Easy DIY Rose Bracelet

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Today’s project is a lovely summer bracelet featuring roses made with Mod Melts. I showed you this new product last week in this DIY daisy bracelet tutorial. I love that you can use it with silicone molds to quickly create detailed flowers that are commonly made with slow curing resin. You can whip out this bracelet in well under 1 hour!

SUPPLIES:

ModMelts and Molds with Sticks (see: tutorial for using the mod melts)

Connector Metal Squares (I found these at Joanns)

Jump rings

Toggle clasp

metal chain

2 pairs of flat nose jewelry pliers

E6000 glue

TUTORIAL:

Create your charms using Mod Melts as in the link above. I used the smaller rose on the Floral Mold. I painted 6 of them in a green/blue color palettes. I sealed them with Mod Podge matte finish.

Connect the squares with jump rings. Begin by twisting jump rings open with 2 sets of pliers.

Add a square.

Add second square and close jump ring by twisting back with 2 sets of pliers.

Continue adding squares until you have enough for each rose charm.

Glue each rose onto a square with E6000 and let dry for at least 1 hour.

To finish, use jump rings to attach toggle clasp on each end for bracelet closure.

What do you think? Are you ready to try this stuff yet? I have tons more charms left from my afternoon of creating with Mod Melts. As promised, you will be seeing more!

For plenty more DIY bracelets, see SBLC’s bracelet tutorials, and our 50+ bracelet roundup!

Mason Jar Shrink Film Necklace

by Johnnie Collier

Hello SBLC friends! Amy here from Plucking Daisies to share a Shrink Plastic Mason Jar Necklace tutorial. Shrink Plastic isn’t just for kids anymore. You may feel like a kid again when working on Shrink Plastic projects (it is oh so fun) but the end results are all grown up! Grab your favorite stamps and pre-heat that toaster oven, we’re about to make some shrink plastic jewelry!

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There are many ways to use shrink plastic for jewelry making. You can make necklaces, earrings, charm bracelets and more! Believe it or not, aside from stamping there are a variety of ways to apply images and add color to shrink plastic creations. For more info and inspiration check out my latest Shrink Plastic Charm Tutorial.

I created this Mason Jar Necklace for Johnnie when we attended SNAP! together this past April. We all know that Johnnie is the Mason Jar Maven after all.

I found this Mason Jar Stamp from Inkadinkadoo (available at Michael’s) and thought it would be perfect for a shrink plastic necklace.

How to make a Shrink Plastic Necklace

You can create your necklace with any stamp your heart desires! Be sure to check the size of your image as it will shrink down to 1/3 of its original size. Not into necklaces? No problem! How about a pair of earrings, a pin, or charms for a bracelet? Be creative and have fun…it’s pretty hard not to when Shrink Plastic is involved 🙂

Supplies:

Shrink Plastic
Copic Markers (or other)
Favorite Stamps
Archival Ink (Black)
Embossing Powder (optional)
Hole Punch

STEP 1: Start by stamping your images on Shrink Plastic in Archival ink. I used the Mason Jar Stamp (inkadinkadoo), Collections from the Journey Letters (7 Gypsies), and Fanciful Swirl Alphabet (Hero Arts)

*TIP* You can “Try on” different stamp combinations by stamping on a piece of cardstock and laying a sheet of shrink plastic over top to see how it looks.

STEP 2 (optional): Sprinkle embossing powder over stamped image. I like using Ranger Holographic embossing powder for a hint of sparkle and shine.

STEP 3: Color your image with Copic Markers. If you used embossing powder don’t worry if some of it rubs off during coloring. Just do your best to avoid it if you can.

Check out the link below for an awesome Mason Jar coloring tutorial by Sweet November Stamp designer Amy Young

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV_fRE5zxi0

STEP 4: Use a hole punch to punch a hole at the top of your image or wherever you want it to hang. Cut your image out leaving a wide band around the punched hole to prevent breakage when you add jump rings.

STEP 5: Bake according to package directions. One thing I learned by actually READING the directions for once was that you can press down on your shrink plastic piece while it cools (15 sec) with a piece of paper to get it really flat. *Beware if you used embossing powder you will need to press very gently on the raised portions so you don’t pull them up.

How cute is this? An itty bitty Mason Jar charm complete with a Twitter handle. Saved by Love Creations is where it’s @ in my humble opinion.

STEP 6: Just add Jump rings, chain, and some cute toggle clasps and your Shrink Plastic Mason Jar Necklace is ready to wear!

If you are planning on creating one of these fun shrink plastic necklaces for a gift why not up-cycle an old jewelry box and embellish it with a few pretty bits and bobs from your stash? Have some extra charms you don’t know what to do with? Add them to your necklace. There’s nothing wrong with throwing on a little “extra charm”.

Hope you all have fun creating shrink plastic jewelry for gifts or for yourselves! I wear my shrink plastic charms with pride…and I’m sure Johnnie does too. See you all next time!

Have a charming day!

Amy*

Want more Shrink Film Crafts? Check out our 50+ Shrink Film Projects Round-up:

Make a Necklace from Colored Pencils

by Johnnie Collier

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If you are looking for a unique handmade gift that the artist in your life will cherish, look no more. This colored pencil necklace DIY from Caught On a Whim is for you. What a great idea for art teacher appreciation, or anyone who loves color! I have never seen anything like it, and I seen and made jewelry from all kinds of things. It doesn’t get much easier, cheaper or more creative! Great idea.

How to Make Patriotic Earrings from Plaster Buttons

by Johnnie Collier

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Patriotic jewelry and accessories are one of my favorite things about summer time. Today I am sharing how I created these grungy americana earrings from plaster buttons (which I had never heard of or seen until one fateful day at a salvage shop) and Tim Holtz Distress Paint. This project is quick, fun and easy. I am also going to show you how I make my own lovely ear wires using a cool jewelry jig from Bead Landing.

SUPPLIES:

Plaster Buttons (These were a dime each at a local salvage store)

Tim Holtz Distress Paint Barn Door, Broken China and Pickett Fence

Masking tape

Bead Landing Jewelry Jig

Artistic Wire Gunmetal Bronze 20 Gauge

Flush Cutters

Paint Brush (LOVING this new Martha Stewart Silicone Jewelry paint brush from her new jewelry line)

Ranger Distress Ink Antique linen

Clear Embossing ink

Clear Embossing Powder

Heat Gun

TUTORIAL:

Use masking tape to tape off stripes and paint one at a time, letting each one dry for 30 min before moving onto the next. I painted directly with the dauber then touched up after all three colors were on, using the silicone paint brush.

This is what they looked like after just the Distress paint. I decided I wanted a grungier look, so I dabbed my Antique Linen distress inkpad directly on the earrings. I poured clear embossing powder over that and melted it to set with my heat gun. Then to seal the entire painted surface, I applied clear embossing ink all over and then clear embossing powder, again heat setting it.

I picked out a pattern for ear wire findings. The jig linked above comes with 5 options for ear wires. It is super easy to use. It works best with 20 gauge wire.

Just insert the end of the wire into the hole to secure and wrap following the white lines.

Cut at the dotted lines to separate the ear wires. You make 8 at a time! File the cut ends and you are set.

For more Patriotic Crafts, be sure to visit our 50+ Patriotic Projects Round-up!

Sizzix Rose Charm Bracelet

by Johnnie Collier

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Today I am sharing how to make this washi tape rose charm bracelet at the Sizzix Blog. There are so many ways to use these adorable charms, from bracelets like this one, to earrings, paper craft embellishments and more. Come on over and make your own!

Make Washi Tape Jewelry and Charms

by Johnnie Collier

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Easy Washi Tape Earrings

Today’s project is a fun, inexpensive earring tutorial using washi tape, wire and Dimensional Magic by Mod Podge. I am in love with these. I wore them on a recent getaway and got so many compliments. A random lady in a boutique ordered a pair when I told her I made them! Think about all the washi tape prints and colors. You could make a pair for every outfit or occasion. You can use them as charms for embellishing paper crafts, cards, and jewelry projects of all kinds.

Let’s get started!

SUPPLIES:

Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Circle punch or other shape you want for your charms (you could also cut by hand)

Washi Tape

White Card Stock

Dremel for creating hole or glue on bail (hanging mechanism)

Jewelry Wire – I used 20 gauge copper artistic wire and 20 gauge artistic wire silver coated

Wire cutter

Round nose and flat nose pliers

TUTORIAL:

Apply tape to front and back or card stock. Line strips of tape up so that there is no space between them. Line up patterns for seamless look if your hole punch is bigger than the width of the tape. Punch out shapes.

Lay shapes on flat, protect surface. I like to use this spikey tray I got at Michaels (pretty sure it is Martha Stewart). That way if I put too much Dimensional Magic on, it will runs off the side and collect in the bottom of the tray, sparing my piece from becoming a big blob. Apply Dimensional Magic starting in the center, then pulling out to the edge of the shape with the tip of the bottle. Let sit for about 20 minutes, then come back and remove any air bubbles with a toothpick or with your fingernail. Then let dry overnight, flip them over and do the other side. If you want a flat side, you can just brush on Mod Podge with a brush to seal instead of doming both sides.

Use as charms, make earrings, magnets, embellish your paper crafts and more.

I played with wire using a jig from Bead Landing. I plan on sharing a tutorial on making your own earring findings like I did for these.

Check out some more things to make with washi tape by clicking the thumbnails below:

Washi Tape Rosette Earring Tutorial

50+ Washi Tape Projects to Make

Make a Paper Daffodil Bouquet and Mason Jar Vase

by Johnnie Collier

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As soon as I saw the new daffodil Sizzix die by Susan Tierney Cockburn, I knew a bouquet was in my future. Mother’s Day brought just the occasion. Today I am sharing Susan’s video detailing how to make the flower, then how I added stems to make this lovely daffodil bouquet in a mason jar vase.

You will need:

Yellow cardstock – I used Coordinations in various yellows and even tried a crepe paper daffodil which I found to be to annoying to do more than once. You can see the lone crepe flower in the upper left of the above pic.

Daffodil Sizzix die by Susan Tierney Cockburn

Doily Lace Medallion Sizzix Die by Eileen Hull

Mason Jar with Lid

Craft Glue

Susan’s Garden Tool Kit

Floral wire

Green Floral tape

Hot glue gun

Flat nose or round nose Pliers

TUTORIAL:

Make each daffodil as shown in Susan’s video. Don’t add the leaves just yet.

Adding Stem to Finished Flower

Bend wire to 90° one inch from the end with your pliers. Then grab tip of wire with pliers and twirl inward to create a spiral. It doesn’t need to be pretty. You are just creating a surface for gluing the stem to the flower base.

Place a dab of hot glue on the calyx at the base of the flower.

Press spiral into hot glue dab immediately and hold in place for 30 seconds until glue sets. Add leaves last, using a dab of hot glue at the base of each.

To finish the flowers, wrap wire in green floral tape. This is optional, but I think it makes the stems look way better than just the naked wire. Cut stems to fit your jar (6-8 inches should work, but just put one into the vase to see how much excess wire you have).

Making the Bouquet

Arrange flowers into a bouquet: Hold a flower in one hand. Add alternating shades of yellow daffodils to frame your central one, turning the bouquet each time. Point the blooms towards you as you continue adding around, creating a rounded shape. When you are happy with the shape of your bouquet, secure stems with floral or a rubber band.

I added baby breath looking artificial flowers from the dollar store to fill in the spaces between my daffodils. Wouldn’t hydrangeas be pretty with the yellow too?!

The Mason Jar Vase: I painted my mason jar with DecoArt glass stain like I showed you in this Mason Jar Chandelier Tutorial.

Punch a hole in your mason jar lid with a nail and hammer, then pound away to make a hole large enough for the bouquet.

I inserted my bouquet and embellished the vase with green jute, a chalkboard tag and a paper doily I die cut from white cardstock using Eileen Hull’s paper lace medallion die.

She was overjoyed, and the piece became our Mother’s Day lunch table centerpiece! This bouquet would be great for wedding centerpieces and bridesmaid bouquets too.

Easy Wire Wrap Bird Nest Pendant DIY Video

by Johnnie Collier

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I have wanted to make one of these cute bead and wire bird nest with eggs pendants since I first saw one a couple of years ago. Finally I sat down to do it as a gift for my sweet sister for Mother’s Day. Can I just say she loved it?! There is an egg for each of her three children. It was super fast and easy to create. I made it with materials I had on hand. All you need are a few beads, some wire and some basic jewelry supplies.

VIDEO DIY TUTORIAL

I by no means came up with this idea. Here is the Beadaholique video I followed. I used thicker gauge wire (16 aluminum copper colored) and didn’t make the bail like in the video. As you can see, I just threaded the chain through the nest where the wire made a nice opening.

Make Metallic Mason Jars With Spray Paint

by Johnnie Collier

Spray Paint mason jars for a great vase!

Photo by It All Started With Paint

Mason jar decor is a huge favorite in this house. Working on a paper bouquet for my grandmother for Mother’s Day, I have been trying to land on the perfect vase. Recycled wine bottles, tin cans and mason jars always top my list of bouquet containers. While searching for inspiration, I came across the pictured metallic mason jars by It All Started With Paint. I am all about metallic spray paint, and really am kinda shocked I haven’t already done this! You can order your own at the link above, or if you are a DIY kinda person, Lovely Little DIY’s gold mason jar tutorial will get you on your way!

Photo by Lovely Little DIY

This is not the project I ended up going with for my grandmother’s vase. That is for another post. This did make my to do list and if you are looking for a quick vase for Mother’s Day, you still have time to make metallic mason jars that she will love!

For more mason jar crafts, visit our frequently updated collection of the the world’s greatest Mason Jar ideas!

Tips to Fast, Mess Free, DIY Glass Tile Pendants

by Johnnie Collier

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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.

SUPPLIES:

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:

Glue Free, Drill Free Way to Attach Pendants

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.

TUTORIAL:

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.