Using Cool Gypsy Tricks to Make a Paper Pendant - Video Tutorial

Hello everyone.  Today I have a video tutorial for you :)

I made this paper pendant using the Chomas Creations gel pen holder.  If you want to see a video of me putting the gel pen holder in my machine, and switching colors, etc. please SEE THIS POST.

In today's video I will be teaching you some techniques with the Gypsy.  The pendant I made is one image.  I created multiple layers, lining them on top of each other perfectly, and hid certain contours to create the multiple colors.  I also show you quickly how to re-name layers, preview what's going to cut, etc.  I just walk you step by step through the entire process of making this cut file.  I am in LOVE with my Gypsy and I use it all the time.  Hopefully you find the video helpful :)

Wedding Gift Set for a Bride

These are a couple of items I made for a friend to celebrate her getting married!  I crocheted a little white clutch purse out of yarn that had sparkle in it - it almost looked like thin tinsel wrapped around the yarn.  Very cool, and it's soft too.  I also used some pink satin ribbon.  I made the same purse pattern for a holiday gift a bit ago, but the color scheme was totally different.  To see that version - check out this post. 

I also made a simple little bracelet with some faux pearls I purchased.  I am starting to think I should make more jewelry. I'm finding that I enjoy it.

Just thought I may as well share these projects really quickly. I know they aren't my usual papercrafting projects - but I do like to dabble in other things now and again.  :)

Stamped Gingerbread Charm Bracelet

Yes, ANOTHER post - I've been creating a lot, what can I say.

I made this charm bracelet and little charm for Samantha over at Scrapmaster's Paradise.  She's become a good friend and I wanted to make her something for the holidays.  This was made using her own stamp set called Cutest Gingerbread. 

I tried this first with the bright white Shrinky Dinks and Copics.  I DO NOT recommend that.  At all!!!  I was so frustrated trying to make that work I nearly cried.  So, I went back to the store and bought the Frosted Rough and Ready Shrinky Dinks instead.  Those recommend colored pencils - so that's what I used.  This worked MUCH better!

Charm next to a quarter for a size comparison.

I stamped the gingerbreads with Staz on in Timber Brown.  Then I colored them with the pencils - punched holes, cut, & baked them.  Then all I had to do was turn them into jewelry.  As a finishing touch I covered the front with clear nail polish to help seal in the color.  This kind of Shrinky Dink is AWESOME because you can see the design from both sides.

If you would like a more informative post about Shrinky Dinks I will direct you to a project I did not too long ago.  Now... for that project I used the Shrinky Dinks that are designed to work with Ink Jet Printers, but everything else is the same.  So you can see more photos of the process of cutting and baking - where I placed the holes, etc.  Check out that project by clicking here.

Honestly they are pretty easy to use.  Like I said, the other project has a better tutorial talking about baking and such.  The coloring of these was simple. 

Samantha took some photos of how I packaged it, and wearing the bracelet.  You can see her post by clicking here.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Have a fabulous, and very crafty day :)

Fruit Necklace

 This was my first time ever using Shrinky Dinks.  They make some that work with your Inkjet printer that I've been wanting to try, and that's how I made these :)  

The adorable images are from Digi Crafts.  I had purchased a some cute images from her, the Kawaii Ice Cream, and made some cards.  When I shared them with her she asked my permission to put them up in her Etsy shop.  I said yes, and as a thank you she sent me these great fruit images.  I had to do something really special with them.  So, if you bop on over to her shop you'll see a little of my work in her listings.  Cool, huh?

For those of you that haven't made jewelry before or worked with Shrinky Dinks I'm doing a walk through type tutorial with some photos so you can get a feel for the process I went through to see if it's something you'd enjoy.  Here goes!

With the instructions for the Shrinky Dinks it tells you that you need to lighten your images before printing them.  When they shrink the image will get much darker, so they recommend lightening the image about 50%.  If you skip this step your images will be too dark and may not dry properly.  Luckily with the images I was using she includes each image individually, as well as a collage of them, including cut lines.  I used the sheet with all of them, so I just had to adjust the one photo and print it.  Super easy!

Next I had to make holes and cut around the images.  I separated the images from each other with a very rough cut, and then punched the holes before I cut the images out nicely.  I used my Crop A Dile on the larger punch setting - and it's a good thing too, because those holes shrink WAY down!  I followed the provided guidelines on my image as cut lines, except for where I added the hole I had to eyeball it.  Make sure you think about how you want the images to hang before adding the holes.  I placed holes near the stems in a couple of the images. For the cherries I did not cut out the center portion of the cut, I figured this would help keep them more sturdy.  

The next step was baking, which I did in my toaster oven.  The package tells you the recommended temps, but I was so nervous doing it!  *LOL*  The images curled up A LOT while they were baking and the orange nearly got stuck together.  The package says sometimes they will actually stick together and you have to stick something in there to separate it from itself if that happens.  Luckily I didn't have to.  The images curled up a lot, and then started to flatten out some.

After I removed the images I was not able to get them very flat, I even tried individually baking one a little longer and then re-flattening it.  No luck.  So, I decided to use my heat embossing gun and a smooth piece of cardboard to flatten them.  I did this carefully one piece at a time - heating it until it was pliable, and then smushing it gently under the cardboard.  It worked great! 

When the images were all flattened the last step was turning these pieces into jewelry.  I used a chain, a clasp, and some jump rings.  The only tool I needed was a couple tiny pairs of jewelry pliers, which are inexpensive.  I laid out all the pieces in a row to determine placement, and decided not to use the orange.  I wanted the banana to be the center because it was bigger than the others, and then I had 3 pieces on each side of it.  

I let my daughter play with the extra orange piece, and it was ruined pretty easily.  I am going to seal up the necklace with some clear nail polish, I just haven't done it yet.  The package recommends a couple brands that they tested so I know it will be safe :)  Here's a photo of the piece with a quarter so you can see how tiny and cute these came out.  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous & very crafty day.