Father’s Day is coming up so Boo and I made Mr. Lil Blue Boo this hand carved bracelet:
It says “Daddy I Love You” in Boo’s handwriting:
First I started with a basic leather cuff (from Dharma Trading, pre-cut with hardware already attached) and used a razor blade to cut it in half:
A cuff becomes 2 bracelets!
I used small detail scissors to trim the edges to make them symmetrical:
Ready to embellish:
Boo wrote her message to Daddy on the bracelet:
Using a set of basic linoleum cutting tools…..
……I carefully carved out the letters:
Next I painted the bracelet with basic leather paint (in English Tan) making sure to get a lot of paint down into the carved letters:
Next I wiped off the paint using a damp cloth so only a thin layer was on the leather.
I painted and wiped it off several times to achieve a distressed look. Then let it dry completely:
Boo couldn’t keep this secret from Daddy and wanted to give him his bracelet immediately:
A perfect gift to Daddy from his little girl:
I made the “grateful” bracelet for myself:
What will you write on yours?
-Ashley
Aw, I loved these! I bet Mr. LBB will love them!!
Great idea! Where could I find those bracelets?
Hi Theresa! I get mine from Dharma Trading:
Mine would say Blessed.
Love this!!! 🙂
i love them! pinning these to my must make it board now!
I wish my daddy was still alive because I would have so made him one. My crazy pottery cup in hot pink sat on his desk. Boo’s writing of daddy reminded me of my cup. Thanks for sharing. Boo is so blessed to have such wonderful creative parents. :-0
I’ll definitely be making one of these with my little ones for my husband for Father’s Day. He loves cuffs. Thanks for the awesome idea and all the info on where to get the supplies!!!
That’s awesome. If only my carving tools weren’t in another state from me right now. hehe
These are so beautiful and sweet! WHat an amazing idea. Love it!
I LOVE this idea! Its the first thing I’ve seen that I know my hubs would love and my daughter will love making it! Thanks for the tutorial once I make it I will link back to you 🙂
I bought supplies for this project today! I bought my bracelets at hobby lobby, they are about 1/2 inch and came in a 2 pack for 2.27. Snaps and all!
I love the tutorial, but it looks a bit difficult to make it.
We finally did this today! They were out of the paint color you used so we subbed another brown. Ours are drying now and I’m wondering if you used some kind of finish on yours? They look almost glossy in the final photos and mine still look like yours did in the pic where you painted yours. Thank you for the great idea!
I love this! I’ve been looking for a unique handmade gift for fathers day & this is it!
These are fantastic! I will definitely be adding these to my next Dharma order! 🙂
Oh my goodness, the cutest gift EVER!!! I can’t wait to make these for daddy 🙂 Can I pin this on my pinterest board?
I am going to bookmark this for next year! M and M will both writing by then. What a super fun idea!
here is how ours turned out!
thanks so much!
http://hollypanter.blogspot.com/2011/06/happy-fathers-day-2011.html
Oooooohhh! I am in love with this – it’s amazing!
I run Fun Family Crafts, a site similar in nature to Craftgawker and Spotlight, but different in that it’s a library of craft tutorials geared only at kids. I would love it if you’d stop by and submit this to be featured! (I link to you, I don’t post your tutorial on the site) Feel free to submit as many kid friendly craft tutorials as you like! http://funfamilycrafts.com/
Mine would say…”He (God) Loves Me”!
We’re making these for Daddy for a Christmas gift. THANK You!! For this tutorial and idea!
Great idea and a very good tutorial. Kudos!
What a great gift idea! I can see myself making a nice collection to keep too. 🙂
Thanks for the unique ideas.
Girlfriends Are Like Shoes
I just found your blog and I absolutely love it. I am making a bunch of these bracelets as a fundraiser for my local Relay for Life. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
I Love these..fathers day! Yeah..thanks for the great idea. Hope you are feeling well these days! Love your blog, you are so inspiring! Keep up the Joy!
Is there anything else you can use to carve them out if you don’t have these type of cutting tools. i can’t see myself ever using these tools again so I think it’ll be a waste to buy them.
No, there probably aren’t any common tools that will have the same look to it. Sorry!
I use a nut pick- the pick you use to pick nuts out of the shells…..you can get one at any grocery store, big box store, etc….
Cindy
A little late to post this but I wanted to add that I used a battery operated engraver to do a design on the leather instead of letters and it worked beautifully. I found mine at Harbor Freight for 6 dollars and as an added bonus it engraves wood, metal, plastic…pretty much any surface I’ve taken it to except glass(haven’t tried it yet) and it is small enough to toss into the ‘junk drawer’ for anytime you need it to add a name to something(lunchboxes, inside of laptop cases etc)
This is an amazing tutorial and SUCH a good idea – I’m always looking for “cool” handmade things for my kids to make for their daddy every Fathers Day so that he doesn’t have a million photo albums that collect dust or cards that get crumpled at the bottom his sock drawer. I know he appreciates EVERYthing that our children make for him, but THESE he would actually use!! Thanks for the great tut!
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