Shrinky Dinks Keychains

Remember when you were a kid and the endless hours of fun you would have with that Shrinky Dinks stuff? I sure do! I would make all sorts of stuff by first coloring on the little pieces of plastic and than making jewelry or clips out of it. Sure we've grown up but that does not mean we have to give our love of Shrinky Dinks up. Jessica Jones from one of my favorite blogs
www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com posted some short instructions on how to make these cute little keychains out of Shrinky Dinks. If you are familiar with her work you will recognize that she used her own designs on these keychains by printing them out on the sheets, cutting them, and lastly baking them.

How to make:

1. Inkjet, draw, or paint on the sheets.
2. Cut them out.
3. Hole-punch them if you want.
4. Bake at 325º for 2 or 3 minutes on a piece of cardboard.They'll curl up and then flatten out in the oven. After you take them out, you can mash them flat with a spatula while still hot if they didn't flatten. Jessica Jones' printouts were about initially 230% larger than the finished product turned out. If you want the circles to end up 1.5 inches in diameter, print them at 3.5 inches.

Lastly have fun!

Button Bouquets

I am continuelly impressed at people's levels of creativity with simple things! If you mosey on over to butterflymosaics shop at www.butterflymosaics.etsy.com you will find several of these lovely creations! I saw some wonderful pastel ones that would look lovely in any nursery. Imagine putting these ones pictured here next to or on your bookshelf. Its sure to bring sunshine to any room in the house!

Paper Cut Out Tree

How simple and how creative is this? Our friends at www.foldingtree.com have put up a tutorial to make this awesome paper cut out. You can can find it by clicking on the title above. Click on the picture itself to enlarge and get a better view.

Set a tealight in front of the paper tree to cast a shadow or a small LED tealight so there are no worries in case you fall asleep while the candle is on! This would make really nice art piece if you line a few of these up side by side on top of a mantle or fireplace. The best thing is you can custom make any shape you desire!

Felt Favor Bags

Oh how BEAUTIFUL are these?!!!! These gorgeous felt bags can be found on the site www.beau-coup.com. As they describe on their site the colorful flowers and bag are constructed with colorful felt in three fun colors. Each bag can be pulled closed with a thin fabric strap, woven into the front and back sides of the bag. Fun size for wedding favors, bridal shower favors or party favors. Perfect for baby showers and birthday parties. Each bag measures 3.75" H x 2.5" W x 1.5" D.

There is so much you can do with these adorable little pouches. Fill them with cookies or candies to give out as wedding favors, or fill them with pampering beauty items such as nailpolishes, moisterizers, and a spa coupon for your bride's maids etc. The bags come in three eye catching shades of hot pink, orange, and bright green.

The Zutter Tutorial....Make Your Own Journal

So I have seen many projects around in the scrapbooking world of this machine called the "Zutter". Its a binding machine...a machine that attaches those coil bindings on books in print shops. I have seen scrapbookers make their own albums out of these and they are sooooo cute! In the following tutorial they show you how to make your own journal/book. I have seen many of these on Etsy and man am I ever tempted to by some.

Coffee Anyone?

Coffee anyone? I LOVE this latest set of chipboard epoxy buttons in the "Mochacchino" collection I made! I painted them in nice rich browns and cremes and finished it off with doodling in gold ink in the shapes of flowers, swirls, florishes and dots. I just added these to my Etsy shop today by request of a customer who wanted to see them. www.thelemondroptree.etsy.com. Ok folks I'm off....I feel like a cup of coffee now!

Packaging

I love packaging! I think anything (ok well almost anything) can be sold if packaged properly. My cousin once said you can sell ice to an Eskimo if its packaged properly! Anyhow I designed this packaging for my product in my Etsy shop and wanted to share it with you guys. So now when any of you out there in cyberspace order from my shop (http://www.thelemondroptree.etsy.com/) my chipboard epoxy buttons will come packaged up like these in the picture. Please click on the picture to enlarge and let me know what you guys think.