DIY Leather Earrings

These DIY leather earrings are super modern and really cute! Faux leather comes in a ton of colours, is really light weight and very easy to work with. This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the process of making your very own set, and it’s so much easier than you think. Such a fun and creative way to customize your own accessories!

I’ve loved making my own jewellery ever since I was a kid – remember those dry pasta necklaces?! Thankfully I’ve graduated from macaroni and had a lot of fun experimenting with synthetic leather and my new Cricut! It’s honestly amazing how much faster and more precise things are when you have a cutting machine. I’m in LOVE and really inspired to try a ton of other crafty projects with it!

These leather earrings didn’t take much time at all, and with a few simple tools and supplies, you can make a pair in less than 20 minutes! If you’ve had a cutting machine for a while and are already familiar with the process – you can ignore the first section – you already know what’s up.

Don’t worry, if you don’t have a Cricut, you can still make some really cute styles! This tutorial will take you through both methods, so you’re covered either way!

Looking for even more cute DIY ideas? Check these out!

How to Make Geometric Clay Earrings

Simple Rope Plant Hanger

Crepe Paper Daisies

The full printable list of instructions is available at the end of this post, but here’s a list of affiliate links that will take you to products on Amazon, Etsy and Cricut that are similar to the supplies I used.

SVG Files + Cricut Design Space

The first thing to do before starting is to find an SVG/JPEG earring template that you really like. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphic, and basically tells your Cricut how the image should appear. It can be resized and won’t lose quality. It’s like a little design road map for your machine.

There are a bunch of Etsy sellers who make beautiful, modern SVG earring templates and they’re all super affordable. This is a must if you plan on using a cutting machine. Make your purchase, download your files then upload them to Cricut Design Space to get started! This is where I bought mine: Fancy Digital Print.

Once I downloaded the files, I chose the group of shapes I wanted to work with.

Next, I isolated the pattern I wanted to cut, and turned off all of the other shapes.

The next step is to choose which individual shape you want to start with. I started with the two long ovals at the bottom. Turn off any other shapes since you won’t need them for this cut.

It’s important to remember, you’re making two earrings and everything you cut should have a mirror image. I took the two long ovals, then duplicated each one, with four total, two of the left and two of the right. I also shrunk them slightly from 3.729cm to 1.216cm.

Note: The beauty of an SVG is you can keep them the same size or easily reduce or enlarge them depending on what you want. I shrunk all of these down, but you can totally decide what’s best for you.

Once you’ve sized all four, you can finish inputing the details in Design Space (choosing a mat and size of the material etc.)

Cutting the Shapes

Now it’s time to prep your Cricut mat. The BEST mat for cutting fabrics and especially faux leather is the Strong Grip Mat since it does the best job at holding the leather in place. Firmly press your piece of leather down on the top left corner. If you have a brayer (a small roller) use that to really secure it.

Your Cricut will prompt you to insert the mat and then press start. You’ll have the bottom half of your earrings in seconds! As someone who is fairly new to the Cricut game, I was honestly amazed at how fast and easy the whole process was.

Peel the leather off the mat and put each of the long oval pieces aside.

We’ll cut the U shape next. I reduced the size to 2.32cm, and duplicated it so I had two identical shapes.

Cut the design and peel the shapes off the mat. Set them aside with the ovals.

Cut the circle next. I sized mine to 1.73cm. Duplicate it so you have two.

Follow the prompts and cut them out.

The final shape is the tiny heart. For this I used the pre-loaded heart shape already in Design Space, and shrunk it down to 1.21cm.

As you did for each of the previous shapes, make a second heart and cut them out. After that, all of your shapes will be cut! Time to assemble them.

Assembling your Earrings

In addition to all of your shapes, you’ll need a pair of punch pliers to poke tiny holes so you can attach them. Use it on the smallest setting, and follow the example in the photo below for directions on where to punch them.

Once all the holes are punched, you’ll need 3 gold jump rings and a pair of chain nose pliers. My kit of earring components came with two sizes of jump rings. I used the larger ones so my earrings had a little bit of swing. Use your pliers to open one of the jump rings.

Starting from the bottom, grab the left oval and loop the jump ring into the hole at the top

Next, take the U shape and loop the bottom left hole through the open jump ring so both of the coloured sides are facing each other.

Using the chain pliers, squeeze the jump ring closed.

Repeat this process on the right side of the earring and then again with the last jump ring, attaching the U and the circle at the top.

To attach the heart, turn it over and add a drop of superglue to the back.

Quickly press the glued part of the heart onto the front of the circle shape at the top to secure it.

Finishing Up

The last step is gluing/securing the earring post. Add a small drop of super glue to the flat surface of the post in the centre.

Press the flat side of the earring post down onto the back of the circle shape. It will only take a few seconds to dry.

Voila! Your first earring is complete! Repeat the steps above to complete the second one, and make a perfect pair.

Now that you know the basics, you can easily go back and make more pairs, using different colours of leather and new SVG patterns. I couldn’t resist, and made a few more for myself…

There are so many ways to customize each pair, and a ton of colour combinations to try out!

The beauty of using a SVG earring bundle like this, is you can replicate the provided patterns or mix and match different shapes to create your own design.

I literally made this cute collection in an afternoon! Using a cutting machine really speeds the process up and the possibilities are endless!

What if I don’t have a cutting machine?

Don’t worry if you don’t have a cutting machine. You can still make some really cute designs! When you buy the templates, the SVG files should also come with the JPEG equivalent. You can easily turn the JPEG’s into a PDF, print them out and use them as a template to be traced and cut out with scissors. This works best with the more basic designs. The more intricate ones will be a little too hard to cut using scissors.

OR forget the JPEG’s all together and go crazy cutting your own shapes from the faux leather sheets. You definitely don’t need a template if you prefer to free style! Just make sure you have a pair of fabric scissors to make things easier!

Once your shapes are cut, go ahead and follow the rest of the steps to punch holes, add jump rings etc.

These earrings would also make a great gift if you know someone who loves crafts and handmade goods!