White and Red Bleeding Heart Flowers with Ruby Throated Hummingbird Hand Painted Custom Gift Bag

This is a hand painted gift bag, my personal favorite so far. It is White and Red Bleeding Heart Flowers, with a Ruby Throated Hhummingbird. I have been working on lots of resin pieces too. Yesterday, I tried one of my flower sections in the big heart resin, eh didn't like how it came out. I will share it in another post. So, instead I measured the size of the heart mold, drew on on my painting paper and made a second painting to fit the heart. Now tomorrow I will cut it out and set it in resin. Hopefully it will work and I will have a beautiful Christmas ornament to offer my buyers. I will be working on more of these in the future. It is actually much easier to paint the piece out, even though it is small and not easy, and then insert that into the resin, than to paint on the resin. That was a big fail. This bag is available for purchase in my Etsy store, I am slowly getting all items into my Ecrater store as well. Both of my stores widgets can be found in the side bars of this blog. Stay tuned to see more of my work. Caitlin no longer likes me to clean while she is doing homeschooling, too distracting, so I have to do something more quiet, lol. Bummer, I have to do crafty stuff!

White and Red with Hearts and Pearls Crochet Bag

With the nasty cold weather, I have been hibernating. While I hibernate, I crochet, make new resin pieces and jewelry. This is my first attempt at crocheting hearts. It is not exactly perfect like I want, but it is adorable. This a white bag, with red bottom and handles, crocheted red heart appliques with pearl centers. I actually made this to be a bag to carry my new Bible in, but the Bible is too heavy, lol. So, I will have to go back to the drawing board for that. This is available to purchase in my Etsy store, and will be in my Ecrater store soon.

Hurry Free Shipping Until 1/23 at Midnight

From now until January 23,2014 I am offering free shipping on all items in my Etsy store.  Free shipping does not include frames for paintings.  The paintings will be shipped unframed.  Be sure and read why.  Hurry over to my Etsy shop, and take advantage of free shipping!

We Made Shrinky Dinks!

Caitlin and I decided to try and make our own Shrinky Dinks. Why? Well I want to paint on something that I can insert into resin with ease. So, I was browsing around the Bing search engine and found that you can make Shrinky Dinks using recycled plastic. You can find the full instructions both on Ehow and Instructables. One website said use #5 plastic and one said #6. Well I had no idea what they were talking about, but apparently all plastics have a triangle on them, and in the triangle is a number. I have no idea what a Pepsi bottle is because I could not read the number. We had no #6 at all, we had a lot of ones, a two and a bunch of fives. The #1's definitely seemed too flimsy. The 2 was a bit stiff, but was a nice green color. I was going to try it but I decided to recycle that bottle into a new watering can. So we had a Pepsi bottle with no recognizable number and some 5's. So, we removed the labels, cleaned and dried, and then cut off small oval pieces of plastic. The Pepsi bottle I carved out the whole center, leaving the top and bottom intact, and made it into a new bird feeder for the smaller birds. So, then using glitter, some permanent marker, and acrylic paint we painted on the pieces of plastic. Caitlin painted on the #5 a dog face. I painted on the Pepsi bottle plastic a heart and a bear holding a heart. Caitlin also painted on the Pepsi plastic, but she covered the whole piece of plastic with paint. She made an ocean and a horse on grass. Then we put them on aluminum foil and set them in the 200 degree oven. The Pepsi plastic shrunk immediately and I mean immediately. Caitlin's were towards the back and immediately folded into something unusable. My two were towards the front and I could salvage the bear, the heart I am still not sure if I can use it.  I trimmed up the Teddy Bear, image not shown, and I hope I can use it.   The #5, the one that was recommended did not shrink at all. We even left it in longer and it did absolutely nothing at all. So, if I can find #6 plastic I may try this again. Painting on plastic is smooth and nice, nicer than glass in the texture. But, I will also be trying translucent photo paper to paint on in small pieces. I can paint on my acrylic paper, but it is not translucent and I really want translucent. So, my experiments continue. I do not like painting on the resin itself, at all.

What I Have Learned About Resin So Far, and Cute Tiger Cub Peace Sign Pendant

I did my fourth pour of resin, this week. What have I learned so far? One, I really like the creativity afforded to me with the resin. Two, the silicone molds are much easier to use than the plastic molds. Three, do not let the water boil, before you put the bottle of resins in to warm it. This causes the resin to become too hot and immediately begin to set. I had to waste some resin, and I don't like to waste anything. I made a couple of ponytail holders, and some pendants this week. Some, I have listed as just cabochons for jewelry making. If after one cycle they don't sell, on Etsy, I will make them into jewelry pieces. After that cycle they will go in my Ecrater store, and not Etsy. Why? Because, Ecrater has no fees, and why should I continue to pay fees if I don't have to, right? Anyway this piece is just so adorable. It is a tiger cub holding a peace sign embedded into clear resin and then a pendant bail added. I made this bail using a silver headpin. It is available to purchase in my Etsy store. All of my Etsy pieces will eventually be in my Ecrater store. My older jewelry pieces, and my moms beaded cell phone cases can be found in my Ecrater store only.

Luck of the Irish Infant Baby Cocoon with Hat

I just finished this new infant baby cocoon. The cocoon is Forest Green with Antique White trim. I was going to make the hat, but then I found this adorable Irish hat at the store. The hat is plastic and has a string to keep it on. This piece will be in my Etsy store, and Ecrater store,  in the next few minutes. It is for a newborn infant. I just finished some cute new painted gift bags, that I will share in the next few days.

Handmade Resin Keychains Butterflies and Flowers

Here are three finished resin pieces, from my very first set, that I made into keychains. I have completed a second pour and tomorrow will be my third. So, I have tons of new things to share, lol. Plus I continue to paint and crochet. These are all made with clear resin. The first two are butterflies, one dark pink, and one soft pink. The third one is a blue flower with a coral rose bead in the center. These make awesome gifts for friends, and family, and are very affordable, and durable. Check out my Etsy store to see all my new resin pieces, and bookmark it, so you don't miss any of my new creations. I will be slowly adding all my pieces to my Ecrater store as well.

My Newest Upcycled Piece: Hand Painted Seahorse Garden Water Bottle

I just finished this last night,and I love it. This is an recycled and upcycled laundry bead container. The bottle was cleaned and sterilized, then I painted the seahorse which has a floral mosaic design, for the body. Then on the back side, are some vines, leaves and various flowers. I am not super happy with the large roses, but they will do. It is signed and dated on the bottom, and will be sealed for paint protection. This would make an awesome gift for the gardener in your life. I will definitely be doing more of these, just need more bottles, lol. This bottle is plastic, btw, not glass. This is available to purchase in my Etsy store, and will be in my Ecrater store soon. I only have one, so it is a very limited edition, as are most of my pieces of art work.

How to Make Resin Jewelry Ebook

I love this ebook. It is an easy book to read and follow, for someone just learning how to do resin. She gives all kinds of tips and tricks, and yes I own this book, and read it often. If you want to learn to make resin pieces, this book is awesome!

Making Resin Jewelry!

I was so excited to get my resin and one mold for Christmas. I have ordered a larger heart and some smaller heart molds. My first set of items, one mold with many openings makes a lot of pieces and shapes, came out really pretty good. This resin is awesome. It is clear and looks like glass. These are the only things listed in my Etsy store so far, and still need to go in Ecrater store. The butterfly keychain is my favorite. Then there are two heart cabochons. One has a pink flower embedded in it, the other has flat back pearls, pink on the outside and one blue one in the center. These are for wire wrapping or using them as the buyer would like to use them. Last is a Three Dancing Ladies cameo pendant. The cameo is black with white accents, and was embedded into the resin with a very tiny amount of glitter. I am not thrilled with the glitter, but maybe if I use it on the second layer, rather than the first, I will like it more. Also, some of these are quite thick and for jewelry I think thinner might be better. I will have to decide ahead of time what I will do with them so I know if I should make chunky or thin. I have many more pieces to share, once I have pictures and they are listed. I really enjoyed making the resin pieces. It is a several day process, and while this first set is affordable, I could see where they could get expensive depending on the time you put into it, and what you embed in them. I want a bangle mold, and a ring mold, but they can wait until I have a little bit more experience under my belt. I had my first sale of the new year, and it was an awesome sale. I don't share the sale item, until I know the buyer is happy and the sale is complete. Happy New Year! Happy crafting and jewelry making.