Monday, December 14, 2015

Necklace making

One of the great things about Close to My Heart is the variety of crafting, how many beautiful things you can make and how quick it is to make them- depending on what all you want as the result. I made 3 necklaces & 3 unique gift boxes in a matter of a few hours:




A friend asked me to make her & her 2 employees a monogrammed necklace. She gave me the tree charm as a connecting item between them. Plus the necklace for her has to be extra blingy as she's that kinda girl.

I cut each initial using white daisy card stock in my Cricut and the Artbooking cartridge, sizing the letters to fit in a 1" x 1.2" rectangle (the Base & Bling rectangle base). I then used some reinker (Lagoon, Sunset, Gypsy & Pear) just a couple drops with a drop of rubbing alcohol each on my All Purpose Mat (each color in it's own spot). Then I touched each letter into the different colors- a little here, a little there, and then let them dry. I then pressed the top of the letter into some VersaMark ink & added some clear embossing powder w/a little bit of glitter so that the letters would be shimmery and then heat set it.

Next I used the Base & Bling rectangle bases with some adhesive and a cut to size piece of silver glitter paper. Finally I placed the initial on top of the glitter paper and added a couple fat lines of Liquid Glass & the rectangle glass cover. Squeezing the glass cover down so that the Liquid Glass completely fills the entire base and makes a clear seal to the base. I used a baby wipe to remove any Liquid Glass that oozed out the edges- just a quick wipe along each edge to remove the excess (careful, over wiping actually wicks out the glue).

Then set aside to dry. In about 30minutes to an hour it's usually completely set to work with and put on a necklace.

NOTE: I learned the hard way that the glue will pull out the ink colors I added. To prevent this- adding some clear embossing powder & heat setting the back of the letters as well should prevent that color bleed.


I'll talk about the gift boxes in my next post.

- Char