Christmas Fairs are Here!

This weekend begins the whirlwind of Christmas shows for the season. I've been busy this fall with new designs for the holidays & now it's time for me to rest and gestate (baby #4 is a-coming in the next couple of months--I tend to go early so all bets are off :-) Here are some samples:



Stamped Teal/Gold Celtic Cross Large Mah Jong Pendant (my new favorite!!)



Square Stamped Bananagram Game Piece Rings



Stamped Snowflake Othello Game Piece Pendant




Christmas Fairs are Here!

Card Suit Necklaces

I've had these card suit "stones" for awhile now--found them at a thrift store. They have a hole through the middle already so I all I had to do was put an eye pin through them and add a dangle bead & bail to complete the necklace. I used my usual alcohol ink & embossed image to decorate them & sealed with a waterproof epoxy resin. Here are my "Queen of Spades, Clubs & Hearts" necklaces:

Card Suit Necklaces

I Like Big Rings & I Cannot Lie

Inspiration can find me in the strangest places--the latest one came in the ER when I took my youngest in over a weekend for an ear infection. The nurse had a big mama-jama ring on her finger & it looked so cool & funky, it made me want to make a bigger ring. I've been keeping it rather conservative with 5/8" round rings.

So, I came up with making rings with my mini-dominos! I hope they fill a need for people who like big rings :-) They're 1/2" x 1"-- so not ginormous, but still a little more funky.

A few samples now in my store:

 

  

 

I Like Big Rings & I Cannot Lie

American Girl Doll Matching Pendants

For my daughter's 6th birthday last week, we got her her very first American Girl doll, not an investment to be taken lightly, I might add. We ended up getting her Lanie, the doll for 2010 because well, she's so pret-ty! Plus, our Maddie is an outdoor kind of girl and so is the Lanie character.

Anyway, I came up with this idea of making matching pendants for Maddie & her doll. I'd gotten a shipment of mini-dominos in that weren't like my usual ones--I was able to break them in half! I can't use them for mini domino pendants of course but serendipitously, the half-domino is the perfect size to be a mini "Scrabble" pendant. Very cool. For the bail, I found these cute flower charms to glue on. Since the chains had to be a smaller size, I chose ball chains that can be easily cut to any length you want and used simple connectors for the clasp. (The doll's chain is 9" and the girl's chain is 14"). I was even able to use the same color rhinestone in large & mini sizes. I've officially added them to my webstore now :)

Maddie chose her background paper, I stamped the monograms in black and here you go:

 

Maddie & her doll:

 

She happened to have a similar dress as Lanie already--kismet!

American Girl Doll Matching Pendants

"Mustard Seed" Bamboo Bead Pendant

This is so cool--my artist friend Vanessa commissioned me to make six of these bamboo bead pendants using an image of her very own artwork ("The Mustard Seed")! She's a mixed media artist with her own etsy store--check it out: TheHeARTGallery

After sizing the image, I printed them out and coated them with Mod Podge so that the ink wouldn't run. Then, I just cut them out and glued them on the beads. I hope Van doesn't mind, but I took a little creative license by adding some of Stampin' Up!'s Champagne Shimmering Paint sparingly on top. I've really come to rely on that stuff to add a little sparkly oompf to the images I use. Finally, I drip Colores Doming Resin on top. With the waxy & rounded surface of these beads, it works best to use the very end of your resin batch after it's thickened up some & use it sparingly. The resin really tends to drip off of these babies. If that happens, a hobby knife can be used to cut off the excess. I had to do that on a couple & then add a little more resin later where too much had peeled off in my effort to "fix" things.

I use wire to add decorative beads (the bamboo tile beads come from a placemat so they already have two holes drilled lengthwise through them--have a batch of them for sale in my etsy shop if you want to try this) and make a basic loop at the top. Finally, a bail is attached by a jump ring and threaded with a black satin necklace.

"Mustard Seed" Bamboo Bead Pendant

Monogram Charm Pendants

Here's one more gift for one of my jewelry party hostesses--a leather cord necklace with three pendants with the initials of her kids. These were made from the same silver 5/8" buttons I'd made the charms (in the charm bracelet post) from. The initials are stamped from Stampin' Up!'s Calendar Alphabet and embossed in silver on black cardstock. Then, I just had to show the backs so you could see the cute flower bails that they're glued onto.

Monogram Charm Pendants

Monogram Mah Jong Pendants

Some of friends of mine threw me a jewelry party last weekend so I made them these monogram pendants from mah jong tiles as a thank you. (They just "happened" to be on "Joker" tiles--heh).

These mah jong tiles are from an American Travel Mah Jong Set, which are thinner (1/8") than the regular chunky mah jong tiles. I really love working with them because I can stamp on them just like I do with dominos but the nice shape lets me fit bigger images. I've also found them in two sizes--these (which are ivory) & about 1 3/8" x 1" and smaller ones that are about 1 1/8" x 7/8" (mine are white).

For these pendants, I first colored them with chalk inks--a light coat all over, heat set it, then edged it with a darker shade & heat set. I used a makeup sponge to dab the ink around the edge, pouncing until it blended as I wanted. Then I used Staz-on for the images--a little flourish from SU!'s retired "Frames with a Flourish" at the top & then the initials (the "S" is from Stampin' Up!'s "Lovely Letters" set). It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I also went over the letters with a black glitter pen to add a little bling.

Finally, I added Colores Doming Resin for a waterproof seal, a large bail and a rhinestone embellishment to complete the pendant. It looks great with a black satin cord for a funky statement. :-)

I welcome custom orders so if anyone wants one or any of my other creations, just let me know and I can create a custom listing for you in my etsy shop.

Monogram Mah Jong Pendants

Altered Art Charm Bracelet Set

Charms are such a fun way to personalize a bracelet. I've made tons of charms using Japanese Washi paper (as well as other kinds of specialty paper) sealed onto the flat side of silver buttons for people to choose from at my upcoming shows. To make the buttons into charms, I had to clip the loop off the flat side with a wire cutter & then sand smooth with my Drexel hand tool (came with a mini-sander tool--really cool). Then put on the paper, sealed with Mod Podge & then covered with my Colores Doming Resin. Finally, I glued the buttons onto the flat charm pads & attached them to the bracelet.

To make the ring, I just glued a charm button onto the ring blank. The pendant uses the same coordinating paper on a Sudoku tile (much like a Scrabble tile).

Altered Art Charm Bracelet Set

Bingo! More Halloween Earrings

Have to get in one last Halloween project--more earrings! I found this cute monster/Halloween paper to make earrings from bingo chips. The bingo chips are 5/8" in diameter & I have a circle punch just that size--yea! I love it when I don't have to trim or sand to get things to fit perfectly. I think the most fun part of making my paper-embellished jewelry is picking out the paper designs :-)

So, I always use a strong adhesive like SU! Crystal Effects to glue the paper to the chip--on things where the paper is the exact same size & so the resin may not even touch the chip, if it's not on securely, the paper, even covered with resin, can come right off! Ask me how I know...

Before spreading the waterproof Colores Doming Resin over the paper, I sealed it (front AND back) with Mod Podge--very important step!!

Once the resin cured (I leave it overnight), I screwed in the little eye-screws at the top (by hand--if you're patient, you don't need to drill a hole first) and attached the earwires.

This last picture shows the back of another pair so you can see what the bingo chips look like (I glue the paper to the actual back of the chip. The side with the numbers isn't smooth--besides, I think being able to see that something is a game piece makes it more interesting. For this pair, I'd actually drilled a hole through the chip and used an eye pin so that I could add a bead dangle. You could also just add a second eye screw too. I'm starting to get handy with the jewelry tools, I tell ya!

& if you really like my monster earrings--they're on sale in my etsy shop! (see side widget)

Bingo! More Halloween Earrings

Shrink Plastic Halloween Earrings

Aren't these fun? The images are from the current SU! set "Batty For You" & the retired set "Bitty Boos." I made them with black shrink plastic (like Shrinky Dinks). I really like the black because I don't think it looks obvious that it's shrink plastic.

First, stamp the image (straight up & down--it's a slippery surface--you can sand it in a criss-cross pattern to prevent sliding if you don't have a steady hand). On black, I recommend Chalk Inks...they showed up much more vibrantly than Craft or pigment inks.

Then punch the image out (I used a 1 3/8" circle punch for the image & a 1/8" hole for the jump ring). Be very careful when punching because the ink can smear. Also, make sure you didn't get ink on your punch because then you could transfer it to the next image. Next, all you need is a heat tool to shrink them. I keep a paper piercer in the little hole to keep the plastic from blowing away when I'm trying to heat it. The finished size is about 1/2" in diameter--perfect for casual earrings.

Finally, just add jump rings & earring findings. Going to a Halloween party? Give the hostess a pair of  "The ghostess with the mostest" earrings :)

Shrink Plastic Halloween Earrings

Fall Festival Halloween Necklace

I've just been confirmed to participate in a Fall Festival at the Brambleton Town Center in Ashburn, VA on Oct. 10, 2-7 pm--so I thought I'd post a Halloween project I made for it (I've got it for sale in my Etsy store too). I usually do Christmas fairs so it was fun for me to make some Halloween items. Come visit me if you're in the area!!

I'd make some glazed mini-domino pendants with this same skeleton and found out that boys liked them so I decided to make some that were a little simpler and geared towards the tween set with the leather necklaces. I colored them with chalk inks and dabbed gently with my finger or a make-up sponge until the colors looked blended. Next, heat set the ink with a heat gun. I found if I did that before stamping the main image, the stamp doesn't slide and the image is crisper. So the main image was stamped with black Staz-On. I used a sharpie to color the sides black.

I invested in a Dremel hand drill and mini-vise that clamps onto my desk this summer so drilling a little hole near the top of the domino was a cinch. Then I used a jump ring to add the domino to the necklace. I also made a bunch of girly ones too--I'll post when I get better pics but here's one...an Irish Dancer:

Fall Festival Halloween Necklace

Custom Photo Pendant

I finally had someone ask me to make a photo pendant of her grandbaby. I was psyched to try out a black and white photo on an Othello game piece (the back of the piece is black). And how could you go wrong with such a beautiful picture? The photographer is Kelly Mihalcoe.

This was my first time working with a digital print so I had some new challenges. Just like other papers, it has to be sealed first before you add the epoxy resin on top. I tried Mod Podge but found that it yellows the picture a little. Next, I used Krylon's Preserve It! in Matte Finish. It's kind of funny making a picture printed on glossy paper look matte, but whatever, that's what I had on hand & the epoxy made it look glossy again. Make sure you spray the front AND the back of the paper to seal it. Finally, I added a rhinestone to her hair for the finishing touch.

Custom Photo Pendant

Mucha Resin Link Bracelet

I've expanded my jewelry-making to bracelets now. This is a link bracelet made with Alphonse Mucha images--I just love the art nouveau look! You can really use any images--your own photos or punched designer paper.

Since I bought these images as a digital collage sheet (from www.etsy.com --where I bought the bracelet blanks too, by the way), I had to print them on my computer, which required a step to seal them before adding resin. I used a Krylon spray specifically for protecting photos. After printing the images, spray both the front and the back of the paper, let it dry & then punch or cut them out.

They were already in a 3/4" circle size in pdf form but I needed them to be 11/16" to fit perfectly inside the link. I figured out I could re-size them by opening the pdf & then using the pdf photo tool to copy them onto the clipboard--IMPORTANT--make sure the "view" is more than 100% to maintain image quality--I put it on 150% just to be safe. Then I inserted the copy from the clipboard onto a blank 8 1/2" x 11" photo in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Nest, I resized the whole thing so the circles were 11/16" (by making the ruler visible). Then I saved it as a .tif so as to avoid any compression of the file. Next, I opened up Microsoft Publisher & inserted the tif onto a blank letter, resized the photo to letter size (this is to make sure it still prints to be the right size) & saved it as a pdf. I found that it still printed the best quality as a pdf rather than if I just printed it as a jpg--I'm sure other more computer savvy people can figure out their own way but if all you have is Microsoft Office & a non-professional photo-editing software, hopefully this will work for you too. Alot of these collage sheets are already sized for use on certain pieces (like scrabble tiles or dominos) but if you know how to resize, you can buy one size & re-use it!

Since I could not find a 11/16" circle punch to save my life, I simply had to cut the circles out. It was worth it though, because it's easier to add resin when the image fits nicely in the tray. So, the last step, of course, was to add my Colores Doming Resin--let it cure & viola--cute bracelet!

These five Mucha ladies represent the five months of my family's birthdays--so it can be a nice personal present. Below is a (little fuzzy) close-up of "April."

Mucha Resin Link Bracelet

Adventures in Resin: New & Improved Pendants

I hate to say it, but Crystal Effects wasn't cutting it for my pendants. After my daughter's first swim meet of the season, I noticed my baby footprint mini-domino pendant (see a few posts ago) wasn't quite so shiny and almost cloudy in one place. I knew I had to upgrade my pendant sealant to a waterproof one if I wanted to sell them.


When I first started making them, I read all about the different ways to seal them and settled on the non-toxic, less-mess route of Crystal Effects or Diamond Glaze. So I knew about epoxy resins but didn't get past the "make sure you ventilate the room" part. I was intimidated. But, my desire to produce quality, lasting work prevailed and just last week I took the plunge into a new world.


After a lot of reading, I settled on "Colores Doming Resin" because it was supposed to be less smelly and have a step or two less than other 2-part epoxies. Colores comes with an 8 0z. bottle of hardener and an 8 oz. bottle of resin which is enough to make hundreds of pendants (but only has a shelf-life of six months so don't buy a lot at once--on etsy, I sold off the second kit I'd bought when I realized I'd never use it! The kit also came with stir sticks (essentially popsicle sticks which you can find at a craft store) and little plastic measuring/mixing cups, which was quite useful because I haven't been able to find them in local stores. It turns out you can re-use these plastic cups if you let the remaining resin cure in them and then peel it out.


Cool--saved some money there because the 12 cups that came with the kit was not going to be enough! You see, this stuff is only workable on a pendant for about 45 minutes to an hour so I quickly learned with my first batch of the full 1 oz. cup that I couldn't use it all in the amount of time. I figured out that I can do about 30 pendants with 1/2 oz in that time. I only did that many at a time because I re-glazed all my existing pendants with the epoxy. So, yes! You can put this stuff OVER the non-toxic glazes. I couldn't find the answer to that question anywhere so I just crossed my fingers it would work. A good overview on epoxy resin can be found here.


The stuff does smell...but not too badly. You should invest in some preventative measures and make sure your workspace is well-ventilated; I bought safety glasses & latex gloves at Walmart and used a dust mask, which doesn't protect your lungs, but at least it kept me from feeling irritated or smelling the stuff. I saw a demo video for it and they weren't wearing the mask. It's recommended that you get a filter mask if you're working this stuff every day.


The demo video gives great tips--definitely mix for the recommended time (about 5 minutes) and let it sit until clear. On my first batch I must not have mixed well enough because my first few pendants are still sticky (not cured thoroughly) days later. Luckily, I stopped and stirred some more because the rest of that batch turned out fine. Also, if you put it on too soon when it's really liquidy, be careful because it's more likely to run--especially if your surface isn't very level. I actually like working with the resin after it's been sitting for about 20 minutes because it's easier to spread when it's thicker. You should really seal your images well with mod-podge or a thin brush of diamond glaze first so that the resin can't soak in or under the image. This happened with some of my pendants and was really noticeable on white or double-sided paper (see pics below). The casualties (like the bird) that I can't sell are now proudly in my daughter's jewelry box. Some, like the skull, still kind of worked because of the image or color, thank goodness.

The ones that are still sticky I'm going to re-do with a new UV non-toxic resin called Magic Glos. It doesn't have to be mixed so it'll be good for doing pendants here and there when I need to. It's also a lot more expensive (got my 1 0z. bottle for $10 with free shipping from www.artbeads.com). 1 Oz. will only make about 60 pendants so if you're making a lot, it's not cost effective. I'll let you know how those turn out!

So, in review, I'd recommend Colores--the pendants (where I followed directions) turned out beautifully!

Adventures in Resin: New & Improved Pendants

Custom Baby Footprint Pendant

While trying to live up to the "Stamp 4 Life" name, I came up with a mini-domino pendant design to honor babies and moms with this special baby footprint pendant that can be decorated with rhinestones to represent each child in a family.

It's now for sale in my etsy store and $3 from the sale of this pendant will be donated to Tepeyac Family Center, a non-profit that helps women in crisis pregnancies.

This pendant is:
• Made from a mini-domino (about 1” x ½”).
• Handstamped and colored with alcohol inks in colors of your choosing.
• Sealed with waterproof epoxy resin.
• Completed with a silver-plated jewelry bail and rhinestones (I'll use clear unless you request special colors, such as those of your child's birthstone).

The one with three rhinestones is my personal one to represent my three kids. The others are custom orders. The one with blue and red rhinestones are the birthstones of the kids.

Custom Baby Footprint Pendant