SMALL STAMPED PENDANT

When I was at the bead show back in August, I bought a strand of brown sliced agates. There were nine agates in graduated sizes. I was going to use the five largest agates for pendants but didn't know what I was going to use the smaller ones for. This necklace is to show that no matter how small your agate slice is, you can still use it for a pendant. The agate is 1 3/4 inches long and 3/4 inches wide. The stamp is 3/4 inches long and less that a 1/2 inch wide. I used a clear stamp because I like the fact that you can see where you are putting your design. I stamped the image in gold permanent ink. I accented the design with two self stick clear jewels. When the ink was dry, I squirted on a little Diamond Glaze and spread it around the entire top of the pendant with my finger, over the jewels too. This gives the piece a nice shine and secures the jewels. Because of the small size of the pendant, I used size 6 seed beads, small crystal bicones and small gold accent beads.

STAMPED UTEE BUTTERFLY NECKLACE

I recently purchased a half sheet of butterfly stamps from I Brake For Stamps to stamp up a tote bag which I still haven't done yet. While trying to decide which butterflies to put on the tote, I remembered that somewhere I had butterfly cookie cutters. I found the cookie cutters and one of the butterflies was just about the same size as one of the stamps and so the idea for this necklace was born.

I melted black UTEE in my melting pot and poured some on my craft sheet. Immediately I pressed the cookie cutter into the UTEE and allowed it to set but not completely cool. I then pulled the excess UTEE up from the cutter and popped the butterfly out. I did this two more times. While the third butterfly was cooling I mixed some interference colors in the black to do something else. When I popped out the third butterfly I had to poke it out with a tool and I ruined it. This is why the center butterfly of the neclace has some colors in it and is not completely black. I had to make another butterfly with the mixed colors.

Next I took the butterfly stamp, applied permanent gold ink with a makeup sponge and stamped it on the UTEE butterflies. If any part of the image didn't come out, I filled it in with a gold paint pen. I applied self stick jewels to the butterflies and then dropped on a small amount of diamond glaze and spread it around the top of the butter fly with my finger. I attached tabs to each wing with loctite glue. Dug through my beads until I found something I liked, made a couple of dangles and bead components and strung it all together.

PLAN C NECKLACE

My newest necklace is what I ended up with when Plan A, a moonstone , and Plan B a Botswana agate didn't work out. What I had in the melting pot was kind of scary but I poured it in the molds anyway and actually liked the results. the four large beads and the two Celtic pieces are made of UTEE. Luckily in my stash I found real gemstone beads that matched fairly well.

HALLOWEEN TAG

Had my Slice machine out the other day to cut some trees and fences for a friend and decided to make a Halloween tag for an on-line challenge. The moon, tree, boo, ghosts, tombstones and fence are all from the Spook Alley cartridge.

STAMPED PENDANT

One of my favorite materials to stamp on to make a pendant are agate slices. The agate slice was stamped on with Colorbox Crafter's Ink and heat set. I also gave it a coat of Diamon Glaze to seal it. Some strategically placed bling and it's ready for stringing.

HAND CARVED LEAF STAMPS

This month I have to do a swap using hand carved stamps. Since fall is finally here, I thought leaves would be the perfect image to carve. Even if you can't draw, like me, these stamps are super easy to do. First, take a walk outside and pick up some fallen leaves you think would make good stamps. Place the leaves on your carving material, I used an old piece of Hunt Speedy Cut Printing Block that I had for ages, and trace around the leaf. Remove the leaf, look at how the veins are on it, and draw the veins on your leaf. Cut around the outside of the leaf with a craft knife with a sharp blade. Use a carving tool with a fine line tip to carve out the veins. I used a Speedball carving tool. If you don't have a carving tool, cut into the veins with the craft knife and then cut again, right next to the orignal cut but on a slight angle so you take out a tiny wedge where the veins are. Don't cut too deeply.

I stamped the leaves on brown card stock with clear pigment ink and then sprinkled on different colors of Adirondack embossing powders.

STAMPED AND BEADED ORNAMENT

I recently had to make six ornaments for a swap. While looking through my supply cabinets to see what I could do, I came across a package of wood beads that I had bought at a stamp show several years ago. The beads looked like wood dominoes with double holes in them and smooth on both sides. I colored the beads with alcohol inks and stamped snowflakes on them with silver pigment ink and embossed with detail silver pearl powder. To seal them, I squirted on some crystal Stickles and spread it all over the bead with my finger. I finished the ornments by beading them.

ENAMELED TEAPOT CANVAS

Continuing with the enameled teapot theme, I had to do a project for a swap I'm in. I found a couple of 4 x 4 canvases in a drawer and decided to experiment. I sprayed the canvas with cranberry and butterscotch Colorwash and gold Smooch sprays. I brushed on a layer of beeswax and layed down a torn piece of Asian newspaper in the wet wax. Brushed some more wax over the newspaper and then brushed red and gold perfect pearls around the edge. Heated the piece with a heat gun to sort of smooth everything together. Brushed some beeswax on the back of the teapot and stuck it down. The teapot was done exactly the same way as the teapot in my previous post. Stuck an epoxy sticker in the upper left corner, wrapped the sides of the canvas with a red braided trim, glued some red and gold seed beads in the lower left corner with glossy accents and put in on an easel.

ENAMELED TEAPOT

Teapot is stamped on black cardstock with black pigment ink and embossed with black powder. Flowers, berries, gold accents and handle are colored with Smooch inks. Stems and leaves are colored with metallic gelly roll pens. Cut out teapot. Cut a scalloped circle from the page of an Asian book with a Spellbinders Nestabilities. Adhere the scalloped circle to a red panel that has been embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, punch the corners of the red panel with a Fiskars corner punch and adhere to a black card. Adhere the teapot in the lower right corner and affix an epoxy sticker to the upper left corner. The teapot stamp is from the Posh Asian #2 set available at http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/. Use code SAVE10KATHY to save 10% on your I Brake For Stamp purchases.

FAUX RAINBOW FLOURITE

Spent this afternoon working on some more faux gemstones with my melting pot and ultra thick embossing powder. Today's special was rainbow flourite. Melted clear UTEE and then added To Dye For to get the purple and blue green colors. Tip: Instead of mixing your To Dye For in the pot (I mixed blue and red to make purple), mix it on a plastic jar lid with a toothpick and then swirl the toothpick in the clear. You don't want to dye all the clear, just get some swirly colors in there. The three flowers and the rectangle beads are all UTEE. The nugget drop beads and the round beads are real gemstone beads.

FAUX WASHI PAPER II, THE SEQUEL

Here is another card with my handmade washi paper. I used regular white copy paper and sprayed it with Adirondack Color Wash in denim, Ultra Color Wash Jewels in sapphire and Smooch Spray in silver foil. I then stamped the flower with perfect medium and dusted with blush perfect pearls, masked the flower and stamped the branch with Brilliance starlite silver. The corners were punched with a Fiskar corner punch and mounted on a silver panel which was also punched with the same corner punch. The washi paper and silver panel were then mounted on a midnight blue card. I used the second and third largest dies from the Labels 4 nestabilities to cut the silver and blue centerpieces. The butterfly was stamped and embossed in silver on the blue label, adhered to the silver label and then mounted to the center of the card. A jewel was glued in each corner. The branch, flower and butterfly are all from the Posh Asian #2 set available from http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/. Use code SAVE10KATHY for a 10% discount.

BUDDHA NECKLACE

The pendant is made from UTEE and the base was made to simulate malachite and match the malachite beads in the necklace. I used a base of spruce green and clear UTEE and then threw in whatever embossing powders would give me the look I wanted. There was a pinch of pearl, some black, a little bit of gold, and a few other greens I had on hand. The Buddha is plain gold UTEE.

QUICK AND EASY GIFT

Need a hostess gift in a hurry. You can't lose with a decorated candle. I purchased my candle at a Dollar Tree. I stamped the Asian ornament on dark brown metallic cardstock with gold pigment ink and embossed with detail gold powder and then cut out. You'll need four ornaments, one for each side of the candle. Adhere the ornaments to the center of each side of the candle. Glue a jewel to the center of each ornament. I Finished the candle by edging the sides with bamboo outline stickers. The Asian ornament is from the Posh Asian set #2 available from http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/. Use the code SAVE10KATHY to get 10% off on your I Brake For Stamp purchases.

FAUX WASHI PAPER

Sunday I tried my hand and making a background to look like washi paper. I spread some newspapers on the table and got a piece of rice paper for my base. I sprayed the paper with fully purple Glimmer Mist and ruby Color Wash Jewels and a dark purple tht I mixed myself with liquid water colors. I cut the sheet up to fit on a standard size card and picked out the piece that had the most uniform sprayed color on it. Then I tried out various stamps and inks on a scrap piece of the sprayed paper that I thought came out blotchy. The pieces I tried to make look like washi paper I didn't like at all but I did like the scrap piece I was working on and used that for the finished card.

I attached my faux washi paper to a black card, punched out a 2 1/2 in circle from black card stock and stamped the dragonfly in clear embossing ink and embossed with detail silver pearl powder. The circle was edged with starlight silver Brilliance ink. The dragonfly circle was attached to the upper right hand side and clear border stickers were placed on the left hand side and bottom of the card.

All stamps are from the Posh Asian #2 set available at http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/

Use code SAVE10KATHY for a 10% discount

ASIAN FAN

Here is a peek at another new Posh image that will soon be available from http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/ It is from the Asian Set #2.

I stamped the fan on white card stock with black pigment ink and embossed with detail black powder. I then colored in the open design areas with Sakura glaze and metallic gel pens. I cut out the fan and attached strips of black quilling paper for the spokes. Using sunshine yellow alcohol ink, gold mixative and blending solution I made a polished stone background and punched the corners with a decorative punch. The background was glued to a glossy black card, and the fan was glued to the background. the card was finished with decorative stickers.

Remember to us my code SAVE10KATHY when purchasing from I Brake For Stamps for a 10% discount.

FAUX COPPER NECKLACE

Today I tried my hand at faux copper with my melting pot. I used bronze UTEE and poured it in an ice cube tray that i picked up at Dollar Tree. I then rubbed the flowers with Autumn Gold Rub n Buff and stuck a blue jewel in the center of each flower.

Faux Pewter Necklace

Dragged out my melting pot yesterday and made a summer necklace. The shell pendant and faux pewter coral beads were made from platinum UTEE and then rubbed with silver Rub N Buff. I made the molds with mold n pour and a real scallop shell and coral pieces.

PONY CAVE PAINTING

I love primitive native American stamps and this pony stamp from I Break For Stamps is one of my favorites. This card came about because I had some scraps of Granitx Sculpey polymer clay laying about that I wanted to use. I kneaded the scraps together just enough to make a smooth ball of clay but not enough to blend the colors too much. Rolled it out until it was large enough for the pony stamp. Stamped the pony on the sheet with permanent ink. I like to stamp before baking and press the stamp into the clay slightly. This way you get a nice impression. If you bake the clay first, sometimes it warps and then you can't get a good impression. Bake the clay according to package instructions. When the clay has cooled, swipe the edges with gold ink.

The base card is made from dusty pink cardstock. The background paper is a piece of wallpaper that I thought looked like rock strata. Wallpaper sample books are your friend. They are great for background papers. Back to the card, adhere the background paper to your card with double stick tape. Use thick white craft glue to adhere the clay piece to the card. I don't think double stick tape will not do the job for the clay piece.

Jeweled Tapestry Card

The card is made with a stamp from one of the new Posh Asian sets from I Brake For Stamps that will be coming out soon. IBFS is the new home for Posh rubber stamps. IBFS also has a huge collection of other images including animals, fantasy, Asian, western, southwestern, people, words and cute and cuddly. You can see all their offerings at http://www.ibrakeforstamps.com/

When ordering, use my code SAVE10KATHY to get a 10% discount.

I stamped the image with gold pigment ink on cocoa cardstock. Let dry or speed up drying with a heat tool. The flowers and leaves were painted with a combination of Smooch Ink, Dr. PH Martin's irridescent inks, Twinkling H2O's and metallic gel pens. Affix jewels to the centers of the flowers and the little circles in the design. Cut down cardstock until you have a 1/4 inch border of the cocoa cardstock remaining around the image. Mount to a gold panel that has been dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. Mount to a cocoa card.

Jeweled Tapestry Card

This card is a coming attraction from two new Asian sets of Posh stamps that will be offered by I Brake for Stamps, the new home for Posh stamps. IBFS also has an amazing collection of rubber stamps in every design category you can think of. The are southwestern, western, native American, Asian, fantasy, women, animals and word stamps.

MINI ATC ALBUM

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) are very popular in the stamping world and here is a little album I made to hold my special cards. I cut up a shirt size gift box to make the covers and pages. The cover and pages were decorated with stamp pads and the direct to paper method, rubber stamps and stickers. Two holes were punched on the left handside of the cover and all pages. A coated pony tail elastic was pulled through the holes and a tree twig was used to secure the pages. Fibers were tied to the twig.

The pages on the inside of the album are decorated and then a clear plastic ATC sleeve is run through a Xyron machine and adhered to the center of each page. The ATC's are then slid into the clear sleeves

Encaustic Kimono

I was playing around my my encaustic waxes today and attempted to make a kimono with the waxes. My freehand drawing with the stylus writing tip needs a lot of work. Actually, what I need is drawing lessons.

Blossom Necklace

I made this necklace for an on-line challenge. The gold flower is made from Ultra Thick Embossing Powder.

Cat Pin or Pendant

In April I attended the Heirloom Rubber Stamp Convention in Allentown, PA. I was fascinated by stamped and jeweled pins made of Outline Rubber Stamps. I bought the cat stamp and the tear drop stamp. Here is my first attempt with the cat stamp. I haven't decided if I want to make the cat a pin or a pendant.

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE SCRAPS

I save every little scrap of paper and finally I decided to use some of them. I have a lot of scraps that are strips from around a quarter inch to an inch wide. I decided to glue them on a piece of cardstock on the diagonal to make a background for an Asian card. I like the results and the fact that I used up some of my scraps.

MORE ENCAUSTIC WAX

Using my trusty wax iron and blue wax, I made this background. It looked like a seascape to me so I added some fish and a turtle (Posh Impressions stamps from Stamp A Mania) and some glitter glue bubbles (Stickles by Ranger). I had a corner punch that loosely resembled a scallop shell so I punched out the four corners and mounted the panel on a hot pink card. It makes a nice summer card.

ENCAUSTIC WAX

Tried encaustic waxes for the first time today. This craft is fun and easy and even the crappy pieces look good. You apply the waxes to the bottom of the encaustic iron (looks like a travelling clothes iron) and then glide the iron over specialty cardstock. I did ten cards in a hour's time.

FAUX GEMSTONE NECKLACE

My favorite toy is Suze Weinberg's Melting Pot. Ultra thick embossing powder (UTEE) is one of the best mediums in the world to make jewelry with. The best part is that it's lightweight as compared to genuine gemstones. The chip beads and coin beads on this necklace are genuine gemstones. The blue stones in the gold settings were made with UTEE. The gold settings are also UTEE. I had a square plastic button that I took apart and using Mold N Pour made two molds, one for the setting and one for the square stone.

SPRING NECKLACE

I wanted something floral for spring so I made this necklace using stained glass scraps and rub ons. I used the small stained glass pieces you get in those packages for making mosaics. The rub ons were sealed with Diamond Glaze.

IT'S A SNOW DAY

School was closed today because of the snow. Yahoo! I love snow days. I didn't even mind shovelling the snow. So far we have at least a foot. Everything is so pretty. Made some cards and did some needlepointing. Tomorrow it will probably be back to work but I enjoyed today.

STAMPED BUTTERFLY NECKLACE

Back to my favorite form of artwork, stamped jewelry. I purchased a large amount of dyed flat gemstones at the bead convention in King of Prussia, PA, last year. They are great to stamp on. I used Colorbox black pigment ink and black detail embossing powder to stamp the butterfly and then I sealed it with a small puddle of Diamond Glaze spread over the front of the pendant with my finger. I used dumbell gemstone beads to get that nice nubby look.

VALENTINE SET

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I've made a gift tag, bookmark and card. The background on the card and strip on the bookmark were made with a Cuttlebug folder and co'ordinations paper which was sanded. All the hearts were cut out with a Slice machine and the Basic 1 and Think Pink design cards. Add some bling to give your set some sparkle.