Craft Chameleon Blog: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

It's Hip to Be Square!

Usually it's not hip to be square but now it is!!

Why? Because Punch Place Plus sells these amazing, Hip to Be Square acrylics that come in three different sizes (a size to suit every one's needs;), 3", 2" and 1".

3 inch

2 inch

1 inch

What I love about the acrylics from Punch Place Plus is that they send them to you with the protective covering on them so they do not get scratched in transit and aren't getting banged up while you're deciding what to do with them (like that ever happens right?!)!

I also love that the holes on these are on the side so they aren't your typical square!

You can use these for keychains, luggage tags, bangles on bracelets, earrings, car mirror dangles and much more! (I saw some small square earrings at a store that starts with an "N" selling for $63+! NO THANK YOU!!)

I decided to create a few things for myself and my family (you can NEVER be to early for Christmas gifts! Just don't forget where you hide them;)

Here is what you'll need:
Hip to be Square Acrylics
Small Triangle Bails (if you're making a keychain)
Split Rings (if you're making a keychain)
Double J Earwires (if you're making earrings)
Tassels (if you want to add a little more to your items;)
Adhesive Vinyl (can be bought anywhere online)
Transfer Tape (can be bought anywhere online)
Credit Card or Rewards Card (for transferring your items onto transfer tape and item)
Cutting machine (not necessary if you're wanting to do shapes, such as hearts, circles etc. you can use a punch or exacto knife with a template)
Luke warm water & lint free cloth (to clean your acrylic blanks)
Weeding tool or a push pin/safety pin (I used a push pin for the longest time because it was and still is easier to get the pieces (especially the tiny ones) of vinyl off of the backing sheet.)
Most importantly some FUN!

Today I am making the 1" into earrings.

I first started off by taking the protecting cover off of the acrylic. I did this very carefully using the point of my weeding tool (you could also use a push pin or safety pin) just be very careful not to scratch your acrylic!

Next, using luke warm water and a lint free cloth or napkin wipe the acrylic off. This helps to make sure that there isn't any oil residue from your hands or any other chemicals on the acrylic and that your adhesive vinyl will adhere to the acrylic.

Now comes the fun part! Deciding on what you're going to put on your acrylic. I decided to make monogrammed earrings, so I just needed initials.

(This picture is showing you that the initials are cut out.)

Once the vinyl is cut you're going to need to weed it. This is removing the unwanted pieces that won't be on your design. When you're removing the weeded vinyl, make sure you're pulling it at an angle so you don't take up the parts you want to keep!

(I am showing you how to weed the parts you don't want. I start with the insides of the letters first and then move to the whole piece of vinyl. You'll want to start in the corner as seen in the pic below.)

After you have your design weeded you're going place your transfer tape on the design.

Once you have your transfer tape applied to your vinyl, burnish it really well with a credit card or a burnishing tool.

Once it is burnished really good, you can pull it off of the paper backing. I suggest doing this at an angle so if your vinyl isn't quiet stuck to your transfer tape, you can press it again.

(It should look like the picture below.)

Now you're going to want to very carefully line it up on your acrylic.

Once you've got it lined up, you're going to place it onto the acrylic one section at a time. I started at the top and slowly moved my way down so that I don't accidentally get it off center and it's stuck and I have to start over. (I am TOTALLY speaking from experience!)

You've got it lined up perfectly and now you need to burnish it again to get it to stick to the acrylic. You don't need to rub hard because you don't want to break your acrylic, you just want to make sure there are no air bubbles and the vinyl has adhered to the acrylic.

Great, now it's time to take off the transfer tape and admire your work! Start in the opposite corner of when you released it from the backing paper and keep it at a sharp angle as to not lift the vinyl (just in case it didn't stick very good when burnishing).

Look how great it turned out!!

We have one more to do! You're going to do it exactly like you did above.

Once you've added the vinyl to your other earring, you can now add the hypo-allergenic Double J Earwires and you're finished!!

Doesn't my mom look cute in her earrings?!

I also made a keychain using the 2" Hip to be Square acrylics.

Here are some of the files that I made to be used with these squares (just size them to the size square you're using, also note that the fonts might not work on your computer as some are paid for fonts and some you may not have on your computer).
*These are for personal use only, please do NOT share with anyone, just send them the link to this website. Thank You!*
You can download them here.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

DIY Days 'til Board

I absolutely love the cute "Days 'til" boards but to be honest, where are these people storing all of them? Seriously, I have no where to store a board for every holiday!
That is where my Days 'til board comes into play! It is something that I can leave up ALL YEAR ROUND!!

When creating my board I knew I needed it to be multi functional and what better way to do that then with Punch Place Plus's Photo Acrylic & Nails?!

They come in various sizes and are great for not only the Days 'til board but for those hard to buy for people too! Imagine putting your family's photo in there with a great quote or your family motto...a gift worth keep and displaying!

I started out with a board that was originally painted black but decided that I wanted mine to be chalkboard so that I could easily write the new days and erase for each new holiday.

If you want to do your board like I did mine, these are the items you'll need:

Photo Acrylic & Nails
Board sized to whatever size acrylic you use
Acrylic Paint
Chalkboard Paint
Paint Brushes
Vinyl, stencil or scrap paper letters
Hammer
Scrapbook paper to change out the seasons/holidays

Have your supplies? Alright, let's get started!!

I started off by painting my board using Apple Barrel Matte Acrylic Paint in White.

Once the board was covered the way that I liked it, I got out my chalk board paint, I used , Krylon Chalkboard indoor paint.

I used vinyl to cut out my Days 'til so I didn't have to write it out each time. I laid the acrylic on my board to see about how big to make the Days 'til and once I got it where I liked it, I cut it out.

Once cut out, I laid it back onto my board to make sure I liked the placement and realized that I didn't have anywhere to write my days so I cut the 'til off and placed it off to the side a little bit.

Next, I added the vinyl onto the board and burnished it really, really well with my fingers and then released the carrier sheet.
When you release the carrier sheet make sure you pull it off at an angle and not just pull it right off. This helps with any of the letter lifting and if you do notice they want to stay on the carrier sheet, they're easier to lay back down by putting the carrier sheet back over it.

Once the vinyl is in place, go back over it again making sure that it is pressed into the grooves of the board so that when you paint your chalkboard paint over the top it won't have any leaking under the letters.

After I felt the letters were stuck onto the board good, I started adding my black chalkboard paint. I was careful not to brush over the top of the letters but rather dab the paint over them and then smooth it out. (You don't want to risk getting any paint under your letters!) I did about two coats of chalkboard paint.

You'll need to wait two days for the chalkboard paint to fully dry but before that, you'll want to pull your vinyl letters off. If you wait until it's dry they are a lot harder to get off.

I used a cuticle pusher to get my vinyl letters off and as you can see, it pushed the chalkboard paint into the white paint so maybe try a safety pin or something a bit smaller. Once I got the corner up, I used tweezers to pull the rest of the vinyl off.

Now we are ready to add our Photo Acrylic and Nails!!
But first I want to show you one of the things that I love about the Photo Acrylic and Nails from Punch Place Plus!!

The Photo Acrylic comes with this great protective covering on it until you're ready to use it!! NO scratching, NO scuffing, NO finger prints!!

You can choose which nails you want for the look you're going for!
They come in three choices; Mule Barn (black), Traditional Gold and Classic Nickle.

It is really hard to tell from the picture but they also come with a clear static cling liner that helps keep your pictures in place whether you want to hang it on the wall or place it on an easel, they will NOT fall out!!

Okay back to the board!

Once you've chosen your finishes, you're going to decide where you want your acrylic.

I placed my nail into the hole and did a pilot hole on each side before placing them into the board (that way they go in straight and not at an angle-trust me!)

After you're finished, you can start hammering them in slowly. You don't want to do it quick because you are going to need to place something between the hammer and acrylic once you get close to it. I used a paper towel. I just placed it over my nail and hammered until it was as close as I could get it without having the acrylic touching the board completely (so I can get my images out easily).

You're now ready to add your photo or in my case scrapbook paper!

Here is a better view of how that static cling holds your pictures or paper in there without them falling out.

I used scrapbook paper for the inserts of my Days 'til board so I can easily switch them out for each holiday. I have only done a few (for now) but I think I will add a piece of plastic sleeve to the back of my board to store all of my pieces in!