Monday, May 31, 2010

Finger Print Pendant Tutorial





Supply list:

Mold
Resin or diamond glaze
foil tape
black ink pad
velum
bead
eye post

This mold is made for resin jewelry. We bought it at Hobby Lobby for $4.99. It has been very loved and there fore worth the price, plus my mom paid for so, for me really worth it :)
So I started by having my hubby stamp his finger with the black ink pad on to velum. You can use regular printer paper, but the pendant won't be opaque.
My DH insists that rolling his finger was better then putting it straight on the paper and lifting it straight off. But it ends up looking like the above pitcher, a bit smudged. So I would recommend the straight down, straigth up approach when stamping the finger print.

To get the heart look I stamped my finger slightly over lapping his. (Sorry about the pink smudges, those are on my table, not on the vellum)
You can see this creates a heartish like shape.

I used a pencil to lightly draw a heart shape. It doesn't quite take in the whole finger print, but most of the middle is included. Then I cut it out. Be careful not to touch the stamped image, it will smear.
For this necklace I used our initials - C & S - with the word forever, smaller in a different font.

You can get really creative with this part. I made this in pain, mostly because I have not broke down and bought photo shop yet.
Notice I printed this on printer paper. But if you wanted a more opaque look, use vellum. 

 I then cut everything down to the size I wanted and arranged it in my mold. I added a gemstone, to give it some bling.  I did the same thing with the one I am doing to represent my kids. I used a quote by a religious leader in my church, it says "The tiny fingerprints that show, will disappear all too soon, and you will miss them" It is actually a shortened down version of his quote, but still affective. Then I stamped my kids finger prints over it. This time I used brown ink, so it wouldn't blend to much with the printed words. A gemstone representing each of them was then added.

The resin I use is from Roberts craft store, but I know it is also available at Hobby Lobby. I have had it so long I can't even remember the brand name. It was around $10, but I used a 50% coupon on it. It really has lasted through many projects, including this, the playing pieces for this and the nine planets necklace here . It is great for doing scrabble tiles also! Mine is a two part mix, so you mix a 1:1 ratio.
Diamond glaze could also be used for this step.

The key to the 1:1 ratio resin is to stir the heck out of it, until little bubbles form.
Then I fill the mold half full with some resin. Notice the bubbles in the above photo.
This is were the heat gun is very important. It gets ride of those bubbles in a matter of seconds. If you skip this step, then the bubbles will harden and ruin the look of the necklace.



Once all the bubbles are removed its time to add in your fingerprints and other items. Make sure you put them in up side down, because we want the smooth round part on the bottom to be the front of the necklace. Use the spoon to push the embellishments down into the resin. The fill up the remainder of the mold with resin.

There will be more bubbles, so just use the heat gun again to get rid of those. This can get a bit messy so make sure you have covered your work surface if you don't want to ruin it
Here is a what the my pendants look like in the mold.
Now they need to harden. This will take about 24 hours or so.


This is the foil tape. I purchased it at Micheal's. It seems it was about $2.99 or so.

Once your pendant is all set, remove it from the mold. Since mine is still setting and I want to get this tutorial out done for ya, I am using another one I had from the first time I did this project. Notice it is not very clear...this is what it looks like if you don't use the heat gun to remove the bubbles.

Cut a piece of foil that will fit around all four sides of the pendant.
This stuff is super sticky and once it is on the pendant, it will not tolerate being moved very much, so I only removed a little bit of the paper backing at a time.

Sorry this is a terrible picture, but it is just showing you to center the pendant side so that it is in the middle of the tape.

Wrap all four sides.

Then use your nail to fold the foil over the rounded front.

This picture is of the back. I just fold the foil tape onto its self, but you can fold it over the back side of the pendant, but you will see it a little through the front of the pendant.



Using a tiny, tiny drill bit, drill a whole in the center of the top side. This is were we are going to attach a post.

In this picture you can see the drill bit entering the pendant.



I am not sure what this little thing is called, I always call it a eye post in my head. Cut this down to about 1/4 inch long. Add the a bead to the post. Then dip the pointy end in some E600 glue. And put in the whole that was drilled out of the pendant. Allow to set for several hours to ensure the glue is dry and the post is firmly in place.

Then string on a necklace, chain or pretty piece of ribbon and enjoy!!



Sunday, May 30, 2010

June Table

I finished up my front table decor last night.







These cute little ants were the inspiration behind it all. Being low on funds, everything was made with things I had on hand.





                                  

I started with the watermelon in the frame. It is paper pieced with
scrapbook paper. Then I spray painted a dollar store frame silver. I lined the frame with mat board with sheet music and used pop dots to make it stand out a bit, which is hard to tell from the picture.












Next came the ribbon topiary.
I found this cute idea here and LOVED it! I am in the works to make one just like this for the fourth of July.





Then I did some blocks with more paper piecing and a touch of the ribbon from the topiary.


The hardest part was something for my front door. I had no wreath and no funds to buy one. I came up with this.


Its not my most favorite thing I have ever put on the front door, but it works. The cone is made from scrapbook paper that I modge podged over to help make it a bit sturdier. The pink flowers a paper hearts folded to look like petals.


Over all, its not my favorite front table ever,but it will work until I can put up my 4th of July stuff!



I am linking this up to:

Creations by Kara


Photobucket

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Taya

This is the Taya


and it is funny to actually see one of the quilts on a bed, cause Taya is my youngest. So I know she loves it!

I let her pick the fabrics out. She picked the sparkle pink first and the brown polka dots, which I LOVE and use in everything!

So we picked the stripe to complement both and tie it all in.


And then she picked this

yup, bright purple Tinkerbell. I tried to talk her out of it, I know that she will probably out grow Tinkerbell in the next couple of years and I wanted this quilt, which is the bases for her room redo, to last a little longer than that.

So we compromised and I put it on the back

and spelled out her name with it.


I used the same free motion border as I did on Baileys


I also free motion stitched around the daisy's

and the hearts.


And then I added a word to each corner, (the words are dream, beautiful, imagine and create)


I think this is my fav so far!!

And while I am on Tayas room redo, her is another cute little creation I made for her "new" room

I think this should totally be Tayas motto, she loves to twirl!!

I have Kahlia, Paislee, Britney, Gini and Ricky all sketched up....just need some funds to be able to buy the fabric. And I guess I will be taking a detour, cause last night as I was showing all these creations off to Cory, my hot hubby, he asked why I had made all the kids one, some of the nieces and nephews one and even my mom one (Yes I did and its SOOO cute....just need pics...MOM!) and I had not made him one! Swoon, hubby interested and ASKING for a crafty project, this is a fantasy come true...so I need to do one for him too!!

Yup, I am going "home"

I am out this round of SYTYC. I am sad, cause next weeks theme is right up my alley (can't say what it is yet...)
but I am pretty proud of myself for making it to the top 5. Plus two wins in a row...that ain't so bad!

Its actually funny I went home this week, cause the summer theme was the easiest for me to come up with, I knew I wanted to do the lemonade stand as soon as I saw that summer was a theme.

I do have to say last weekend was CRAZY!!! My siblings, dad and I did a surprise 50th b-day party for my mom, Rosy Cheeks
and between preparing for that, working and all the end of the year parties, I am amazed I even got the stand done! It was really all thanks to my dad (Thanks dad!!)
who helped put the PVC pipe together for me.

And I have accomplished so many other projects that have been on the back burner, so it was okay (well, mostly). And it was a blast while it lasted!!

On a side note, if there is a request for a fairly simple how to or at least a materials list for the lemonade stand, let me know and I will put one together.