Frosted Frosty Pin

This time of year there are lots of arts and crafts shows to browse. I recently attended a great show and found lots of great items to inspire me. There was jewelry made of sea glass, wine accessories made of cork, wonderfully knit items and so much more. The talents of some folks just amazes me! And inspires me!

I have a box full of glass slides and copper foil that I have used to create pins with over the years. I was inspired to drag out that box and create something new. This time I used a Stampavie image called "Snowy Cuddles" by Penny Johnson.

The top piece of glass is a frosted piece measuring 2" square, made by Inkssentials (a Ranger product). The image was embossed onto the frosted side using clear embossing powder. This technique originated with Ellen Hutson many moons ago. The frosted glass adds a very fun dimension to the finished piece. Of course, you can always use clear glass as well.

The image was stamped and colored with Copics before sandwiching it between the 2 pieces of glass. I added a piece of pattern paper to the back to hide the bleeding markers. The pin back was glued on with SU's Crystal Effects.

They also make nice magnets!

Now that it is all done and assembled I wish I had given them rosey cheeks! Oh well, guess I will have to make another ;).

CHF Blog Hop...Backgrounders!

Welcome to the first blog hop for Cornish Heritage Farms 12 Weeks of Summer! You should have arrived here from Joannes blog. If you happened upon here first, you can go back and start the blog hop at the Be Creative Blog. Two Gift Certificates will be awarded to 2 lucky winners who successfully follow the blog hop & comment as they go in the time allotted. This is not a race. The Blog Hop starts from the CHF Be Creative Blog today, comments must be made before midnight EST on Thursday (6/10/10). Winners will be announced on Friday. 1st prize is a $20 CHF Gift Certificate, 2nd Prize is a $10 Gift Certificate which will be emailed to the winning participants. The Gift Certificates will be valid for 6 mths from date of issue. PLEASE NOTE that if you have a Club CHF award awaiting you on your next order, you will need to wait for the following order to use your Gift Certificate as the store only allows one discount per order.

If you upload a qualifying card using a CHF Backgrounder to the special gallery for this week you will be eligible for the Design Team's Favorite prize which will be a rubber stamp/stamp set of your choice up to the value of $16.99 Looking forward to having you play along with us for the summer.

So...this week we are featuring Backgrounders. It is no secret that I love

backgrounders! They are so versatile and can be used in card making and so much more. For my sample, I created pendants using one of my favorite CHF backgrounders, Leaves #3.

These pendants started out with Sculpey Clay in ivory and green. I conditioned the clay and flattened it out before firmly pressing the backgrounder into the clay. I used a hobby blade and a ruler to cut the pendants into the rectangle shape and used a straw to make the hole at the top. After they baked for about 30 minutes and cooled, I used acrylic paint on the fronts. I let the paint slightly dry before I wiped a soft cloth across the top. The paint remained in the indentations left by the stamp. I added a length of satin cord and now they are ready to wear or share. This could easily become addicting.


Don't forget:

-All backgrounders are on sale this week---25% off! (ends Thursday at midnight)

-make sure to leave a comments by Thursday (6/10/2010) at midnight EST to have a chance at the CHF gift certificates! The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances!

-Upload a card using a CHF backgrounder in this weeks special gallery and you could win free stamps!

-Check the Be Creative Blog on Friday to see if you won!

-if you get lost along the way, go back to the beginning (Be Creative Blog) for the full list of hoppers.

Now it is time to go check out what Melony has in store for you.

Everything is Coming Up Roses!

For the record, yesterday's snarky attitude didn't have anything to do with lack of comments! Don't get me wrong, comments are a wonderful thing, I encourage them, but my esteem is certainly not built around them. I love to share with others as much as I like to create so I have no plans to stop blogging.

Today is a day off and it is a glorious day! We jumped from 40 degrees to 80 degrees in a day. The windows are open, the heat is off, we are cleaning up the house so my sanity can soon return....life is sweet! To make it sweeter, my order of wool felt arrived yesterday. I immediately got to work making some flower pins. You have no doubt seen them around the web. OH. MY. FUN!!!

These use a Sizzix #2 circle die. I did a google and YouTube search and found loads of helpful information. I wanted to experiment a little and put my own spin on things. The one on the right is done with white felt with some moss green leaves. The one on the left is also white felt but with a twist. I put some Copic ink onto my Silpat mat, diluted it with some blending solution and then rolled the edges of my circles in the ink. The wool soaked up the ink a bit more than I intended and the color was too strong. I rinsed all the circles in cold water and had to leave them overnight to dry. I love the end result but I wish that more of the white was showing. Back to the drawing board on that idea.

I made several more flowers using different dies and methods but those will be for another day.
Thanks for stopping by!

Shrinking Fun

Today I have another tutorial posted on the Cornish Heritage Farms Blog. We're making a fun pendant out of shrink plastic. It has an unexpected twist though.

If you have ever played with shrink plastic then you know it can be addicting. I made these earrings while I had all my stuff out.

Check out the tutorial here and be sure to leave a comment on that post. We are giving away a background stamp of you choice!

Laura asked what a pizzelle is. Besides being yummy good...they are an Italian specialty. They do taste like a thin waffle and traditionally have anise in them. I do not like anise at all so I subbed my homemade vanilla in this batch. You can sprinkle them with powdered sugar before serving. They do require a pizzelle baker to make however. I ordered mine from Amazon...love the free shipping!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pendant Tutorial

Happy Saturday! I have a cold settling in but despite that, the house has been buzzing with activity. Hubby spent his day off yesterday tackling some projects around the house and I have been busy working on things to show YOU!! Fun I tell ya!

I had several questions about the tile pendant I made. This is really more of a visual than any fancy tutorial but I hope this will help.

Supplies:
Tim Holtz Clear Acrylic Fragments
Glossy Accents
Hobby knife
Pendant Bail
colored image/picture/paper

So above, you see all of my supplies assembled. The tile I am using this time is a bit smaller than the last one. I chose to use part of a stamp I recently purchased and colored it in with Copics. Copics work really well because they do not bleed when the Glossy Accents is applied. And I love the vibrant colors! You can also use pictures, designer paper and such. I suggest you test your colored images to check for bleeding.

Decide exactly where you want to adhere your tile.

Apply a small amount of Glossy Accents to the tile. You don't want to use too much as it will squeeze out the sides. I used a bit too much on this because I got distracted taking the picture, lol.

Press the tile onto your image, move it around until you see that the Glossy Accents is completely covering the paper. I find it best to hold the tile for 30 seconds or so. It should be completely dry in 5-10 minutes. Use a hobby blade to trim the image to the same size as the tile. Copic markers bleed through the paper so I adhered another piece of cardstock to the back of my pendant to give it a cleaner look.

I used my grid paper to center my pendant so I knew where to adhere the bail. Apply a bit of Glossy Accents to the bail, adhere bail to pendant. Again, it will dry in about 5 minutes.

Here is a look at the back.

All that is left is to hang it from your favorite necklace. If you want to protect the back of your pendant from wear, apply a layer of Modge Podge to it.

I purchased my bails at Michael's, in the jewelry section. I think I paid 2.99 for a 3 pack. If you are going to do a bunch I suggest buying them more in bulk to save money. Etsy has several sellers that offer bails. You will find different sizes and shapes. Check here for more.

The tiles (Tim Holtz Fragments) are available at Starlitstudio.com, Eclectic Paperie and Ellen Hutson's store, just for starters. All of those webstores can be found on my sidebar.

I hope the pictures helped. It really is an easy thing to do.

Fragments

Back with another item of jewelry from our class earlier this week. This time we made a pendant using some of Tim Holtz's Clear Fragments. They are essentially plastic tiles, in various sizes and their uses are many. You get 48 pieces for $9.99. We used some of the 1 1/2" squares for this project...

Fun right?? And not difficult either. We stamped some Hero Arts flowers onto Cryogen White cardstock (it's mica-coated for a fabulous subtle shimmer), colored with Copics and then adhered the tile with a bit of Glossy Accents by Ranger. It dries rather quickly which is nice in a class setting. We used more Glossy Accents to adhere the bail to the back. I have seen similar pendants done with glass fragments, something I hope to try, but these TH fragments make for a light pendant which I like.

I have done many pendants by coating them with a 2-part epoxy resin. The epoxy dries to a hard, glassy finish but it takes a very long time to dry and can be messy. Definitely not workable in a 2 hour class. These tiles make a great alternative with similar results.

Tip: take the various size tiles and place them over your stamps to see how the image might look on a pendant. If you are a floral stamp collector like me, you will probably find lots of workable images.

I may have to do some more jewelry, it is kind of addicting once you get going. I do have all those tiles left over, hmmm...

Fly Away!!

I wish I was flying away somewhere, anywhere, but not today. But I do have a birdhouse pendant to share with you. This is one of the projects we made in a jewelry class last night.

Before you go thinking I am so clever, which I can be sometimes lol, this pendant is a combination of ideas I have come across. I was so captured by its cuteness that I had to make my own version. The frames are Inkssentials Memory Frames in the 1"x1" size, seen here. The roof is a Tim Holtz Corner piece, seen here. We made our own bird nest from 24 gauge wire and pearl beads. There are videos and tutorials on-line for how to make them and they are surprisingly easy and addictive! I found the latest line of dollar stamps at Michaels a few weeks ago, all bird or butterfly themed. One of them happened to be a perfect fit for inside these frames. We colored some Curious Cryogen white cardstock with a blue Copic marker and then stamped the bird with Brilliance black ink. If you want robin's eggs, color the pearls with a Copic marker, easy-peasy.

The fine art of jewelry making, especially working with wire, is not really my gift. But this pendant was not so hard to do. Instead of a pendant, it can also be worn as a pin. Either way, I bet it will grab lots of compliments.

Tim Holtz has lots of great trinkets to use in jewelry making. I got all my stuff on-line at EP and Starlitstudio. You will get great service and fast shipping from both places.

These birdhouse pendants make me want to sing. Good for you this blog doesn't come with sound, lol.

I'm off to work, have a great day. Thanks for taking a moment to visit.

Pendants

I haven't had a chance to stamp yet this week so I am going to share a project I did several weeks ago. It is an idea I got one day while I was browsing around the Etsy site. Have you ever been on there?? Oh my, the hand crafted goodness to be found!! The sheer variety is overwhelming.


Anyway...I wanted to try my hand at making pendants from wooden discs. I enjoy a good experiment every now and then. These are 1 1/2" in diameter, so a pretty good size. Three of them are just covered in designer paper that I thought was cool and colorful, the other one is stamped with an Anna Wight flower and colored with Copic markers. I stamped it onto shimmer white card stock and I was delighted to see so much of the sparkle from the paper show through in the finished result. They are all covered with a layer of Envirotex Lite for a hard, shiny finish. I added some necklace bails to the backs and now I just need to find the right necklace for them. I am excited to wear them as I know they will make a statement!

Did you notice the little rhinestones on the one in the upper right? That was one of my "experiments" that turned out okay. I did have two ideas that didn't work out so well. I thought I would see how a rub-on would do and it the result was it peeled up under the finish...very unattractive! I also tried a different shape and due to operator error (that would be me!) I put on too much of the finish and it oozed over the edges...again, very unattractive. I don't have anything against the shape, I just need to be more careful when applying the finish.

Something out of the ordinary. I initially only did one stamped pendant because I was not sure if the image would bleed or not. I didn't want a pile of ruined attempts, but now that I know the Copics are good under the finish, I will most likely make more with stamped images.
If you are not familiar with Envirotex Lite, it can be found in the craft store (bring a coupon, it's not cheap!) and is two liquids that you have to mix together to activate. It is the kinda thing you do in batches, hence my 6 pendants. You most likely wouldn't mix some up for just one item. A little goes a long way. It has many uses and the durable, glossy finish is incredible!

I have filled one of the Stampin' Up! Designer paper shares. If there is enough interest, I will do another so email me in the next day or two if you want to be included. See this post for details.

Blessings on your day!

Whoa!!

I have fallen off the blog wagon big time, eh? I am still here and all is well. I have had to work almost everyday. Our WNY SCS event is now less than 2 weeks away and most of my free time has been spent preparing my swaps and other things. Pretty soon I will have plenty to blog about ;).
My husband bought me a soldering gun for my birthday a few months back. I have been wanting to try my hand at soldering for some time. I did a little bit of it back in high school art class when we did a unit on stained glass. I loved it back then but have not done it now in 20+ years. Well, let me tell ya...I have a lot to learn, lol!! I didn't set the house on fire, so that is good. I managed to disintegrate 2 soldering tips but after looking into that I think my tips may be to blame and not me. I plan to take them back for an exchange.
I wanted to make some pins for a swap. I am not sure they came out well enough to give away but I thought I would share them here anyway. They are 1.5" square and use Memory Glass that I got from Ellen Hudson's store. I really like that size, it makes nice pins or necklaces. The bird image is from Hero Arts and I did all coloring with Copic markers. The edges were going okay until the tips started to melt away, then it became difficult to get a smooth edge. I had such trouble with attaching the bottom jump ring that I finally gave up after 3. I added a bead or two to the rings. I attached pin backs with Crystal Effects.
Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Lancaster, PA. We are attending a conference for pastors. The facilities are wonderful, I don't have to cook, and the weather is looking sunny. They even have programs for the kids so my son is very excited about the trip as well. If we have wireless access, I will post again tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by.

Let's Talk Magnets...

I love to make jewelry and magnets from microscope slides and dominoes. Finding stamps to fit such small places is often the most challenging part. Anna's new stamp set, Posies for You, has the perfect size flowers for the task.

Let's start with the domino ones. Sealing is important when doing projects like this and I often use Crystal Effects for that. The problem I found is that it will often cause my image underneath to run. What a bummer after you spent so much time on it!! There are a few solutions to that particular problem; A) spray a fixative over it first, B)use a medium that doesn't run for your coloring or C) use the CE as your paint. Huh?? I tint small amounts of CE with reinkers and then paint my images with it. A scrap piece of acetate is perfect as a palette. It is important to let each color dry before continuing or they will run together. The nice part about this method is that it colors and seals at the same time. Look at this domino I did last year. I used cool caribbean ink to tint my CE for the sky. I used the same cool caribbean this time but you know what?? Yellow and blue make more of a green! Can you guess the difference?? I ran out of my white dominoes and had to use ivory ones. It really changed my colors. I still like the end result but I know the difference and the look I wanted. Notice the little dragonfly on the center one? It was a brad that I cut the back off of and set into the CE before it dried. To finish off the dominoes I used a silver Krylon leafing pen around all the edges, that gives it a nice finished look. The magnets on the back are round ones that I glued on with E-6000 glue. They will brighten up someones fridge!

The other magnet is one I made to send to Anna and she was kind enough to email me a photo of it since I forgot to take one before sending it out. This one uses Memory Glass that is 2" square. This gives you more options for your image and I chose to watercolor it onto watercolor paper. When you are done, you sandwich it in between 2 layers of the glass and use foil tape to seal the edges. I used copper foil which over time will get that nice aged patina. I glued the round magnet on the back with E-6000 glue like before. When searching for images to fit the glass, use your glass as your guide. I will often use it in the SU catalog, placing it over various images to see what it would look like. These can also be made into necklaces. Oh the possibilities!
Have a great day!

Pins and more pins

I told you I have been busy!! I loved the idea of bottlecap pins and set out to make them last year and quit in frustration. I originally covered my stamped images in Crystal Effects, which I had read of others doing. After they sat overnight to dry I found the images had bled and were unsightly. I tried coloring them with different mediums, even permanent Sharpies and each time the result was the same. I tried embossing them first and then the glue underneath would bleed through. I pulled more than a few hairs from my head last year. I thought I was doomed to be a bottlecap pin loser!! All hail the queen, Julie Ebersole, one of my stamping idols. She has moments of pure genius. She posted a bottlecap pin awhile back and her solution was to use a 1" page pebble on top. Do you know what I mean? Those clear, domed epoxy stickers that are for scrapbooking. I bet she didn't go through all the mess I did, LOL!! I bow before the master!! I did have a bit of trouble finding the right size stickers but now I am golden!! To eliminate the glue problem I just adhered my images with red sticky tape, these babies are in there for good. The pin backs are the tie tack variety which I glued on with E6000 glue. For a fun presentation, I made little tags to attach them to. I used my SU stamp on the back of the tag to cover their angel policy. I am discussing with hubby a display I would like him to make me with dowels so I can hang them for better viewing at the craft fair. I am a snowman gal so I mostly did those but there are a few santas and snowflakes thrown in for good measure.

If anyone has any suggestions for price I welcome your input. Materials cost is around 1-1.25 each. I even used coupons to get my supplies but those bottlecaps and stickers are not cheap.

Last night I worked on lunch tins but they aren't ready for show yet. I hope to finish them soon and post pictures.

Have a great day!