Make a Mardi Gras Bead Flamingo

Have a lot of Mardi Gras beads left laying around after Mardi Gras? 

Here is something else you can do with them.

Etching Class Discount

Etch your own wine glasses. Use promo code "fbetch" to receive 50% off our Design Your Own Wine Glass class price!
https://dyoetch.eventbrite.com

Create Studios
Baton Rouge.

Earring Reboot- Steampunk Style

We have a 99 cent jewelry store in town and I love to buy pieces that I can upscale. Today's purchase was a pair of long earrings with a flower, heart a butterfly as the dangles. I am NOT a flower, heart or butterfly kind of gal, so I decided to Steampunk them. Now I need to see what else I can do this too- I just love them!






I started with...

So, not me, but I did want to try some long earrings.

I had some Tim Holtz gears and some other watch parts.

From Drab                            To Fab!

Long and Steam!

Resin Bottle Charm

The little bottles are all the rage; you can fill them with glitter, notes, almost anything! I thought about a spin on them and actually decorate the outside of the bottle. But instead of using a glass bottle I thought I would cast a bottle and decorate the outside. All it takes is Amazing Mold Putty and Resin, bottle, ephemera and a dream... or an idea. :)
I love the story Wuthering Heights so I thought I'd make a tribute to the book.



I scanned some book pages from Wuthering Heights on my laser printer. A laser printer is a must if you plan on using paint, mod podge, resin, lacquer or really anything on top of the print out. Ink jet bleeds but laser does not! I bought a laser printer JUST for crafting! I love it!






Directions:

Cast a mold of the glass bottle.

Next pour the resin.

Take the resin cast and begin to glue ephemera to outside.
I used book pages.

I then used some brown ink to stain and distress the book pages once it was glued to the bottle.

I then wrapped wire around the top of the bottle and loop for a necklace.

String a chain and you are ready for the town.

Tanya Ruffin

tanyaruffin.com

Create Studios

Give New Life to Plastic Cups with Mod Podge

If you are like me you have a gazillion plastic stadium cups. After they get a little faded you just throw them in the recycle bin. Well here is a way to add new life to your plastic cups with a little home decor piece; a Plastic Cup Vase
Materials:
Old book pages
Mod Podge
Foam brush
Plastic cups


Directions:
Tear pages of book pages into smaller pieces.
Leave some pieces with the straight edge for lining along the bottom of the cup,
Using the foam brush, brush Mod Podge on cup and begin placing the torn pieces of book pages.
Once it is complete, out a coat of Mod Podge over entire surface.
Now your cup is completed.
You will be able to place water in it, but for more flare put another unaltered cup inside it. Now you won't need to worry about washing it out.

Inside rim doesn't matter if you plan to place another cup inside.

Text Silhouette Word Graph and 3 Things to Make Out of It!

This project would work with any silhouette shape. Word Graphs are super popular and this gives you the chance to customize it to any shape you want!


 Pick your shape and make a print out. I took a graphic off the computer, edited and printed it out the size I wanted my final project. Next, make a list of words that you would like to spotlight. Since I used a dog shape, I used the name of my dog as the main focal point, then used other words he hears or that are special to him ( the other dogs at the house). Make list of the words you want to use in the order of importance. You may end up with extra open space and having a long list of words, you will have some to pull from to complete the design.

Using a pencil, I roughed out the words. Free-styling the lettering allows you to curve around the shape and contort letters to fill empty open space. If you have trouble figuring out how to stylize the letters check out graffiti and tattoo lettering.

I used a graphic pen to outline the words. I left "Duncan" white and colored in the rest.

I decided to draw on the silhouette printed out the computer. If you didn't want an outline, you could trace the silhouette shape onto a clean sheet and erase the pencil lines later.

I had planned on adding color but really liked the black and white design.

This is a fun project to do. You can use flower shapes and use your child's name, a princess crown, etc... For Dad you can use a car or truck shape. So many ways you can use this design.
Try adding color and patterns.

Three things to make with the finished Text Silhouette Word Graph

1. Book Page Print

 I put it on my scanner and printed a copy on a book page. I just love anything with book pages. This alone would make a nice framed piece.

Then I printed out several copies from my laser copier to play with.

2. Canister

I then glued two copies to a old canister and painted a layer of Sakura 3d Crystal Lacquer on top. When dry it has a nice shiny finish. Before the lacquer dried I added a little embellishment and it was done.

I glued a resin dog head to the top and now I have an nice air tight treat canister for my dog.

3. Scrapbook or Collage

Another project I created with the same copy was a scrapbook page or collage, whatever you would call it. Since I don't scrapbook, I'll call it a collage.

I mixed gold Terri Sproul Mixers and Sakura 3d Crystal Lacquer together and painted over the name Duncan.

I added some lacquer and gold around the edge of the dog silhouette.

Then a picture of my pooch and some old dog tags to finish off the piece.

These represent several methods for using the same piece of artwork!

Tanya Ruffin

Pink Joie de Vivre Resin Banner Necklace

I love the elegance of flowing banners and retro-ness of old school tattoo banner designs. 

This necklace was created using Pasta Alphabet (thanks for Michelle Frae Cummings for the tip!) , polymer clay and AMP and resin.

Click for blog hop

Please visit  Kelly Donovan http://knittingandthings.com/

Each member of the team will post a project on their blog for you to vote on.
To begin, you must Start at the AMP blog.
- Then go to each of the designers blogs, (links provided as shown at the bottom of this post).
When you have visited the last blog, go back to the AMP blog and vote for your favorite project!

The Theme is COLOR

Voting -starts March 2nd, 2013 , 12am EST

Voting -ends March 4th, 2012 , 12noon PST



Supplies: 
Polymer Clay
DaVinci Pasta Alphabet -- 12 oz (found at a gourmet grocery store)
Craft knife
Rub-n-Buff- silver
Ranger Alcohol inks
Jump rings
pliers
Amazing Mold Putty
Amazing Casting Resin
Craft stick
Mixing cups

The First thing I did was condition the polymer clay by rolling it in my hands. The heat from your hands makes the clay more pliable. I then rolled out the clay on my non-stick craft pad and used a spare bottle as a rolling pin. I cut out a thin, long piece of clay and then curled it like a banner. After it was laid out in the banner shape; I dove tailed the ends.

In this image I ended up trimming it more for the desired look.

Don't forget to add the holes for hanging!

 Next add the alphabet letters to spell out your saying. I chose Joie de Vivre...which means "joy of living" and perfectly describes life in south Louisiana!

Press the letters into the clay and bake the clay as instructed on the clay package.

Once clay is baked make sure the letters are still stuck in clay. If not, glue them in place. The next step is casting a mold so you want to make sure the letters are securely in place.

Next cast the mold following the directions on the Amazing Mold Putty box.

After about 20 minutes, pull the clay item out of the mold. One of mine broke, but that's ok, it still cast a good mold.








Mix your resin. I added a few drops of Alcohol ink. The first batch came out fine. When I tried for a darker shade (using more ink) my resin never cured.

Mixing resin with ink

First batch with lighter ink added

I came up with an alternate plan. I used a cotton swab and rubbed alcohol ink inside the mold before I poured in the resin. This worked pretty good. I just added a little more ink after it cured and embellished.

Top and bottom casts are from
 rubbing ink inside the mold

Alcohol inks

Accent the letters using a cotton swab and Rub-n-Buff- silver.

Geaux Tigers banner necklace

Joie de Vivre banner necklace.

Tanya