DIY Shadow Box/Frame

I used scrap-booking paper that had a pattern on both sides to make this one to house a little brass Buddha.

I made this one from card stock to frame an ATC.

Here is how I made the frame for the ATC: 

I cut a piece of card stock down to 5" x 6"

I make 4 score lines, 1/4" apart on each side. On the long side I cut the edges flush with the innermost scored line of the short sides. As for the short sides: the innermost 1/4" gets cut flush with the score line of the long side; the next 1/4" gets cut at an angle; the next two 1/4" sections get cut up from the angle, taking 1/4" off. 

This is what you end up with! Have fun and feel free to contact me with any questions!

DIY clear pocket for art journal

Want to add a little clear pocket to an art journal page to maybe put dried flowers in or a ticket stub?

I use a sheet of transparency paper, a metal ruler and my solder iron. Fold a sheet in half or use two sheets and heat up your iron. If you want a square or rectangle grab a metal ruler and slowly run your iron along the ruler. You want to make sure it melts through both layers to get a good seal and clean edge. You can make a pocket any shape though just free hand it with the solder iron!

Sharing a Polymer Clay Technique: Shimmering Watercolor

I was playing around with image transfer techniques and finally found a printer that spit out copies that I could lay onto raw clay, burnish well, leave sit for about 10 minutes, pull off and done! Yes, done, didn't have to bake it or use any kinda medium or special paper. Of course that printer is at my old job. Now what am I going to do?
Anyway, I made these

This one is on white clay, doesn't the mica in the pearl clay make all the difference?

Step one:

 Find image (or draw a pattern and scan)  and print out on regular computer paper with a black and white laser printer, then make a copy of that on a copy machine. 

*I try to use as many different printers and copiers as I can (whenever I get the chance I print out images) to increase the odds that I'll have at least one that makes a successful transfer. It's so disappointing to sit down to my clay only to find that the image is no good- it happened while I was taking pics for this tutorial! *It helps to increase the contrast, make the lines of the image as dark as possible. The more ink the machine lays down the more for the clay to pick up.  *I googled "free clip art paisley" and got this, you want just a line drawing 

Step two:

Roll pearl clay into a sheet, whatever thickness you want, lay your image on the clay and burnish well. Leave it to sit, burnishing again, leave sit, burnish again...- between 5 and 10 minutes total. 

*This is really going to depend on your image, the toner, the paper. So keep your eye on it, lift up the corner and see where you're at. Leave it too long and the clay will come up instead of the ink going down (which would be etching not image transferring!). 

Step three:

Reveal your image transfer! (These are on white not pearl clay, sorry).

Step four:

Cut, form, shape your clay into whatever and pop it in the oven.

Step five:

once it's cool, color in your image! 

*I use Blick studio markers, Copic or Pantone markers to color in the image because I want it to be like water color and have the shimmer of the mica in the pearl clay come through. on the white pieces I use a tiny paint brush and acrylic paint sometimes for opaque color. 

Step six:

pop it back in the oven for a few minutes to set the ink then seal 

*I like Future Floor Wax which I also heat set

That's it! Please feel free to ask me any questions. 

Making Your Own Ball Tipped Silver Headpins

It's as simple as taking your silver wire and sticking the tip in the blue part of the flame of your torch until it melts into a ball the size you want then quench in cool water. But I kept getting lopsided balls, the wire always curled up to one side or another. Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know this but in case I'm not... So, use fine silver wire, .999 not sterling silver, .925.

the sterling silver balls up to the side, not to mention you still have to pickle and tumble them to get off the firescale and restore the shine

fine silver balls up nice and even and you don't have to take any additional steps, it stays nice and shiny!

DIY/Tutorial: Toilet Paper Roll Recycle for Craft Storage

I wanted more surface space on my polymer clay desk so I decided to put the tools that were in a broken coffee mug up on the wall in front of me. I think the solution I came up with turned out super cute and thought this would make a good blog post. So I made two more and took some step by step shots.

 This is what I used to make it....

1. Toilet Paper Roll
2. Scrap Cardboard
3. Thumb Tacks
4. Craft Knife
5. Scissors
6. Hot Glue Gun
7. Decorative Paper (I used 3 sheets from the K&C Company "Sweet Nectar" Adhesive Mat Pad so I didn't need to use glue)

1)

I drew two lines about 1" apart on the tube then used the craft knife to score those lines- don't cut through. I use the score lines to kind of flatten the part that will go against the wall

2) I used some scrap cardboard to make the bottom. I traced the shape and cut outside the line to make sure it was big enough to cover the base. I used the hot glue to attach it and trimmed the extra with the scissors.

3) I covered the tube with the adhesive paper and then stuck two thumb tacks through the back so I could mount it on the wall.

Super quick and easy right? 

I did something similar with coffee containers for one of my other craft tables.