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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Keychains? Or Bookmarks?

Hello!

I have something for you today that I was playing around with using products from the Creative Inspirations Paints store and wanted to share.  And you may decide for yourself what they really are.  (They're not keychains.)  :-)
 

I know, I know, they LOOK like keychains, and I suppose you could use them for that if you wanted, but I think they'd be really cute bookmarks as well.  At least that's what I'm telling my husband when he opens his Father's Day card and one of these falls out.  Shhh...

They are made with clear shrink plastic, Creative Inspirations Paints, CI Resinesense, and rhinestones (one of which is a CI Jeweled Inspiration).

I cut the shapes with regular dies (the largest of each shape), punched a 1/2" hole in one end, sanded one side with fine grit sandpaper, and painted the sanded side with CI Paints, in this case Gold and Garnet.  Now before I go any further, let me say that some of the pictures don't match the finished products because I wasn't really planning on doing a tutorial per se and just snapped a few pics here and there as I was experimenting.  The pic below on the left was not a keeper.  I tried to use more than one color and it didn't work out.  The one on the right worked fine.

Two colors turned very muddy when shrunk.
A single color worked much better.
After painting the shapes, I stamped images with Staz-On.  Then I put the heat gun on them until they were shrunk.


Here's a confession: I was actually trying to use the shiny (non-sanded) sides of the shapes, but after several failed attempts, it turned out that the painted side looked better - shimmery and glittery!

Tip:  For larger shapes, dust with Embossing Buddy first so the shape doesn't stick to itself when shrinking, like this one did.  It was a challenge to flatten it out.  (Some colorful language may have ensued.)

At this point I  painted the backs of the shapes with the same color paint, four coats.  Then I signed them and topped things off with a coat of clear glaze.

Now it was time to finish the fronts.  I used CI Paint's newest product, the wonderful one-step resin, Resinesense.  I applied several thin coats to allow the resin to build up into an attractive, full shape.  Of COURSE I goofed and caused one of the shapes to leak resin into the punched hole, but a small drill bit took care of that after it dried (because that was when I discovered it).  The good news is the shimmer from the paints isn't dimmed at all by the resin. 

I applied a rhinestone to one and a Jeweled Inspiration to the red shape.  It just took a tiny bit of glue to hold them until the resin could anchor them in place.  Those babies aren't going anywhere.

And here are the finished products.  There is a lot of room for creativity here.

Needs more stamping.
A little too much stamping.

This one's juuuust right.

Thank you for joining me and I hope you give these keychains er... bookmarks a try.  We'd love to see them!  And don't forget to join our current challenge, the theme of which is Inspired By: Father's Day!

Happy crafting!


Supplies used:

From the Creative Inspirations Paints store: Paints: - Gold, Garnet; Jeweled Inspirations; Resinesense.
Clear shrink plastic
Rhinestone
Staz-On ink

Challenges entered:

Crafty Cardmakers #93 - Father's Day
Creative Card Crew #38 - Metal
Simon Says Stamp - Masculine/Father's Day
Pile It On #23 - For or From a Father
Eclectic Ellapu - "B" is for... (bookmark, bling) 

15 comments:

Lin said...

Wow these are absolutely gorgeous!

I giggled my way through your tutorial, as you sound like a girl after my own heart with colourful language ensuing when something goes wrong.

Thanks for the tips of what not to do, and what's a good way to stop shrink sticking to itself... drives me nuts when it does that.

I'm so pleased you shared these with us


Lin xx
Crafty Cardmakers

Kristie Goulet said...

EEK! These are amazing! I love the pink one. I am just amazed at what you create. Thanks for sharing! Mwah!

Feebsy said...

Thanks for sharing your keychains - I mean bookmarks! They are fabulous and what a great tutorial. I'm inspired to give these a go. The tip about the embossing buddy is really handy my shrink plastic always goes wrong so I'll give that a try.


Thanks for joining in with my challenge and sharing with us at Crafty Cardmakers.

Feebsy
xx

Kristi said...

Cute bookmarks/keychains! Awesome idea:I may have to make some! I lol'd when I pictured you cussing out the shrink plastic!

Sarah J Moerman said...

Wow! What fabulous projects! Love the colors and design! Thanks for joining us for the Simon Says stamp Challenge!

Unknown said...

Wonderful projects.Thanks for joining us at Creative Card Crew with out metal challenge Hugs Tania (DT)xx

Cards By MI said...

Fabby looking project. I think they are all lovely and would be great hangings on bags and suitcases to mark them as your. Fabby!
Thanks for playing with us over at CCM this time.
Love n hugs
Marie

Suze Bain said...

These are fabulous, I love the red one with the SU medallion. Thank you for joining us at Crafty Cardmakers. Xx

Bonnie Irvine said...

These turned out beautiful. What a fabulous idea! They would also look wonderful as charms on mini-albums. Love the shimmery effect and the rich colours. Thanks for joining our B is for... challenge with bookmark, bling, and black at Eclectic Ellapu. I hope we see you again soon.

Cuttysark said...

Gorgeous work, i love all the three blings and perfect Good Father Day Gift ideas.

Cheers and hugs!

Donna Ellis said...

Shea, thank you for the step-by-step directions in creating this awesome book marks! Very unique and rich looking, and beautiful designs in each one. It looks like a fun project. I've never used shrink plastic and need to after seeing the beautiful projects you made! hugs, de

Guild Master Crystal said...

Wow! Great project!! I would love to receive these as gifts :)
Thanks for playing along in our Metal challenge at Creative Card Crew!
~ Crystal (DT)

BethieJ said...

WOW! I LOVE them!! BEAUTIFUL job!
Thanks for joining us last week at PIO!!
Have a GREAT day!

Jan said...

Love these. Thanks for playing along at CCC xx Jan

Dwie lewe rÄ…czki said...

WOW! Great idea! Thanks for playing with us at Creative Card Crew!
Yvonne