To get going on any sort of project or gift, here’s what you need:

• An ink jet printer
• Shrinkable plastic made for an ink jet printer
• Markers
• Hole punch
• Brown paper bag
• Toaster oven (ideal) or regular oven (still works)
• A digital stamp (like this mermaid)
• Acrylic paint (I recommend a metallic)
• Small paint brush
• Pearl-Ex (an optional add-on for people who like shimmer & sparkle)

If you don’t have a dedicated toaster oven for crafting, hie thee to the nearest Goodwill or Salvation Army, where thou canst snap one up for under $10 dollars.  When you’re not using it, just store it in the garage.

Here are the steps for starting all kinds of projects:

1.   Pick your digis.   I started with these two digital stamps, both available in our digital stamp shop:

We have a whole bunch of other digital stamps, too.   After you finish reading this tutorial, you should check them out!

2.  Print your digi(s) on a sheet of shrinkable plastic.  (I used Shrinky Dinks for Ink Jet printers.)

3.  Before you sit down to color your digi, take a look at this.  Really, go ahead and click on it.  Look closely.

Pretty cute, right?  Yeah.  After I baked her, she looked like she fell asleep in a tanning bed.  For a month.  In a bikini made of orange crayons.  When you color your images, learn from my mistake and GO LIGHT.  Seriously.  If your people look like they spent the past six months in the basement of the Pentagon wearing SPF 1,000,000, you’re doing it exactly right.

By the way, my Copic markers worked much better than my Prismacolors for coloring on the shrinkable plastic.  I don’t know why.  I just report what I find.

3. Once you have your images LIGHTLY colored and cut out, punch any holes that you anticipate needing.  Want to make a pendant for a necklace?  That’s an example of needing a hole.  Don’t be alarmed if the hole looks huge now; it will shrink.  (And dink.)

4.  Now tear strips from your brown paper bag, one per image, and lay the images on top of the strips.  Pop those bad boys into a toaster oven (or regular oven) preheated to the temperature indicated by your shrinkable plastic packaging.  Then watch them shrink!  SO FUN!

If something goes awry and the plastic stays curled even after the baking time has elapsed, you can use an embossing gun (or “heat tool”) to fix them right up.

5.  If you like a shimmery or sparkly look, brush the Shrinky Dinks with your favorite shade of Pearl-Ex right after you flatten them, while they’re still slightly warm.   Otherwise, admire them for 2.3 seconds or so and move on to Step 6.

6.  For almost any project, you’ll want to “finish” the edges with acrylic paint.  Black seemed like the obvious call to me – until I tried it.  Then I realized that it bleeds onto the front of the shrinky dink.  That’s sad.

To avoid black blotches, choose a metallic paint instead: Gold, copper, or silver.  Okay, okay, okay: Or bronze.  I used gold, and it looked lovely.

Once the edges are finished, you’re ready to make a whole variety of gifts!  Here are a few examples.

Necklace:

• To make a necklace, you can use a jump ring to attach your new pendant to any chain, or you can thread a slim cord or ribbon directly through the hole in your shrinky dink.
• Handle the shrinky dink carefully while getting it into place; you don’t want to break it.

Hair accessory

Flowers are pretty hip right now, and there are approximately 94,076,521.3333 tutorials on how to make paper flowers on the internet.  If you don’t have time to read them, you can always buy paper flowers at your local scrapbooking or crafting store, along with one of these handy dandy silvery clip things:

Once you have your hair accessory looking the way you want, glue the shrinky dink into the middle of it, and whammo – a unique, one of a kind hair accessory that makes you look stylish AND clever.

I could probably go on for six more paragraphs with examples, but I’ll wrap up with this list of other things you can do with shrinky dinks:

• Embellishment for a bookmark
• Embellishment for a stitch marker for your favorite crocheter
• Embellishment for a chunky page
• Embellishment for a greeting card
• Earrings
• Plant decoration (just glue it to a stake)
• Cell phone charm

Have an awesome idea for a project that combines digital stamps and shrinkable plastic?  Use any of our digital stamps to make it happen, send us a picture, and you could win a free digi of your choice!

Be sure to check back on Friday, when I’ll do something cool with this pretty new digi from the shop:

In the meantime, to save one or both of these, click on it, then right click and Save.

  Stuffed Fish!                                 Gnomes!                                    Bunnies!                        Stuff For Your Walls!

Earlier this week I released the half art doll digistamp, and today I turned digistamps, vellum, and clipart into little shrines to all things holy.  Or at least all things that make me happy, and that’s close enough to holy for me!

Materials:

• Half art doll digistamp
• Dura-Lar matte finish
• Scotch tape
• Glue stick
• Clipart
• Cardstock
• Markers, pencils, paints, or other coloring media of choice

First, print out your art doll.  I wanted my shrine to have extra arms pretty much because I like the idea of actually having extra arms.  I reversed one set of arms just for variety’s sake and printed them all on a sheet of cardstock.  I picked out bits that made me happy out of Crap Hound, printed the Wonderstrange eyeball since anything is improved with the addition of a Wonderstrange eyeball, and cut them out carefully.  If you want them colored, color it up!  I did one of each.

I cut a strip of Dura-Lar 5.5 x 11″ and folded it into quarters.  I used simple scotch tape to seal the open edge.  Cut the top edge jagged or wavy if you want to be fancy, and you KNOW you want to be fancy!  Alternatively, you could roll it into a tube for a cylindrical shrine.  I made mine in varying heights so that the arms wouldn’t get in each others’ way.

Using a permanent glue stick, attach your digistamps to your Dura-Lar and attach the clipart to the hands.   I can’t even express how much I love those handfuls of eyeballs.

Using a paper piercer, embroidery needle, or sterile hypodermic, poke holes through the shoulders of your art doll and the shoulders of each arm. Insert one small brad through all the arms and then through each shoulder, adjusting the arms as needed before you flatten the brads.  Play careful attention when placing your arms if you have a particular order!  On my colored doll, the objects the hands are holding are matched pairs, so I had to be sure to place them in the same order.

Now all that is left is to find a votive holder on your candle shelf (please tell me you have a candle shelf!), light a candle, and slip this over the top, being careful to keep the whole ensemble away from the flames.  Especially the arms!  I have discovered that paper is flammable.  WEIRD!

Now flip the switch and enjoy your creation with the proper ambiance!

Number 45 is “Why I’m afraid to go in the ocean (and other undersea creatures),” and nothing in the ocean is quite as horrifying as the vampire squid. I’m pretty sure this is EXACTLY what it looks like.  I saw it on the Discovery Channel.

Number 65 on the list is “two jellyfish fighting over a hot dog.”  Now I will tell you a little secret about this list:  I don’t remember any of the things that I contributed.  I’m pretty sure everything that involved a sugar skull was probably mine, but the only true specific thing that I remember contributing was two jellyfish fighting over a hot dog.  I’m pretty sure I had 12 different things fighting over a hot dog on the list at one point before the girls staged an intervention.  Since we’ve gone 5.5 months without anyone jumping on that jellyfish deathmatch, I figured it was time.

AND on a completely non-undersea-weirdness-related note, I have this half of an art doll to offer for sale this week!  I’ll be doing something a little fun and a lot whackadoo on Friday (yeah, like you expected any less, right?), so stay tuned!  Or come back.  It’s probably better to come back.  I don’t think you would fare well staring at your computer screen for four days.  The gerbils would starve, the kids would start acting out Lord of the Flies, and your husband would start dating.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to apply warpaint and watch Sister Wives.

 Stuffed Fish!                                 Gnomes!                                    Bunnies!                        Stuff For Your Walls!

To make a beautiful box that will double as the present just follow the steps below .

Get your hands on a small gift box. The one I chose was about 4″ x 5″  and about an inch deep. You need  one with sturdy sides.

Cut two pieces of scrap mat board or cardboard to about 1/2 inch bigger than your box measures. I used 4.5 x 5.5. You need a piece for the top and another for the bottom.

Decorate the surface as you wish. I did the background using this tutorial on mixed media backgrounds.

Choose a digi- stamp  from our SHOP. I chose this one, which happens to be on sale until Saturday night! Woo!

Color and cut out your image. Arrange to your liking on background, being sure to leave about 1/2 inch near the far left hand edge clear  and glue on with your favorite adhesive.

Paint the sides of the box and box lid with acrylic paint. Do not bother painting the top of the lid or the bottom of the box.

Wrap ribbon around the box so that the loose ends can be tied together on the right hand side. You are going to be gluing the art you made right over the ribbon so it sticks out at the right hand edge so you only need to tack it down so it stays put while you glue the art on to the top of the box, right over the ribbon.

Use glue to attach the top and bottom of box . Then use a highly sophisticated “flatten that thing out while it dries” device such as an old Art History book and a 12 pound weight  to keep it flat as the glue dries. You can also use double sided tape or any other adhesive you prefer.

I chose a piece of fabric from a sample book but a fancy, but flexible paper, a piece of felt or a wide ribbon will work for the outside binding of the box. Because my box was about 1.5 inches deep I cut a piece of fabric in to a 3″x4″ (the size of the left side of my box top)

Wrap the fabric around the edges so that is forms a binding for the side of the box as if it were a book. Glue the edge down on the front and back and   stick it back under that weight. You should probably use the other one in the set to do a few tricep extensions, since sleeveless weather is soon to be upon us

Once the glue has set you can open your box, put in the gift card and smugly show up your perfect cousin Lola when you give this to Grandma come Sunday!

To use these images in your own art simply click, size and print.

Check back Friday when we help you and your Little Monster  with that last minute Mother’s Day panic attack!

abcdefgBookmarks                               Necklaces                            Friendly Monsters                          Wall Art

1.  “Live Long and Eat Cake” Card

Our featured line art this week is an uncharacteristically giddy Mr. Spock, because really, even beings without emotions tend to get giddy in the face of that much cake.

Using this image, Cindy created a simple but fabulous 6″x4″ card, just by layering two papers and adding some stars:

If you happen to have a treasure trove of space-themed scrapbooking papers and embellishments, you could certainly get more complicated with your design, but I promise you that even this basic card will prove impressive on a variety of occasions: Father’s Day, graduation, birthdays, or Get Your 3rd Doctorate Day.

2.  For the Geek with a Desk

Stroll into almost any Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other charity shop, and you will find picture holders.  No, I don’t mean picture frames, although you’ll find oodles of those, too; I mean those things made primarily of heavy gauge wire that hold pictures.   For example, this:

A picture holder with a pink heart wouldn’t ordinarily make a great gift for a nerdy sort (especially a boy one), but cover that heart with that same Spock image, and magically, it works!  Obviously, you wouldn’t have to use our Spock image, but on the other hand, you could.  And once you put a picture in the picture holder, you have made a gift!

3.  It’s a Box!  It’s a Tin!  It’s a Tricorder!

This is the most involved of our projects this week, but it’s still pretty darn easy.  For this one, you need

• a rectangular tin (I got mine at Goodwill)
• black paper + adhesive OR gesso + black acrylic paint + fixative and sealant
• markers or colored pencils
• a piece of drawing paper
• a willingness to do a bit of simple drawing

1.  Get your tin.  It doesn’t need to have a window like mine, or it can.  Either way.

2.  Gesso and paint the tin OR cover it with your black paper.  (I painted mine.)

3.  Draw and color the front of a tricorder.  If you Google “Star Trek TOS tricorder images,” you’ll get plenty of shots from plenty of angles.

4.  Assemble the tricorder.

4.  If you used acrylic paint, fix and seal your work in an attempt to keep it from peeling off the minute someone stares at it too hard.

5.  Print, color, and trim Mr. Spock so he fits inside the lid, then fix him in place with adhesive.

6.  Fill the box with appropriate treats: Sunflower seeds, miniature cupcakes, malt balls, Tribbles, tall stacks of hundreds, a tie.  Whatever you like to give.

You are now a Level 2 Wizard of Nerd-Friendly Gift Giving.  Live long and give wisely!

To download, just click the one(s) you want, then right click and Save Image As.  To print, click and do a Print Preview, then size as desired.

Be sure to check back on Friday, when we offer up cool ways to use this new digital stamp from the shop, “Live Long and Eat Cake”:

tab+22Bookmarks                               Necklaces                                Assemblage                                 Wall Art

For me, a cookbook stand has always been one of those things I kind of want but can’t bring myself to buy because frankly, cookbook stands just aren’t that cute.  For cute, I’ll drop a little dough – but not $75, which is the price of the only cookbook stand I’ve ever seen that I could tolerate having in my kitchen.   When I see price tags like that, I take matters into my own hands.  In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a super cute and spunky little cookbook stand that you can be psyched to have in your kitchen, even when there’s no cookbook in it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A circuit board (mine was 10.5″ x 8″)
• A plate stand
• Robot stamps (for example, these incredibly awesome stamps right here)
• Paint, markers, or colored pencils for coloring the stamps / images
• Watercolor paper or good card stock
• Fixative
• Sealant
• Glue
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint (optional)
• Three 1″ wooden blocks or other doohickeys of similar size
• Two screws

1.  Ink up your stamps or print your digis.  If you like, you can use the robots to represent all the members of your family right down to the dog and the cat, or you can just pick the robots that play your synthesizer like Styx and stop when you think you have enough. (Robots, that is.  Some people never can get enough Dennis DeYoung.)

2.  Color the robots and cut them out with your trusty scissors.

3.  Position the robots on your circuit board in such a way that they make you happy.

4.  Glue them down.

5.  If you like, add paint to the circuit board to help it coordinate with your kitchen.  You can go minimal, maximal, criminal – whatever you like.   Just don’t tell the painting police I sent you.  I have a warrant out for Failure to Gesso.

6.  Depending on the size and shape of your plate stand, you may (but do not necessarily) need a wooden “prop,” the idea of which is to allow your plate stand to accommodate big behemoth hardback cookbooks or little skinny paperback cookbooks with equal grace and aplomb.

When you have a big fat cookbook, the “prop” rests on the top of the plate stand.

When you have a little skinny cookbook, the “prop” fills up the extra space.

Assuming your plate stand needs the same thing, glue together your wood blocks or doohickeys or whatever you’ve got.  With luck, your circuit board will have holes in it, in which case, you can pre-drill your wood piece(s) as needed and screw your blocks / doohickeys / decorative molding piece like the one I found at Home Depot into place.

7. Spray your finished circuit board with fixative, then seal it with a protective spray.  THEN make a loud whooping sort of noise, because you’re done!

Don’t forget to check out Cindy’s amazing robot stamps that I used on my cookbook stand, because in honor of this tutorial, they’re on sale!

Be sure to check out the store!

For those of you keeping score at home, we present, from our list of 100 Things to Draw When You’re Bored, Number 93, Bad puppet, and Number 31, Cereal killer.

To download, just click the one(s) you want, then right click and Save Image As.  To print, click and do a Print Preview, then size as desired.

Hey, you know all of those occasions coming up, like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and graduations and weddings?  We have all kinds of cool digis and fabulous gifts to help you out with those.  Click any of the links below for more details, and be sure to come back for our tutorial on Friday!

Mother Love                       Video Game Lover                    Girl with Flowers               Wacky Cookie Couple

    Rapunzel Necklace                       Great Mothers             Red Riding Hood Necklace            Henry & Anne