Craftibilities: gun range

I made blinged out ear protection before in pink and absolutely loved them.

Well, I dropped them one to many times and they broke. Beyond repair.

My last post was all about how this was one of my most hated and loved crafts and took forever to make. Since they did turn out beautiful when finished, I decided to make them again.

I purchased low profile ear protection and spray painted silver.

I started by buying Swarovski crystals at Michael's one at a time with coupons like before but I didn't have nearly enough and it was getting so expensive. This was about the time that I remembered why I hated this craft so much. Lol.

I searched online and found almost the exact same crystals online in bulk and SO MUCH CHEAPER! Plus I have a ton left over to maybe do something else.

I started with the large 5mm crystals around the edge. Then worked my way from top to bottom to fill it in the rest with 3mm and 4mm sizes.

Still took forever but I love them!

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I love going shooting and I love crafting. Combined you get custom blinged out ear protection for the gun range!

I will say that I ABSOLUTELY love them but making them was a different story. It was tedious, took way more crystals than expected, and this project made me cuss. At one point I was thinking just the one side is pretty, right!? Lol! I painfully finished both sides and glad I did.

Things you'll need:
Swarovski crystal rhinestones (flat back)
Super glue
Tweezers
Patience
Lots of time

Tips before you start:
Be prepared to buy more packages than you think. I used Michael's coupons to purchase them one by one. Took forever to purchase but it saved a lot of money.

Use different size jewels for filling in gaps plus it's easier to purchase. I cleared out a few different Michael's finding the color I needed. It would've taken longer if only using one size.

Pre-place to few at at time to see how they look before gluing. So glad I did this extra step because sometimes they fit better with a different combo.

Use a TINY amount of super glue. It's weird but if you use too much it coats the crystal in a film that makes them dull and sometimes looks white around the base. I added the glue and dabbed some off before attaching.

One last thing before I started gluing (actually I decided after about 20 crystals were attached.) I taped around the padding and the crystals already placed and used spray paint. The ear protection I purchased had a logo and I wasn't sure the crystals would cover it completely. I used a pink spray paint that didn't exactly match but it covered the logo and the crystals covered the difference in color.

Best to start around the edges first and fill in the rest. This way you have a clean edge from the beginning.

The first side I started in the center and the edges didn't turn out as nice. I couldn't find the right combo to make them meet the edge exactly. Still bugs me.