Upcycling DIY home decor, woodworking and Crafts
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Do you love old maps? Well if so, today’s round-up is going to make you dance and celebrate. If not that, you will at least find some inspiration in super cool things to make with old maps. Here is a collection of over 50 of the best projects “on the map”! Enjoy, and as always, if you have a tutorial you would like included in the collection, send me the link for consideration.
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This tiny little treasure is easy to make and takes just minutes. I found a new to me product from Tim Holtz called Corked Domes and knew immediately that I would be making a terrarium pendant with them. There is glass drilling required, but do not fear. You can do it, no problem. I will help you and you will be a pro in no time. I am warning you now that I used fake plants to make my terrarium. You can use live plants. It is way hipper if they are alive, but I have a tendency not to water things, so I went plastic. If you are honest and you don’t have a PhD in succulentology, you’ve gotta give me that they look like the real deal.
Rotary tool (I use Bead Landing Rotary Tool
Diamond Drill Bits
Tim Holtz Corked Domes
Small container of water and lint free towel
Hot glue/glue gun or Flora Bond if using live plants
Moss, small stones, mushrooms and whatever you want in your dome
Succulents (live or fake) – I got my fake succulents at Michael’s
20 Gauge copper wire or eye pin
Round Nose jewelry pliers
Flat nose jewelry pliers
Needle nose pliers
Flush wire cutters
Chain or cord for hanging your pendant
First you need to drill a hole in the top of your dome for a place to insert wire for hanging the pendant. Follow the detailed instructions I showed you in this tutorial: Mason Jar Chimes Tutorial and Drilling in Glass.
NOTE: These glass domes are very thin. I tried drilling the hole using my dremel and shattered the first dome I attempted. I like the rotary tool used in the tutorial linked above because it is way fewer RPMs than my dremel and it has adjustable speed. Many people swear by their Dremels for drilling glass. I find my rotary tool way easier and I have success 99% of the time with it.
Either use an eye pin (pictured) or cut a lenght of wire about 4 inches and create a loop in one end with your round nose pliers.
Insert wire through Dome hole so that loop is on inside, then use flat nose pliers to bend wire to 90° about 1/8-1/4 inch above where it exits the top of the dome.
Use round nose pliers to grab the a few mm past the bend. With your free hand, grab the wire end and wrap wire around the pliers to form a loop. (That gunk on the round nose pliers is Tool Magic – it coats your jewelry making tools so they don’t leave scratches and dents in soft wire).
Wrap the remaining wire starting at the base of the loop down to the top of the dome. Trim off excess wire with flush cutters and tuck in the end with needle nose pliers. Now you have your wire bail for hanging your pendant!
Lay out your goodies and start gluing things into place on the cork. Flora Bond works with live plants and won’t kill them! I used hot glue since mine are artificial.
Once you have everything in place, add the dome and string your chain. You are now super cool…
These would be cute as keychains too. If you go crazy and your junk won’t fit in the dome, just tear some off and patch up any glue spots showing with moss. Play around until you are satisfied with how it looks.
Can you believe these fused dichroic glass pieces can be made in your microwave in 3 minutes? I showed you these fused glass dichroic wire wrapped earrings a few weeks back, and I have pretty much been at it ever since. I have upgraded to an electric kiln for bigger projects, but we won’t get into that right now. Today I will show you how to stack precut fusible glass to get the dichroic pieces you see here.
Fuseworks Beginner’s Microwave Fusing Kiln
Fuseworks Fusible Clear Circles
Fuseworks Fusible Black Circles
Fuseworks Fusible Dichroic Circles
22 gauge copper wire
Jewelry findings of your choice for clasp and chain
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
wire cutter
Stack from bottom to top; black, dichroic (foil side up), clear onto fiber paper in kiln and place in microwave. You can make 2 of these in the microwave kiln at the same time. Following instructions, begin microwave and monitor for glow. Mine took about 3 minutes. Let cool per instructions.
Let your piece cool completely, and drill holes as shown in the following quick video from Glass Fusing Made Easy:
I used the technique in this video from Beadaholique to wrap my pieces. The process is simple, even if you have never worked with wire.
I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know if you have fused glass and what you like to make!
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UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER! Do you love the look of soldered jewelry, but feel totally intimidated by that hot freaking iron and molten metal? My creative friend Hope is here to break it down for us in a detailed How to Solder Jewelry video that demystifies the process and will have you making jaw dropping pieces lickity split! As if that isn’t enough, Hope has teamed up with Saved By Love Creations to give you lovely readers a chance to win your choice of 3 gorgeous pendants!
Hope invited me in to record her process! Before jumping into the video, I want to let you know the supplies you see will being used are from GlassSupplies on Etsy, a shop owned by Robin Ramsden.
This tape used in the video is 3/8 inch wide copper backed foil tape, which you can get at the linked store and probably elsewhere. Hope recommends black backed foil tape for most simple projects since it holds the pieces together better and is just strong/less frustrating for us newbies! She was out of it or we would have been using it for sure. It is available in the linked shop above (GlassSupplies on Etsy).
Obviously if you are using thicker glass pieces than we did, you may need wider tape. You will have to experiment.
More info on supplies is found below and in the video tutorial.
I did a soldered pendant experiment and shared it with you here:
I took my pendants to Hope’s with me and she helped me figure out how to make them more what I was going for. I learned so much from hanging out with her that I haven’t seen elsewhere. It turns out I wasn’t using near enough solder, and oh yeah, my soldering iron tip is disintegrating. There is a solution for that, and many soldering woes. This woman solders A LOT and is a wonderful resource! She is also super sweet, so if something isn’t covered that you want to know about, you can find her on Facebook: Hope Ellington. She even takes custom orders, although she is pretty swamped with them right now from what I have seen so hurry if you are interested.
There were so many tips and tricks that I had to break the video up into 2 parts, and they are still long. You will learn a ton, and if you are like me, your soldering will be vastly improved. I made a pendant this morning and love it! Don’t worry, you will see it soon.
Now for the best part. You get a chance to win a free handmade soldered pendant from Hope’s Bloomington Indiana Shop, Girlfriends on the Farm!
Pendant 1 – A fancy pants, blinged out vintage ephemeral piece
Pendant 2 – A message in a bottle “LOVE”
Pendant 3 – Vintage Lace under beveled glass
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If you have ever made glass or acrylic tile pendants, you probably know that it is more involved than it looks. About 2 years ago, I need to make a slew of these, and decided to run my images that I wanted to adhere to the pendant through Xyron’s Create-a-Sticker Machine. I ran them through oriented so that the image side would be the sticky side, and stuck the tile right on the sticky, as you will see pictured in this tutorial. This eliminates having to glue the images onto the tiles, which is, at least for me, a messy hassle! I wanted to scream this technique from the rooftops when I thought of it, but I decided to wait and see how the pendants held up long term. At last I am here to report that after 2 years, the tiles I made this way look gorgeous. The image has not peeled away from the glass or discolored even slightly. You still have to seal the backs so that the pendants are waterproof, but I have a great tip for that step as well. Read on and you will be busting out gorgeous, durable graphic pendants crazy fast.
Xyron 1.5 inch Create-a-Sticker with Permanent adhesive cartridge
Printed images for your tiles, or decorative scrapbook paper/artwork – I create collage sheets in Photoshop with images made to fit whatever tiles I am using (round, square, rectangle in various sizes) and print it, or I create backgrounds with spray ink, ink pads, markers, stamps, rub-ons, doodles to use on my tiles.
Detail scissors
Mod Podge (I prefer satin finish to seal my glass tiles)
Small flat paintbrush
Masking tape or contact paper (super cheap at dollar store and works great for the sealing trick you will see later)
Ceramic tile or other flat surface
Sandpaper 150-200 grit (I use Tim Holtz
Glass tiles or Acrylic Tiles (I use Mod Podge Podgeable Shapes and glass tiles)
Glue on bails (my very favorite are aanraku small bails. They are beautiful, the perfect size for 1-2 inch round, square or rectangle tiles and are well worth the cost (about $0.40 each)
E6000 glue for the bails (this stuff would glue a person to the ceiling and hold)
-OR-
Jewelry wire to wrap pendants in a glue free way like I showed you previously:
I love this method for the fancier look compared to the glue on bail. Sometimes people want simple, other times wire is just the special touch that makes them fall in love with a piece.
Take the image and cut into a strip that will fit in the Xyron sticker machine. If you have a larger machine, you can run larger sheets through it to create stickers for several tiles at once. Here I am using the 1.5 inch on cardstock covered on both sides with lovely washi tape. Scrapbook paper, photos or whatever you want as your pendant image can be used. Place the image side face down in the machine (this is the opposite of how you make most stickers since you are going to adhere the glass to the sticky image you want to show). It is not really important for this example since my washi covered paper is the same on both sides.
Burnish the image onto the adhesive with a bone folder, credit card or ink pen (yep, I improvised). This assures the maximal adhesive transfers to the paper image.
Sand any uneven edges left after cutting to tidy up your piece.
TIP: Lay contact paper with sticky side up, or masking tape sticky side up on a tile or other flat surface. Place your pendants paper side up, glass side down on the tape or contact paper. This keeps the pieces from moving around when you seal the back. I lost hours of my life with sliding pendants that I moved back into place with my fingers, getting glue all over me and fingerprints all over my tiles. No fun. This is the best solution ever.
Apply 3 layers of Mod Podge, drying at least 30 minutes between each. I like to let cure 1 week before sending the pendant off to it’s new home. After 24 hours, I glue on the pendant bail or make a wire wrap bail like I discussed earlier (see above link).
Speaking of Xyron, Feature Product Friday is happening, and the start of the show is Xyron.
What is Feature Product Friday, you ask? It is the brainchild of my friend Amy of Plucking Daisies. If you’ve been here awhile, you have probably seen her rockin contributions to SBLC. I love talking about products with Amy. We are equally obsessed with the next new creative spray ink, paper, design line, gadget and trinket that will help us create what we love and take our imaginations to new places. We want to share our go to products with you, and see what you have come up with using them. Each Friday will be a new product featured. We will show you our projects, as well as a roundup of your best projects using the featured product (see the list below).
Even more good news… Amy is giving away a stash of Xyron supplies, so head over and enter the Xyron Giveaway at Plucking Daisies.
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Today brings a fun, simple Mother’s Day gift DIY using Martha Stewart Crafts glass etching cream to create customized glass tile pendants! As I mentioned Monday when I showed you my doily etched wine bottles, this etching cream is simply amazing. No glass is safe around me now! Read on to see how to make these lovely pendants in no time!
Glass tiles (I ordered mine on Etsy – size 1 7/8 x 7/8 inch
Martha Stewart Etching Cream and included brush
Martha Stewart Adhesive Stencils
Rubbing alcohol
Pendant Bail (I use aanraku small silver bails from Etsy or Ebay)
Pretty Patterned Paper
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and Antique (optional)
Sandpaper (150 grit)
E6000
Chain or cord of choice
Masking Tape
Protective gloves
Clean glass tiles with rubbing alcohol.
Place adhesive stencil.
Tape off area you don’t want etched and apply thick layer of etching cream.
Wait 15 minutes and then rinse cream away under faucet. Make sure to clean stencils well.
Find area of paper you want as background. Trace pendant and cut out paper for backing. Using double sided paper gives the back of your pendant a pretty, finished look.
Use your favorite decoupage medium to adhere backing to tile.
When that is dry, sand edges to even things up a bit.
Seal paper backing with your favorite medium. I love the antique Mod Podge. Apply 2-3 coats, allowing 30 minutes dry time between each.
Adhere pendant bail using E6000 or other industrial strength adhesive.
Let your bail set overnight and add your chain to finish!
I love them! I made one for my grandma, mom and sister. What a cool way to add a special touch to customize glass tile pendants. Use a meaningful photo instead of scrapbook paper as an alternative. Make them as wedding/anniversary gifts with the couple’s wedding date! The possibilities are endless.
Be sure to check out the other Mother’s Day and Father’s Day projects my cohorts are making with Marth Stewart Crafts in the list below this post.
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Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a sponsored campaign with Plaid and The Blueprint Social. All opinions are honest and mine!
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I have wanted to learn to solder for years. I sold some handmade necklaces in the past, and had issues with the jumprings opening and the pendant falling off the chain. The best solution I could find was soldering the rings closed, so I picked up a soldering iron and it sat in the closet for 2 years. I made a resolution to learn the technique in 2013, and ended up with the three finished pieces you see. This project is great to encase and keep special pictures or sentiments to wear as jewelry or to embellish scrapbook pages and artwork.
I was going to create a video, but there is already one out there that covers everything. Here it is, straight from The Frugal Crafter. I was lucky and happened to have the exact “third hand” jeweler’s tool that is used in the video. I picked it up for next to nothing at one of those “As Seen on TV” stores. You can pick it up at amazon for about $5. So worth it, and essential for holding the pieces in place and still having a free hand for the soldering iron! I picked up the square 1.5 in Ranger Glass slides at Michael’s. The oval slides came in the soldering kit I purchased by Beads Landing (at Michael’s too).
Today, I am happy to share with you a glass tile pendant tutorial from Irina at Irina’s Cute Box. These tutorials are abundant in the creative blog world. Irina shares her version incorporating a bezel setting. She uses the same jewelry component supplier as I do, Sun and Moon Kits on Etsy. Wonderful prices and service make this my go to shop for all of my wholesale needs. In addtion, Irina has available some free printable images you can use for the tiles, and digital collage sheets available for purchase in her Etsy store (see examples and links below).
TUTORIAL:
The collage sheet is 4×6 inches, containing twelve 1 inch square images perfect for glass tile pendants, at resolution of 300 dpi. Print on heavy (80-100 lb) using laser printer. Laser images are more vivid and less likely to smear than ink jet.
Supplies shown are from SunAndMoonKits shop on Etsy.
Visit Irina’s blog for other free graphics and her GraphicLand shop on Etsy for more beautiful and affordable digital collage sheets in a variety of shapes and sizes!
To continue with our recent jewelry making obsession, today’s post will cover this gorgeous wire wrapping technique. You do not need wire wrapping experience to be able to pull this off. The example shown here is a rectangular glass tile, but you can apply the lesson to virtually any pendant or stone you want to set.
Supplies:
NOTE: The video from BeadsDirectTV uses half round and square for the technique. I only had round wire, which is what I used, and it worked great. Something to keep in mind if you need to work with what you have. Mine was 22 guage round; Beadalon 22 gauge round wire
Make sure you check out their other awesome jewelry making videos.
Making a wire wrap bail is a decorative, inexpensive way to attach pendants that eliminates the need for messy glue-on bails and hole drilling. The look is intricate and ornate, and can be achieved quite simply with a few basic jewelry supplies. This is a perfect way to bail glass tile and domino pendants.
The wire isn’t shaped to the edges very well in the above demonstration. Make sure to keep it snug against the piece, like it is holding the pendant together.
Use pliers to tuck in the cut ends. Sometimes I file them when they aren’t flush.
It is as simple as that. Now add a jumpring and your pendant is ready to hang, with fancy pants wire work to boot…
Here is what it looks like on the back…
Here, I used the wire wrap method on pre-drilled dominoes with horizontal holes. It is the same process, but you take the wire to the back through the hole so the wire only frames the top and runs horizontally through the middle.
Some 1 inch glass tiles wrapped…
Now you are ready to practice your mad wire wrapping skills. If you try this, share pictures. I love seeing what you have done!
