Mondays with Mel - DIY Acrylic Dots

         

I have decided to attempt a 30 Days of Creativity challenge. Creativity can come in many forms. When I can't sleep or am stuck in bed, I am patrolling Pinterest and Facebook, writing down ideas in my trusty notebook. I think that is a form of creativity, to me at least.

I am going to post my daily creativity doings here on Mondays. Maybe it spark some of your own creativity. My ultimate goal is to have an end product everyday (cards, etc) , but in my life, I think that is almost unattainable. But I will try my best!!!

My creativity for today, so far, is a DIY project. When I can't sleep (which is most nights) I am on Pinterest looking for ideas. I saw a DIY project for enamel dots using beads. I really like the look of enamel dots for embellishment and they are really popular right now. So, I watched a few You Tube vids and checked out some blogs and thought, "I could do this!"

First, I did a little research on price. Doodlebug enamel dots are $4.99 for a pack of 54 at scrapbook.com. That's not including shipping. That works out to be .09 before shipping, per dot.

Second, in my research on the different beads you could use, the best choice was perler beads. I went to by local Hobby Lobby after a vampire visit (bloodwork). A box of 2000 perler beads was $9.99. I used a 40% off coupon to make it $5.99. Total was $6.53 after taxes. That would be .002995 per dot. AND there was around 12 different colors.

Now this is the part I did today. I got out the trusty cookie sheet (no airbake sheet, just a regular cookie sheet) and a silicone mat that I designated just for this project. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. That seemed to be the average temp that most of the tutorials used for this project. I had to place the individual beads standing up, leaving a little room between each bead. They don't spread very much.

I think I put about a hundred on the mat. This was not an easy task for me. I am shaky most of the time. Then I was very careful to slide the cookie sheet in the oven as to not have any of the beads fall over.

Most of the tutorials vary in length to keep them in. I've seen as little as 15 min to as long as 30 min. At the 15 min mark, they were melting nicely. At the 20 min mark, some looked done. I took them out and let them cool before I took them off the mat. Now, at this point, some still had little dimples in the middle. I took the ones that were ready off the sheet. These were the pastel colored dots. I put the sheet back in for 5 more min and the medium colored ones were done. Took those off when cooled and noticed the black and dark blues were still not done. Those went in for 5 more min and came out perfect.

Now you ask, "why not just leave them all in there for 30 min?" If you "overcook" them, they won't be shiny and tend to brown.

Voila! DIY enamel dots. I almost squealed!!! 

Next step is for me to try to combine two to make the bigger dots and to make Mickey heads. For those I will need the help of my steady-handed husband. I guess that will be on next weekends agenda.

I hope this helped you or at least make you think of alternatives to high-priced supplies.