Scrabble Tile Pendants and some GREAT news

I made a ton of scrabble tile pendants for the craft fair, and here's a little group shot :) I did a lot of robots and cupcakes, because they seem to be pretty popular... At least they are my favorite.

Anyway, I went to the surgeon yesterday, and he is going to fix my back!!!!!!!! I have surgery scheduled for December 16th!!!!!!! I can hardly believe it. I want to do a big ol' happy dance!! But I had better save the dancing for after the surgery, right? :D

Be strong, brave & humble bottlecaps

These are some resin bottlecap pendants I made for the young women in my ward going to girl's camp this year. I was going to go, but my back problems flared up at the worst possible time, so I couldn't. Bummer. The caps say, "Kia Kaha, Kia Maia, Kia Ngawari" which in Maori means, "Be stong, be brave, be humble" which kinda went with the camp theme this year. I kinda need that advice now, because I'm feeling a little scared. Got MRI results today, and there was a lot of mumbo jumbo that I didn't really understand, but didn't have the presence of mind to ask what it was. Tears in my discs, defects, herniation, blah blah... Doctor referred me to the orthopedic surgeon and neurologist to do a consult on surgery options. I kinda always knew it would come to this, but now that it's happening, I'm a little afraid :/ Happy Wednesday?

Ocean Themed Loaded Charm Bracelet!

Here's another Sealife Swap project! My partner really likes loaded charm bracelets, so I took a shot at one. Not my usual, but I think it turned out pretty cute!

I needed some smaller charms, so I made little resin ones with pennies, dimes and buttons. You can pour resin on practically anything! It's fantastic. Then the rest of the beads and stuff I pulled out of my stash.

Happy Tuesday! We get our other car today!

Fishy Resin Pendants

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been kinda slacking on my posting... I've been working on a lot of swap projects, but I just sent a package out yesterday, so I'll be able to post those goodies soon! Also, it's just been so hot up in my craft room. Hard to motivate myself to get up there more often than I must! So enjoy these resin bottlecaps and a scrabble tile pendant. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Resin Bottlecap Fridge Magnets

Aha! I poured a batch of resin bottle caps because I had need of some for a swap or two! I made a set of magnets for my fridge... Here they are holding up an octopus painting that I did for my husband a while back..

Here's a little tip for anyone out there who wants to have a go at making bottle cap stuff: The inside circle picture piece in the bottle cap is precisely the size of a US quarter. Its really helpful when you need to trace something. What I did here was trace a quarter to make little bases out of a cereal box (just like an ATC or inchie base), then papercrafted away. Another thing that is helpful is to hot glue the circle piece in before you pour the resin. Sometimes these can be unexpectantly buoyant in the resin, and it's frustrating when your artwork wants to float up to the top and not be properly covered by the resin....

Here are my favorites. I loooove the funny narwhal, mostly because there was a narwhal in the movie "Elf."

I made more bottle caps that didn't end up becoming magnets, but I'm sure they'll find a place eventually. This shall be my 182nd blogpost, I think, and I'm going to try to do a giveaway every 100th post.... 200 is coming up soon! Maybe I'll do a little variety prize package? :) Stay tuned!

Resin Bottle Caps

Here they are! Resin-filled bottle caps... I did a few only, and many of them didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, but so is life.

Here are my favorite ones... Especially the airplane one. I did the images and artwork by cutting out quarter-size bases out of a cheez-its box, pretty much just like I make the ATC and inchie bases out of em. Then I made em up just like little inchies :D

I haven't been able to find any bails (bales? sp?) at Michaels or Joann online, so I may just have to make them into magnets or something unless I can find a way to drill or punch holes into the bottle caps.

Flea Markets chase away the blues...

I woke up early this morning feeling pretty cruddy and down and disappointed. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I just parked it on the couch and browsed the internet, posted some junk of craftster, getting depressed and thinking miserable thoughts...That I'll never do a craft fair, I'll never have my own kiln, I'll never be a successful artist, I'll never be a mother... Blah blah blah.... Then I thought, Kira, why are you being so retarded? I am a woman, I feel emotions, but I have to realize that sometimes I go nuts and think silly things, and that's not me.

"GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!" said my brains... I had to obey or stay in the misery that is wallowing in self pity. I made the choice to go to the flea market and get some fresh air and some fresh goodies.

I spent an hour and a half browsing, making it a point to smile to myself (there wasnt anyone else there b/c it's so dang muggy out). I like to smile to myself when I find something I like... It's my way of telling myself, "Kira, you are so dang clever." It helps me feel better. I got this total lot for fifty cents. FIFTY CENTS!!! A beautifully aged, nearly destroyed hymnal, a funny lime green old book from the sixties for when I start a new art journal, these cool polaroid photo-frame cards, two handfuls of glass marbles, and a set of oooooooold measuring spoons.

This is a papercrafter's delight... there are like 75 pages of dingy, fragile, old, worn, beautiful sheet music! The print looks pretty darn old, too, but there was no cover or anything, so I have no clue as to exactly how old it is.

I got some junky old stainless measuring spoons for measuring out my resin. Can't use the good ones!!! Then, some marbles to make some excellent magnets out of. With my new quill and ink, I think I can make some really great tiny drawings that will be perfect for marble magnets.

And my dog wanted to show you all the polaroid photo frame card in action. Basically, the front of the cards have a double layer, all you have to do is slide in the photo (in my case, I'll slide in the artwork), then use a dab of glue to stick the two front panels together. There were about 10 of these babies in a moldy-looking box full of spiders and cobwebs. Cool huh?

Yeah, now I feel a bit better. I'm off to my craft room to watch some LOST and do some crafting. Results to follow, as per usual.

You'll be frozen in carbonite! No, more like epoxy resin.

I got my castin' craft epoxy resin yesterday and these are my very first molds! I can say I've learned A LOT from this first batch. 1/2 a cup of resin is SO MUCH FLIPPIN' RESIN. I definitely know not to mix that much again, ever. Before I started, I didn't want to be in a rush while making these, so I planned out all my pendants. I thought I'd have enough for maybe 5 pendants, but it ended up that I had enough for each of the molds, and then another third of what I mixed had to be tossed.

Here are the ones I think turned out the most decent. Most of them were made in a mad rush, trying to figure out what to do with all that extra resin.

These are my favorites of all of the whole batch. I think the bird in the bird seed is so funny... The dead spider is pretty awesome, because as I was running around looking for stuff to cast, I saw this little bugger on the floor next to my front door. (We let the web-bound spiders live in corners peacefully, especially near doors, because they catch any flies or other pesty bugs that try to come in. [My only gripe is the little spider garbage they leave under the web like dead bugs, old skin and spider poo]... But if they go out of bounds, or if they are the speedy crawly spiders that usually end up in the bathtub, they are DEAD MEAT.)

I also learned that I will never again use glitter in resin. It's oh so tempting, but I think my results were simply horrendous and tacky. I think the better part of these glittery ones will end up in the can.

I can't wait to get my hands on some bottle caps, though! I think being able to create the pendants right-side-up will be a big help in getting these to look slightly more acceptable.

Jewel Bee

I found this little jewel on my window sill a couple of weeks ago... Its colors are just spectacular. This picture doesn't do it justice, really. And just look at its tiny stinger! So, at this point, I totally wish I knew how and had the supplies to make resin pendants, but alas, I don't. Plus, I can't spend much more on craft supplies for a while, as I've gone pretty overboard the last couple of months. *Le sigh* I guess I'll hoard it (like everything else) until I can use it some day.