Halloween DIY: Easy Shrinky Dink Bats Jewelry

Holy crap buckets, Batman!  We’ve passed the halfway to Halloween mark which means it’s time to start seriously planning and getting ready.

If you’re not already following Miranda over at Spooky Little Halloween, now is the time to start.  She has an amazing Halloween Party planner that tells you exactly what you should be doing and when you should be doing it, and it starts six months out…so…TODAY!

Because she’s so amazing and is as big a Halloween freak as I am, we’re teaming up for a little mischief and today’s fun DIY is dedicated to her.

As we’ve discussed in several of my previous posts (Sweet Orange & Chocolate Lunar Bat Cupcakes and Necro-Crafting: DIY Lunar Bat Lantern from Recycled Cardboard) I love bats… So I’m using them as the inspiration for my super easy and fun Shrinky Dink Bat jewelry.

Hey, fun side note.  Did you know bats are considered good luck in China?  It’s true!

In China, the word for bat (fu) is pronounced the same way you pronounce luck, so the bat has become a symbol for good luck…with five bats together as the most auspicious symbol for good luck, the “Five good fortunes.”

So much adorable good luck!

So this is not only a fun Halloween project but further justification that bats should be a year-round part of your daily decorating plan.

BEFORE WE GET STARTED, I SHOULD LET YOU KNOW, **THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS.

READ MY FULL DISCLOSURE HERE.

Now that that is out of the way, let’s have fun!

For this you will need:

• Shrinky dink material (available at most craft stores or online here)
• Black sharpie marker
• Stretch Magic cord
• Bat hole punch (or optionally you can cut your shapes out using scissors but I’m not that coordinated)
• Jump rings
• Beads
• Crimp beads
• Bead needle (optional)
• Jewelry (or regular) pliers
• Hole punch
• Baking sheet
• Silicone mat (or parchment paper)

Start by first coloring your shrink material black with your marker.  Using your bat punch (or scissors) cut out your bat.

Because shrinky dinks get thicker as they shrink, it’s easiest to punch the holes and insert the jump rings before you cook them.  I’m using a micro hole punch for scrapbooking but you can also use a tack or push pin to make your holes.

Line your baking sheet with either a silicone mat or a piece of parchment paper and arrange your bats.

Follow the directions on your shrink material package and bake (each package is slightly different).

If your bats curl while cooking, gently press them flat when they come out of the oven.  Be careful, they’ll be hot.  A spatula works great for giving them that final flatten.

If they cool before you can flatten them, you can return them to the oven for up to 2 minutes to soften up again…but be careful you don’t reheat them too long and scorch them.

Look how small they get!

Once they’re cool enough to touch, it’s time to start figuring out what you want to make with them.

I started with a bead bracelet.  I used crimp beads to secure my elastic cord to the jump ring on one side of my bat, strung the rest with beads to fit the width of my wrist, and then secured it on the other side with another jump bead.  So easy!

Then I decided to try stringing a few bats together and making a multi-bat bracelet.

Playing with them was so much fun!  Next, I made a bat necklace using some chain and a simple clasp.

It was so much fun!  I ended up making about 50 bats.  I’ve turned 25 into different jewelry projects and have been handing the rest out to friends for good luck.

In fact, I have SO MANY BATS that I’m going to do another giveaway!

I’ll be making 5 more bat bracelets and will give one to five lucky fans!

So how do you get in on this amazing fun?

Just click on this link here  (now fixed!) and fill out the form and hit send…

Lucifur, the Lord of Barkness, will choose the winner on the 1st of June.

Until then, have fun making your own Shrinky Dink bats, be sure to swing by my friend Miranda’s blog, and as always…

Bone appetite!

Like what you see?  Want to see more?  Help me keep making my disgusting creations by visiting my Patreon page.

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