I have a fun clay project for you today to get ready for Valentine’s Day – this easy charm bracelet. I used my family’s initials to make it personal for me!
What you will need:
- Polymer clay in “conversation heart” colors. I have a lot of colors of clay, so while a few of my colors weren’t quite right, I blended lighter and darker colors as needed to come up with the “right” colors. If you do a lot of clay projects this is a great one since it hardly takes any clay at all.
- Roller, wax paper (for keeping your area clean) and a small heart-shaped cutter
- Stamps – I often use my metal stamps on clay, but I wanted something slightly larger so I used my tiny alphabet rubber stamps which are about 1/4″. If you need to buy stamps, rubber stamps are usually less expensive.
- Optional acrylic paint for darkening your letters
- Toothpick for making a charm hole, jump ring(s), jewelry pliers and a chain bracelet
In case this is the first project you’ve checked out with polymer clay, let me tell you a few things about working with it. It’s very easy and clay is inexpensive so you are likely to have a lot of fun with it. But there are a few precautions to take. As far as your clay supplies (rollers, cutters, and baking sheets) – you can keep costs down even further by using kitchen utensils from thrift stores or yard sales, since it works up very much like cookie dough and those tools work great, HOWEVER – clay IS NOT FOOD SAFE so you should never use *your actual kitchen utensils* for working with unbaked clay. If you decide to use a cookie cutter for a clay project, it’s now officially a clay cutter. You can’t mix your kitchen supplies and clay supplies!
All right, that said – let’s jump right in!
All I did was roll my clay out to 1/4″ thick on wax paper to protect my table, cut out hearts, and stamp each with an initial. If you haven’t done any stamping before, you might find it easiest to stamp the clay first and THEN cut the heart out, that way you have more control over centering your initial.
Then, use a toothpick to poke a hole in it (I preferred the offset look, but you could put the hole at the top and center it). It will need to bake about 30 minutes in a low temperature oven, but check the package directions as every brand can be a little bit different.
Once your charms are baked, I wanted to give them a more “authentic” candy look and paint the letters red. You just need a little bit of acrylic paint. I dabbed it on (it’s okay if it gets a little messy), and used a dampened paper towel to wipe off any excess surface paint. Just make sure you wipe it off right away because as it dries it’s increasingly more difficult to get paint off the top without accidentally removing it from the letters.
As soon as the paint was dry, I added jump rings, and added the charms onto a chain bracelet.
I decided to group mine all together. It would be fun to spell out longer names or a special message like “I love you” with more hearts, and space them out along the bracelet, too, for a more traditional charm bracelet look!
It’s an inexpensive and seasonal twist on the traditional stamped charm jewelry, and it’s perfect both for kids and for kids at heart – this one is for me, but imagine making one for your daughter or a friend for Valentine’s Day! (If you are making it for a gift, and you’ve already got your clay supplies out, why not make a Conversation Heart gift tag too? I have a tutorial for those, too!)
...and welcome! I'm Adrianne. I'm a wife and a mom who has a penchant for all things DIY. I also work full-time, so finding time for those fun projects can be a challenge! 
So, so SWEET!
They look just like the candy
Roxana recently posted..Winter Decorating
This is beautiful! I absolutely love it, thanks for sharing!
Amanda recently posted..Multiple Mommy: Things You Should Never Ask or Say To A Mom of Multiples
They look exactly like the candy! I’ve never worked with polymer clay before, but I think it’s time to move beyond Play-Doh…
Annabelle recently posted..Blogger Opp! Loaded Coupon Binder & Gift Certificate Giveaway
What a cute idea!
Alicia recently posted..A Good Night’s Rest for Many Years to Come with Sleep Number M9 Memory Foam Series (#SleepNumber)
How cute for valentine’s day!!
Melanie recently posted..Valentine Bead Canvas
What a fun idea! I love working with clay, it’s so easy to get a nice look with it.
Kendra recently posted..Have Fun Together! MM #18
That is so cute..
Kelly R recently posted..Valentine’s Day Gift Guide
This is just a cool idea. I may have to try it.
Nickida recently posted..Fine Featherheads
I absolutely LOVE this!! My daughter’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day and I am always on the search for fun little projects to do with her. She is in the stage where she loves jewelry and I know she would just love making something like this. Thanks so much for the idea! I am going to do this with her this week.
Hi Adrianne I just shared your bracelet to pinterest I love polymer clay, tried my hand at it , I watched plenty of videos to see how they combine colors and make designs, just was not for me. Yours are darling for Valentines https://pinterest.com/pin/137359857357235528/
Karren recently posted..Wake Up Your Wardrobe on the cheap!!
I LOVE this!! What a great idea. I think my daughter would love this so much.:)
Kadie recently posted..The 5 Money Personalities Review and Giveaway
Now *that* is awesome!
Suzi Satterfield recently posted..Hiring a Doula – A Smart Move
This is such a cute idea! Very clever, Adrianne!
kara recently posted..Monday ‘Pin’spirations – 1/14
HOW CUTE!! Looks like I am going to need to go buy me some clay!
Jourdan recently posted..New Perfectly Posh Products!
another thing to put on my valentine to do list! LOL very very cute
Lisa recently posted..valentine chocolate candy box candle
You always have such wonderful projects! I love reading your blog. I wanted to invite you to come link up at a party on my blog. It is a link party for OLD projects–so that we can hopefully get more traffic to our blogs using projects we’ve already posted. Come over and remind us of some of your favorite projects!
The link-up is live now.
http://www.dosmallthingswithlove.com/2013/01/hello-and-welcome-to-first-oldie-but.html
Hope to see you there!
Nancy
Hi Adrianne!
I’m going to do this with the 23 high school girls I work with. They will LOVE it!
I haven’t worked with polymer clay since I was a tiny tot. Would you recommend a certain brand? Fimo, Sculpy, are there any others out there…?
Thanks for your creativity. Candy and crafting – what could be better?
)
I like it. This would be a good craft project. Thanks
mitchelle recently posted..PALAWAN’S HIDDEN HILLS GETAWAY GIVEAWAY
Beautiful! Saw you on craftgawker, yeah!
ChiWei recently posted..Valentine Love Bug: Pass or Fail?
OMG! This is simply brilliant. I really want to make some! Thanks for sharing!
Emily recently posted..January 14: Menu Plan Monday
Soooo cute, Adrianne!!
amy recently posted..Memory Wire Shell Bead Bracelet
This is absolutely darling!! Pinning it
Another excellent work. Keep it up.
WOW that looks awesome. What a great gift for a mother or grandmother for Valentines day. I would love to have one of these with the names of my girls. Thanks so much for sharing on We Made That!
Oh my gosh, this is absolutely adorable!! I would love to make this, but I fear I’m not good at crafts! Thanks for sharing this wonderful bracelet at One Creative Weekend!
tanya recently posted..Vanilla Vinaigrette over Mixed Greens and Pomegranates
I am not usually a jewelry maker, but this is a really cool project! Thanks for sharing it with us! Sara
I’m so happy to feature this tonight! Can’t wait to see what you link up next week!
tanya recently posted..Vanilla Vinaigrette over Mixed Greens and Pomegranates
New follower from Hayley’s World. You have a sure hand to paint those teeny letters!
The bracelet is cute and would make a perfect gift
Conversation hearts all the way! I love how you personalized this with your family’s initials. You will also be able to add the baby’s initial next year!
I’m so glad you shared this at Loving Valentines Day!
TGIF!
Marilyn
Marilyn recently posted..Some of What is Happening Now in Blogland!
i HEART this adrianne! great job!
Kimberly recently posted..{InstaFriday} #ANOWeekend, #Influenster and #FMSPhotoaday