Faux Leather Valentine’s Earrings
This heart earring diy is the perfect Cricut project idea for Valentine’s Day!
This faux leather Valentine’s earrings project is easy to make. I used the Cricut Easy Press to apply the heart shape heat transfer vinyl. You’ll see several of these earrings at the bottom of this post, featuring many glitter colors and other types of heat transfer vinyl.
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Check out my favorite diy earring essentials list on my Amazon storefront here!
Check out my favorite diy earring materials list on my Amazon storefront here!
Details for making these faux leather Valentine’s earrings can be seen in my YouTube video below.
Key Supplies Needed
Cricut Machine
Must Have Tools & Accessories
DIY Earring Tool Must Haves
Earring Supplies
HOW TO MAKE DIY EARRINGS
Select an earring template and upload it into Cricut Design Space.
You can find many templates for your earrings on Pinterest and Etsy. Many bloggers offer them for free and others are available for sale on the Etsy website.
For these leather Valentine’s earrings, I used an SVG cut file that I bought on the Design Bundles website.
Open Cricut Design Space and start a new project
Start a new project to make your faux leather Valentine’s earrings by clicking on the + icon.
Upload Image, if not already uploaded
Upload the cut file for this project, by clicking on the upload icon on the left and navigate to the file on your computer.
I always recommend adding tags when uploading new files. Pick words that you would type in if you were looking for the file. This makes it much easier to search for the file when you’re looking for it in the future.
Insert the cut file onto the canvas of your new project.
Click on the Images icon on the left.
Tip: To easily find my upload files, I usually filter by files that I have uploaded. Click on the Filter option.
Click on “Uploaded.”
Select the cut file you want to use. It will have a green box around it when selected. Then, click on the Insert Image button in lower, right-hand corner.
Once you’ve inserted the image onto the canvas, you can see the dimensions of the file you’ve inserted in the height and width field.
This is what the file for our diy faux leather Valentine’s earrings looks like after being added to the canvas. The file comes in at over 7″ tall.
Re-size the diy faux leather earrings, if needed.
An earring size is a personal preference, but here are some general dimensions.
- Small teardrops – 1 3/4 inches
- Large teardrops – 2 1/2 inches
- Medium leaf – 2 1/4 inches
- Large leaf – 2 1/2 inches
You’ll want to decide the height of your earring based on personal preference.
For this project, I’m going to create an earring with a 2″ height. You can modify that number if you want your earrings bigger or smaller.
Hide Any Necessary Elements Using the Contour Button
For this project, I don’t want the hearts to cut out of the earring so I need to hide the heart. I do this by using the Contour button.
Select the teardrop image and then click on the Contour button.
Click on the heart shape. When it is shaded, it indicates that you’ve selected it to be hidden. Once the heart is selected (shaded), click on the X in the upper-right-hand corner to exit.
Your teardrop will now be on your mat without the heart cutout.
Duplicate the teardrop.
Click on the teardrop image and then once selected, click on the Duplicate button.
Decide if you need additional teardrops.
I often glue teardrops back-to-back so that the backside of the earring is as cute as the front side. I like to do this because earrings often move and turn and this makes it cute from all angles.
I’m not going to do that for these earrings so I’m not making additional teardrops for this purpose.
Duplicate another teardrop to create the hearts.
This seems a little strange, because you’re duplicating a blank teardrop. However, the heart is still in the teardrop even though you can’t see it. Remember, you just HID it in an earlier step.
Select the teardrop by clicking it and click on the duplicate button.
Use the Contour Button to unhide the heart and hide the teardrop.
Click on one of the teardrops and then click on the Contour button in the lower right-hand corner.
FIRST, click on the heart to unhide the heart (it should not be shaded). You need to do this first, before hiding the teardrop. Then, click on the image that looks like the teardrop (it should be shaded). Once the tear drop is shaded click the X in the upper right hand corner. This will hide the teardrop and only the heart shape will remain.
Duplicate the heart.
Click on the heart to select it and then click on the Duplicate button.
Change earring components to the right color.
You will need to change the color of either the teardrops or the hearts because you’ll be cutting those on two different mats. One mat will have your earring material (leather, faux leather, faux suede or cork) and the other mat will have your heat transfer vinyl (your iron on material).
For these faux leather Valentines earrings, I’ll make the teardrops a different color. I do this by left clicking while I draw a box around the teardrop and then click on the color box next to Cut.
MAKE IT
Once your mat has all the earring components ready to cut, click on the Make It button to cut your diy leather Valentine’s earrings.
On the left you’ll see the different mats that will need to be cut.
Set the Cricut machine on the right setting.
Turn your dial on your Cricut Explore to Custom. This lets you look at the long list of materials. You will need to select a material for EACH mat.
Click on the Browse All Materials link to see the menu of materials options on your Cricut.
For your faux leather, if it is Cricut faux leather, you’ll select the Cricut faux leather option from the Browse materials menu (Faux Leather Paper Thin).
If you’re using non-Cricut faux leather, the Shimmer Leather option normally works best.
For your iron on material, just look at the options in the Iron On category and pick the one that matches your material.
Move the star wheels.
The Cricut machine has star wheels to keep materials from shifting during cutting. However, when cutting thicker materials, the star wheels can leave track marks. When you select a material from the browse menu that is thicker, the Cricut machine will prompt you to move the star wheels to the right.
If prompted to do so (when cutting genuine leather) push the wheels to the right. They may be on there tight so put some strength behind it. You won’t be prompted to do this step for faux leather.
Make sure you’re using the right blade.
You can cut faux leather, faux suede, cork, and leather on the Cricut Explore and Cricut Maker. When cutting Cricut’s faux leather and faux suede, you can use the Cricut standard fine point blade. If you’re cutting genuine leather, you’ll need to use the Cricut deep cut bade.
Place your material on the cutting mat(s).
Before you put the material on the mat, you’ll want to look at the back of it to determine what is is made of. I normally place my material on my mats good side down. The exception to this is when the good side is actually messier than the backside (e.g., glitter faux leather).
Also, I like to determine how much of the material will be cut. Typically, it is less than 3″ of material, meaning only about 3″ of the mat needs to be exposed. I then place my plastic Cricut mat cover back onto my mat about 3″ down from the top of the cutting area. I do this so that I don’t put the material on top of the mat where I’m not cutting it. This keeps me from losing the stickiness on my mat. I don’t like to pre-cut my material because I want minimize waste of the material.
Once I place my plastic on top of the mat, I put the material onto the mat, face down (good side down).
After placing the material on the mat, you can use a Cricut Brayer roller to press it nicely onto your mat.
Heat Transfer Materials (Iron On)
The shinny side of iron-on material should face down and the dull side faces up – always when cutting the heat transfer vinyl.
Sometimes I have to tape my iron on material to the mat to help hold it.
Weed the vinyl.
Once the vinyl is cut, use the Cricut weeder, to remove all unnecessary pieces of the vinyl. I have used a toothpick in the absence of a weeder before.
Complete the Heat Transfer Process (Iron On)
I use a Cricut Easy Press to apply heat transfer vinyl to my earrings. Before owning an Easy Press, I used an iron. It works, but the easy press just does a much better job and it is easy to control the temperature. I love, love, love mine. For Christmas I want to get the mini one! Here are some Cricut Easy Press options.
Pre-heat the Cricut Easy Press
When you’re ready to use your Cricut, turn it on and set the temperature.
Cricut provides a guide with your easy press, but I always just look it up online whenever I’m doing a project. You can just google search “cricut easy press heat guide.”
Tap on the type of Cricut Easy Press that you’re using. Then select the heat transfer material you are using. Then select the type of base material you’re using (what you’re ironing onto). And finally, select whether you’re using the Cricut Easy Press mat or a towel.
After tapping “Apply” it lets you know the temperature setting for the project. It also shares how long you should keep the press on your project and it tells you whether to remove the transfer material while it is warm or cool.
Here are some Cricut Easy Press machines and mat options from Amazon.
Once the easy press is heated, place it on the Cricut Easy Press mat for about 5 seconds.
Place your earrings on the mat and then place the iron-on vinyl on top of the earrings. Make sure you have them placed where you want them.
The Cricut Easy Press shouldn’t be set directly onto the faux leather. You can place a piece of parchment paper on top of the earrings (and on top of the transfer paper and vinyl iron ons).
Set the Easy Press onto the earrings. Don’t forget to press the green button as that is what starts the timer. I don’t apply any pressure because it just isn’t necessary on faux leather earrings.
Peel back the transfer material while the material is still warm.
Glue earring pieces together, if necessary.
As I mentioned earlier, the back of some faux leather and faux suede earrings aren’t very attractive because they are often canvas or felt. I often cut an extra faux leather or faux suede piece for the back of the earring and I glue a second piece to the back of it. This way if the earring turns, the felt or canvas isn’t exposed.
To do this, I glue two earrings together using E6000 glue.
Here are a couple pictures from another project.
Trim any felt, fuzz, or glue from the earrings.
Using a pair of sharp scissors, trim fuzz from around the earrings. Be very careful not to cut any of the earring, you’re only cutting the fuzz off of your leather earrings.
You can also smooth the earring by using this burnishing agent. I apply it with a tooth pick along the edges. It’s great because it smooths the leather and helps better define the edges.
Place a hole in the top of the earring.
I use a leather punch to put the holes in my diy faux leather earrings. The tool linked above cuts through multiple layers of the earring at the same time.
Below you’ll see a picture of me using the leather hole punch on a different project.
Gather necessary earring components and tools to finish your diy faux leather earrings.
It doesn’t take much to put together earrings. You either need a couple of pairs of pliers or a jump ring tool and one pair of pliers. You can get the two tools below along with a full kit of earring hooks and jump rings in an inexpensive DIY earring kit on Amazon. It is the perfect starter set. Great for you if you’re getting started and a great gift for anyone that likes to DIY. I’ve linked a similar one to the one that I purchased below.
Open the jump ring.
If you’re using hooks with jump rings, see the tips below.
A jump ring isn’t closed. This means with the right tools, you can open it to put on the earring components.
These are the two tools that I use to open and close my jump rings.
I hold one side of the jump ring with my pliers. With my other hand, I use my jump ring tool to push one side of the jump ring back (to open). It is important not to open the jump ring by pulling them to the left and right. If you do it that way, it will be hard to close the jump ring, while keeping the shape. Instead, push the ring back/front to open the jump ring.
Note: If you’re using the jump ring tool, find the slot on the tool that is sized right for the jump ring.
Put a hook onto a jump ring for each earring.
My new best practice is to put a jump ring onto the hook and to close the jump ring. I do this before I even begin to put the earring components onto the second jump ring. I use two jump rings on each earring. Having the second jump rings turns the earring so that it faces to the front.
Put earrings and hook into a jump ring.
Once you’ve added a jump ring to a hook, you can attach that to the second jump ring, on which you also add the rest of the earring components.
And that’s it! Your leather Valentine’s earrings are finished!
Gold Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
Red Textured Faux Leather
Leather Bundle – red, silver, black, gold
Red Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
Silver Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
Black Genuine Leather
Silver Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
Pink Faux Leather
Black and white stripe
Red Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
If you enjoy making diy faux leather earrings, check out my other posts below.
Everyday Earrings DIY
- Leather Bar Earrings DIY
- How to Emboss Leather Earrings
- DIY Angled Fringe Earrings
- Leather Circle Earrings
- DIY Fringe Leaf-Shaped Earrings
- Cross leather earrings
- FRI-YAY Leather Earring DIY
- Leather Bar Earrings DIY (with metal charm)
- How to Make Genuine Leather Earrings
- Statement Earrings
- Teardrop Cork Earrings
- Hollow Faux Leather Earrings – Teardrop and Leaf Shaped
- Faux Leather Tall Stacked Earrings
- Faux Leather Circle Earrings
- Split Teardrop Faux Leather Earrings
- Faux Leather Stacked Marquise Earrings
- Stacked, wavy earrings – KSU
- Faux leather leaf cutout earrings
- Faux Leather earrings with fringe
- Faux Leather Teardrop Earrings
- Faux Leather Bar Earrings
- Faux Leather Leaf Earrings
Sports
- Football Earrings – Teardrop with football cut out
- Stacked Football earrings
- Chiefs Football Teardrop Earrings
- Chiefs Heart Teardrop Earrings
- Chiefs Arrowhead Earrings
- Chiefs Arrowhead on Teardrop Earrings
My Favorite Leather
My Favorite Faux Leather
Valentine’s Day Earrings
- 40 Great Valentine’s Day DIY Earrings
- LOVE Leather Earrings DIY
- Valentine’s Day earrings DIY (heart shape)
- Heart Earrings DIY (Iron On)
- Heart Earrings DIY (with heart cutout)
- DIY Valentine’s Day Earrings
St. Patrick’s Day Earrings
Winter-Themed Earrings DIY
- Snowflake Cutout Teardrop Faux Leather Earrings
- Snowman Leather Iron On Earrings
- Buffalo Check Snowman Cutout Earrings
Christmas -Themed Earrings DIY
