I have the blessing of being a pretty creative person…but
the curse of being both a terrible artist and craft impaired. In my head I have all of these great ideas
that I cannot make my hands do. I have finally learned the hard way, after
flushing many a dollar down the drain on failed craft projects ( and that was
BEFORE Pinterest!) that I need to focus my creativity on figuring out what I
can actually do and make look good. So
when I decided to decorate my Magic Bands, I had to scrap all of my grand
artistic ideas of characters and swirls and glitter for something that I could actually
execute.
So I present…MAGIC BAND DECORATING 101: HELP FOR THE CRAFT CHALLENGED
I was really surprised at how easy it was to decorate the
bands and how well they stood up to being used in the parks.
First of all, here are some of the supplies that I used for the
project:
The directions are so simple; I do not even need to show
photos! It really is that easy, y'all!
The solid pink and the solid blue bands have a few coats of glittery
nail polish that I scored on a Target run.
I used the color “Fairy Dust” by China Glaze (how appropriate that?). I put a few coats of nail polish on, avoiding
Mickey’s head so that it would be highlighted.
Keep layering coats of polish until you achieve a level of bling that you are satisfied with. I finished with a few coats of a nail top coat. In this case, it was Orly Glosser.
The green band, is
use a few coats of OPI’s “Charged up Cherry” and a clear top coat over Mickey’s
head. I set of Mickey’s head with a
micro point sharpie in Black (correct color not pictured). It does look better if you Sharpie first and
then paint the pink over top. A few
lighter coats of nail polish are better than heavy gloppy ones.
My “Tribute to Frozen” band in blue was probably the easiest
of all. I hit up the scrapbook sticker
section of my local craft store and then did a little peel and stick. I decided Mickey’s head needed a little
something extra, so a few coats of a light blue nail polish (I raided my
daughter’s stash and I am unsure of the specific color or brand) and a few coats of “Pixie Dust” did the trick.
At this point, I started to feel a little smug over my
results thus far, so I tried my most ambitious band to date….the “Minnie Polka
Dot”. The white dots were made with simple acrylic craft paint that cost
$0.99. I used a stylus as my polka dot
maker. You can Google “polka dot stylus”, check your craft store, or check in the nail art section of a beauty supply
store. The major key to success is to
PRACTICE before you start. While I was
running a bunch of polka dots across my practice page, I learned that I needed
to dip the stylus straight into the paint and then dot it straight on the
band. No wiggling, no odd angles. I also learned that to get the most
consistent results, I needed to dip the stylus back into the paint after every
dot. I was concerned about a clear coat
smudging the dots, so I opted to use the top coat brush and did clear polka
dots over my white dots once they were totally dry. Once the clear dots were dry, I painted the
entire band with a tip coat for a nice finish.
Other ideas to try:
- Mickey head jewels that you can stick or glue on
- Temporary tattoos or stickers of your favorite characters sealed with clear polish
- Swarovski crystals
- A nod to your favorite sports team
- A seasonal band for the time of year you are visiting
- An "I'm Celebrating" band to share your special day
- A family themed band
And there you have it, an easy-peasy Magic Band Craft for
the craft challenged. Hope it helps get your
creative juices flowing!
