Plastic Cup Dangle Earrings

By: Maureen Wilson

Create custom earrings from a plastic cup, a paper punch, and your favorite fabric prints with this recycling craft from Maureen Wilson. If you're looking for a fun plastic cup craft to recycle leftover cups, this video tutorial is for you.

Materials:

Plastic cup
Scrapbooking paper punch
Fabric scraps
Fabric adhesive spray
ModPodge & brush
Jump rings
Fish hook earrings

Video:

Instructions:

First protect your work area with newspaper or wrapping paper, because it’s going to get sticky.
You’ll need a plastic cup. I would recommend using a clear one if possible, but this was all I had on hand. Cut a flat strip from the cup. Don’t use any part of the cup that has ridges.
Use a scrapbooking paper punch to punch shapes from the plastic. For this pair, I’m using a 1-inch circle punch and a 1/2-inch circle punch.
Cut scraps of fabric to cover your shapes. You’ll want to cover the front and the back.
Use fabric adhesive spray to adhere the fabric to the plastic. Smooth down the fabric.
Allow it to dry for a couple of minutes, then lift the paper to gently peel the earring from your work area. Cut around the shape to remove the excess fabric.
Spray the other side with adhesive spray, and repeat the previous steps.
Use a small 1/8 inch hole punch to add holes for your jump rings. I’m adding one hole to my large circle, and two holes to my small circle.
Seal the fabric and prevent fraying by coating the front, back, and sides with a layer of ModPodge. Allow to dry.
Use jump rings to attach the shapes to fish hook earrings. When opening jump rings, twist the opposite sides to open rather than pulling apart.