*We will be closed on Thursday to celebrate with family and other company this year!!
The website will be open on Friday and some of us will be in to continue processing orders. I give thanks for my family, friends and customers. We are immensely blessed by having you all in our lives.
I want to show you all how I am doing the polka, polka dots that is!
Punch Place Plus carries a wide variety of blanks, with those blanks come some pretty awesome prints like the polka dots, sometimes it's hard to get an idea of how exactly to decorate them and I thought I'd show you how easily they can be made into something amazing!
To make these items you'll need: Patterned Acrylics in 3", 2", Rectangle & Heart
I chose to do the black and white patterned acrylics because I saw this amazing black, white and silver Christmas tree, I was blown away at how simple it was; yet how gorgeous it was all from using black, white and patterns.
I know a lot of people will be traveling this holiday season and when you're trying to get to your destination at a busy airport we don't need any bah-hum-bug!
So I created a luggage tag to easily spot your luggage on the carousel.
Have you ever forgot to get someone a gift and had to resort to the gift closet? I do it every year:( However with this gift tag, they'll never know it came from the gift closet!
I decided that the majority of my gifts were going to be handmade and that goes for everyone on my list and my son's list too!
He has a great friend at school and luckily for me she loves personalized items so I made her a key chain (they just turned sixteen!) and what new driver wouldn't love a personalized key chain?
Now onto my favorite piece (not that the above items aren't my favorite but I love how this turned out)!
Going with the tree that I saw, I knew I had to make an ornament for my friends who just got married this summer.
Are you going to look at the patterned acrylics from Punch Place Plus a little differently now? I know I sure will!
Any of these shape could be used as ornaments, luggage tags, gift tags, key chains, back pack tags, zipper charms and so much more (it doesn't have to be Christmas themed).
It's that time of year? The holidays, when you're scrambling to make that perfect gift and you have no idea what to make. Luckily for you (all of us), great gift giving (creating) is made easy with Punch Place Plus!
Punch Place Plus offers a wide variety of products to make the perfect gift (or give that perfect gift)!
Today I want to show you a few great items that you can either put together to give one recipient or they can be broken up and given to a few. Either way you decide to give these gifts PPP's great pricing makes it easier for you to make something for everyone on your list!
First things first, I'm the realist (oops sorry).
First you're going to remove the protective covering from the part you're going to be applying your vinyl (I leave the other piece on so they don't get scratched). Please see the video on how I remove mine down where we are assembling the earrings.
Second, clean your acrylic blanks with warm soap and water.
Create your monogram or design.
Cut it out on your software.
Weed out the excess so you're left with your design.
Place your transfer tape onto your cut designs.
Photo One (left top): Remove your design from the paper backing, place your design on the top of your acrylic blank-starting in the middle (this helps to alleviate any air bubbles from forming when you transfer the vinyl from the backing to the acrylic blank).
Photo Two (top right): Lightly rub in one direction and then the other to adhere your design to your acrylic.
Photo Three (bottom left): Now rub over the top of your design and transfer tape vigorously to make sure that the vinyl has good adhesion to the acrylic blank.
Photo Four (bottom right): Gently and SLOWLY pull a corner of your transfer tape off of the acrylic (making sure that you don't pull your vinyl design off), while pulling make sure you're laying the transfer tape onto itself (see photo). Do this slowly making sure you do NOT pull up your vinyl as well as to prevent air bubbles from forming in your vinyl.
As you can see, they vinyl is covering the holes of where our jump rings are going to need to go.
It's very easy to make the holes, you can have your cutter cut the holes for you or you can manually do it. (I did it manually because I didn't want to have to line up the holes and my vinyl to the blank.)
If your holes are big enough, you can use the Diamond Tip Reamer from Punch Place Plus or you can do what I did.
I took a push pin, turned the blank over, put my finger behind the hole (I didn't have enough hands to do this and take the pics-sorry:() and barely made a mark on the vinyl. Once I did that, I turned it over to see where the prick mark was and then used the tip of an exacto knife to remove the vinyl. (I highly suggest you do this very slowly as you can pull your vinyl off if you're not careful!)
We can now assemble the bracelets!
Take your Silver Plate Chain bracelet, oval jump ring and your acrylic.
Open the jump ring, add your acrylic, put your jump ring/acrylic onto the bracelet and close the jump ring.
Ta-da, one gift down!
For the second bracelet you'll need the Silver tone bracelets and your double hole acrylic. (You'll have an extra split ring that you can add to the extender if you need to make it a little bigger.)
8" Pictured on top and 7" pictured on bottom
They'll come with a center jump ring and two loose jump rings.
You're going to use your needle nose pliers to open the center jump ring and remove one side of the chain (it doesn't matter which side but I am right handed and like my clasp on the right so it's easier for me to put on).
Take your acrylic and apply it to the open jump ring and chain, close it, then grab you're other jump ring, open it; add your chain and the other side of the acrylic.
Look at you, you're on a roll!
We are now going to do the earrings.
The protective covering on the earrings are a little harder to get off of the blanks then the others so I thought I would show you how I remove them.
I simply scrape (not scratch) the side of the acrylic with my finger nail and once I get a piece of it up, I go around the edges until I get a good piece and then pull it off (it doesn't always come off in one piece though).
After removing the protective covering, clean the backs of the earrings really well. (I don't remove the covering where I am going to place my vinyl until I am ready so they don't scratch.)
Alright now we can get started on assembling the posts to the earrings.
Take your E-6000 and place a small dab onto the back of the post (I don't add it too the earring because your post doesn't cover the whole back of the earring and you could possibly get too much).
Next place your post gently onto the earring (without pressing down) as we are just gauging where we want it.
Once you have it where you want it (centered) you can press and move it around slightly to make sure that you've got the E-6000 all over the post and the earring.
Tips:
I like to add my vinyl on the earrings before gluing the posts on the back, it makes it easier to place them when they're on a flat surface then fighting with the posts.
However if you're going to do a big batch, you can use a pool noodle. Just stick the posts into the noodle to stabilize the earrings while you're applying your vinyl.
This is how they will look once they're completed. Allow them to dry for at least 48 hours before applying vinyl (they may seem dry but if you don't wait the full 48 hours, you'll push the posts and then your bond won't be as strong).
Now you're going to apply the vinyl.
If you have the posts applied (and don't have a pool noodle because it's winter), simply stick the post in between two fingers to stabilize the earring and apply the vinyl.
You'll burnish the vinyl on the earrings, remove the transfer tape just like you did above on all the other pieces.
You've just completed a set of earrings!
We are on our last gift but this certainly doesn't mean that you only have to create these items, there are so many more items and options to get creative!
The necklaces that we are going to do now are awesome! Why? Because you only need to add your vinyl!
Yep, these blanks come assembled and with the chain;)
I disassembled mine because I had to line up the vinyl over the top of the holes but you could certainly leave them on and make your design smaller to fit right below the jump rings.
You'll simply use your pliers to undo the jump ring and remove them along with the chain from the acrylic (on both sides), once you've added your vinyl design simply add the jump ring and chain back onto the acrylic.
And you're done!
Congratulations, that is four gifts done and checked off of the list!
If you have any questions please leave a comment here on the blog and I'll do my best to answer them for you!
It's that time of the year!! Time to start your holiday gifts, decor and more!
Luckily The Frugal Crafter has another great video with some amazing ideas for gifts, parties or even to use in your own holiday home decor! (Make sure you watch the whole video to get a great little holiday gift from Punch Place Plus;)
Weren't her ideas awesome?!
I think the coasters would be great to take to a holiday party with a bottle of wine and a few personalized wine glasses for the host/hostess!
Here is a list of items that Lindsay used for her projects!
I'm so excited to share this inspiration bracelet with you all today!!
I love that I am able to create such cute, unique items that don't only look amazing, but only take a few minutes to make; all while using the acrylic blanks from Punch Place Plus!
I used the 1.75x2" Moroccan Quatrefoil shape in maroon (this color is ah-ma-zing!), added a reverse quatrefoil design on the top and then added the love in the center.
You're going to start off by taking the protective covering off of your acrylics, cleaning the acrylic, making your vinyl design and adding it to your acrylic. If you need help on how to do this, check out this post.
Now you're going to get your bracelet ready to apply the acrylic.
The bracelets that Punch Place Plus offers are amazing because they're made exclusively for use with their 2 hole acrylic jewelry blanks!! They come in two sizes, 7" which runs from 6.25 inches to 7.25 inches when using the extender and in 8" which runs from 7 inches to 8 inches with the extender. (The extender is a little over 1 inch) All I did was use the center jump ring (see above photo), I take my needle nose pliers and separate the jump rings, taking one side of the bracelets chain off.
Showing the center split ring open with both sides of the chain still on the split ring.
With one side taken off of the center jump ring.
With the needle nose pliers still holding the split ring and chain, I add my acrylic.
Showing the other piece of chain and split ring.
Now I am going to take my other split ring, add it to the other half of my chain.
With my second split ring still open, I am going to add it to the other side of my acrylic and close it.
Ta-da! A beautiful and inspirational bracelet!
(*Please note that the glitter acrylics have a solid backing and aren't the same color as the front. They also come with a clear protective covering on them that you'll need to remove.)
So what do you think? What's that you say, it needs a pair of matching earrings?!
I agree!!
Punch Place Plus carries these cute Moroccan Quatrefoil discs in earrings!! (Oh lawd, help me!!)
(The earrings come with a clear protective covering and a solid backing on them just like their larger counterpart.)
To make the matching earrings you'll need: Moroccan Quatrefoil Earrings Double J Earwires (Yep, that's it! Unless you want to add some vinyl to them then you could always make a cute little initial or something.)
Punch Place Plus carries three styles of earwires, Silver tone, Hypoallergenic Plating and Gold Tone.
The Double J's are a sleek modern style earwire which are a Punch Place Plus exclusive design! You can make dangle earrings with no tools needed! You simply slide your acrylic blank, tassel or charm on, pop into place and bend back the ball to meet the wire to secure!
All you need to do is take your earwires, add them onto the earrings and you're done!
Cute right?!
I made the quatrefoil design I used into a download, if you'd like, you can download the quatrefoil design here.
Happy Monday! I hope you're ready because today it's a party with PPP! (Now I have that song stuck in my head;)
IF you're new here, let me explain a little about Punch Place Plus.
They're a small, family owned business (Michael and Jamie), have two part-time employees and specialize in unique, inexpensive wholesale items for us crafters. They not only have a great selection of items but are one of the best businesses with the most amazing customer service!
Here are a few items that Punch Place Plus offers:
Doll Making/Decorating Items
Jewelry Blanks/Jewelry Making
Blank Acrylics
Keychains & Hardware
Headbands
Headband Blanks
Bling Buttons/Flatbacks
Artist Trading Cards
Burlap Blanks
Punches & Dies
Suede Fabric
Veiling
Blank (empty) Wipe Cases
Tassels
Ribbons
Items to showcase what you've made (headband stands etc.)
