"How important it is to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"

~Maya Angelou~

I'd just seen my oldest board the bus and was heading to work. Suddenly, I noticed my lovely neighbor waving me down so I pulled over to chat.

"Did Dylan tell you about what happened on the bus yesterday?"

{fear... horror... wonder...}

She relayed a story about Dylan falling victim to a bully on the bus (something he never shared with me) and proudly shared how her daughter stood up for him, going as far as to report it to the school administration.

{sadness... pride...}

As I began processing all of the other emotions that followed, one kept rising to the top—sheer admiration of this small girl who did a really big thing. I had to figure out a way to honor her.

My go-to? You guessed it... something handmade... something celebratory... something a tween might appreciate? A sparkly confetti necklace!

Here's what I used.

I used a simple hole-punch to make the confetti and began layering it on my wooden disc with Mod Podge and a toothpick (one end as a brush, the other as a positioning tool), allowing the confetti to overlap the edges of the circle.

I printed and punched my quote and added it to the back of the disc while the front was drying.

Once the front was dry, I trimmed the overlapping confetti from the edge of the disc.

The newest material to me was Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. This was a first experiment with this medium.

{Learn from my mistakes} I added way too much to the top of the confetti side and it began to drip down the sides. Oops! Start with a thinner coat and build up.

A few hours later, I added a few more confetti pieces and another layer of Dimensional Magic to create more dimension to the piece.

Once all was dry, I sealed the back with traditional Mod Podge and added a silver bail with E-6000 adhesive.

You know how I like to overthink things. It's just how I roll... I remembered that I received a bottle cap in an assortment of jewelry findings and thought that I could make this pendant even nicer with that serving as my tray.

All was looking great until I became too impatient and added the epoxy bubble to the top before the Mod Podge was dry. There was too much moisture trapped in the layers below. It doesn't look bad, but it could have been perfect {with a little patience on my part}.

I hope my little hero will wear her special necklace. I can't wait to give it to her this weekend. Not having girls of my own, I can only guess about what she might actually wear.

Unrelated, but related... I gave a Hello Kitty poster and marker set to a feisty little 6-year-old down the street, who promptly informed me that she doesn't care for Hello Kitty - at all. Oops. Clearly, I'm out of touch.

Well, I'm so pleased with how these turned out that I might just make one for everyone. There is no limit to the looks you can achieve with different papers and textures.

I'm thinking about vellum... Ooooooo...

Have I mentioned how much I love E-6000 adhesive?

{Is that weird?}

This stuff rocks! I've used it for everything from making jewelry to repairing shoes.

I pulled out my tube today to fix a broken figurine and a trophy... then things got crazy. Crazy creative, that is.

I made Dylan some pins for his backpack out of old wooden nickels...

The bacon and egg artwork is not my own.

I made a pretty little ring for myself out of scrapbook paper, a glass stone, and a ring blank...

Read my tutorial here.

And, finally, I worked up these adorable rings from bows that Kellie and I made from Shrinky Dinks when she was here. We used the same techniques as our enameled pinwheel pendants.

I used the bow template that Jessica provided on her blog, How About Orange.

After cutting out the pieces, we shrunk them in the oven...

Painted with nail polish...

Assembled with E-6000...

Added a coat of glitter polish and a rhinestone...

Affixed to a ring blank...

And, voila!

I have to admit, now that this ring complete, I don't think it really fits my own fashion sense. However, it might feel different with another paint treatment. I think this would be a fun mother-daughter project.

Just as an aside, do you know how hard it is to photograph a ring on your own hand? Harder than you'd think!

I'm following up this post with another project that I tackled this weekend.

Stay tuned!

I just dropped Kellie off at the airport.

**tear and sniff**

We had such a great weekend... sightseeing, shopping, eating, and... crafting.

Yes, I suckered her into a crafting session. I've missed having creative company! A visit from my bestie was the perfect crafting jumpstart that I needed.

I've had this idea floating in my head for a while and was waiting for the right time to give it a try - "enameled" Shrinky Dink pinwheel charms.

Isn't it adorable?

I love pinwheels. I "pin" them as often as I see them. They are such happy little things!

Look at these beauties.

And, do you remember my March Winds wreath?

 

It's still hanging in my boys' playroom. Such a happy sight!

But I digress... back to the tutorial.

We would both label this project a challenge and a success (and I have the burns to prove it!).

Here's how we made our charms.

Start with a 2" x 2" square of Shrinky Dink material. Cut four slits from the exterior corners to the near-middle of the square.

Punch a hole in one corner.

Heat your oven and shrink per product directions.

Here's where it gets tricky... and dangerous...

Right as your plastic lays flat, open the oven and begin to fold in the edges towards the center as shown below. You have to work very quickly or the plastic will become to hard to fold into shape.

I burned myself several times during our various trials - so, trust me, it's dangerous work!

We made several attempts before figuring out the proper technique for working with the plastic.

 

File the tips of the pinwheel just a bit because the edges are very sharp.

Paint your piece with nail polish just as you would a manicure - several thin coats and a top coat. Allow each to dry thoroughly.

We inserted toothpicks into our punched hole to make painting all sides easier.

Add a jump ring and you're done!

Now that we've worked through this project, I can think of 1,000 ways to make it even more creative with painting techniques. I'm thinking polka dots... glitter... stripes... ahhhhhh!!!! There is so much fun to be had!

I'm tempted to try more 3D Shrinky Dink projects after our success with this one. Any ideas? Send them my way, please!

I've never done much beading, or jewelry making for that matter.

And, it's sorta hard to know what you need for your projects if you don't know the name of the parts you're looking for!

After much research, I now know that jewelry making "parts" are called "findings."

{Um... why?}

Seriously, I must be Googling the wrong terms because I just can't seem to find the techniques that I'm looking for.

After pinning this beautiful necklace by Le Fanciulle, I went in search of the perfect beads to make my own.

I knew I was looking for seed beads, but what size??!!! There are a million options! Who measures in millimeters?! And how many would I need?

{I was nearly burned out on the project before it even began.}

But, then I had a special moment... I opened up one of my dresser drawers and found this belt made of the perfect beads!! They were right under my nose the whole time!

And, clearly, I don't use this belt (I didn't even remember that I owned it) so it was fair game! I grabbed my scissors and some extra thread and set to work.

I didn't have a lot of luck "weaving" my "hanks" {huh?} like La Fanciulle demonstrated, but I'm not displeased with the results.

I love the look of burnished metals so this is a necklace that I can wear with a lot of my existing jewelry. 

And, in case you're curious, I found the findings {he-heh...}at Joann's.

So, mark one more project off of my endless list!

I've pinned quite a few beading projects that I'd love to tackle, but I have no idea how to locate what I need - from techniques to closures. Can anyone recommend some great beading and jewelry making sites?

Thanks, friends! Have a great weekend!

I cannot tell you how blessed I was last night to spend time with my oldest son... crafting!

He purchased a "super cool" bracelet while we were out and about yesterday. He was so inspired by it that he came home and wanted to learn how to make it himself!

So, he went straight to "ha yoo"... "ya woo"... "yoo hoo"...

"What's it called, mommy?"

"Um... Google."

He found a great tutorial on YouTube for weaving "Survival Bracelets," which is a military-inspired technique, and that's what we did last night!

I started him out with craft lace because that's what we had available. I used some cotton cording that I had left over from a sewing project.

{As always... YAY for making something new out of something old!!!}

We had such a good time with it once we finally got going!

Check out how intently he's working on his project.

Totally precious.

Here are the results!

Of course, I had to get fancy-schmancy with mine and added a humongous button closure. I have to say - I would actually wear this out. Pinterest tells me that rope is fashion-current these days.

**smile**

So, here's the best part of our crafting adventure...

He wants to incorporate this activity into his birthday camp-out! What a fantastic creative project for little boys!

It's appropriate that they are called "Survival Bracelets" because I have been stressing over how to survive a house full of little boys!

I found this awesome pack of paracords for the boys to use.

Very masculine, n'est pas?

I love it when so many things come together in the perfect way!

I am a faithful subscriber of Country Living magazine. I want to live inside of every page in every issue - inspiration from cover to cover.

A few issues back, I read about this great DIY project and it immediately grabbed my interest.

I was blown away when I discovered it was made from Shrinky Dinks! Are you kidding me? I hadn't thought about Shrinky Dinks even once in the past 2 decades.

Did you play with Shrinky Dinks as a kid? I sure did. I remember how awesome it was to peer through the oven window and watch as the plastic twisted and bubbled and shrank down to a tiny portion of the size it was.

It's still just as magical.

And now, you can invite your computer to the party!

I started researching about the new ink-jet printable product and discovered Cathe Holden of justsomethingimade.com. She actually designed the project for Country Living. She's nothing short of amazing. I want to make everything on her site.

I followed her tutorial for making Shrinky Dink jewelry. It was great. Not only was it easy to follow, she's ever so generous to provide her own artwork for free download. Thanks, Cathe! So, rather than providing the play-by-play here, let me provide you with some tips and tricks that I picked up along the way. Don't buy your Shrinky Dinks online! Unless, you live in a very remote area and have no access to a craft supply store. I was so excited about getting started with this project that I ordered my material directly from the Shrinky Dink website - one pack {with shipping} cost me $15. Afterward, I discovered that several of my local stores sell them {no shipping!} and I can use a coupon {bonus!}.   The directions included in the package indicate that you should use a TRANSPARENCY setting on your printer. I do graphic design for a living so "transparency" can have any number of meanings. I didn't understand that these instructions were referring to a paper setting for the clear sheets that you use with a projector. I wasted more than half of my $15 pack before I finally understood. **sigh**

3. Rings. I love rings. Here's a great tutorial for those. I had this really great idea that I'd make stackable bands. No such luck. The thin ribbons of plastic were very hard to work with and wound up breaking every time I tried to bend them into shape. The wider bands were easier to manipulate, but the technique was tricky for me. After breaking a few of those, too, I finally started working directly from the oven. I'd pull the tray out just enough to allow me to reach the pieces without burning myself.
   
   I used a highlighter as my ring sizer. It is wider on one end than the other so I was able to make a few different sizes. Start by wrapping one end around the highlighter and rolling toward the other, like rolling a "pig in a blanket" for my fellow southerners.

I've included some graphic files below that you are welcome to download and use. If you need a pdf, please message me at rachelhgarza{at}gmail{dot}com. I'll be happy to send them your way! They are already screened at 50% transparency {not to be confused with the printer setting you should select!} so all you need to do is print, cut, punch your holes, and bake away!


You can take these into any photo editing software to overlay text. Check out some of the photos that I've included in my previous posts for more ideas.

Have fun and send me your photos! I'd love to see what you come up with.