LuxAddiction Inspired Cell Phone Case *DIY*

I fell in love with the LuxAddiction cases since I first saw them, so I decided to make one myself. When I first started this project, I had so much trouble finding the gems I wanted to use such as the flowers, hello kitty, crown, etc. I searched the internet for a while and found that the gems with the flat back are called "cabochons" so I started doing searches for that. I found 2 sellers on etsy that have a great selection. The first seller I bought from was Misssapporo and I purchased the big flowers, little flowers, heart gemstone, and a few others. I would HIGHLY suggest this seller. The customer service was great and even though they were shipping from Japan, I got my package within a week! =) I am always happy about fast shipping because I am the most impatient person when it comes to waiting for stuff to come in the mail. I also purchased from Mayan who has sooooo many cute cabochons to choose from. In the time I spent looking for cabochons, this seller had the best variety. However, shipping was a painfully long wait, a little over a month. I didn't receive one of my items, but they agreed to reimburse me and it wasn't too much of a big deal to me. Even though I would have liked to receive them sooner, I think it was definately worth the wait. I have a few tips if you want to make your own 3d blinged out cell phone case...

*I used E-6000 glue for this along with a random strong adhesive I found at the house. Any strong clear glue you have should work just fine.

*Pick a cell phone case that has a similar color to your cabochons. I used a hot pink case with light pink cabochons.

*Have a plate with all your gems facing up so they are ready to go as soon as the glue is applied to your cell phone case. The reason is because the glue will dry FAST, like really fast. Sometimes the glue would dry before I got done laying down rhinestones on top of it.

*Take a QTip and cut the cotton part off one end and use this to pick up and place the rhinestones. I would wet the tip of the QTip (the side I cut off) on a damp paper towel to pick up the rhinestones which made placing them on the phone very easy.

*Before you glue anything, lay down your big cabochons on your cell phone case and move them around to get an idea of how you want the final product to look. Take a picture so you can remember the pattern.

*To acheive the 3d effect you will have to layer the cabochons on top of eachother. This was the most difficult part I think of designing the cell phone case. You want to start one cabochon at a time, glue it down, then place rhinestones around it. Take you next cabochon and figure out where you want to layer it, mark the spot with a marker, eye liner brush, or anything you can find to mark the cell phone case with. After that, place rhinestones around (or under which is what I had to do with the crown cabochon since you could see through it) the area. Between placing the rhinestones down, put the big cabochon back on to make sure everything is fitting properly. Once you have the rhinestones down, put some glue on the big cabochon on the spots that will be touching the cell phone case.

This is the design I came up with. It's very cute and pink, and best of all I think it looks just like a LuxAddiction case.

If you are contemplating making your own cell phone case like this, there are a few things you should consider first. If you have a craft store in your area that has the type of decorations you would like to use, I would suggest buying them there. Since I ordered mine from Hong Kong and Japan, it was a little more expensive than I would have liked since I paid for shipping and all that good stuff. Also, when ordering online, you will have to buy some of the pieces in bulk. For example, the flowers and hello kitties came in a pack of 4. So all in all, if you plan on decorating more than just your phone, this is a good deal. I am using my leftover cabochons for my ipod case and will use whatever I have left over for little things. The cost to make just the cell phone case I would say is about $50, but keep in mind you will need to buy more than what you need for just the cell phone case. If you just want the cell phone case and nothing but, I would suggest just buying one from LuxAddiction or Etsy, which will be around $50-$100. I hope this gave you some inspiration for your designs, if you had any questions feel free to comment.