How To Make Love Anthem Shrink Plastic Pins

I decided to enter Snapguide's DIY Your Heart Out Valentines craft contest with only 3 days left to participate! With such little time to come with a project/make a tutorial, I wanted to do something that required few materials but resulted in maximum impact. With flair pins and sassy lyrics slaying the accessories game right now, why not combine the two into one sass-tastic DIY? With this easy DIY, now you can wear all your favorite love ballads and heartbreak anthems on your sleeve (and everything else) this Valentine's Day. Check out my Snapguide here!

EDIT: I won 2nd place!!

Materials

• white shrink plastic
• fine grit abrasive paper (I used 320 grit)
• think black Sharpie
• colored pencils
• jewelry pins (bar pins or round pins)
• optional: bobby pins
  
  Tools
• E6000
• scissors
• parchment paper or thin cardboard (I used a cereal box)
• toaster oven or oven

Steps
Lightly use abrasive paper to evenly roughen up the surface of the shrink plastic. This will allow the colored pencil pigment to stick to the plastic!

Draw or trace a design onto the shrink plastic piece using a thin black Sharpie. I went with hearts and speech bubbles, but you can use any shape you like. Most shrink plastic will shrink up to 50%, but I recommend doing a practice piece to experiment with sizes.

Cut out your shape(s).

Color in your designs with colored pencils. Keep in mind that the colors will be more saturated once your piece has shrunk.

Use a Sharpie to add your desired lyrics.

Follow the directions for your specific brand of shrink plastic for heating tips. I put my pieces on thin cardboard (cereal box) and stuck it in a toaster oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-2 minutes.

The shrink plastic will initially curl in the heat, but will flatten on its own! If needed, use parchment paper or cardboard to press down on your design to flatten it once you remove it from the oven.

Here are some before and after shots of my shrink plastic pieces.

Remove pieces from the oven and let your creations cool.

To assemble your pins, apply a small amount of E6000 to the back of a pin (or bobby pin!) and press it onto the back of your shrink plastic design to secure it. I liked the round pins better than the bar pins but they both work well!

Let your pins dry for at least a few hours and then put them on everything you own!

Yes. The fat cat sack was necessary. Happy Galentine's Day!

♥ Justine