Little Critters Scrabble Pendants

Little Critters: Mouse, Puppy, Two Chicks, Turtle, Kitty & Bunny

Had to share these new "Little Critter" pendants I made using the cutest stamps! They are stamped directly onto the Scrabble (or Sudoku) tile in black. Then, I hand-colored them using chalk inks (so I can customize the colors to match someone's pet if they want). The sky & grass are pearlescent colors, which make them reflect light very prettily. I'm confident kids will like these because mine kept trying to take them (even my boys)!

Little Critters Scrabble Pendants

New Pendant Designs

New Pendant Themes: Vintage Dogs, Horses & Cats, Irish Fun, Pregnancy, Funky Trees, Madonna & Child, Matryoshka & Yoga

I apologize for being so remiss on my blog postings; it's been a long summer! In early 2011, I shall be changing my profile to read "SAHM of 4!" (& hence the belly love pendants ;-) ) Anyway, I tend to get pretty sick when I'm pregnant so I haven't had much energy to do anything but gestate, lol. Also, the resin I use for my jewelry is toxic before it cures, meaning I have to wear a ventilator to avoid the fumes. It's pretty hard to breathe easily in the mask & when you feel like throwing up anyway, well, it's easy to see how this is the first batch of pendants I've made since May.

I picked out these new themes some months ago but wasn't able to motivate myself to do the final resin & glue steps until this past week. I've had lots of requests for dogs and yoga and am happy to finally have some in my inventory! I also thought the Madonna & Child images would be perfect for the upcoming Christmas season; I used a fun new gold shimmer paint spray on them to add to the icon look.

In general I've got some fun new toys (shimmer paints & accent inks) & stamps I'm excited to start using, so stay tuned :-) This fall I'm slated to do a couple of holiday craft fairs, Chicks Picks by Hillary boutique shows & am taking reservations for home jewelry parties.

New Pendant Designs

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

Glitter Glue/Alcohol Ink Storage

Just thought I'd share this cool & inexpensive storage solution I found through a stamping forum. I already had the acrylic frames (can be found at an office supply store). You want the kind that stands straight up. Then, buy a roll of sticky back velcro. I bought a 1" wide roll and just cut it in half (cheaper). You can see through the back how I just laid a strip of one side of the velcro across the frame in four rows. Then cut little strips of the other side of the velcro and attach to the backs of your bottles. They say Glitter Glue should be stored upside down. I have a second frame filled with my Alcohol Inks (NOT upside down!) You can use up both sides of the frame too.

Glitter Glue/Alcohol Ink Storage

Mother's Day Shimmery Rose Cards

I wanted to make some Mother's Day cards to sell along with my jewelry at Celebrate Mama this past weekend, plus I needed a new technique for our last technique club of the year so I borrowed this technique from http://www.pattystamps.com/ who also used the rose from Fifth Avenue Floral in her samples. It's kind of like watercoloring on steriods--I love it! I don't know the name of it so I'll dub it "Juiced Watercoloring" hee.

First, stamp the rose in white craft ink on shimmer white cardstock. Sprinkle on clear embossing powder and heat emboss. Mist the flower with water until it puddles. Then take a drop of re-inker (I kept them handy in a little palette tray) with your aquapainter and drop in the puddles. The color won't stick to the embossed part so the flower outline still shows. I used Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette & Bashful Blue (without rhyme or reason). Trim the flower & use as a pretty focal point.

Btw--the four cards I made all sold in the first hour!

Mother's Day Shimmery Rose Cards

Busy, busy, busy! & Gala Table Signs

Busy is good. I've been so busy with various family, volunteer & jewelry business, I haven't had time to post for awhile. But that's good too! I've got quite a few shows coming up in the next month. Next weekend I have two at the same time!

A friend of mine told me about Chick's Picks by Hillary and thought I should check it out because my jewelry would fit in. So I emailed her (she features local artists in frequent boutique shows in her own home), showed her my stuff & she wants me in her next show! It's the same weekend I'll be at Celebrate Mama in downtown Bethesda but luckily all I have do is drop my stuff off and she sells it for me. So I've been dividing up my inventory--man, I've got a lot of stuff.

Then, on May 7, I'm doing a Japanese Culture Festival Craft Fair at Fox Mill Elementary in Herndon. On May 15, it's the Virginia Wine and Craft Festival in Front Royal, VA.

On top of that, I'm organizing the auction display (bid sheets, checkout) for our church/school's annual gala this weekend--131 items & most of them are in my living room. You try keeping a 3 year old out of huge baskets filled with games, toys & candy. Oy. The fun thing for me has been getting to use my stamps & paper again to help make table signs and decorate posters, etc. Our theme is "Night on the Orient Express" so I found a retired travel set & went to town with embossing. The table names are stops on the route. I think they're a cross between a ticket & a passport page with stamps (at least that's what I was going for!)

Busy, busy, busy! & Gala Table Signs

More Resin Discussion

A reader sent me some good questions about Magic Glos vs. Colores Doming Resin and doming effects so I thought I’d address resin a little more.

To answer her question on whether I tried it on paper as opposed to just over Diamond Glaze--I did try just the magic glos on a paper item about 5/8" in diameter. I had to do several layers to get the thickness and "dome" effect I wanted. I don't remember bubbles being a problem with that but I still felt like I had to babysit it--maybe I'm just paranoid.  However, it eventually cracked! I've never had Colores crack on me.

There should be time to catch initial bubbles if you first work in the shadows before moving into the sun--but once in the sun, magic glos does cure fairly quickly.  John Golden has a good video up on youtube using magic glos & he had bubble issues--it's interesting to watch his system--he also has a video on using Easy Cast Resin.

She wanted to know if I had to do several layers with Colores to get the doming effect.  I only do one layer, one last check for bubbles (blowing lightly through a straw will take care of most of the bubbles), cover with a box to keep out stray particles & leave overnight to cure. I usually mix 15 or 30mm worth of resin (1/2 or almost 1 medicine cup respectively) & do a bunch of jewelry pieces at once to save on the cups, sticks & gloves. You can definitely make more pieces for your money with Colores than with the magic glos.  Of course, if you only plan to make a few items for gifts, personal use (not necessarily to sell), then it might be more of an investment since Colores only has a shelf life of six months.

But back to the doming--I personally think the doming works better on flat surfaces. Everyone always asks me how I keep it from running over. The short answer is: surface tension. As long as you add a little at a time (and you’ve mixed it well and with two equal parts), you can bring it to the edge and it won’t go over. If you use a bezel cup you have to keep adding more to get the dome-- to the point where you think you're about to spill over--but you really won't because of surface tension if you're careful. That said, don’t be surprised if your “cup runneth over” a few times before you get the hang of it!

If you really love the big bubble look, I’d recommend finding bubble glass (can be found on etsy) to put on top  because you really won’t get THAT much height with a doming resin.

More Resin Discussion