DIY: Dream Catcher Shower Favors

My new thing lately is making dream catchers. My daughter decided that she wanted a  giant dream catcher for her wedding day and that was the beginning of my 'dream catcher' research! That led to the absolute first, and largest dream catcher I have made to date (post coming soon)! Since then I have made many more out of many different types of materials but my absolute favorite are all the dream catchers made out of what would normally be thrown out as garbage (or recycled depending upon where you live). I came up with this idea out of a need to make a lot of similar dream catchers as favors for my daughters bridal shower, and I think I need to pat myself on my back because, well, I absolutely love the way they came out!  But you be the judge :-)

Completed Dimensions of Dream Catchers: Approximately 2" wide x 7" long (including loop to hang it)

FREE PRINTABLE (and editable) LABELS BELOW!
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P.S. I know this is a lot of pictures so I am sorry ahead of time!

Supplies Needed:
(see pictures, links, and prices at very bottom of post for affiliate link supplies)

• Faux suede cord in Black and Coffee (affiliate links)
• Waxed Cotton string in White andIvory (affiliate links)
• Brown Pheasant Feathers or Black and White Guinea Feathers (affiliate links)
• Dark Brown wooden Beads (affiliate links) NOTE: we had to drill the holes larger
• Large yarn needle
• Grilla Glue (crazy glue)
• Off white sewing thread
• Small sewing needle
• Small Scissors
• Brown craft paper 8.5" x 11"  (affiliate link) 
• Hole puncher
• Twine (affiliate link)
• Repurpose the plastic rings from bottles (an inch or larger) - Milk jugs, gatorades, vitamin water, etc. work great! Sometimes they can be tough to remove, but they are worth it and work perfectly!

Video "How-TO" (pictorial directions below):

FREE PRINTABLE TAG LABELS:
The two sides are separate so you can choose to just do one side, for example, just the "Dream saying" side. They are also MS Word documents so that you can edit as needed as far as the date and the name for the bridal shower side.  Definitely do a trial on white paper if you are printing both sides so that you can tweak the positioning as needed. These were my final prints so they should be good but you never know.  

• DREAM WITHOUT FEAR, LIVE WITHOUT LIMITS FREE MS WORD PRINTABLE
• BRIDAL SHOWER WITH NAME AND DATE FREE MS WORD PRINTABLE

Pictorial Directions :

The plastic ring from a gatorade bottle! They also are on milk containers and many other plastic bottles!

Add a bot of gorilla glue...

And attach the end of the cut piece of cotton string for the center of the dream catcher (about 1.5 feet long max).

Then begin to wrap the ring with the faux leather piece - also about 1 - 2 feet long. Be sure to leave a long piece at the beginning to use to hang it.

Wrapping in progress...

Wrapping done! Now you wrap the center string around the top pieces, pull it through to knot it and add a dab of glue to hold it.

Done! the center piece will now be threaded on the yarn needle.

Check out this simple picture for how to weave the center part http://www.craftsforkids.com/projects/dream_catchers.htm

Start weaving the dream catcher center.

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When done with the center make a small knot on the back.

Add a dab of glue and let it dry.

After the glue is fully dry (I wait overnight), then clip off the end.

Cut a pice for the feathers to hang from.

Tie it in place - more like looping it in place really.

Choose feathers that will look good together.

Get a needle and thread ready.

Add a dab of glue to help hold the feather in place.

Place the feather on the front of the faux leather.

And begin wrapping it in place with the needle and thread. Nothing is sewn - I simply wrap the thread around and around and then run the needle through the wrapped portion before clipping it at the end. Then I add a drop of glue to make it permanent.

Do the same thing for the second feather. Be sure to add a dab of glue after the thread is done too!

I made two different colors and still can't decide which one I like best! But they aren't done yet...

Add a drop of glue, slip on the bead (we had to drill holes larger first), and tie a nice little knot at the top! After snipping the ends even there is now a nice little loop for hanging just about anywhere!

Print out the tag on the brown craft paper and cut them out. Notice that I printed on both sides! This is not necessary though. I also use a paper cutter for nice neat cuts but scissors will work too.

Puch a hole in each tag and cut lengths of twine (approximately 6" each).

Loop the twine through the punched holes.

Dream without fear, love without limits.

Then loop the tag onto the dreamcatcher!

I have to say that everyone loved these and my daughter was so excited over them!  So not only are they repurposing plastic, but they are something nice that are small enough to be hung anywhere!

Thank you for visiting! Please check out all my other DIY Shower & Wedding projects and follow me on social media for more crafty things!
Sincerely,