Creativity In A Nutshell

crabble tile pendants certainly are all the rage at the moment, but there's no reason to settle for the typical cut and paste projects. This tutorial will walk you through using fun stamps, Pearl Ex Pigments and micro beads to create some one-of-a-kind pendants and charms of your own.




Ingredients:

• Scrabble tiles or similar (there are some scrabble tile look-a-likes out there)
• A variety of stamps - smaller stamps will fit the scrabble tiles, but remember that you can use just a part of a larger stamp for an interesting affect
• Ink pads in a variety of colors - I reccomend Staz On
• Pearl Ex Pigments
• Regular white glue (elmers or tacky)
• Diamond Glaze or Glossy Accents
• Modge Podge
• Micro Beads
• E-6000 and bail (unless you're going to drill your tiles)

Tools Of The Trade:

• Paintbrush
• Plastic pallet (for mizing pearl ex pigments)
• Safety Pin
• Waterproof, permanent pens - Faver-Castell India Ink pens or Sharpies work well
  

Process:

• Step One: Select your stamp. I am using some great small stamps I picked up at Michael's for $1. Ink your stamp.If you are using a stamp larger than the scrabble tile, ink a slightly larger area than you intend to use - it's pretty tough to get the stamp exactly where you want it on the tile. Stamp the image on the tile by laying the tile down on the stamp, not the other way around. Press down lighty, doing your best not to wiggle it around.

• Step Two: Try layering differnt stamps and different color inks. You can also use embossing powerder and a heat gun at this point if you'd like.

• Step Three: give the stamped images time to dry. If you are using an  "imitation" scrabble tile, more than likely it has an unfinished surface and the ink will seep into the tile rather quickly. With an actual scrabble tile, the ink will sit on the surface and need more time to dry. Once they are dry, you can add punch to the stamped images using pearl ex pigments, mixed with a little bit of water and glue. Use them just like you would paint- mix colors, play around. I suggest using a small brush to apply the pigment to your tiles.

• Step Four: Again, allow everything to dry. At this point, you can add 3-dimensional stuff to your scrabble tiles. I recommend starting with micro beads because they're small, however, by all means, play around. If you are using micro beads, I would suggest:
• Coat the side of the scrabble tile you're working on with a thin layer of mod podge or slightly watered down glue.

• Place the micro beads about where you want them - it's going to be impossible to play them exactly in the right place on the first try. Using a pin, push the beads to where you want them to be. Allow the mod podge or glue to dry completely.

• TIP: No matter what - DONT leave the container open. I... I guess I really am a clutz, though I wish I could say I was just multi-tasking too much, but of course... I managed to spill them. All over my desk. It was a disaster. Good luck!
• 
  Step Four: Once you're happy and everything is dry you can seal the tile. Here is the crux. If you've used a waterbased ink, you're going to need to use a sealant that is NOT water based. Otherwise you're going to end up with a blurry mess. Finally add a coat of diamond glaze or glossy accents. If you're working with non-traditional scrabble tiles, you're going to want to coat every side of the tile. Wait for one side to dry completely before working on another side - I've learned this the hard way...

• Tips for applying Diamond Glaze: Use even pressure, working around the edges, then moving into the middle. If you happen to get a bubble, you're not really going to be able to pop it. Drag it out using a pin.
• Step Five: Now it's time to complete the pendant. I always allow my scrabble tiles to dry over night - that way there's no risk of mess ups - and as I am clutsy as it is, I don't need to do anything to add to the liklihood of my messing up. Using a small dab of E-6000, attach a bail and voila!
• Tips for working with E-6000: If you're sensitive to strong smells, make sure you have some ventilation. I'm pretty sure there are warnings for this... In any case, I try to work with small amounts and leave the room if I start to get a headache. I dab a bit of epoxy on a scrap piece of paper and use the tip of a safety pin to dot a tiny bit on the back of the bail - a lot goes a long way. Then I place the bail on the tile, center it, and use another safety pin or a toothpick to carefully swab away any excess epoxy. This takes some practice :) 
• 
  
  
  
  
  

C'est Fin!

What's The Plan, Stan?
Well, this is a bit of a complex one, folks, but we are going to make some incredibly unique and super cool charms and pendants by semi-melting old and used CDs.

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE:
Semi-melting these disks gives off potentially dangerous fumes. I am sure the State of California would have warning labels ALL OVER this tutorial. The point? Be careful, please. I did this project in a spray booth - - a small room with a massive fan/vent, sucking all the harmful fumes away from me. Despite this, I did get a slight headache. Ok, the headache could have been caused by the annoying sound of the massive fan the the whirr of the heat gun, but all the same... If you are sensitive, take extra precautions!

Ingredients:

• Old and used CDs 
• NOTE: You can use all kinds of CDs and DVDs. Different brands and types will have different effects and colors once you heat them. I just rummaged through my ever growing stack of burnable CDs that I no longer need or use. Play around. I would not, however, go out and buy some CDs for this project. For goodness sake, just use the old ones.
• Glossy Accents (optional)
  

Tools Of The Trade:

• Heatgun
• Pliers (you are going to want at least two pairs for easy maneuverability)
• Pushpin
• Scissors or wire snips
  

Process:

• To begin with, you should note that a CD or DVD has two layers. One is a sort of metalic layer, and the top layer is like a thicker plastic coating. You can separate the layers, and work with the metallic layer alone, or you can fuse them together. The metallic layer on its own is a little weak, however.
• If you want to fuse both layers together, which I suggest, start by cutting a CD or DVD in half. Hold one half over the heatgun with a pair of pliers. Obviously, don't get your hand in the way of the heatgun. No one likes burns. 
• Every CD or DVD reacts differently. Here are some general rules. Keep the metallic side towards the heat, the plastic side away from it. The plastic has a tendency to bubble in cool ways, but it will also crack and may fall off the piece. You don't want that to happen. The metallic side and the edge of the disk will go through a unique and interesting transformation as they heat. Remember to be patient, but also take it slowly. Allow yourself to get to know the process and become familiar with what the heat gun does to the CD. It may take you a few tries to find something that you like.
• Once the metallic side is nice and melted, and the plastic side is fused, turn off your heat gun and cut out some fun shapes in the CD. You will notice that the CD cools down relatively quickly, but still, please be careful and don't burn yourself. Make sure you gently trim your edges with a pair of scissors to make sure they aren't sharp. Use the heat gun once more to further round the edges and add any more fun bumps and bubbles to the design.
• At this point, you will want to make your holes so you have delightful, string-able charms and pendants. I just used and pushpin and worked it through. You may be able to heat up a straight pin over a tea light and work it through that way, or perhaps a wood burning tool.
• You may wish to protect the plastic side of your charm/pendant, especially if it has become very cracked. I used glossy accents, but you could try a coating of resin, or diamond glaze.
  

C'est Fin!


Here's an example of a pair of earrings I made using charms I made from a DVD. These earrings, called Purple Days are available for sale on Etsy.

Bead Artist Showcase
Your work could be right here! Submit your own upcycled CDcharms or pendants to Creativity In A Nutshell via email to cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel free to include pictures, anything new you tried and suggestions you have for improvement.

More Similar Fun Stuff!
The Heatgun's The Boss! Embossing Technique
Recycled Jewelry: Idea Introduction

What is the draw of the Mona Lisa? The subtlety, the mystery. Create your own mysterious intrigue with this Mona Lisa inspired necklace.





What's The Plan, Stan?
We're going to use a scrabble tile to make a beautiful unique pendant for this vintage-like necklace

Ingredients:

• For Pendant:

• Scrabble Tile
• Image from magazine etc (cut with scrabble tile template)
• Pearl Ex Pigments (optional)
• Glossy Accents
• Tacky Glue
  
• Two gold plated jump rings
• One gold plated eyepin
• One 6 mm onyx round
• One 3-4 mm faceted garnet round
• For Necklace:
• 34 wooden oval beads (dyed red)
• 16 3-4 mm faceted garnet rounds
• Four 6 mm onyx rounds
• 16 flat oval garnet beads
• One gold plated jump ring
• Two gold plated crimp beads
• One gold plated clasp
• Wire for stringing - I use fishing line, actually :)
  

Tools Of The Trade:

• For Pendant:
• Drill with small bit
• Scrap piece of wood
• Paintbrush
• For Necklace:
• Needlenose pliers
• Beading board (optional, but most helpful)
  

Process:

• Drill two holes in the scrabble tile - one on the top, one on the bottom
• Glue your image onto the tile. Let dry, and coat with another thin layer of glue. Re-pierce holes with a pushpin or safety pin.
• OPTIONAL: Add more detail with Pearl Ex Pigments and watered down glue. Allow to dry.
• Coat entire tile with glossy accents. Allow to dry completely.

• Place jump rings though both holes. Attach eyepin to bottom jump ring. Add first garnet, then onyx beats. Close with a loop.
• Bead Pattern for necklace:
• Wooden bead: Garnet Round: Wooden Bead: Garnet Oval:Wooden Bead: Garnet Round:Wooden Bead : Onyx Round. 
• Make sure to place your crimp beads between two garnet rounds, rather than right at the end of the necklace. This will prevent it from being worn too much and breaking. End one side with a jump ring and the other side with the clasp.
  

C'est Fin!


Bead Artist Showcase
You work could be right here! Submit your own Mystery Woman Necklace to Creativity In A Nutshell via email to cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel free to include pictures, anything new you tried and suggestions you have for improvement.

More Similar Fun Stuff!

• Project: Scrabble Tile Bracelet
• Tutorial: Scrabble Tile Pendants and Charms
  

More Stuff on the Information Highway:

• Scrabble Tile Jewelry Supples  
• Mini Scrabble Tiles
  

Do you remember those fun times, playing checkers when you were little? Or maybe you still play checkers! Either way, show off your checkers skill with these beautiful checkers earrings.



What's The Plan, Stan? 


We are going to make some super fantabulous earrings, using plastic checkers pieces, not the old fashioned (but equally sweet wooden ones).


Ingredients:

• Two checkers pieces (For this project, I used the white ones, however, you can use the black ones for a totally different effect.)
• Alcohol Inks (One or two colors - I used Wild Plum and Stream)
• Alcohol Ink Blending Solution
• Alcohol Ink Applicator and felt rectangles
• Stayz On opaque white ink pad (NOTE: When embossing, and then coloring with alcohol inks, regular old ink pads simply won't work. For the vintage earrings, we used that technique to create a resist technique, which is cool, but not what we're going for in this project)
  
• Floral Stamp (I used a beautiful one I found in the Michael's $1 bin)
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Silver Pearl Ex Pigment
• Glossy Accents
  

Tools Of The Trade:

• Drill with small bit (NOTE: you won't want to use too small of a drill bit, as it is more likely to get stuck and or break on you. I've done this - please, learn from my mistake)
  
• Scrap piece of wood
• Heat Gun
• Trash bag (hopefully one devoted to art use)
  

Process:

• Drill your checkers pieces, close to the edge, but not too close :)
•  Mix clear embossing powder with a pinch of silver Pearl Ex Pigment in your mixing tray (or baby food container top :)
  
•  Cover your work surface with a trash bag : Prepare to Alcohol Ink! Apply your two alcohol ink colors to the felt and stamp away. Add the Blending Medium as you like. Let it dry, then do the opposite side, and the edges. Once you are happy, allow both checkers pieces to dry completely.
  
• Stamp one side of the chipboard with stayz on opaque white ink. Sprinkle with embossing powder/Pearl Ex Pigment on top of the stamped image and heat with your handy dandy heatgun.
• Allow to cool. At this point you can gently add more Alcohol Ink and or Pearl Ex Pigments. I left mine as is.
• Coat with Glossy Accents (or similar). Allow to dry completely
• Add jumprings and ear wires and voila!
  

C'est Fin!

Bead Artist Showcase
You work could be right here! Submit your own BLANK to Creativity In A Nutshell via email to cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel free to include pictures, anything new you tried and suggestions you have for improvement.

More Similar Fun Stuff!

• Alcohol Ink Pendants  
• Domino Pendants
  

More Stuff on the Information Highway:

• Blockheadstamps
  

• Scrabble Tiles
• Acrylic Paint (I used white, blue, yellow and red
• Glossy Accents
• Silver Ink
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Silver Pearl Ex Pigment

Tools of the Trade

• Drill and tiny bit (Just gotta love power tools!)
  
• Small paintbrush
• Flip Flop stamp (I was given mine a long time ago, so sadly, I have no clue where it came from)
• Heat Gun

Process

• Drill Tiles
• Paint entire tile with white acrylic - careful around letter
  
• Stamp and Emboss

• Paint background, edges. Paint flipflop. May take several layers.
• When happy, allow to dry completely. 
• Glossy Accents - DONT TOUCH FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR! Or you will be sorry. I was supposed to end up with two charms, thus make a pair of earrings. Instead I have a necklace pendant. You must consider yourself warned. 
• On a lighter notes, once the Glossy Accents has dried to a hard surface, the charms are done and you can use them in your super fun beading projects. :)

 Bead Artist Showcase

• Your work could be pictured right here! Submit your own completed flip-flop charms to Creativity In A Nutshell via email : cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel Free to include plenty of pictures, new stuff you tried, sweet new ideas and suggestions.

More Similar Stuff

• Tutorial: Scrabble Tile Pendants and Charms 
• Project: Scrabble Tile Jewelry
  

Jewelry and Bead Artists are constantly looking for new and unique ways to make their jewelry and beads. I, for one, find myself pacing the aisles or my local craft store, meditating over all kinds of plans of making wondrous creations with the strangest of supplies.
Recently, I strayed upon the idea of Chipboard Jewelry. Scrapbooking enthusiasts know chipboard is a dense cardboard, often printed with nifty designs. Coated with a sealant, chipboard provides a fantastic and lightweight canvas for any kind of bead, pendant or charm you can imagine.



What's The Plan, Stan?
As with domino pendants, there are literally limitless options with Chipboard Jewelry. For this tutorial, I'm going to keep things simple. However, stay tuned for many more creative, fun projects, expanding upon this same idea. 

Ingredients

• Chipboard Circles (I purchased some very inexpensive -$0.70- ones at Michaels)
  
• Silver Metallic Ink
• Clear Embossing powder
• Silver Pearl Ex Pigments
• Small mixing tray (I used the top of a clean baby food container)
• Acrylic paint/gesso
• Floating medium OR water and glue mixture
• Glossy Accents
  
• Two silver plated jumprings
• Two earwires
• Two beads OR Modified Clasps
• OPTIONAL: Pressed Flower , Fine Black Sharpie
  

Tools of the Trade

• Drill with extra fine bit
• Scrap piece of wood
  
• Heat gun
• Floral Stamp (I got a fantastic one at Michaels in their Dollar Bin! Woot!)
• Paint Brush
  

Process 

• Drill each chipboard circle - you'll want to have the hole as close to the edge as possible without weakening the piece - using a scrap piece of wood underneath to protect your work surface.
  
• Prep the surface: coat both sides of chipboard with acrylic or gesso (or a mix of the two) If you get paint in the whole, that's fine, just poke a pushpin or unfolded paperclip through it and you're golden.

•  Mix clear embossing powder with a pinch of silver Pearl Ex Pigment in your mixing tray (or baby food container top :)
  

• Stamp one side of the chipboard with silver metallic ink. Sprinkle with embossing powder/Pearl Ex Pigment on top of the stamped image and heat with your handy dandy heatgun.

• Once the chipboard has cooled entirely, you can either play around with the colors, using Pearl Ex Pigments or you can leave it as is.
• These earrings were left at this step
  

•  To make these earrings: Gently go over the entire surface with Blue Russet Pearl Ex Pigment (it's actually an antique-like rusty red), which has been mixed with floating medium or water and glue. (Use a soft paintbrush for this, like a watercolor brush) Then, add a wee bit more pigment to your mixture and go over some of the details on the earrings - I covered the flowers and a few of the loopy lines - with a fine paint brush.

• Back side option: You could leave the back blank. OR you could get creative and personalize your earrings. 

•  To get this effect: Coat the backs with a layer of glue. Apply Misty Lavender, True Blue and Blue Russet. Allow to dry. Coat the back of your flower with glue, set and coat top with glue. Allow to dry. Add your own phrase to the edge of the chipboard. I wrote 'Made With Love'.
• Once everything is dry (and it's really important that it is before you move on!) Begin the Glossing! Apply Glossy Accents to both sides. MAKE SURE THE GLOSSY ACCENTS HAS DRIED COMPLETELY BEFORE TOUCHING IT! Ahem... otherwise you will royally screw it up. Trust Me.
  

• Once the glossy accents has dried, you have a few more options. You can attach a small jumpring and be done, or you can add an accent bead. Here are two examples of the latter design:

  

• For one pair of earrings I used one half of two silver plated clasps - I think they make sweet metal findings! For the other pair, I used an undyed howlite round (around 6mm I think), and  a silver plated bead cap. Experiment with complimenting and contrasting accent beads and metal findings.
  

Fin!

Bead Artist Showcase

• Your work could be pictured right here! Submit your own completed Victorian Inspired Earrings to Creativity In A Nutshell via email at cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel free to include plenty of pictures, new stuff you tried and any sweet new ideas or suggestions you may have :)

More Similar Fun Stuff

•  Classic Decadence - Vintage Inspired Earrings

More Stuff on the Information Highway
http://artrix-playtime.blogspot.com/2008/04/chipboard-jewelry.html

Made by Inkssentials (Ranger) Glossy Accents is actually a scrapbooking product. However, it was discovered by jewelry/bead artisans as a sealant for beads.


Pros:

• Relatively easy to use - pop off the cap and you're ready to go
• No fumes! This is great for me since my "studio" is also my bedroom, and I don't want to smell nasty unhealthy fumes all night.
• Acid Free & Non Toxic (Good for the Planet; Good for You)
  
• Inexpensive - I think I got mine for around $5 (a 2 oz bottle)
  
• Dries quickly - However, I tend to think it has dried a bit before it has - it comes out kind of milky, and as it dried it clears. Do not be fooled! Let it set for as long as possible so it can dry to a hard finish.
  
• Doesn't react with alcohol inks - domino crafters know how important this is :)
  

Cons

• You can't coat a 3D object in one swoop
• BUBBLES! (Remember the yellow fish in Finding Nemo? He would have loved Glossy Accents!)
• Uneven surface - I have noticed, especially with my scrabble tiles, that the Glossy Accents has not dried in a smooth coat, but in a slightly uneven, lightly textured surface. It's not terribly noticeable, but still, I wonder why. I had read that you can have issues with Glossy Accents if you use too much, but I didn't use that much on the tiles.
  
• Water soluble- this is not a water-proof product. So, if you were to suddenly get caught in a downpour of rain, I couldn't promise that your pendant wouldn't begin to get sticky. However, I have never done a water test, so I don't know how much exposure will how much cause disintegration.
  

Of all the products I have tried so far, Glossy Accents has been the easiest and most convenient. I know most people love Modge Podge, but I am not a fan of the inevitable brush or makeup sponge marks left behind. The bubbles you can work with, by being careful to not shake the bottle, and using the applicator tip or a needle to pop them. I have also reconciled myself to the fact that there will be bubbles. 

Fun Tutorials and Projects using Glossy Accents:

• Domino Pendants
• Project: Scrabble Tile Bracelet
• Tutorial : Scrabble Tile Pendants and Charms
  
• Earring Project

Additional Information
http://www.rangerink.com/products/prod_inkssentials_glossy.htm

Where to Purchase:
Michaels or other similar craft store (though I didn't find any at my local JoAnn's)
http://store.scrapbook.com/gb-gac17042.html
http://www.capaper.com/product/5571?meta=FRG&utm_source=GBASE&utm_medium=CPC&utm_content=&utm_campaign=