How to Make a Sparkly Cell Phone Cover

Add sparkling, trendy style to your cell phone by covering it with crystals.

Filed under: Beading, Handmade, How To

Materials and Tools:

metal cell phone faceplate
blank paper (or computer drawing program)
markers or colored pencils
glue
crystal beads
scrap paper
thin stick (crochet hook)
lip balm

Steps:

1. Buy a metal faceplate, preferably one made by the phone manufacturer so the fit is perfect and the faceplate is durable. Choose one close to the background color of your crystal design because a little will show through.

2. Decide on a pattern. Geometric designs are easier than more detailed images. Floral or other irregular designs are a bit more challenging. Draw it on paper or use a computer drawing program. Draw small circles on the pattern, making sure the circles are as close as possible to the size of the crystals you'll use. Draw the circles in staggered rows, rather than an exact grid one on top of the other.

3. Using markers or colored pencils, start filling in the tiny circles with the colors you like so that it forms a picture of what you want.

4. Once you have your design, gauge whether it's big enough by wrapping it around the phone cover. Make sure that you have more design than you think you'll need; continue it beyond phone cover's borders just to be safe.

5. Determine a starting point. Fold the paper design over in that spot to establish your baseline. Work in rows to glue the crystals, from left to right, starting on the edge of the phone cover.

6. Put a small dab of glue, the size of an aspirin, on a piece of scrap paper. Dab the point of the thing stick into the glue. Stick it on the phone cover at your starting point.

7. Dab the opposite end of your stick in lip balm. Note: The softer the lip balm, the better. Use this waxy end to pick up a crystal. Set it on the spot of glue you put on your phone cover. Continue this process as you move along the full edge of your phone cover.

8. Then, starting back at the top corner, do the next row. Make sure to stagger the crystals so the pattern is tightly interlaced and not much of the background color below shows through. Do the next row the same way and so on, until finished.