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.