A Little Bubbly!

Shaped cards are really fun to make, and can have a big impact. This wine glass and bottle is from Flower Soft, but I decided to jazz it up a little using Sakura Crystal Lacquer. When, I noticed the wine in the glass, it was a given for me that I would like to add a layer of Crystal Lacquer over it, to make it look like liquid. To further embellish things, I made a medallion/greeting for the bottle. I stamped my image onto cardstock. Then I used the Copper Lacquer to trace over the lines of the stamp. The metallic lacquers are thicker than the clear and colored ones, so it really added some height. I let this dry completely, then I covered over the area with congratulations using the Cerise Lacquer. Again, I let this dry, and then covered the entire thing with a coat of Crystal Lacquer. It almost looks like Cloisonne when it's dry.

"Attractive" Charm Necklace set

Happy Monday! When I opened my first package from Sakura Hobby Crafts, it included this wonderful jewelry making kit for their featured swirl technique to design with. To my amusement these white brass pieces were capable of being attracted by a magnet! Immediately I knew I wanted to explore that with my project.

For this project I used:

Swirl Kit A from Sakura Hobby Craft

Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer [in kit]

Adirondack Alcohol Inks and Metallic Mixatives

thin magnetic sheet[recycled works good]

Small bits of cardstock, punches, embellishements

I began by coloring the White Brass with Alcohol Inks and Mixatives--these are excellent for adhering to the non-porous surface and make a background that helps camouflage non-perfect cutting of the magnetic inserts.

 I then measured the charm to figure out how big my magnets needed to be. I traced and cut out several magnet circles. Next I pealed off the old paper revealing just a thin magnet. I adhered the magnet circles with Crystal Lacquer to cardstock and papers for backgrounds--being sure to check which side of the thin magnet was attracted to the white brass.
I trimmed out the magnets, added some distressed stains or ink to the edge and then began building my inserts. I adhered all the parts with the 3D Crystal Lacquer. Edges that hung over were trimmed off to enable the insert to fit into the charm. An additional coat of lacquer over most of the 3D elements on the above insert was added.

Additionally I made several other inserts adding metallic lacquer and punchies, microbeads, or buttons to create festive alternatives. The inserts are very fun and will make for a fun necklace to celebrate a variety of seasons! Thank you for stopping by! I hope you like my project!

Give Your Layouts Their Own Jewelry!

I love making my own embellishments for my projects, and usually that means flowers or rosettes, but I decided I love to wear jewelry, and I'm sure my layouts would like a little bling of their own. So, I'm going to show you how to make a very Nouveau inspired page jewelry.





Step 1. Run a small piece of craft copper through your Cuttlebug with and embossing folder.


Step 2. Cut a scrap of cardboard to the desired size and shape of your finished medallion.
Add Scor-tape to the back.


Step 3. Wrap your metal around the cardboard and adhere with the Scor-tape.


Step 4. Add some color by swiping over the raised areas with Staz-On ink. Let dry, and then cover the entire tile with Sakura 3-d Crystal Lacquer. Let dry completely.



Step 5. Take a round jewelry finding and back it with a patterned paper of your choice. Don't worry about this being to precise, the edges will be covered over, with a border of the Metallic Gold Crystal Lacquer.
Step 6. Add a chipboard motif to the center of your pendant. Then, completely fill in using the Clear Crystal Lacquer. Take a toothpick, and pull a little bit of the gold to the center, so that it is not such a well defined border. Allow to dry, and glue to the tile piece. You are now ready to add this to any project that you would like!