Beautiful Acrylic Bookmark with Crosses

Hi Everyone, I’m  Faye Mitchell and truly excited by Jamie’s request to make a guest blog post.  I’ve decided to make a fancy charm and bead bookmark using mostly Craft Chameleon supplies.  A few items have come from other stores.

Items needed:

Acrylic Bookmark - Craft Chameleon

1.5” Acrylic Cross - Craft Chameleon

15/16” Acrylic Circle - Craft Chameleon

Lobster Clasp - Craft Chameleon

Triangle Bail - Craft Chameleon

Jump rings - Craft Chameleon

Extension Links - Craft Chameleon

Tassels - Craft Chameleon

Charms - Craft Chameleon (not pictured)

Beads

Headpins

SVG Design Program

Vinyl

Jewelry Making Tools  

Diamond Reamer - Craft Chameleon

The first thing I did was make a template of my acrylic bookmark in Silhouette Studio Designer Edition so I could make sure I cut my vinyl out in the correct size.  The acrylic bookmark from Craft Chameleon is 1.5" x 4" so I drew a rectangle with these measurements. 

As you can see I actually drew the rectangle at 4.5” and then put a small line across it at 4” and
put the circle/hole in it.  This part is not necessary but I did it to help me envision the final product.

The next thing I did was decide on what pattern I wanted on my bookmark.  Since my bookmark is for a friend who lost her sister I decided to go with a cross design.  I searched the silhouette design store and found the perfect cross shape and purchased it.  Once I had it purchased I edited it to the size I wanted and duplicated it multiple times so that it formed the design I wanted and covered the entire bookmark.  My actual bookmark is clear but so you could see the design in the Studio I changed it to black for the picture. 

Now I decided on what quote I wanted to put on the bookmark.  I decided to use a bible scripture for comfort.  Using the text tool I typed out the quote and selected my font and sized it to fit the bookmark and charms.  I used the font “Maxwell Bold” for all the wording.  I used the templates from Craft Chameleon to get the sizing correct.  In order to prevent waste of vinyl I used the subtract feature under modify to cut the cross background pattern down to the size of the bookmark.

Once I finished all my designing, I cut and weeded the vinyl and lastly applied it to the acrylic pieces.

 

Make sure you peel the clear plastic coverings off the acrylic pieces first before applying the vinyl.  Then you take your transfer tape and pick up the weeded vinyl pieces and place them onto the acrylic pieces.  

After I have the vinyl applied to the pieces I poke the hole in the acrylic with the diamond reamer I purchased from Craft Chameleon.  I also rub it around the edge of the cross and bookmark acrylic pieces to trim off the excess vinyl from the backs.

Now that I have all the vinyl applied I sit them to the side to cure while I work on assembling the hardware findings and make the bead dangles.  

To start I usually go ahead and attach the triangle bail to the bookmark even though it doesn’t have to be attached right away.  Mainly I do this just so I have this part done and I don’t have to worry about a little helper getting a hold of the triangle bail and putting it in his mouth or just running off with it. 

Next I move onto the bead dangles, once again to prevent a certain little helper from getting ahold of little pieces and scattering them around the house.  Bead dangles are pretty easy to make.  To make a bead dangle you first take your headpin… the ones I use are just plain 2” headpins that I picked up from a big box store.  

You then just thread the beads (also gotten from a big box store in this case) onto the headpin. 

Once you thread your beads onto the headpin comes the tricky part.  You take your round nose pliers and bend the end of the headpin around to make a loop. Once the loop is formed you can trim the excess and manipulate the wire to your desired shape and size.  Then you use a jump ring and attach the bead dangle to the lobster clasp. 

Next I move onto attaching the charms, tassels, and small acrylic pieces.  I do this with a combination of jump rings and extension links depending on the size of each of the pieces and how I want them to hang.

After the vinyl is cured I typically seal the small pieces with either mod podge or clear nail polish.  Once your sealer is dry you can attach the beaded charmed piece using the lobster hook to the triangle bail on the bookmark piece. 

TA-DA you have a finished your fancy charm and beaded bookmark to enjoy the next time you read a long book!!!

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Acrylic Faux Sea Glass

This is a post that I wrote for the "Terri Johnson Creates Blog".

Faux Acrylic Sea Glass
Summer is in full swing now and if you are not lucky enough to walk the beach to collect sea glass, this tutorial is for you. Hello all, Jamie from Craft Chameleon here! Terri has graciously opened up space on her blog to share this fun technique.

What you will need for this project other than your Silhouette and permanent vinyl is as follows:
Paper Plate, 2 grades of sandpaper, nail file, double sided tape, translucent acrylic.

First, you will want to secure the coarsest sand paper down on the paper plate using your double-sided tape. The plate does three things. It keeps your sandpaper located; keeps your dust/sandpaper granules collected and keeps your sandpaper flat/level as to not create gouges.

Next, take the translucent acrylic and sand in a circular motion on the sand paper. Place your fingers on different areas of the acrylic to assure even sanding.

Do this for both sides. When the acrylic is evenly sanded, with the coarsest sandpaper, empty your plate, and replace with the least coarse. Repeat the sanding process.

When completed the acrylic will have a frosted appearance. However, the edges will still have a gloss finish. 

Quickly and easily, take the gloss off the edge with a nail file for your finishing step.

Wash with clear water and dry. Add your vinyl design and complete your project!

Tooth Fairy Bag

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HTV on Acrylic Blanks

Hello all this is a blog post I wrote for the Silhouette School Blog. It has some good information so I wanted to share it with you all too!

Hope your summer has been full of celebrations. Jamie Omahen from CraftChameleon, here to show you how to make a quick, easy, smooth writing surface, and bubble free Guest Board perfect for any type of gathering!

Gorgeous wood signs for guest books are all the rage for weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, birthday party, bat mitzvah, bar mitzvah, anniversary, memorial service, house warming, grand openings, and family reunions.

 I love the concept and look of those boards but would rather have a smooth finish for the guests to write on, plus a permanent marker can be used and the nib will last much longer.

Enough chatter, let’s make one!

Supplies: 

*HTV with your design mirrored, cut, & weeded

*Wood sign or board

*Acrylic with 4 holes drilled – available from Craft Chameleon

  Note: Clear acrylic will not remain clear in a heat press however solid color or glitter acrylic works well.

*Heat press – heat 300 degrees, timer 5 seconds (settings may vary)

*Parchment Paper

*Scissors

*Hammer

*Decorative tacks or nails - availablefrom Craft Chameleon

*Old Towel

* Permanent Ink marker

*Item similar to a flat cookie tray or other flat metal tray

*Large heavy books to weight down the metal tray

* Optional – Power drill or Dremel type tool

You want to start by creating or opening a design and scale to size. Don't forget to mirror the
design since you will be cutting on Heat Transfer Vinyl.

Load your Heat Transfer Vinyl (glitter or smooth will work) on to your Silhouette cutting mat and cut the design. Weed it.

Cut the carrier sheet following around the heat transfer vinyl design. The carrier films leaves a slight impression, cutting the general shape of the design helps it disappear in the second press.

Place the htv design on the acrylic. Cover top and bottom of the acrylic with parchment paper. Teflon sheets are not recommended, as they impress a pattern on the hot acrylic.

The second press will finish bonding the vinyl to the acrylic and any lines made by the carrier sheet.

Press for 5 seconds at 300 degrees. Open press, carefully remove carrier sheet, recover with the parchment paper, and press again for another 5 seconds.

Wait! What is this photo of? Well I didn’t have a cookie sheet or heavy books so this was my work around.

After the second pressing, you will need to let your acrylic cool under something flat and heavy thus the flat metal sheet & books in the supplies list. Be sure to leave the parchment paper on both sides of your acrylic. 
Shown above, a flat metal plate with a heavy box under which is warm acrylic! The larger the longer it takes to cool




The final step is to attach the acrylic to the board using decorative tacks or nails. Depending on the type of wood used in your sign, pre-drilling pilot holes is a good idea. For the last few taps on the nail head use a folded towel over the area to avoid marring.

Pair the acrylic board with the permanent marker of your choice and the Guest Book Board is ready to go. I had so much fun making the first one, I made a second. In fact I love these so much I am sharing the files, so enjoy!

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Canvas Pillow Covers

Just in time for Fourth of July is a fun post using a $3.89 canvas pillow blank from Craft Chameleon.

After preheating the canvas blank, I laid out the text and the white background portion of the heart flag.

I did a quick press just to get the vinyl to stick to the canvas before adding the red flag stripe layer.

I lined up the red flag stripes to where I thought it looked good and did a full press with all the layers. Because the total design was larger than what fits on my 15x15 heat press, I had to press the text separately. After doing the full press with the heart flag and "America", I added the 1776 to the bottom and pressed that part of the design only.

Here is the pillow blank after all layers and design elements have been pressed on.

And here is the final product, stuffed and decorating our couch.

Home of the Free

How lucky we are to live in a country where we are free?

Enjoy your July 4th!!

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Easy Baby Stat Gifts

Cubbies seem to be all the rage lately. They are adorable and it is a nice way for parents to have a personalized gift with their brand new baby's birth statistics.

This post will show an easy and fun alternative without needing an expensive embroidery machine, or needing to find those costly cubbie blanks.

The 18 inch American girl doll shirts are ideal for this. Not only do they fit the American Girl dolls, but they fit bears and other stuffed animals you can get from Build A Bear and other plush items you can find at your local stores.

I used a black and white doll shirt as I wanted to do examples of both a boy and a girl shirt. The girl shirt I made with light pink and white vinyl but unfortunately the differences in color didn't show well in the photos. I used a blue and black vinyl for the boy shirt.

 

I pressed each color individually.

 

I then pressed the second color and pressed both layers for the total press time.

 

 

 

 

Here are close ups of each of the finished shirts on a plush animal.

 



 

 

I hope this gives some inspiration on a new item to offer in your business or a wonderful gift to give.



 

 

 

School Superpower Keychain



Another school year is about to come to an end. With the rush and excitement of summer vacation arriving, it is a good to remember a nice way to thank those teachers that have educated your child over the past year.

I love the apple acrylic keychain blanks from Craft Chameleon. I really like the bright color of the red and love the glitter red keychains. However, the school my son attends has purple and gold for their school colors, which just does not look good with red. So I used a clear blank for mine.

I cut the text and the mascot out in purple vinyl and the superhero emblem and first letter of the school name in a gold yellow vinyl.  I weeded both designs while they were still on the vinyl carrier sheet.



I layered the two designs together still on the vinyl carrier sheet. I find this helps to avoid bubbles and makes the application process a little easier.

I peeled one side of the brown paper off the acrylic blank.



I added the triangle bail and heavy duty split key ring to finish off the keychain. I think this is a simple and unique item that teachers will appreciate.

The finished item shows a 3 inch white acrylic circle. The design works well on various acrylic shapes. However, the different acrylic was used for photographic purposes only.

I hope this helps to inspire you to create a fun end of year teacher appreciation gift!