Vitamin C... A Daily Dose of Creativity: March 2012

Paper Punch Charm Bracelet

by Kim

You might remember that I have had a long play date with jewelry made of paper. I have always used paper (usually torn) and paint, so today, I am using only paper for a creative change.

If you have never made paper jewelry, consider:

it is very lightweight
the jingles from dangling pieces bumping together is very soft, so not annoying if you don't like that sound
it is inexpensive
available paper designs are probably better than most of us can paint
it is unusual and fun!

This is what you need to make a paper charm bracelet:

chain link charm bracelet
140 lb. watercolor paper
scrapbook paper of your choice (I went with a citrus color palette, loving the warm colors)
Mod Podge for paper with flat paintbrush, or paper adhesive of your choice
Dimensional Magic: clear
Fiskars 1" round punch
Fiskars 1/8" round hole punch
3 yards 1/8" satin ribbon: color to match your paper, mine is orange
10mm round beads to match: mine are hot pink
scissors
ruler

This is a great project to use up leftover scraps!

Start with a chain charm bracelet. Buy one or make one with chain and a toggle clasp. If you are making your own, wire wrap the toggles on or use two oval jump rings on each toggle piece.

Punch 30 1" watercolor paper circles. Punch 60 1" scrapbook paper circles. My bracelet has 30 paper charms. Of course, add or subtract as you wish.

Mod Podge a scrapbook paper circle on each side of each watercolor paper circle. Punch a hanging hole in each one.

Apply Dimensional Magic to one side of each charm. Let dry overnight. Repeat on the other side.

Look what I did with the hole pieces I punched out! Just set them in the wet Dimensional Magic.

Pin or tape bracelet to work surface. Making the chain immobile, makes the assembly process way easier. I use a fabric covered piece of foam, and it works perfectly.

Cut a 1 1/2 yard piece of ribbon. Knot one end of ribbon to first link.

String ribbon through first link. String paper charm onto ribbon, close up to chain. String ribbon back through same link.

Repeat in each link. To make your bracelet fuller, put more than one paper dangle in some links. Knot ribbon to last link. Trim excess ribbon.

Attach a few beads if you like. I put 7 beads in my bracelet. Cut a 6" length of ribbon. Knot one end. String bead on ribbon.

Knot ribbon to chain.

Pretty cool!

Change color palettes and punch shapes to design a bracelet you will love.
Use your Vitamin C!

Cloud Punch Outs on a Journal Page

by Kim

Earlier this week, I did a collage project using my cloud punch. And, in the tutorial, I suggested you save the cloud punch outs for another project. So, here is my other project!

This is inside a journal I have been working in. It is a work in progress and what I am showing here is not the final, but the beginning of these two journal pages.

You see the cloud punch outs that I glued to the page. I also punched small daisies with my Oopsie Daisy punch, and glued them in with button centers. The frame was simply traced and colored in with marker. Michaels has some very cool laser cut wood frames down their seasonal aisle right now. Different shapes and designs. This is one of them.

So, some very simple craft techniques were used to make a clean background for whatever I will do next.

Use your Vitamin C and look at the materials you have in a different way!

Jewelry Trend - Chains

by Kim

Found at Anthropologie

Chains have been trendy in jewelry for a couple years now. And, that trend has morphed along the way. It began with nondescript silver chain. After that, chains in mixed metals were popular. Then different shapes of links in chains was trendy. Late last year, the trend turned to tiny tiny chains, and lots of them in one piece. You can still see this at retail.

pics taken at Macy's today

Now, this spring, the trend in jewelry chains is large. large and chunky. I took these pics today at Macy's. There were a lot more, but you get the idea, right?

Be careful or you will look like Mr. T!

at Goldenstella.com at Anthropologie

If you follow trends, you will find that some of them are predictable. If not predictable, they are easily explained. A lot of times, a trend will swing 180 degrees to the very opposite. I guess we get tired of the trend and want to get as far from it as we can, next.

For instance, turquoise was a trendy color for a couple years. Now, this year, coming off turquoise, the color of the year is tangerine. Those two colors are opposite each other on the color wheel.

And chains.....tiny to huge.

This does not hold true of every trend, because many times trends come out of nowhere. But when a trend has really worked, it tends to undergo change to something new instead of going away completely.

Keep watch and see. It can help you be a step ahead.

Use your Vitamin C!

The Perfect Tool

by Kim

I am a proponent of using tools that are right for the task and that make the task easier.

This horrible looking thing is a tool I made myself. You can see that it is well used.

I use it all the time for fabric painting, and jewelry making. Yes, weird combo, but it works. Great.

When I lay the fabric on it to paint, the padding allows me to press the brush or sponge into the fibers of the fabric. And I can pin jewelry pieces to the foam. It works a lot better than trying to tape something to the table top to hold it still.

When it gets too bad looking, I change the cover or just lay another piece of fabric over the top while I am working.

It is just a piece of upholstery foam 12" x 16" and 2" thick.

I taped a piece of muslin around it, with a 12" x 16" canvas board on the back. You can make it any size. I have been thinking I would like a mini version for jewelry making on the road. It is not fancy, pretty, or expensive, and it does the trick. Best few pennies I ever spent.

Do you have any homemade tools that you can't live without?
Have you used your Tool Vitamin C?

Daisy Canvas Collage Tutorial

by Kim

I find it important to make time to create, just for fun...or therapy...or creative exercise. It's good for me and good for you too! So, last night, I had nothing pressing, a gentle rain was falling, the windows were open, and I sat at my table to create. It was relaxing.

You know I really like to collage. It combines some of the things that I love about designing and crafting: color, painting, layering, doodling, and tearing paper.

Here is what you need to make this project. But, you know you should substitute materials and colors if you want, to make it your own.

four 6"x6" canvases
acrylic paint: sky blue, turquoise blue, turquoise green, white, lime green
seasponge
Fiskars punches: XL oopsie daisy, XL cloud
Fiskars deckle Tear edger
Scrapbook paper: assorted green prints, 2 deep pink prints, brown print, aqua print
small piece of bubble wrap, about 4" x 6"
Mod Podge for paper
paintbrushes: large flat, small round
scraps of 140 lb watercolor paper
6 Pop Dots
white craft glue
small buttons: 6 turquoise, 1 lime green
fine point marker: black
tape
palette

I started with my favorite color palette, 3 shades of turquoise. Pour out a little puddle of each. Dip the flat brush into 2 or 3 colors at once.

Brush on to the canvas. Try to just apply the paint, not brush back and forth on it. This will give you visible striations of color.

Do all four canvases and let them dry. Arrange them in the way you want them to be in your design.

I love layered backgrounds on my collage. Clouds will be one layer. Using the cloud punch, make two strips of punched out clouds. Tape them together. Use this as a stencil. Save the punched out clouds for another project.

On your palette, pour out white and sky blue. I did not want the clouds to stand out too much, so I added blue to the white. Dip your damp (not wet) sponge into both colors. Dab on the palette to mix the colors on the sponge.

Dap the sponge over the stencil to print clouds wherever you want them.

Tear strips of green paper about 1" wide. I had three greens. Tear the strips into 1" square pieces.

Brush Mod Podge on canvas at bottom, Place paper squares over wet glue. Smooth with fingers.

Draw a vase shape on the back of brown paper. Cut out and Mod Podge on lower right canvas.

Brush turquoise blue paint on bubbles of bubble wrap.

Print randomly on left and right sides of canvases. The dots are another layer.

Also tear one 12" x 1" strip of aqua paper. Cut it in half and Mod Podge it to the left sides of canvases....about an inch from the left edge.

Put a dot of lime green paint where you want to build your three flowers. Brush lime green paint on the very edge of the tearing tool. Print a starburst of 12 spokes.

Make a starburst around each dot.

Using the daisy punch, punch out a total of 11 daisies, using both pink papers.

Wrap each petal around the skinny end of round brush. This makes the daisies dimensional.

Assemble daisies in vase with pop dots between layers. Use white glue to attach buttons as centers. Use the round bush and lime green paint to make stems on daisies that go down into the vase.

Mod Podge 5 remaining punched daisies on strip of aqua paper on left side. Glue on button centers.

Use marker to doodle a bit on your canvases. Small spirals at ends of starbursts.....