Make your own super cute donut charm bracelet with shrinky dink plastic! Makes a great quick & easy DIY gift idea – SO many fun possibilities!

Donut Shrinky Dink Charm BraceletAffiliate Links

Friday, June 3rd is National Donut Day, and we seize each and every possible opportunity to celebrate donuts here at Happiness is Homemade headquarters! I wanted to wear my donut-loving heart on my sleeve (literally!), so I created this adorable shrink plastic donut charm bracelet that’s as quick and easy to make as it is cute!

What You’ll Need:

Tracing Donut Clip Art for Shrinky Dink Charm Bracelet

I’m awful at drawing and sketching, so I took the easy way out and printed out some cute donut clip art to trace with my Sharpie marker instead. The plastic shrinks by about 50%, so I printed out my donuts around 2″ in size. The matte shrink plastic is translucent before shrinking (so it’s super simple to trace through), but will turn near-opaque white once it’s been shrunk.

Donut Shrinky Dinks Before ShrinkingOnce I had my Sharpie outline completed, I filled in all of the details with Posca paint markers, allowing the paint to dry in between colors. Once the paint was completely dry, I used scissors to cut out my donuts, and I used a hole punch to create the holes for my jump rings. Note: make sure you use a full sized hole punch or else the hole will end up being too small for the rings! 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the donuts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake for 3-4 minutes, watching the entire time. The plastic will begin to shrink, and it will start to curl up – don’t worry! This is normal! Once the piece has finished shrinking, it will flatten itself out again.

Shrinky Dink Shrink Plastic Donut CharmsWhen the plastic has finished shrinking, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Any pieces that are still slightly curled or curved can be flattened by placing another sheet of parchment paper and a heavy book on top of them while they are still warm. You can see here that my 2″ donuts shrank down to smaller-than-a-quarter size!

Sealing Shrinky Dink Charms with High Definition Glass EpoxyTo ensure that the paint and Sharpie doesn’t wear off of the charms, I coated them with a thick layer of high definition glass epoxy glaze. This sealer takes several hours to dry, so I set it aside overnight to dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Glossy Epoxy Coated Donut Shrinky Dink CharmsThe epoxy glaze leaves the charm with a shiny and durable high gloss finish, perfect for “high traffic” charms like these that might be subjected to ample wear and tear on my wrist all day long.

How to Make a DIY Shrinky Dink Shrink Plastic Donut Charm BraceletI crafted more charms than would actually fit on my bracelet, so I opted to save the pastel versions (made with Prismacolor markers) for another project.

DIY Donut Charm BraceletThe jump rings make quick work of attaching the charms to the bracelet – easy peasy!

Easy DIY Shrinky DInk Donut Charm BraceletSeriously, how stinkin’ adorable are these donut charms? These bracelets would make a fantastic inexpensive homemade gift idea!

donut charm bracelet made from shrinky dinks

If you love this DIY donut charm bracelet, you might also love: 

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heidi from happiness is homemade xoxo Heidi signature

DIY Donut Charm Bracelet with Shrink Plastic

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15 Comments

  1. Can I ask how you get the best finish from the posca markers? I have bought some and just on my swatches of colour they get a bit ‘furry’ looking.

    1. I’ve never run into issues with the Posca Markers being fuzzy or being anything other than smooth on the shrink plastic film I am using. I generally use them as is and add a layer of sealer as described in the post. 🙂

    1. I use a standard size hole punch to punch the holes in the plastic before shrinking. The holes will shrink down to the perfect size for jump rings and jewelry findings! 🙂

  2. I’m SO into drawing on shrinky dink plastic lately, but I’m having trouble with my Sharpie markings smearing before I am able to get them in the oven (even after leaving some on a shelf for WEEKS, they still smeared some.)

    Has anyone else had these problems? Any other permanent markers that hold well?

      1. Hello! I was wondering if you use an acrylic sealer first or just the glazes? Which (diamond glaze or Lilly D’s) do you prefer? I have been struggling to find a sealer that doesn’t cause my sharpie ink to run.

      2. Hi Makayla, I don’t generally use a sealer, just the glaze as the finish coat. I find the Diamond Glaze and the Lilly D’s to be pretty similar for this application, so I don’t really have a preference between the two. 🙂

    1. My brand of shrink plastic doesn’t have a different finish on both sides, but for the ones that do, I believe that the ink goes on the matte side.