There are lots of silicone molds in the craft stores lately. Sakura Crystal Lacquer Pens are perfect for filling in tiny spaces in these intricate molds!
These molds are flexible, so make sure your mold is sitting on a flat surface when you pour. I set mine on an empty plastic package so I could move it after I filled it. The Sakura pens come in lots of colors, and there’s even an empty pen so you can mix your own colors with Terri Sproul Mixers! The tiny tip is perfect for filling in all the details in these little molds!
Here are my ornaments setting up:
I added some patina to a vintage brass locket with Vintaj Quartz and Onyx Patinas using a small paint brush. I added some of the Vintaj Onyx Patina to the fleur de lis. To give it a bit of an aged look, I rubbed it off of the high areas of the ornament, leaving it in the low areas.
I used clear Crystal Lacquer to adhere the fleur de lis to the locket. Then I sealed the entire outside of the piece with clear Crystal Lacquer, applying it with the small paintbrush. Then all I had to do was put it on a chain!
Now is a great time to try this project or one like it, because you can get 20% off your entire purchase at Sakura Hobby Craft for the month of August. Just enter aug08 at checkout!
This is my new mannequin bust. It's about 15.5 inches tall and weighs about 5 pounds. It has the same size neck as the tall torso mannequin, so it can handle large necklaces. But it's a little easier to transport. I'll have these at Art Unraveled next Saturday! I hope you'll be joining us at the Shopping Extravaganza!
Lots of you have been buying the Art Journaling with Terri Sproul stamp set from Sin City Stamps to use on your journal pages. Here’s another way to use one of the stamps from that set. It’s a simple card to send to your favorite student!
Adding text to a card can be a real challenge. It’s nice when you have a stamp that says exactly what you want to say, but that doesn’t always happen. I have a stamp set that lets me spell out my text, but that limits me to one typeface and size. If you don’t trust your own lettering, a good solution is to print your text using word processing software. It’s easy and there are limitless options for typeface and size.
What if you want your text superimposed over your stamp? It would look pretty funny to have the ruled page stamp over the text in this case, so I needed to print the text on top of the stamp. Here’s an easy way to line up your stamp and your text without buying a new tool.
Print the text on a plain sheet of paper. I measured the stamp image and set margins so that my text could not exceed the width I wanted.
Use that sheet as a guide for stamping. Cut away the portion of the page where the text appears. My image was rectangular, so I used a ruler to mark my cutting lines. But you don’t have to do that. You can just trace around your image and cut!
Stamp your image, matching the edge of the image to the line you cut. (This one is black, but in the end, I decided to redo it with green ink to match my patterned paper.)
When it dries, print your text onto the same sheet. Now your text is on top of your stamped image!
For this card, I scored and folded an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of cardstock. Then I cut a piece of patterned paper just a little smaller than my card and adhered it to the card with double sided tape. I prepared my stamped image as described above, and cut it with a paper trimmer. I inked the edges of the small rectangle and the edges of the card with Antique Linen Distress Ink, then adhered the rectangle to the card with double sided tape. And that was it!
This stamp can be used for any phrase you want! All the stamps in this set have multiple uses, making it a great bargain. And right now you can get it, and everything at Sin City Stamps, for 20% off for the rest of the month! Just enter the code nautical20 at checkout.
Plus, Sin City Stamps is giving away $1,000 worth of stamps (ten $100 prizes). Go here to find out how to enter to win!
The glass tiles are available in rectangular, square and circular shapes.
There are bezel cups to match. There are also bails you can glue right onto the glass tiles.
I made two pendants. They both use scrapbook paper. One is heavy cardstock paper from Graphic 45. The other is thin paper from Sandylion. They both worked well!
You could use almost any paper, and I think fabric would work fine, too. I think this would be great with a map featuring your hometown or some of your favorite text.
I sealed the images with Mod Podge.
You could trace the shape of the glass tile onto your paper and cut the paper to fit, but it’s really easy to just adhere the glass tile to the paper with Crystal Lacquer and then trim it when it starts to set up. Crystal Lacquer comes in a bottle with a small dispenser tip that is perfect for squeezing out small amounts. I lightly coated the back of my glass tiles with Crystal Lacquer. I didn’t spread the Crystal Lacquer all the way to the edges of the tiles, because it sort of gets squished out when you put it down on the paper. After coating the tiles, I placed them where I wanted them on the paper. The tile wants to slide around on the Crystal Lacquer, so you’ll want to hold it in place for a moment while it settles.
Once the Crystal Lacquer started to set up, I trimmed the paper with scissors.
Then I coated the back of the paper lightly with Crystal Lacquer and set the tiles down into the bezel cups. I used a wet paper towel to wipe away a little Crystal Lacquer that got squished out.
And that was it! All I had to do then was put the pendants on chains. Sakura offers ball chain in several finishes. I added a brass chain for the
brass finish bezel cup.
I live in a really dry place, and I could make these in the morning to wear the same evening, but in other places, you’ll want to let the Crystal Lacquer dry for at least a day or so.
Just think! You can make this pendant with absolutely any image you want! I hope you will try it. Now is the perfect time, because for the month of July, you can get 20% off your total purchase from Sakura by entering coupon code Summer07 at checkout!
If you like the stamps from Sin City Stamps, I have great news for you! Sin City Stamps is giving away $1,000 worth of stamps (ten $100 prizes). Go here to find out how to enter to win!
And here’s a sure thing! You can save 20% off your total purchase at Sin City Stamps during the month of July by entering the code nautical20 at checkout.
Finally, Sin City Stamps has announced its Design Team for August 2013 through January 2014 and I am so happy to be a part of it! Six more months of sharing projects featuring my favorite stamps! I have really enjoyed working with the current team, and I am looking forward to working with the new team, too!
Terri Sproul is our team leader. You can read her blog here and check out her Facebook group here. Terri hosts a free online art class every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Right now she is teaching art journal techniques.
This is the first page of my new fabric journal. I’ve been making lots of fabric journals, but they’ve all been blank ones to sell. I recently started my first art journal, following the online lessons of Terri Sproul. I thought it was about time to start my first fabric journal, too.
Traditionally, “stamped” embroidery involves mass-produced, machine-stamped or iron-on images made with ink intended to be washed away or completely covered with stitching. In recent years, some stitchers have stamped their own images using fabric ink that fades or washes away. For my stitchery, I used permanent ink and stitched in a way that features my stamped image instead of obscuring it.
Here’s the journal I decided to use, along with a pretty piece of hand dyed cheesecloth. The cover is made from upholstery fabric.
Here’s the inside.
Each page is made from a piece of folded tea dyed muslin. This way you can sew through the page and not have your stitches show on the other side.
I stamped my image onto tea dyed muslin. I usually stamp an image multiple times, so I can choose the one I like the best, or make several projects. I chose this image from the Sin City Stamps Dressforms set. This is a great set with more than a dozen images. I used ColorBox Chalk Ink in Rouge and heat set it with my iron after it dried. For more information about stamping on fabric, see my post here.
I pinned the muslin to a thin piece of batting. I like this for embroidery. It gives more body to the piece, and some texture to the image. The tighter you pull the thread, the more tufting you get.
When I’m trying to choose colors, I like to lay out a bunch of options and see how they look together.
I chose my colors and started stitching. I outlined the corset with three strands of floss, then stitched the inner lines with one strand. I did the outlines with two strands. I used backstitching, but you could try some fancy stitches. I added tiny beads for the fasteners.
When I was finished stitching, I trimmed the whole piece with a rotary cutter and then used scissors to trim the batting away from the edges so it wouldn’t show.
I made a little ruffle from a strip of the hand dyed cheesecloth and sewed it on. I inserted a piece of crinoline into the center of the journal page to give support.
Then I decided not to sew my stitched piece into the journal until I decide what’s going to be on the other side of the page. But I planned the layout:
I was definitely in a monochromatic mood while I was working on this piece, but you can use this process with any stamp and any color combination! I hope you will create your own rubber stamp stitchery. As always, let me know if you have any questions!
If you like the stamps from Sin City Stamps, I have great news for you! Sin City Stamps is giving away $1,000 worth of stamps (ten $100 prizes). Go here to find out how to enter to win!
And here’s a sure thing! You can save 20% off your total purchase at Sin City Stamps during the month of July by entering the code nautical20 at checkout.
These vintage clock face display stands are now at Urban Restoration, awaiting this weekend's Market, July 12, 13 and 14.
And I have a few more ready to go to Merchant Square in Chandler on Saturday (Starshine Salon is in space 74). Merchant Square is celebrating its 11th anniversary this weekend with a big sale. See you there!
Just a quick post to share my latest creation! I love clock faces and I’ve been using them in lots of projects. I thought it would be fun to make a clock face stand to use in displays.
This is a vintage clock face adhered to a layer of burlap and a layer of inked mat board. The clock face and the matte board are coated with Mod Podge. The clock face “sandwich” is attached to a glass candlestick.
It’s not food safe, but I think it would be really fun to set a glass plate full of goodies on top of it.
I should have a few of these at Merchant Square in Chandler soon, and a few at the next Market at Urban Restoration in Phoenix (July 12, 13 and 14). And by the way, I have lots of other finds and creations at both those places!
All text and photos copyright Karen Lackey, 2011-2016, unless otherwise noted. You may link to text but please do not copy it. If you use my photos, please give credit and link back to the original post. Thanks!
Sin City Stamps provides free and discounted rubber stamps to its Design Team members.
