Fabulous Finds Friday — Jingle, Jangle, Bangle

I first saw these wooden bangle bracelets from DIYBangles at the Craft & Hobby Show. I fell in love. When I saw them on sale at a local craft store, I bought a dozen!

The wood is so lovely — not expensive, yet it has a beautiful, smooth surface that handles all types of media well. You can paint them, stamp on them, ink them, collage them with papers, wrap them with ribbon and more.

I have been having a great time playing.

Here’s one I made at CHA at the DIY booth:

 

And another look:

These were inked in several colors and then stamped (Judikins) and sealed with Liquid Laminate. (For complete instructions, and lots of ideas, go to www.diybangles.com)

Here are a few I made at home:

The red and blue bracelets were created using origami papers that I attached using Liquid Laminate. (You can’t see it, but the blue bracelet also has a few sparkly Hero Arts gemstones.) The white bracelet was painted with acrylic paint, then adorned with rubons and a few Hero Arts black gems. It, too, was covered with a two coats of Liquid Laminate.

My buddy Debra at Rubber Stamp Plantation is also addicted to these bangles and made some beautiful bracelets, which you can see in her gallery at www.rubberstampplantation.com. 

Thanks for visiting.

Friday Fiddlings — Brayer Technique

This is a short, simple post because…. I am in Greece! Opa!

But I couldn’t let a Friday go by without posting, so I am sharing  one of my favorite brayer techniques.

Here’s how: Tear a strip of scrap paper to  make mask. Lay the paper over the right side of the glossy card stock (the part you want to keep white.) I dabbed a bit of Zig repositionable glue on the paper to hold it in place. Brayer over the exposed side (Adirondack Autumn Sunset, using the blue area). Remove the mask and stamp the feather (Stampendous!) using the same ink pad. Gold emboss the sentiment (Hero Arts) over the brayered area. Edge in gold, layer.

Come back next Friday for a Fabulous Finds Friday — Bangle Bracelets!

Work With What Ya Got

Oh NO! I went away on vacation and worked feverishly to set up blog posts before I went. I got them together, set up the publish dates… but apparently didn’t push the right button because I see they’ve been sitting alone in the dark for three weeks….

So here is a quick project  that should have been posted three weeks ago:

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Sometimes I want to create, but the mojo is just not mojo-ing. When that happens, I pull out one or two stamps and limit myself to whatever stash is on my desk. Often, I’ll pick a stamp that hasn’t seen any action for a while. 

In the following card I grabbed this happy silhouette (A Stamp In The Hand F1445) that I bought years ago at a stamp show in Carson, Calif.

On my desk were three new inkpads from Close To My Heart — Clover Meadow, Heavenly Blue and Amethyst — and some glossy scraps from an old brochure that I had cut up.

I got happy with the stamp — just randomly stamping:

And what happens when you stamp too fast? I got sloppy and left some smudges (can you see them?). But that’s ok — I had to cut this piece down to size anyway. Here’s the first card:

(Enjoy by Hero Arts)

I had a smaller scrap left. I couldn’t just toss it, of course. So here’s another:

(Letters by Hero Arts, punch by Stampin’ Up!)

I just love these three colors, and I figured as long as they were still on my desk … I made one more card before I cleaned up:

I almost left it just plain, thinking I could add something later. But naw… I couldn’t leave it alone:

(Flower, leaves by Kodomo; circle, sentiment by Hero Arts)