Kitchen Sink Project of the Month Tutorial

I'm so excited to share this project with you!! When I saw the new Kitchen Sink Stamp set for February, Love & Luck I knew they would be perfect for a project I had wanted to try for a while. . . stemware charms! I have this beautiful antique crystal stemware that was my grandmothers. I LOVE how these charms look on them! The charms are easy to make, and lots of fun too. They would make wonderful gifts and you can make them in practically any color at all!

Ok, here are the details (I haven't done many tutorials so please be kind! lol!). Here's what you'll need:

• PolyShrink (I found sample packs on ebay that include 2 sheets each of clear, transluscent, white & black)
• Stamps - I used Love & Luck - the large hearts were the perfect size for this!
• Ink - I used VersaCraft which are available in the KSS store. I did try using several different inks and the VersaCraft really was superior - it didn't "puddle up" (like Brilliance did) or get to thick (like chalk inks). It worked so well I had to order a second pad to have more colors! LOL!
• Sponge Daubers - also available from KSS. Since the VersaCraft pads look like color checkerboards you need the daubers to get the color you want.
• Sanding block
• Wire - I used Memory Wire (Silver Ring 1 oz) which I bought from Artbeads.com. Think Slinky . . .
• Beads - again, I bought mine from Artbead.com. They have a HUGE variety and the size is pretty well organized. I bought all Swarovski Bicone beads, Style 5301 in 3 and 4 mm sizes. I also bought Sterling Silver beads in 3mm and 4mm sizes.
• Jump rings - from Artbead.com. You could make these yourself, and I actually ended up making some too because I found it really looked better with 2.
• Jewelry making tools - mostly I used the round nosed pliers.

Step 1 - Cut a piece of PolyShrink to work with. I used strips about 1.5" inches wide to make them easier to handle. I used mostly the translucent color for the charms (but I'll show you a couple variations at the end). Before you stamp you need to sand the PolyShrink in both directions - across & up and down.

Step 2 - Stamp. Here's where you use the Sponge Daubers - which make it so simple!! The VersaCraft ink is wonderful for this project (it also says it can be used for leather, fabric, wood and other materials) - the color is nice and even! After you stamp out your images you need to let the ink dry for a bit - this is very hard for me as I'm an impatient stamper! But if you don't wait - the ink will smear!

Step 3 - Cut out the images carefully and punch holes in the tops. Remember that the holes will shrink too! I used my 1/8" hole punch and it was perfect! One thing I did find is that you need to make your hole a bit lower than you think in the heart. If you make the whole too high it will open when you shrink it.

Step 4 - Shrink. This is so much fun!! The package says that you can shrink in the oven or with a heat tool. I used my heat tool. It was so neat to watch the shape twist and curl and change until it shrinks into a perfect little heart. You know it's done shrinking when the shape becomes mostly flat and the image is not warpped. (If you don't shrink it all the way the image may be slightly out of proportion). I kept an acrylic block handy to flatten the charms while they were still warm.

Aren't they cute? I absolutely LOVE this Love & Luck set - you could come up with so many different combinations and colors. Stamping with clear stamp is so easy! I love being able to have perfect placement every time! Ok, now to make the charm holders! And here I should mention that Artbeads.com has a short tutorial on their site about making glass charms, it was a great resource for me!

Step 5 - Cut a piece of the Memory Wire a bit bigger than the finished ring and make a loop on one end. If you've done any jewelry making this will be easy for you, but just use your round nose pliers and form a loop around them with the wire. I did find that the Memory Wire is quite a bit stiffer than most jewelry wire I've worked with - it did take some muscle to make the loop! At this time you can make your jump ring for the charm using a piece of wire. I made the ring the same way as the loop in the Memory Wire, only now I added the charm to it and another premade jump ring.

Step 6 - Add the beads and charms to your wire. Here you can really have fun using different sizes, colors and patterns! I found that ones with fewer beads sometimes looked better but it was sure fun to use lots of pretty beads too! Basically I just put one side on first, then the charm and then repeated the pattern in reverse.

Once you've finished with the beads, make a loop in the other end of the Memory Wire the same as in Step 5 so that the beads stay one.

Here are a few more pictures. I'll post even more picture of some of the different colors I used a bit later along with some details on some fun Jules Jewels - would you like to try these yourself??? Be sure to check out the next post!