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.