A Crafty Halloween

Hi everyone!! Happy Fall!!

I know I have been what I call, a sporadic blogger lately, but there has been so much going on here in my house that I had a hard time getting caught up!! I am caught up so now it's time to catch up on blog postings!! I am into the final weeks before my husband deploys to Iraq, so I hope you will bear with me if I do get sporadic once again. My family must come first and we are trying to enjoy our time.

I did get a moment to ink up a new set by Our Craft Lounge called Sweet Tooth Terrors. I LOVE this set!! It is so fun and there is so much you can do with it!! {Thank you Joy!} You must go and check out all the fun new sets they released!!

I stamped the image with Momento Tuxedo Black and colored the "monster" in and the sentiment with Copics and Prismacolor markers. I highlighted the candy corn yellow spots with my yellow Copic Spica pen for some added sparkle to accent the dp paper that has some to! The base cs is a shimmer rust color that I purchased somewhere!! I can't remember where! But I love it and its a perfect color for the season. I added some ribbon for a finished touch and popped up the main image and sentiment with dimensionals.

I have more to play with so I do hope you continue to check back!! I appreciate all your comments whether here or via email! Thanks so much!! Have a great day!!

Matericals Used: Shimmer cs, $ dp, basic black, Unknown glossy green, white, Tuxedo black ink, Copics, Prismamarkers, Copic Spica-yellow, dimensionals, ribbon fx, corner rounder

Amate Back to School Creation

Hi all!! I hope you are having a great short week! I have two projects to share with you today made for Amate Studios. The theme was Back to School so I couldn't help making two pieces with the teachers in mind.

For this first piece, I created the pendant using UTEE, some school brads, a paper clip, stamps, and grunge board. I finished the piece off with Red agate and blue quartz along with some message beads by Blue Moon beads. Below is the full instruction. Don't forget to check it out here to see all the design team members projects!!

Teach Necklace:

Products used:

Amate Studios Design Base Elements Rectangle Pendant (gold)

Ranger Melting Pot

Ranger UTEE in Clear

Ranger UTEE Flex

Tim Holtz Grungeboard

Tim Holtz Adirondak Alcohol Inks (Various Colors)

The Paper Studio Homeroom Brads

Stampin’ Up! Alphabits Stamp Set

¼” Round Punch

¼” Square Punch

Paper Clip

Cream Cardstock

Momento Tuxedo Black Ink

Blue Moon Message beads

Suzie Weinburg Cool Tools

Non-stick Craft Sheet

Red Agate stones

Blue Quartz chips

Metal Glue

Beadalon 7 strand wire

Toggle clasp

Instructions:

1. Cut Grungeboard to fit inside of Amate Studios pendant and add alcohol inks in the color scheme you like.
2. Slip on paperclip and attach Grungeboard to Amate Studios pendant with glue and bend off the back of the brads so you are left with just the tops.
3. Stamp the alphabits set onto card stock and punch out the letters alternating the shapes.
4. Arrange the brads and letters in the design you like and attach all elements using glue.
5. Pre-heat Melting Pot with lid on for about 5-7 minutes.
6. Add UTEE.
7. Once UTEE has melted, add UTEE Flex and mix.
8. Carefully add UTEE to the finished Amate Studios pendant and allow to cool.
9. Cut the beading wire to desired length and attach the toggle clasp to the end.
10. String beads in your desired patterned adding the message beads throughout.
11. Add Amate Studios pendant to the center and continue stringing the beads in the chosen pattern.
12. Finish necklace by attaching the other end of the toggle-Enjoy!

This second piece was done using some 6/0 size seed beads, message beads, glossy accents, and the computer to generate the sentiment within the focal piece. Again, the full instruction is below.

Kindness Necklace:

Products used:

Amate Studios Design Base Elements Connecter Pendant

Ranger Glossy Accents

Tim Holtz Adirondak Alcohol Inks (Various Colors)

Ranger Queens Gold Embossing Powder

Versamark Ink

Mini Paper Flower

Designer Paper

Cream Cardstock

½” Round Punch

Computer

Acrylic Spray

Heat Tool

Blue Moon Inspiration Pendants

Blue Moon Seed Beads (Size 6/0)

Swarovski Crystals

Jumpring

Glitter

E-6000 Glue

Beadalon Dandy Line

Tie In Toggle clasp

Instructions:

1. Layer the inside of the connector component with the Versamark Ink and sprinkle the gold embossing powder. Heat with your heat tool until melted.
2. On the computer, type out the word “Kindness” using various fonts for a bit of a funky look and printout. Spray lightly with Acrylic Spray to seal in the ink from your printer. (if you are using a laser printer, you do NOT need to seal) Cut out to fit pendant.
3. Using your ½” circle punch, punch out a piece of the designer paper and glue it to your pendant in the location you have chosen. Attach your printed Kindness to the top. Place your mini flower also in your chosen location.
4. Fill in the component with Glossy Accents and place crystals in your desired spots. Let dry. Once dry, fill in any remaining spots that may have settled for a smooth top. At this time, sprinkle lightly a very small amount of glitter to the top. Let dry.
5. Using your Alcohol Inks, sponge around the component until you have your desired look with your chosen colors to tone down the bright metal. Let dry.
6. Cut out Dandyline string in the length you want and begin stringing in the seed beads having two strands. Tie those strands to the inside of your toggle clasp and secure with your E-6000 glue. Let dry completely.
7. While the necklace is drying, begin stringing smaller strands around the base of the component and alternating the look with the inspiration pendants.
8. Attach the component to your finished necklace with a jumpring and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed these two projects and thank you for stopping by to take a look!! Have a great day!!

Jewelry with MFT on Labor Day!!

Happy Labor Day!! I hope you all having a great long weekend and the weather is cooperating with your plans!! The weather here has cooled down significantly and we are enjoying every moment of it!!

It is the second Monday of the month, so you know that means Jewelry with MFT! Today's project is something new that I tried out and is really quite simple if you have the products to use. This is not something everyone will have on hand, but if you are really getting into jewelry and being able to use your stamps along with it, this is the hottest thing right now! While at CHA in Orlando, I really wanted to get my hands on some Resin. Two part Resin is a lot to be bothered with so the new UV curing Resin seemed right up my ally!! LOL! To do this, it required a UV lamp and of course some UV Resin. Now, if you don't have the lamp but have the resin, good ol' sunshine outside will also do the trick. It may take a little longer, but it works! There are so many uses to make fun jewelry or fun embellishments for cards using components and resin. You can put pictures, other embellishments, or anything your mind comes up with inside blank components to make for something you will enjoy for a very long time!

For this project, I used a flat metal rectangular jewelry component by Nunn Designs and stamped the flower from "Farm Friends" onto the metal with Versamark and put some black ep onto it. Heat it and let cool. Once cooled, I painted the flower using some acrylic paint and let that dry. It dries fast so there is no need to wait a long time. I put some UV Resin on the top of the whole component and placed that under the UV lamp. Total curing process is about 20 min but it can vary depending on how big the coverage of the item you are curing. Once it has cured, I glued on some rhinestones to the corners and added leather to make the necklace for something simple and fun to wear!

Thank you for taking a peek and I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I enjoyed making it! Don't forget to check out the MFT forum at SCS here for other fun projects as well as some challenges!! MFT has also released some awesome sets so be sure to check those out too!!

Products used:
Nunn Designs metal component
Judikins Gel du Soleil
Judikins UV lamp
Acrylic Paints
MFT Farm Friends
Leather string
Rhinestones