I created little holiday present earrings with Kathy Cano-Murillo during our livestream crafting session.
If you are looking for a reason to smile, just spend a little time crafting with Kathy Cano-Murillo, also known as CraftyChica. I can’t say enough about her joyous spirit and panache for creativity and fun.
Kathy suggested that we make earrings during our 30-minute live crafting session during our MyFixitUpLife DIY con, and I was psyched to learn a few of her expert crafty tricks. She’s got a way with using simple craft supplies like paper, glitter, and glue in a way that makes her the goddess of crafting.
I gathered the supplies, ready to craft with Kathy. Kathy’s craft was 3 1/2 hours into the livestream holiday DIY con, and after doing 7 other crafts, my work area was on the other side of tidy.
Kathy suggested we use watercolor paper and paper punches to make earrings. The watercolor paper is crafting genius. It’s super sturdy, holds paint well, and inexpensive to buy an entire pack. My Fiskars paper punches are this crafter’s friend. I’ve used them to make labels, decorate note cards, and make fun little monster Valentine’s with my kids.
After I spray painted the watercolor paper blue, which dried quickly, my blue paper was ready to become a pair of holiday earrings. But my paper waited…and waited.
I couldn’t find my paper punches when it was time for this next step with Kathy. We were live, crafting on blab. So as she exuded happiness and crafting know-how in Phoenix, I decided to go into another direction with my earring project in Philadelphia.
Reaching back into my engineering high school days, I made a little box out of the paper.
Paper box-making backstory
As a freshman, my classmates and I had to look at 3D shapes and then cut out paper to make those shapes. The challenge was that we could only cut out one shape. That one shape had to perfectly fold into the 3D shape, and there couldn’t be any gaps at the edges. If there was a gap, our grade was lowered. And the shapes were never as easy as a cube.
I used my x-acto and cutting matte, and freestyle cut out a shape from my painted paper. I tied the little box with ribbon and inserted the earring hook.
So out of frustration, I crafted my way to a fun little project I never intended to make.
If you like the little holiday present earrings, there’s a printable below. I’m thinking about making a little one from cardstock, and then wrapping it in holiday paper, so it’s spot-on holiday.
I hope you’ll watch the video from our live crafting as Kathy Cano-Murillo shares her talent and how-to for making crafty earring creations. And I guarantee you’ll be smiling and inspired to craft within just a few minutes.
Kathy Cano-Murillo is also known as the CraftyChica. She’s an artist, author, newspaper columnist-turned-creativepreneur, speaker, blogger. And she says that she’s fueled by sparkle.
What you’ll need for the holiday earring DIY project:
- watercolor paper
- craft paint, brushes
- cup of water
- earring hooks (I just take apart earrings that haven’t been worn in a long time)
- jump rings
- safety pin (to poke a hole in the earrings)
- water based varnish
- glitter
- paper punches
- scissors or x-acto knife
- ribbon
