Mini Canvas Ornament

Wordless Wednesday

~ Peace Out ~

Blog Hop ~ Cousin(R) Slide Bracelet

Today's Blog Hop features the

easy-to-make slide bracelet from Cousin(R)!

 

Cousin(R), a wholesale division of Enterprise Art

(which has been family owned for 40 years),

has a new slide bracelet line available 

in JoAnn stores now!

This line consists of precut lengths of bicast

leather in several colors, and unique metals accents and

spacers that simply slide on ... then

each bracelet is finished with 

silver or gold end closures that are

~ oh so simply ~ glued on!!

 

Immediate gratification!

Happiness in a flash!

Now that's exactly what I'm looking for!

 

The video shows you just how easy

it is to make your own

slide bracelet ... here are some

step-out photos that I wanted to share:

Choose your metal accent(s), end closures,

and precut bicast leather strap.

Remove the spacers from the strap.

Simply slide your metal accent onto

your strap, and replace the spacers.

Use glue (E6000 and Amazing Quick Hold

are both good adhesive choices) to attach the end closures.

Allow to dry thoroughly.

Make an original piece for every outfit!

What a magnificent idea!   Mother's Day is

right around the corner ... I'm already drooling

over all the great metal accents to choose from!

Loop through the Designer Connection

Blog Hop ring to see what other

amazing slide bracelets you can create

with this new line from Cousin(R)!

~ Peace and Flash Happiness ~

 

DCC Blog Hop - Handmade Flowers!

April's theme is

~ Handmade Flowers ~

and as an additional challenge,

handmade flowers using items found

in or around the house.

 

Four growing children means I have

a plethora of outgrown clothing

at any given time.  I thought this challenge

would be the perfect time to use

that pair of old jeans I'd set aside!

 Supplies Needed:

old jeans ~ scissors ~ needle and thread

paintbrush ~ permanent marker ~

~ assorted buttons ~

~ green tulle ~ flower stencil or cookie cutter ~

~ DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint ~

~ DecoArt Glamour Dust

Ultra Fine Glitter Paint in Ice Crystal ~

~ Swarovski Crystals ~ E6000 ~

 First, cut along the seams on one leg

of the jeans.

 Use a flower stencil or cookie cutter to

outline flower shapes onto

your piece of denim fabric.

Cut out the flower shapes.

Choose several colors of

DecoArt SoSoft fabric paint.

Apply two coats of fabric paint

to each flower cut out.

 Apply glitter topcoat and

allow pieces to dry thoroughly.

Next, gather the fabric in the center

of the flower cut out

and stitch a button on to secure the fold.

Attach three buttons to the center

of each flower cut out.

~ Repeat for other cut outs! ~

Attach flowers to jacket or vest

for a little added pizazz! 

Hide your stitches behind the buttons.

Cut a length of tulle into a square.

Fold in half diagonally into a triangle,

then continue to fold and gather into a leaf shape.

Tuck tulle "leaves" behind the flowers

and secure with needle and thread.

Additionally, I used a single stitch

here and there to tack down

the flowers so they wouldn't curl.

 Attach Swarovski crystals to the

center threads of each button

with E6000 adhesive.

I added Swarovski crystals to the

center of each of the metal buttons

on the denim vest, just

for kicks.  And because the game was on

and I needed some busy work to do.

I enjoyed this challenge ~

I love that I was able to create something

fun and simple with items

I already had around the house!

Cost?  Zero!! :)

~ Peace and Happy "Recycling" ~

ImpressArt BLOG HOP!!!

 Hi and Welcome to my blog!!

I am one of twenty designers lucky enough

to be designing with ImpressArt Metal Stamps today!

I've made a quick and easy Bag Tag

with these amazing products -

I hope you'll feel inspired to work with these

products as well!!

Be sure and enter their contest

* here *

 and you could be the Grand Prize winner of

$120.00 worth of ImpressArt products! 

Here are the supplies needed to make the Bag Tag:

ImpressArt Supplies:

-ImpressArt Alphabet Stamp Set, Ballroom Boogie (lowercase)

-ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blank, Flower

-ImpressArt Metal Stamping Hammer

-ImpressArt Steel Stamping Block

-ImpressArt Stamp Straight Tape

Other Supplies:

4" Wooden Tag; 2" Wood Bird Cutout; (5) 12ss Swarovski Crystals;

Black Feather; E6000 Adhesive; Acrylic Paints: Turquoise,

Marigold, White, Black, Extreme Glitter Hologram;

Sanding Block; Permanent Marker; Clean Rag; Ruler

First, I stamped the Flower blank.

Place the ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blank (Flower)

on the ImpressArt Steel Stamping Block.

Apply ImpressArt Stamp Straight Tape across the

flower and use the ruler to mark 1/8" guidelines.

 Place the ImpressArt Alphabet Stamp on the blank.

Lightly drag the stamp towards the center of the tape

until you feel the bottom of the stamp

catch the top of the tape.

Strike the top of the stamp with medium pressure;

if you've hit the stamp too lightly, you can

strike again as long as the stamp has not been moved.

Use the permanent marker to color the impression.

Without allowing the colored impression to sit too long,

use a clean rag to wipe off excess ink.

(I used E6000 adhesive to apply 

one Swarovski crystal

to each of the flower petals).

Use this same stamping technique to stamp the

entire name onto the wooden bird.

Paint the bird with Turquoise acrylic paint.

Sand lightly over the top of the painted bird;

this will remove some of the paint

leaving darker stamped impressions behind.

Paint the beak Marigold, and the eyes are

dip dots of white, and then black.

You could check out my tutorial 

on painting dip dots *here*

Paint the front, back, and sides of the wooden

tag Turquoise.  Allow to dry.

Use the sanding block to smooth

the paint on the top of the tag, and to

remove some of the paint along the edges.

Coat the entire tag with Extreme Glitter

Hologram to give the tag some shimmer.

I used E6000 adhesive to attach the feather

and the bird to the bottom of the tag.

Thread a 12" length of sheer black ribbon 

through the top of the tag.  Attach the 

Flower charm with a split ring.

I used the permanent marker to outline

the wooden bird.

There it is! It says "spring" with a little

"bling" and I hope you like it!!

Please use the Designer Crafts blinkie

at the top of this post to Hop Forward

and check out more fun projects using

ImpressArt Metal Stamps!

And because I couldn't resist ... something just for fun:

I just had to create this Santa 

from one of the fabulous 

ImpressArt Metal Stamping Blanks!!!

Peace and Bag Tags!!

Ho Ho Ho