Beaded Flower Arch

After I looked at my enormous bead stash I decided to use these lovely vintage flower beads instead of the flower shrinky dinks that I had made for my entry in Christy’s craft challenge.  They just didn’t have the right look for this project.

I have used up most of the green felt and now I just need to decide how to use the green circles and the burlap, I know what I’m going to do with the rhinestones.  I really want to use as much of the stuff provided in the kit as possible.  I also need to beef up the bottom of the niche, it looks a little warped.  I may need to make a run to the Dollar Tree to pick up a couple or things, I would like to just use up stash for this, but we’ll see.  I’m hoping to finish this up this weekend so I can get it posted in the gallery before the deadline.

I also added a few new polymer clay pendants to my etsy store today, including the Balinese Filigree pendant from yesterdays post.

BTW Christy, I want an award for mentioning this a lot 😉

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Balinese Filigree Donut Pendant

I had so much fun making a filigree donut for my swap partner in the bargain hunter swap that I decided to make another one.  I planned ahead for this one by covering a base when I made the violet mokume gane.

Having a base of clay to work on made the process go a little faster, it also made the pendant a little thicker.

I like how it looks when all the snakes are applied, but it really starts to pop when the texture is added.Baking the clay makes it a little darker.  I don’t usually do any sanding on filigree, just a good buffing with the dremel to give it a nice satin finish.  All it needs now is a gold bail and it’s ready to go!

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Homemade Shrinky Dinks

For this project you will need to buy a box of cookies in a deli container, I know it will be a sacrifice, but it’s for crafts :-). On the bottom of the container there is a recycling symbol, make sure there is a #6 in the center. You can use the entire container, but I usually just save the flat parts(we eat a lot of cookies). I find them easier to store and flat is better for detail work. I lightly sand the plastic using a sanding sponge(regular sand paper works too), whatever grit you have handy is fine, and wipe off the dust. The sanding makes the marker or pencil stick better.
I used a sharpie marker to draw my designs. I have also used stamps. Make sure to give the ink a few minutes to dry.
Then cut out all of the shapes. I also used a 1/4″ hole punch to make holes in the center of each flower. I did not color this batch before baking, but you can color your batch at this point using colored pencils or markers. Remember that the colors will intensify when they shrink.
I put them into my toaster oven at 350, it only takes a few minutes for them to start curling up and shrinking. Once they have flattened out again they are done. This batch was a little wavy and so when I took them out of the oven I smooshed them with a phone book.I used sharpie markers to color them and they are finished. I made these to use in Christy’s craft challenge, but they weren’t quite right. I will store them away with my other beads to be used in some future project.

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Waiting for Glue to Dry

I hate waiting for glue to dry! I am working on my entry for Christy’s craft challenge and I have several things that need to be done, but the glue is drying so slowly.

I started out with four strips of cereal boxes, I then glued and stacked them and let them dry shaped around a can to get a nice arch. I cut a back piece out of another box and I’m using pins to hold the parts of the boxes together while they dry, the pin holes will be covered once everything is dry.

I have finished one of the clothespins, but I’m not sharing a photo until the project is finished and I have all my materials gathered for finishing. My theme for this project is spring and abundance, can anyone guess what I’m making?

I guess I’ll work on my shrinky dinks. Did you know that clear plastic deli containers are the same plastic that shrinky dinks are made from?, I’ll never have to buy them again, instead I can buy cookies 🙂

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A Few More Favorites

I love browsing the front page and random categories on etsy.com, I always seem to find several things I would love to have.
From left to right:
Verdigris Spring Fling Capelet from KerreraSkye
Only Bad Witches are Ugly…Wizard of Oz Sign from CountryWorkshop
Leather Utility Belts That Actually Look Good from justintime67
Yarn Exhibitionist Kit from Emilybug

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Circle Cloth

I just finished this little dishcloth using this circle cloth pattern. It looks more like a honeycomb to me, but whatever :).I made mine a little smaller and added a crocheted border. I used sugar n’ cream hot blue and peaches and cream peppermint yarn. I don’t know what it is about dishcloths, but I love to make them! I guess it’s instant gratification and a good way to try new patterns.

And for those of you on the edge of your seats waiting to see what I’m making for Christy’s craft challenge here’s a little peek.

This is part of the burlap and one of the clothes pins being glued.

As promised, here’s a cereal box being mutilated, I’m going to do some gluing later and maybe some shrinky dinks.

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Peer Pressure

After hearing how much fun my teams members were having I decided to join Christy’s Craft Challenge. Christy gave me my packet at out Lincoln Handmade Team meeting. I can make anything I want, as long as I use a little bit of everything in the packet.
Thank you Christy (I stole her picture of what was in the packet). I like the green a lot, very springy and I have been working on ideas all weekend. My clothespins are already dismantled and I am looking through my stash for more green items like beads, embroidery floss, and glitter. I also need some cardboard, so I imagine that all my cereal will soon just be in bags 😉 I’m going to be working on this all week, so I’ll keep you posted!

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Mokume Gane Votive Holder

I’ve been thinking about what else I can put mokume gane clay on. Pretty much anything oven safe will work. I thought a glass votive holder would be interesting.
I used a heavy, thick glass holder to make sure the sanding process would be easy. It is really pretty when lit, it gives off a soft violet glow and you can see the flecks of gold leaf on the inside. This is my new favorite mokume gane covered item, but I still really like the donut pendants. I think I’m going to make a couple more of these and I also want to try some more tins. I just need to find the perfect shape!

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Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts Giveaway

My friend Christy is hosting a giveaway for Martha Stewart’s new book, she has five copies. All you need to do is visit her blog and leave a comment and help get the word out about her giveaway, how easy it that!
See this post to enter, and while you’re there check out the rest of her blog, there are a lot of interesting product reviews, patterns, and interviews, good luck everyone.

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Eraser Stamps

Did you know that you can buy a pack of three erasers for a dollar? I bought three packs (hoarding, because they don’t always have them). I also got a box of coin envelopes(not for a dollar), just because I like them.

I used my handy dandy linoleum cutter to carve them and now I have a double sided stamp and I can make more!!! I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these, but I like them. If you would like me to send you a set of six (3 of each design) send me an email, crafterella (at) hotmail (dot) com.

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