Two-Layer Peacock Pin
PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING
Notes: This project will take you through all of the basic instructions for
using the shrink plastic with metal stencils, using soft pastel chalks,
permanent markers and stamp pad inks. Use Scotch tape to tape the metal
stencil in plastic sheet for every project. When you have a shape with
corners, use a corner rounder punch to round them as
the plastic may remain sharp if not.
To clean your metal stencils, place 2 paper towels on your work surface and
simply wipe them clean with a dry work cloth or paper towel (while the ink
is still wet). It will stay wet on the metal for plenty of time to clean it
when you are finished stenciling for the day.
1. Choose the color of plastic you will use and thoroughly sand it in both
directions, up and down, then side to side until there are no shiny spots.
Wipe away all dust with a dry towel. I used white for both the peacock and
background of the brooch. Note: For detailed sanding instructions visit Lucky Squirrel's sanding technique
2. Choose your metal stencil design (I used Peacock #LJ849), place it on the
sanded plastic. You can either stamp the design with craft ink through the
openings of the stencil or use fine point permanent markers to draw between
the lines(as I did here), or soft pastel chalks. (I have used all of these
media and sometimes a combination in today's sample projects). I also
filled in a few swirled branches. Allow ink to dry for a bit while you work
on the background base of the brooch
3. If you'd like to add a background layer (base) to the brooch, apply pastel
chalk to a piece of white plastic, keeping the color even. Use the long side
edge of the chalk (as shown). Always do this step
first before any ink is added.
4. Use the long smaller tip applicator to add the ink colors (VersaCraft Chiffon
12 Set #VK-012-011) to the peacock feathers stencil (Peacock Bkg #LG730).
5. You can let the craft ink dry for about 10 minutes which will make it a little
less likely to smear. Without touching the ink, carefully cut out a
rectangle from the backing (feathers) that is larger then the peacock,
for the brooch and use a corner rounder punch
or scissors to round the corners of the plastic.
6. Place a protective piece of cardstock or tea towel on your work surface.
Using a heat tool (found in rubber stamp isle - but it's NOT a hair dryer),
shrink the plastic base rectangle from about 3-4" away, continually moving
the heat tool to different areas. It is finished shrinking when the plastic is
COMPLETELY flat. Note: If the plastic seems to stay curved, while it's still
hot from the heat tool, place a flat, smooth, untextured FOLDED UP tea
towel or pot holder over it and press down for about 15 seconds to flatten it.
7. Once the background is shrunk, I placed the feathers stencil over the plastic
and added the design lines with a few colors of markers to allow the colors
to pop and add interest. This step is optional.
8. Carefully cut out the silhouette of the peacock design, leaving about 1/16"
white background showing around the bird and branches. Follow step 6 above
to shrink the bird until flat. You can now see how much the plastic shrinks
(in the photo above). Secure the two layers together as shown in the
finished project photo, using UTB heat-activated adhesive. Allow to cool,
then adhere the pinback near the top center of the
back of the brooch base with UTB.
Two Finished Cards with Gifts
Today's Demo Project: Stamping The Birds on Branches Brooch Design
1. I wanted to give this project a nice classy look, as it was to become jewelry.
This is why I chose Translucent shrink plastic. I like its qualities with a
frost look. Clear is nice also for jewelry although some designs are hard to
see if it is a pendant with certain colors of clothing under it.
2. Use the appropriate sized applicator for the hole sizes in your stencil
design. Shown is a sponge dauber that you place on your finger to use. I
pounced it onto the openings of the "Birds on Bare Branches" (#LG733)
stencil onto Translucent shrink plastic, using black ink from the 12
color "Velvet" VersaCraft (#VK-012-010) inkpad set. You can use a single
VersaCraft black pad as well. Allow the ink to dry about 10 minutes, then
carefully cut out a rectangle shape, without touching the ink and
use the corner punch on all four corners.
3. Place the plastic on a protective work surface and shrink the plastic as in
step 6 above. TIP: You can hold the plastic in place with
a long needle tool or skewer tip if it moves around too much.
4. Add a pinback horizontally near the TOP of the backside with UTB (Ultra Thin
Bond heat-activated adhesive). Follow the easy instructions on the package.
Reverse Stenciling: Gingko Leaf Magnet
1. This fun technique is created by applying ink colors to UNSANDED black
shrink plastic with a tightly wadded up paper towel. Here I have applied
Versacraft Tangerine #112, Garnet #125, baby Blue #142 and Lemon Yellow #111,
overlapping each color a little.
2. Allow ink to dry about 10 minutes, then place Gingko Bough (#LJ902) stencil over
the plastic. Hold it in place while you wipe off all ink that is in the openings using a paper towel.
3. Remove the stencil. Trim the shape where shown to a rectangle and round the
corners with a punch or scissors. Shrink the plastic as in step 6 of
the "Two-Layer Peacock Pin" above. This is the size and brightness of the
colors you will end up with. The fun part is that the gingko leaves reamain
shiny which is a great contrast to the matte colored areas.
4. Glue a magnet on the backside with E6000 glue (even if
the magnet tape is self adhesive!).
Curved Branches Pendant
1. Place the Bare Trees (#LJ849) stencil over a sanded piece of white plastic
and add black ink using a black stamp pad and finger dauber (shown in step 2 of
"Birds on Braches" Brooch above). Cut the brooch where shown and round the
corners with a punch or scissors without touching the ink. Carefully
punch a hole with a hand held standard hole punch tool near the top center edge.
2. Place the plastic on a large, slightly curved index card and shrink the plastic as in
step 6 above. TIP: You can hold the plastic in place with
a long needle tool or skewer tip.
3. Add a jump ring with a keyring already on it and secure jump ring to the
hole in the plastic. Close jump ring with chain nose pliers (and
a jump ring tool if you have one).
5. Slide a ball chain necklace through the jump ring and connect the pill
shaped capsule clasp. Make a small slit in the inside right of the card for
the jump ring to slip into. (Basic card making below.)
Two Cute Luggage Tags
These luggage tags are beautifully detailed, but quite easy to make. Punch out
(with a die cutting machine) or trace and cut a Translucent shrink plastic
circle that's about 6" diameter for the damask design only.
Sand, wipe, then place a Damask (#LX7001) stencil over the cirlce (with scrap
paper underneath) with a diamond shape in the center of the circle. Add
blues and teal green inks (VersaCraft Chiffon 12 Set) randomly
to the
design openings.
Use the "Black Eyed Susan" (#LJ902) stencil for the seocnd luggage tag. I
colored the background with ivory pastel chalk, then added dark brown,
lighter brown and olive green pastel chalk to the design through the
stencil openings. Chalks give the design a more muted soft artistic look.
Cut out a rectangle, round the corners and then shrink the rectangle tag as
described. With chalks you must apply a sealer over them. I used 2-3 coats
of Future floor finish, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next.
Let dry about 10 minutes, then punch a hole in the top center of the Damask
round tag and the top LEFT corner of the rectangle Black Eyed Susan tag
(using a standard 1/4" diameter hand-held hole punch-which will shrink) or
scissors to cut holes. Be careful not to punch it too close to the edge
(I left about 1/8"). Shrink the tags as directed in step 6 of the "Two-Layer
Peacock Pin" above. I wrote name, address, phone and email on the back,
using a blue permanent ink pen for the round and brown for the rectangle, with
lines after each, so the recipient can personalize their tag easily
using an extra-fine point PERMANENT marker.
To add the tag to a card, follow this diagram for the circle to cut a slit and
punch a hole in the card front. (Basic card making below.) For the rectangle
tag, punch a standard size (1/4") hole near the top right corner of the
yellow mat on the card and down through the card front only. Add a jump ring
to the tags with pliers (refer to step 4 of the Curved Branches Pendant above).
Gingko Watercolor Look Curved Brooch
Follow basic instructions of the "Curved Braches Pendant" although do NOT
punch a hole as this piece will be a brooch. I filled in the background of
white shrink plastic with Ivory chalk, then used Lemon Yellow and Green
VersaCraft ink with the long applicator tool to add the design. To form the
brooch curve, curl a piece of cardstock (or an index card) into a tight
tube, then release the tube. The curve should be almost round. Place the
piece onto the card while shrinking. TIP: You can hold the plastic in place
with a long needle tool or skewer tip.
To fill in the curve in the top back of the piece, add a blob of E6000 glue
until you get a flat surface for the pinback to be added. Let dry OVERIGHT.
Now secure the pin in place with the E6000 adhesive and
let dry so that the pin is level.
Basic Card Making
1. Buy 12" x 12" solid or printed scrapbook cardstock. Use a slicer or trimmer to
cut each in half, giving you a 6" x 12" card.
2. Fold the card in half side to side. At this point you can add another solid
piece of cardstock, cut a little larger then your plastic
piece or make the card as desired. I round the corners of the 'matting' sometimes.
3. I applied a 5 1/2" square of cardstock to several of the card fronts. Some I
left plain (rosy color on the black on white Curved Branches card), some I
stenciled and one I used a printed scrapbook striped paper. Then, for the
rosy card I traced and cut out a square "window" with my Ex-Acto knife
(over a cutting mat) through both layers of the front of the card, so that
the brooch shows through. I then attached the brooch to the inside of the card (explained below).
4. For the sage green card with "Birds and Branches" I embellished the card with
a second smaller solid piece of cardstock stenciled with the
word "Hallelujah" (#LM2007) in black ink and added 3 tiny
green buttons with E6000 glue.
5. The peacock brooch card needed to be fancy so I cut my cardstock to 12" x 7"
and simply folded it differently. I measured and folded a crease in the
center 6" of the card, creating two 'doors' that open to view the inside. I
secured a blue and brown arch to the center front. I then stamped (you could
stencil of course) some designs on the front and leaves up the sides.
and finally cut a slit down the center of just the front
panels so the card still opened.
Attaching the Gifts to The Card
1. For brooches, simply press the finished brooch in place on the card (placed on
a towel), remove and cut an "X" with an Ex-Acto knife where the pin's
indentations show. Press pinback (open) into the
x's and secure on the back of the paper.
2. Holes are punched in convenient places for the luggage tags and pendant
necklaces and then I secure the back of just the luggage tags
and magnets with foam tape, temporarily.
3. Other slits cut are described in the specific cards above. To hide or hold
the ball chains, I create a little 'POCKET' large enough to hold the necklace,
keychain/luggage tag. Then I tape the pocket on the back or inside the card
placing double sided strong tape (Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
works well) along the bottom and sides of the pocket only.
