More Monograms and Other Goodies

I had fun earlier in the summer, experimenting with making jewelry with stamps and papers.

I was inspired by a Paper Wishes "Webisode," (click on the link to see the video) and ordered the glass tiles and hardware, but used some Close to My Heart stamps, and some gorgeous Japanese screen-printed paper for my necklaces.

I stamped and heat-embossed one of the new monogram stamps in white, then sponged on colour with the new pigment inks. Then I glued the glass tile to the image using Crystal Lacquer, let it dry and trimmed around the edges of the tile. I painted the back with Smooch Ink, and sealed it with more Crystal Lacquer before glueing on the silver bail.

Close-up of the embossed monogram, and the back of the pendant

The other pendant uses the Japanese "chiyogami" paper. Chiyogami translates as "a thousand layers." The paper is screen-printed in multiple colours, usually with some gold or silver details. My husband and I stayed on Queen Street West when we visited Toronto last February. Lots of funky coffee bars and boutiques, including The Paper Place. It was FULL of fabulous goodies, for all kinds of paper-crafting: stamping, invitations, origami, book-binding...drool! I purchased several small samples of the chiyogami, to "play" with:

Close-up of 4"x4" piece of chiyogami

I made a couple more necklaces for my sister's birthday. This time, I embossed a CTMH stamp image in black. For the chiyogami pendant, I added a small Dazzle sticker word "create" to the front.

The backs are almost as pretty as the fronts!

I purchased some satin-cord and ball-link chains from Paper Wishes to complete the necklaces, but also experimented with creating "chains" using coordinating ribbon. The jump rings, lobster-claw clasps and  pieces to finish the ribbon ends (not sure what they're called!?) and some pliers were picked up at my local Michael's store.

This was a lot of fun, and I've got lots of plans for Christmas gifts.!

When Close to My Heart sent out a consultant survey last month, they asked what new areas the company should explore. Jewelry was one of them. They've done well with home decor items, so I hope they DO pursue jewelry... I'd buy into it!

Happy crafting,
Caroline