DIY: heavy medals

Did anyone else participate in Solo & Ensemble Festival as a kid? You prepared a solo or ensemble piece (they were very creative with the name) and performed it at the festival for a judge. The judge then determined how well you performed and gave you a feedback sheet and a score. In addition to developing performance skills. I think it was supposed to give you an outside opinion in case you just thought your band director was a jerk when she told you to practice more. If you scored high enough, you were awarded with a little medal.

Band is where it's at.

In the adult world there aren't quite so many opportunities to earn medals like this. So I decided to make some to reward myself for...um...

Reward yourself too!

You will need: scissors, metal brackets/any random hardware, pin backs, ribbon, paintbrush, metallic paint, puffy paint, a hot glue gun, a fabric marker (optional)

1: cover your workspace. Use the puffy paint to decorate your "medals". I did a dotted texture on the L brackets and a compass design on the back of an old pin. Get creative!












  2: use the fabric marker to draw a design on your ribbon. I was using some old holiday ribbon, so I wanted to change its look, but if you already have some cute ribbon you can skip this step. Note: if you use a sharpie or permanent marker, it may bleed! This marker was specifically for fabric.










3: fold your ribbon over itself so it forms a point on one end and secure with hot glue. (The snowflake pattern is the back side of the ribbon)

4: use hot glue to secure the pin backs about 1/2" down on the back side of your ribbons. Fold the top 1/4" over and secure with glue for a clean edge. Be careful that you don't glue the pins closed! :S

5: once your puffy paint is completely dry, paint over the hardware, covering it completely. This took me three coats--it's better to paint more lighter coats than one heavy coat to prevent the paint from pooling and muddying your design!

6: use hot glue to attach the medals to the bottom 1" of the ribbon point. If you want your medals to dangle more, you can also use jump hooks.










The texture turned out better than the compass-- I think simpler designs will stand out more.

Wear these on your coat or vest, or pin them to your bag!

Congratulations on your accomplishment!