keep a basket in my craft space for just such items. Can you tell what this upcycled painted cross-stitch cuff once was? It's one of my favorite things to repurpose!

It's an empty duct tape roll! Did you know they are the perfect size to wear as a bracelet? I never throw them out when I get to the end of a roll.

Items Needed:

  • SoSoft Fabric Acrylics 2oz - Bright Coral
  • Small Paint Brush
  • Canvas Shelf Liner
  • Empty Duct Tape Roll
  • Wet Adhesive

Instructions:

Gather your materials.

Instruction Image #1

I chose this canvas shelf liner over regular fabric because it gives the bracelet a little more weight AND it's water resistant, so if it gets wet you don't have to worry about it penetrating through to the cardboard.

Take off unused tape from the roll (all that was left was the tape directly adhered to the cardboard). Measure and trim a piece of the shelf liner that will wrap around the roll with just a slight overlap and the top and bottom will overlap as well on the inside of the roll.

Adhere liner to the outside of the roll with the wet adhesive of your choice. I suggest Beacon's 3-in-1, Fabri-Fix, or E6000. I would not recommend a hot glue gun because it may melt the plastic on the shelf liner.

Fold over one side of the liner and adhere to the inside of the roll. Smooth out any wrinkles. Repeat with the other side.

Instruction Image #2

Figure out what pattern you want to paint onto the bracelet and draw it out. I have this handy little graph paper pad from Target that I use for small projects like this.

Start roughly in the middle of the pattern and begin painting small x's on the bracelet.

Don't worry if you mess up the pattern. No one will ever know. Just keep working.
Don't worry if you cannot fit the entire pattern on the bracelet. Now one will ever know.
Can you see where I messed up? Did you notice that I can't fit the bottom two lines of the pattern onto the bracelet? I bet no on both counts!

Once your first color is dry, being filling in the other colors. To create the lighter pink color I mix a 2:1 ratio of the Bright Coral and White fabric paints.

Instruction Image #3

Allow the paint several hours to completely dry.

Now you have a brand new piece of unique jewelry, and it barely cost a thing! I don't know about you, but that is my favorite kind of jewelry.

Instruction Image #4

Instruction Image #5