CREATE YOUR OWN COLORFUL TEARDROP LEATHER EARRINGS WITH THIS CUT FILE
Do you love leather earrings? Me too. But you want to make them in bright fun colors?
Yes, please.
Yes, you could buy bright and colorful leather from Etsy to make your own but cutting leather is a big learning curve!
Let me show you another way to make bright and bold leather earrings using Cricut leather and Cricut vinyl! It’s easy once you get the hang of it and the possibilities are endless! Let’s get started.
LET ME SHOW YOU HOW I MAKE BRIGHT AND COLORFUL DIY TEARDROP LEATHER EARRINGS
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Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore Air 2
Cricut Strong Grip Mat Tip: this 3 pack of mats is the best price I’ve seen on mats!
Cricut Deep Point Blade
Cricut Premium Vinyl in Tangerine, Peach Malba, and Coral
Cricut Standard Mat (the green one)
Teardrop SVG/PNG file from my resource library. You can get access to this file at the bottom of my post.
HOW TO MAKE BRIGHT AND COLORFUL DIY TEARDROP EARRINGS USING OUR FREE CUT FILE
STEP 1 DOWNLOAD THE CUT FILE
Download my teardrop cut file from my resource library. You can get access to my resource library at the bottom of this post. My resource library is full of cut files you can use on your Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore Air 2.
STEP 2 UPLOAD AND EDIT THE CUT FILE IN CRICUT DESIGN SPACE
Upload the teardrop cut file into Cricut Design Space. If you have never uploaded a file into Cricut Design Space, you can check out my tutorial here.
You can upload the teardrop file for FREE and then cut. It is really easy to do once you get the hang of it. Feel free to reach out to me or comment below if you have any questions or problems!
Once your file is uploaded your screen should look like this.
Next, you will need to size your earrings. In the upper middle of your screen, you’ll see “Size.” This is where you can make your teardrop big or small. I recommend the following sizes:
Small 2” Long
Medium 2.5” Long
Large 3” Long
Finally, you will have to duplicate your earrings so you have 2 earrings to cut. Note: if you want to make multiple pairs of earrings at one time, duplicate as many as you need! You can fill out the entire 12 x 12 mat if you want.
To do this simply click on your teardrop earring. On the upper right side of your screen, click “DUPLICATE.”
You now have 2 earrings. Your design should look like this.
STEP 3 CUT YOUR CRICUT METALLIC LEATHER
Cutting Cricut metallic leather is a great place to start if you’ve never worked with leather on your Cricut. It is so versatile! Be sure to place your Cricut metallic leather FACE Down on a strong grip mat.
Use a brayer to ensure your leather fully adheres to your mat.
Place a deep cut blade in your machine and move the start wheel to the right.
On your Cricut Maker, choose “Cricut Metallic Leather” in the settings before you cut. I always choose “MORE PRESSURE” when I cut metallic leather. For some reason, this makes all the cuts really smooth!
Remove the earrings from the mat and set aside.
STEP 4 CUT VINYL
For this tutorial, I used 3 colors. I used vinyl in tangerine, peach melba, and coral.
First, move your star wheels back to where they were originally. Swap out your deep cut blade, and put the fine point blade in your machine.
I cut my vinyl into blocks ensuring the blocks are big enough for 2 earrings. You can see how I cut my vinyl in the picture above.
Be sure to use your standard grip mat.
Place your vinyl color side up on your mat.
In Cricut Design Space, use the same teardrop cut file as you did with leather. Be sure to select the correct vinyl when you cut!
Choose “MORE PRESSURE.”
Burnish your vinyl on your mat after you cut. This tool is great for burnishing. Burnishing is basically making sure everything is sticking together.
Weed your vinyl.
Cut a piece of transfer tape the size of your vinyl. Peel off the backing. Cover your vinyl with transfer tape.
Burnish your vinyl to your transfer tape.
Carefully Remove the vinyl from your mat.
Flip it over and burnish again!
STEP 5 PLACE VINYL ONTO YOUR LEATHER EARRINGS
Remove the white backing.
The easiest way to apply the vinyl to your earrings is to hold your vinyl “like a taco”, lining up the point of your earrings first, laying vinyl from the inside of the shape, working out. This eliminates bubbling.
Burnish your earring, making sure the vinyl adheres.
The easiest way to take off the transfer tape is to remove it by pulling STRAIGHT DOWN.
REPEAT this again with other colors. You could add all three colors to one mat and cut one time. It is up to you! (see below)
If you need help cutting or applying vinyl, THIS VIDEO is amazing.
STEP 6 PUNCH HOLES IN YOUR TEARDROP LEATHER EARRINGS
I prefer using a leather punch to cut holes in my earrings. Try to find the center of your earring and make a hole. I find a leather punch gives you more control. My punch has several different size holes. I always set my dial on the smallest hole when making leather earrings.
STEP 7 ATTACH YOUR EARRING HOOKS
You are almost done! Last step!
Open up your earring hook with your jewelry pliers. I prefer the flat nose pliers to open the hook.
Thread your open hook through your earring and clamp your hook back together again. I use both pliers to make sure my hook won’t fall out.
Repeat on the other earring.