Starshine Salon

Fabric Cuff with Crystal Lacquer Embellishment

The heart on this fabric cuff was made from Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers in Green Pearl. You can get 20% off your total purchase at Sakura Hobby Craft for the entire month of June by entering coupon code Crystal06 when you check out!

Here’s how I make the Crystal Lacquer “film.” I save the packages from wafer thin dies. They are perfect for this because they have a little bit of a lip that holds in the Crystal Lacquer. I pour a little Crystal Lacquer into the plastic container, add Terri Sproul Mixers and stir. When this hardens, you can cut any shape you want. Once you trim the edges off, you can put the film through a diecut machine.

I chose my die and then used it to cut a template of white paper. Then I used the template to cut a
piece of my Crystal Lacquer film.

This allows me to use the smallest possible piece of whatever I am diecutting.

When I am cutting a small piece on a large black plate, it’s hard for me to see where to put the material I’m cutting. So I placed the template on top of the die in the exact place it was cut from, and that told me where to place my Crystal Lacquer film.

I used an awl to make holes in the heart, so I could sew it onto my cuff like a button.

I tore a strip of canvas to use as the base for my cuff. I cut two pieces, each 8 ½ inches long. I wanted to turn under ½ inch on each end and I wanted a 7 ½ inch finished cuff.

I chose some materials to work with. I recently took a class in Gelli Plate printing, and I had some canvas pieces I wanted to use. They coordinated well with some gauze and seam binding I had dyed, and with some vintage buttons I just got.

The printed canvas wasn’t long enough to cover the entire cuff, so I cut a strip, centered it on the canvas and stitched it down.

I cut a piece of seam binding, put Fray Check on the ends and pinned it in place to make a loop closure. Then I cut a piece of the gauze. The gauze had crinkled itself up while it was drying, so I didn’t have to do anything to it to give it that gathered look. I decided to stitch down the seam binding before sewing all the layers together, so I turned the edges of the canvas under on the side with the loop and used a straight stitch to secure the seam binding. It turns out that fabric cuffs are sort of like other bulky bracelets in that you have to allow extra wearing ease. The cuff was going to be too tight for me this way, so I ended up not turning the other ends of the canvas under.

I assembled all the layers with a zigzag stitch, and I stitched all the way to the end of the unturned edge.

Then I sewed on my heart and my button:

And my cuff was finished!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fabric Cuff with Sin City Stamps Numbers Image

I made my first fabric cuff this week, and it is really fun! This one was made with the numbers image from the Sin City Stamps Art Journaling with Terri Sproul rubber stamp plate.

I tore a strip of canvas to use as the base for my cuff. I cut two pieces, each 9 inches long. Fabric cuffs are like other bulky bracelets in that you have to allow extra wearing ease, so I gave myself enough fabric to turn under 1/2 inch on each side and still have an 8 inch cuff.

I cut a piece of tea dyed muslin a little larger than the image I wanted to use and laid it on a piece of craft foam. I stamped my image with ColorBox Chalk Ink in Rouge and heatset it with my iron. For more tips on stamping on fabric, check out this post.

I sewed the stamped muslin onto one of the canvas strips with a zigzag stitch.

I cut a piece of hand dyed seam binding and put Fray Check on the ends. When it was dry, I turned
under the edges of the stitched canvas strip and pinned the seam binding in place to make a loop closure. Then I stitched across the seam binding with a straight stitch.

I tore a strip of hand dyed cheesecloth a little wider than my canvas strips. I wanted to gather it,
so I sewed down the middle of the strip by hand with a long running stitch. I pulled the thread firmly, bunching up the cheesecloth, then pulled the cheesecloth out to fit my canvas strips, and knotted the thread.

I pinned the layers together, sewed the ends with a straight stitch and then sewed the long sides with a zigzag stitch. Then I sewed on my button.

And my cuff was finished!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sewing, Sin City Scraps, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clowning Around with Sin City Stamps - Clown Banner

Welcome to the Sin City Stamps Blog Hop! If this is your first stop, please go to the Sin City Stamps blog to read about the hop. Each Sin City Stamps Design Team Member is giving away a prize! And there’s also a Grand Prize Winner! To be eligible to win a $10 gift certificate to Sin City Stamps, comment on this post. To be eligible to win the $20 gift certificate Grand Prize, comment on each participating blog and like Sin City Stamps on Facebook. It’s worth the effort, because these are great stamps!

My project for today is a fabric banner using a stamp from the Sin City Stamps Steampunk Circus plate.

This is the perfect decoration for a party with a circus or carnival theme!

The banner has nine triangular flags connected by bias tape, with loops on either side for hanging or pinning. Each triangle is about 5 inches across and about 5 3/4 inches long. The total length of the banner, including the loops, is about 69 inches.

I made a template from cardboard by drawing a triangle the size I wanted and adding a ¼ inch seam allowance to the sides. I added half an inch at the top for the bias tape.

When I make fabric banners, I usually double the fabric, trace the template, pin the triangles, cut out and stitch. But when I stamp on fabric, I like to do the stamping before I do the stitching. I cut out four white triangles, stamped my image, then heatset them with my iron. I used ColorBox Chalk Ink in Blackbird. For tips on stamping on fabric, see this post.

I pinned the triangles to a piece of the same white fabric (right sides together):

I cut out the triangles so I could sew them. It’s not important to cut them exactly at this point, since you can trim them after stitching. I like to make sure I cut off the parts with marker ink after I stitch, so they don’t show through and to eliminate the risk of them running if they get wet. But I did cut the tops to the template line, so I wouldn’t accidentally cut through my seams later.

Then I doubled some red and white striped fabric, traced my template five times, and pinned my triangles.

Because I had moved the template around to make sure the tip of the triangle was always centered on a red stripe, there was space between the triangles. I cut them apart:

I stitched all the triangles on the long sides, leaving the tops open. I trimmed the seams, turned
and pressed each triangle, and topstitched along the long sides. Then I pinned the bias tape to the triangles, leaving extra bias tape at each end for the loops. I stitched the bias tape to the triangles,
turned 3 inches of each end of the bias tape to the wrong side, and stitched the ends down.

Here is the finished banner:

You could make this banner with paper instead of fabric.

Don’t forget to leave a comment so I can enter you in the drawing for a $10 gift certificate to Sin City Stamps! The deadline for entries is Friday, June 14^th. Winners will be announced on Sunday, June 16^th! And don’t forget to visit all the Sin City Stamps Design Team Members’ blogs today! Click on the Linky to find them all!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Paper Crafting, Sin City Scraps, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (15)

Faux Fused Glass Pendant

You can make faux fused glass pendants with Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers!

I had just made some “Crystal Lacquer film” for a project I had in mind when I saw Tammy Tutterow’s tutorial on making faux fused glass pendants with shrink plastic and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). It looked like fun, but I wanted to try it with my Crystal Lacquer film instead of shrink plastic, so I postponed the project-in-progress and used my “film” to make my own faux fused glass pendant.

Here’s how I make the Crystal Lacquer film. The base is the package from a set of metal dies. I pour in some Crystal Lacquer, add Terri Sproul Mixers and stir. The package has a little rim that holds in the Crystal Lacquer. These were made with Copper Penny and Green Pearl. When the Crystal Lacquer sets up, it is adhered to the plastic. You can cut it with scissors or in a diecutter.

I diecut some hearts.

Then I heated UTEE in a Melting Pot. A word of caution: The Embossing Enamel and parts of the Melting Pot get very hot!

I punched holes in my hearts and put a piece of thin wire through each hole. Using the wire as a
handle, I dipped each heart into the melted UTEE. The Crystal Lacquer film became very flexible
when heated, so it is better to have a nice deep reservoir of melted UTEE and make a quick dip. If you have to move the piece around in the UTEE for too long, it can become distorted (which might
be a cool effect for some projects).

I set the hearts to cool on a heat-resistant nonstick sheet.

While you are dipping your pieces, you can scrape them against the edge of the Melting Pot to remove excess UTEE. I was trying to get a thick coating of UTEE and ended up with the UTEE dripping off my pieces. I trimmed it off with scissors while it was still warm and smoothed out the edges by heating them with a heat gun. I removed the wires and cleaned out the holes with a small round file.

Then I made some jewelry! Here is one of the hearts with a brass charm on a chain:

And here is one with a brass charm on a memory wire choker with glass beads:

This process is easy and has so many possibilities! You can include embellishments or combine
multiple pieces for more complex pendants!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Circus Invitation from Sin City Stamps

I made the easiest invitation with the new Steampunk Circus stamps from Sin City Stamps. This new plate has several clown stamps, a bunch of phrases, the cutest little gears and a few other things, as well!

This invitation is perfect for a circus, carnival or clown theme party! You could easily make a stack of these and then use the same stamps, along with the others from the Steampunk Circus plate, to make favors and decorations.

I set up all the text with my word processing software and printed it onto ivory cardstock. The
invitation fits into a standard business envelope, which you can get in lots of different colors at craft, stationery and office supply stores. I spaced the text so I could fit in the images I wanted to use and still trim the invitation to 3 7/8 inch by 9 ¼ inch to fit into the 4 1/8 inch by 9 ½ inch envelope. The typeface is called Showcase Gothic.

I stamped the images with ColorBox Chalk Ink in Blackbird. I stamped a few with StazOn ink in black, and it did show the detail very well, but it just didn’t have the richness of the chalk ink. I had planned to add color to some of the images, but once I added the color to the text, I decided I liked the invitation the way it was.

I am using the first invitation to invite YOU to a Clowning Around Blog Hop with the Sin City Stamps Design Team! On June 8^th, each Design Team member’s blog will feature a “Clowning
Around” project using Sin City Stamps. Start at the Sin City Stamps blog to visit all the participating sites and get details on how to win a prize!

See you then!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Paper Crafting, Sin City Scraps, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steampunk Fairy Wings for Sakura's Fantasy Blog Hop

Welcome to Sakura’s Fantasy Blog Hop! Our Design Team has been dreaming up new projects for you! When you get to the end of this post, just click on the Linky icon to visit all the participating
blogs. You can enter to win two bottles of Crystal Lacquer by commenting on each designer’s project and then voting on your favorite in a comment on the Sakura Hobby Craft blog. And for the month of May, you can save 20% off your total purchase by entering the code "Sakura05" at checkout!

My fantasy project is a set of Steampunk Fairy Wings. In the picture above, I fastened them to one
of my handcrafted mannequins with a piece of my hand dyed seam binding (that’s my newest color). Here they are on their own:

Sakura's Crystal Lacquer made this project so simple! You don’t have to measure or mix it. You just apply it where you want it!

I started with a pair of fairy wings from a local flea market:

I cut away the fabric and chose only the top portions of the wings. I thought I would have to sand away the white finish, but once I started to sand, I saw that I could pretty easily peel the coating off.

I chose some metal gear embellishments and then colored the wings and some of the gears with Vintaj patinas. The gears came in two sizes, and I wanted some a little larger, so I cut a few out of metallic paper with the Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets dies.

I chose the paper I wanted to use as a base, traced the wing frame onto the pages, and cut the wing shapes out. I decided to put gears on only on side, but I wanted something pretty for the other side.

I glued the paper wings together with Crystal Lacquer. I added a little distress ink to the edges of the "reverse" side and then coated both sides with more Crystal Lacquer. I adhered the clock side of the paper to the frame with a little more Crystal Lacquer.

I put the gears in place using more Crystal Lacquer as glue.

When that had set a little, I poured Crystal Lacquer into my frame, making sure it filled all the holes in the gears:

You can see the Crystal Lacquer ran outside the frame. That happened because the frame wasn’t
perfectly flat; the lacquer followed the curve and ran out. But it was easy to fix! When the crystal Lacquer was set but not hard, I just cut the excess off with a pair of scissors.

The Crystal Lacquer is somewhat opaque while it is wet, but it dries perfectly clear:

To hold the wings together and allow them to move, I glued the wings to a metal hinge with Crystal Lacquer. Here’s the side that you see from the front of the mannequin:

And one more shot of the gear side:

The wings are about 8.5 inches tall. I wish they were big enough for me to wear!

I hope you will try making your own fairy wings! As always, I welcome any questions you may have!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

P.S. Don’t forget to visit all the blogs in today’s hop. Just click on the Linky:

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (20)

Time Warp Altered Sakura Milk Can

My second milk can project is a companion piece to my first ("Time Flies") and a tribute to one of my favorite movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Even if you’ve never watched this cult classic, you’ve probably heard parts of the soundtrack, including “Time Warp.”

Here’s the milk can without embellishment:

I love how Crystal Lacquer sticks to metal! I prepared my paper to cover my can. This is a vintage clock face on cardstock, stamped with my phrase in ColorBox Chalk Ink in Dark Brown and painted with 7 Gypsies Color Wash in Walnut Forest.

I coated the cylindrical portion of the can with Crystal Lacquer using a foam paint brush, put the paper in place, and coated the paper with more Crystal Lacquer. When the Crystal Lacquer was dry to the touch, I added another layer on top of the first.

I had these lovely doll parts that remind me of the friend who first took me to see Rocky Horror:

I sewed the arms to the handles on the sides with button thread. I punched holes in the can, matching the holes in the doll bust, then tied the doll head to the can with embroidery floss. I used Crystal Lacquer to glue the bottom of the can to the top of a vintage tin turned upside down:

Finally, I made my Time Warp Doll a watch face necklace:

I hope you will try making your own creations with Crystal Lacquer. During the month of May, you can get 20% off your total order at Sakura Hobby Craft. Now is the perfect time to try Crystal Lacquer and Sakura’s other great products! Just enter the code “Sakura05” at checkout.

Also, Sakura is hosting a blog hop on May 18^th! The theme is “Fantasy” and Sakura’s Design
Team is dreaming up amazing art to share with you on that day! There will be prizes, too! So be sure to check back here on May 18^th!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Recycled/Repurposed, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (1)

Art Journal with Sin City Stamps and Terri Sproul

This is the first page of my first art journal!

Sin City Stamps has a new plate of Art Journal stamps just in time for Terri Sproul’s online art journal class!

Terri offers a free online mixed media art class every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time. To get all the information and links for the classes, visit the All Things Terri Sproul Facebook page. Terri is a great teacher and I love her classes. She is knowledgeable and generous with her knowledge, laid back and fun.

Right now, Terri is presenting a series of Art Journal classes. Each week, she shares an idea or technique and then asks the class members to interpret the idea or technique in their own ways. You don’t have to participate to watch, but it is pretty fun to try out new things! If you missed the first couple of classes, you can watch recordings of them.

The new Sin City Journal stamps include the words “Art” and “Journal” plus some interesting textures and patterns, as well as an alphabet block, a number block and a pretty flower. I will be using these stamps throughout my journal.

My page is the first “homework assignment” for the class. Terri asked students to buy or make a blank journal and to get some supplies. The supply list appears at the top of the All Things Terri Sproul page. But you don’t have to get everything on the list!

For the first page, students were asked to get some acrylic paints in colors they liked. I found these on clearance:

I got the Strathmore Mixed Media Journal that Terri recommended, and I’m really glad I did. The paper is nice and heavy, so it stood up to all that I did to it. Before I did anything messy, I inserted a piece of wax paper under the first sheet, to protect the rest of the book. I applied a coat of white gesso. Then I added my colors. I don’t paint that much, and the only paint brushes I knew the location of were foam brushes, so that is what I used. I liked the pink and lavender but I wanted to distress it a little, so I added a little of the slate color. I didn’t like how that looked, so I used a paper towel to remove some of the paint by dragging from side to side. I liked the texture that gave, but the colors still looked too pure and new. I like things a little aged, distressed, or antiqued. So I mixed some maple Gel Stain into some acrylic glaze and brushed that over the top. That gave it a look I liked.

Terri painted and inked her first page. I love fibers and fabric, and I knew that I wanted to incorporate them into my page. So I gathered up some pieces I thought would coordinate well with my background. It turns out that the samples from my very first cold water dye batch looked great with my background color!

Using the Sin City journal stamps, I stamped the phrase “Art Journal” onto a piece of pattern tissue paper with dark brown ColorBox Chalk Ink. Then I cut the paper to the size I wanted. I cut a piece of the embroidered trim and a piece of hand dyed burlap, decided where I wanted them, applied Mod Podge to the page, and adhered the pieces to the page. Then I added some Mod Podge on top. The tissue paper tore, and I mended it with a little extra piece. I didn’t apply to Mod Podge to the bottom of the scalloped trim, which gives it a little difference in texture.

Finally, I used a transparent ruler to mark dots for threading my seam binding through the page.
I put a line of dots one inch away from each other and one inch away from the top of the page (starting and ending at ½ inch away from the sides of the page). Then I put another line of dots two inches away from the top of the page (one inch away from the other line). I used a long-reach punch to punch holes where I marked the dots. Then I cut two equal lengths of seam binding. I used transparent tape to hold the ends together so I could thread them through the small holes (sort of like the plastic that binds the end of a shoelace). Then I trimmed the ends and tied a bow.

Here’s another shot of the finished page:

Don’t be afraid to try this! Everyone’s first page looked different and they all looked great. This is a chance to learn something new and use it your own way in your own art. It’s free and fun!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Paper Crafting, Sin City Scraps, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time Flies Altered Sakura Milk Can

I altered Sakura’s little milk can into a personalized treasure tin using Sakura Crystal Lacquer, paper, burlap and ink.

Here’s the milk can:

I measured the can and cut my paper to fit. I have a stack of clock faces printed on heavy paper. You could also use a stamp, a printed graphic or patterned paper.

My paper did not fit all the way around the can, so I cut a little extra piece.

I stamped my phrase on the paper with Colorbox Chalk Ink in dark brown (“Tempus fugit,” or “Time flies”).

I colored the paper with 7 Gypsies Color Wash (pastel green) and let it dry.

Crystal Lacquer is a great adhesive and it works on metal! I coated the back of the paper with Crystal Lacquer. You could coat the can instead, but I felt like I had better control this way. I poured a little Crystal Lacquer onto a plastic container lid and used a foam brush to apply it to the paper. Then I placed the paper on the can.

After it felt dry, I applied a coat of Crystal Lacquer on top of the paper.

I made the burlap wings from the Angel Wings die by Sizzix. The wing was too big for my can, so I cut one out of paper and trimmed it to use it as a template for trimming the burlap ones.

I cut out the burlap wings and then trimmed then, using the paper wing as a guide:

For tips on diecutting fabric, please visit my tutorial here.

Then I added a little distress ink to the edges of the wings (vintage photo and rusty hinge):

I adhered the wings to the can with more Crystal Lacquer. I put one on and let it dry before I added the other. I put some Crystal Lacquer on the can and some on the back of the top part of the wing, then held the wing tightly to the can for a couple of minutes so the Crystal Lacquer could set. Then I set the can on its side with the wing up and let the Crystal Lacquer harden before adding the second wing.

I added clock gears to the wings with more Crystal Lacquer and stabilized the can so they wouldn’t fall off before the Crystal Lacquer hardened. I inserted a bottle into the can and then used two full bottles to keep the bottle/can combination from rolling:

Once the gears were on securely, my treasure tin was ready!

Sakura is hosting a blog hop on May 18^th! The theme is “Fantasy” and Sakura’s Design Team is dreaming up amazing art to share with you on that day! There will be prizes, too! So be sure to check back here on May 18th!

During the month of May, you can get 20% off your total order at Sakura Hobby Craft! If you haven't tried Crystal Lacquer, now is the time to get some! Sakura also has beautiful powders for coloring the Crystal Lacquer, and lots of jewelry findings! Enter the code Sakura05 at checkout.

Starshine Wishes,

Karen

Posted at 09:01 PM in Art, Handcrafted, Mixed Media, Paper Crafting, Sakura Hobby Craft, Starshine Salon | Permalink | Comments (1)

Needle Case with Sin City Stamps Dressform Stamp

I made a needle case featuring a new dressform stamp from Sin City Stamps!

I sew a lot, and I’ve been having more and more trouble getting my hand sewing needles in and out of the manufacturers’ packages. I’ve been thinking about making a needle case for a while now, but when I saw the new Antiques & Dressforms rubber stamp plate from Sin City Stamps, I knew it was time!

This plate has three different dressforms, corset lacing, a candelabra, a chandelier, a typewriter keyboard, a jumble of old fashioned keys, a strip of lace, the D for the Roman numerals set and several phrases.

The purpose of the needle case is to give you a place to park your needles, so they are protected and you know where they are. I have needles everywhere, stuck into little pieces of fabric. This is a bad idea if you have little ones or inquisitive kitties in your house.

The needle case is basically just a rectangle folded over like a book. You can add a closure if you want to keep little hands away from your needles. You want to choose a fabric that won’t harm your needles and that will keep your needles in place. So I would avoid burlap and satin, in general, for the inside. Otherwise, it’s pretty open. You can use as many layers as you like and any embellishments you like.

I had a three-layer rectangle already assembled, and I decided to use that. It was supposed to be a jar cozy, but one of the seams became crooked somehow, so it didn’t look right on the jar. I loved the fabric in it, though, so it was hanging out in my studio waiting to be used for something else.

You could make your needle case with one layer, but this works really well because there are several layers to grip the needles in place. If you want to make a really simple one-layer needle case, I recommend using a piece of wool or cotton batting.

I used one of the dressform images from the Antiques and Dressforms plate for the cover of my needle case. I stamped the image and the word “Needles” onto a piece of teadyed muslin. It helps to put a piece of craft foam under the fabric. I used Chalk Ink and heatset it with my iron after it dried.

I added some lace trim. First, I pinned it in place:

Then I stitched it down with my sewing machine.

Then I pinned the muslin piece in place onto the outside of my rectangle:

I attached the muslin piece to the rectangle with four mother of pearl buttons and some hand dyed embroidery floss. You can attach it any way you want. If my rectangle hadn’t already been assembled, I probably would have stitched the muslin down to the top layer before sewing together the rectangle pieces. That way the stitching wouldn’t show.

The finished needle case measures about 5.5 by 6.25 inches when closed (5.5 by 12.5 inches when open):

I hope you will try your hand at making a needle case! Please let me know if you have any questions!