From Pendant to Ornament

Remember this pendant I posted a few weeks ago?



I decided it was too big to be a pendant, and made it an ornament instead.



I added some snowflakes to fill in the blank spot where there was no music. What do you think? Would you hang it on your tree?

Have I mentioned I like shrink plastic?

Cause I really, really do! I won some shrink plastic and a copy of the awesome book Shrink, Shrank, Shrunk!.

So, the shrink plastic I won was made to be printed on in an ink jet printer. So, I printed some sheet music on it, and I liked it, but... there was something about the edges that just wasn't... finished. So, I added some beadwork and I am really happy with the result!



I love being able to combine differing mediums. So, what do we think?

Mismatched Art Bead Earrings Part 2

So, I wanted to talk about the earrings I made for this swap. I decided to go with a theme for my beads. We have a black polymer clay tablet (tiny tablet I will give you...) which I stamped with some words... no, I can't read it either... not the point. I used some white acrylic paint to make the words stand out. For the other earring, I made a quill out of black shrink plastic. I used a white Sharpie paint pen to draw the feather quill. I paired these with some black AB crystals I salvaged from a bracelet. Final touch was the silver plated leverback ear wires.



Between the theme and the color matching, I think these are a mismatched pair that pulls together pretty well. I love the idea of using shrink plastic for an art bead. It allows so much room for creativity without having to have any special equipment. It is completely accessible. I like that.

Free stuff from Royal Design Studio!

So, you may have seen me announce on Facebook a couple weeks ago that I won a $250 shopping spree from Royal Design Studio. Well, after a couple of missed emails, my free stuff finally arrived!!!



Don't you just love getting packages in the mail? I love it so much that I usually forget to take pictures until after it is all open and put away. This time I documented it all!!!MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!



The first unwrapping was slightly sad. Some of the stencil cremes (fancy word for paint) had leaked. I ended up with three of my ten paints that had leaked, and four that had paint on them.



However, when I checked inside the jar that had leaked the most (Renaissance Red) and compared it to one that hadn't leaked (Copper Kettle) there was very little difference. So not much loss.



To go with my new paints, I had to get a brush kit. It has a bunch of stencil brushes, some paint extender, and a brush cleaner (heart shaped). (Also pictured are two things of mica powder - Antiqued Silver and Mayan Gold).



Next we see the stencils I picked out. There are four - an ivy, a scrolly one, a leafy one, and a peacock feather one. They have names, I don't remember them. *shrug* Also pictured is some silver-esque leaf(aluminum). Not pictured, anywhere, is the big bottle of leaf sizing.



So, that is the fun stuff I got. I cannot wait to try my first project - I have already purchased a cheap wood frame I want to redo and some canvases to experiment on. If the small projects go well, I will tackle my bookcase!

Final picture - always save your salad containers. They make great craft storage, and if they are #6 plastic you can make shrinky dinks out of them!

What I Made Monday: Shrinky Dinks!

So, I want to start by apologizing for the really bad photos this week. I have been battling a cold and taking things downstairs to the light box just didn't happen. Anyway....

This weekend I got to play with some Shrinky Dink paper. You remember Shrinky Dinks right? You color on plastic and then it shrinks down in the oven and you have a charm or pendant? Yeah, that stuff. You can buy unprinted sheets of it in clear, white, black, brown... Then you can cut out shapes and stamp, draw, or color on them. They shrink in the oven or with a heat gun. They even make some sheets that will go through your inkjet printer (though they cost twice as much!).

So, I bought a pack of multiple colors and had some fun this weekend. I mostly used stamps, though I did color one in with gel pens before shrinking. I tried shrinking in the oven (works well) and shrinking with a heat gun(problematic as those suckers will blow right away!) when I didn't want to wait for the oven to heat. I am really loving the silver ink on the black shrinky dink paper, I will have to make more of that!.

Things to consider if you want to try this: 1) The paper shrinks to about 1/3 it's original size. So, the circle one below was traced from a 125yrd roll of fireline and shrank to just over an inch. The black one, I traced one of my ink pads, again just over an inch. I used a 1.5 inch circle punch on the small ones in the group shot and they turned out tiny... but that is ok, I will make earrings!. 2) You may need to seal them. With the stamped images I used a black Stayzon ink and a silver/gold pigment ink, and both of those seem pretty well permanent. But I noticed that the one I colored with gel pens wants to rub off. I will seal with a coat of clear glaze. 3) The children in your house WILL steal your shrink paper. Buy extra. 4) If you are in a recycling mood, don't buy the paper at all! Instead, collect the plastic food containers that the local grocery deli uses for salads and such (it will be marked with a number 6) and lightly sand it. You can then use it just like you would the purchased paper!